Pat was a great friend at Harper, FVHS and for many years after until his passing from cancer. I was fortunate to be with him during his final days. His sprit is still with me.
The last time I saw Pat was in May of 1979 in Honolulu. He was serving on the Coast Guard Buoy Tender "Sedge" (WLB 402) homeport Homer, Alaska. They came to Hawaii to go through refresher training at Pearl Harbor and tied up alongside my ship, the Mallow (WLB 396) at Coast Guard Base Honolulu. We had a short conversation at this unlikely meeting. It was quite a surprise to hear of his passing several years later after we had both left the Coast Guard. Pat, Chris Bent, and I were in the same 5th grade class at Harper.
Do you remember what an acomplished competitive swimmer Pat was? Coach Brey really helped Pat to acieve great things, both in water polo and freestyle meets. But of course, we remeber Pat as a great guy and a credit to our class. It was nice to know him, a real privelege.
When I think of Pat, I remember his very silly sense of humor, and that he could ride a unicycle, which was very cool. He was a genuine and nice person.
Yes- Pat was one of my closest friends from James O. Harper days. Spent the night at his house many times.
I filled in for Pat on his paper route a few times when he went out of town with his family. They were so nice. And Wendy Dooley is right--he was good on a unicycle. One day he gave me a unicycle his mom had run over. I straightened it out. Made it rideable. But it was never rideable by me! I could never get the hang of it. But Pat could go frontwards, backwards, pedal with one foot...even go downstairs!
We had many laughs together. I was deeply saddened to lose my friend to cancer. We hadn't spoken in years, because we went our separate ways. I will always miss the one we called Patty Bacardi.
Met Pat in my sophmore year thru Matt and Chris and were good friends until we graduated. We became much closer friends after high school. For several summers in a row we would back pack with a small group down the bottom of the Grand Canyon, specifically the Havasupai Indian reservation. Some amazing adventures indeed and Pat (being part fish) always enjoyed the water in the tributaries at Supai. Here are some incredible pictures from those trips. These were taken on a camera long before cell phones! His adventerous spirit shines thru in these pictures! A later summer went went overnight camping at Joshua Tree with Pats brother Mike, his three sons, myself and my son Kyle and Pat. This is by far the most meaningful picture I have of Pat. He took my son Kyle and Mike's son also Kyle to fly kites. In that moment this picture was taken! All three mezmorized and staring into the sky. The sad irony is that both Pat and his nephew Kyle in the white t-shirt on the right have both now passed away. My son Kyle turned 35 last week. This picture is like a painting that is timeless and very special!
Pat and I played Water Polo and we were in the Aquatics Club too. It was winter 1973 and the club had planned a snow trip up to Big Bear. Why not? Snow is just very cold water. We loaded up several vehicles and went up, Pat and I were in the back of Mike Eich’s truck. But we got stuck in a drift and Mike’s muffler was pulled off. We all had to get out while he used a rope to secure the muffler enough to get down off the mountain and fixed later. To pass the time Pat and I decided to climb a pine tree – a big one. So up I went, with Pat following right behind me. As we climbed Pat was stepping too far out on the dead branches we were using as steps and breaking many off. But up we went anyway, getting near the top, when Mike yelled out it was time to leave. That was when we noticed we had an issue. The branches we needed to come down were now missing and we were literally stuck up a tree. It would have been funny if Mike did not have to untie the rope for us to use to get down. Pat was always happy and funny and a great teammate.
Matt Kroeger
Pat was a great friend at Harper, FVHS and for many years after until his passing from cancer. I was fortunate to be with him during his final days. His sprit is still with me.
Michael Lucia
https://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/usa/images/wlb402.jpg
The last time I saw Pat was in May of 1979 in Honolulu. He was serving on the Coast Guard Buoy Tender "Sedge" (WLB 402) homeport Homer, Alaska. They came to Hawaii to go through refresher training at Pearl Harbor and tied up alongside my ship, the Mallow (WLB 396) at Coast Guard Base Honolulu. We had a short conversation at this unlikely meeting. It was quite a surprise to hear of his passing several years later after we had both left the Coast Guard. Pat, Chris Bent, and I were in the same 5th grade class at Harper.
Craig Kodera
Do you remember what an acomplished competitive swimmer Pat was? Coach Brey really helped Pat to acieve great things, both in water polo and freestyle meets. But of course, we remeber Pat as a great guy and a credit to our class. It was nice to know him, a real privelege.
Wendy Dooley (Smith)
When I think of Pat, I remember his very silly sense of humor, and that he could ride a unicycle, which was very cool. He was a genuine and nice person.Chris Bent
Yes- Pat was one of my closest friends from James O. Harper days. Spent the night at his house many times.
I filled in for Pat on his paper route a few times when he went out of town with his family. They were so nice. And Wendy Dooley is right--he was good on a unicycle. One day he gave me a unicycle his mom had run over. I straightened it out. Made it rideable. But it was never rideable by me! I could never get the hang of it. But Pat could go frontwards, backwards, pedal with one foot...even go downstairs!
We had many laughs together. I was deeply saddened to lose my friend to cancer. We hadn't spoken in years, because we went our separate ways. I will always miss the one we called Patty Bacardi.
Dave Kilpatrick
Met Pat in my sophmore year thru Matt and Chris and were good friends until we graduated. We became much closer friends after high school. For several summers in a row we would back pack with a small group down the bottom of the Grand Canyon, specifically the Havasupai Indian reservation. Some amazing adventures indeed and Pat (being part fish) always enjoyed the water in the tributaries at Supai. Here are some incredible pictures from those trips. These were taken on a camera long before cell phones! His adventerous spirit shines thru in these pictures! A later summer went went overnight camping at Joshua Tree with Pats brother Mike, his three sons, myself and my son Kyle and Pat. This is by far the most meaningful picture I have of Pat. He took my son Kyle and Mike's son also Kyle to fly kites. In that moment this picture was taken! All three mezmorized and staring into the sky. The sad irony is that both Pat and his nephew Kyle in the white t-shirt on the right have both now passed away. My son Kyle turned 35 last week. This picture is like a painting that is timeless and very special!
Larry Parish
Pat and I played Water Polo and we were in the Aquatics Club too. It was winter 1973 and the club had planned a snow trip up to Big Bear. Why not? Snow is just very cold water. We loaded up several vehicles and went up, Pat and I were in the back of Mike Eich’s truck. But we got stuck in a drift and Mike’s muffler was pulled off. We all had to get out while he used a rope to secure the muffler enough to get down off the mountain and fixed later. To pass the time Pat and I decided to climb a pine tree – a big one. So up I went, with Pat following right behind me. As we climbed Pat was stepping too far out on the dead branches we were using as steps and breaking many off. But up we went anyway, getting near the top, when Mike yelled out it was time to leave. That was when we noticed we had an issue. The branches we needed to come down were now missing and we were literally stuck up a tree. It would have been funny if Mike did not have to untie the rope for us to use to get down. Pat was always happy and funny and a great teammate.
Michael Lucia
Matt Kroeger and Pat McCarthy in King's Canyon CA backpacking in a surprise snowstorm.