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March 20, 1969 -- December 11, 2003 Patrick was born in rural Pennsylvania. He was raised by his grandmother and mother and excelled in subjects in school he found interesting such as math and computer science. The family moved to El Cajon, California and Patrick signed up with the Navy between his junior and senior years of high school. After high school, he served the Navy for over 11 years and duties included the USS Enterprise and USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy provided an opportunity for Patrick to travel extensively; particularly to Asia. It was the Big-E that brought Patrick to the east coast and Norfolk, Virginia. Patrick loved music and especially dance, electronic, and 90's alternative. It was natural for him to find the dance clubs and few raves available in Hampton Roads and nearby DC. He was interviewed by the Virginian Pilot at one rave (see Rave Craze). Patrick was gay and in the military during the time that President Clinton enacted the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. He was proud to contribute to a front page story of the Virginian-Pilot about gays in the military (see Serving their country). He was a machinist mate second class and duties included pump and hydraulics maintenance and repair, brig prisoner escort, supply requisitioner, customer service representative, and administrative assistant. He received numerous awards and letters of commendation from superiors.
In 2002, Patrick completed the DC AIDS Ride 7, biking 330 miles from Norfolk, Virginia to Washington D.C. over the course of four days. He raised over $2,400 for the Food & Friends and Whitman-Walker Clinic charities. He and his fellow riders raised over 6 million dollars! A news clip of the event is available here. Patrick moved to the center of the Ghent community and gave up his Honda Civic. It was this time that Pitney Bowes closed his office in Norfolk and offered Patrick an opportunity to transfer to an office in Chesapeake, 11 miles from his home. Without fail, Patrick rode his bicycle the entire distance twice each day through rain, snow, and hurricanes. His duties changed from providing technical support to solve problems with postage meters to the dull task of calling customers and reading scripts; a duty Patrick did not enjoy. Talking with Patrick and his co-workers it is evident this was not a duty Patrick found enjoyable or rewarding. Patrick reduced his hours at Pitney Bowes in 2002 and enrolled in Tidewater Community College. He resigned from Pitney Bowes in March of 2003 and attended college full-time utilizing the GI Bill. After two years at TCC, Patrick planned to obtain a degree in computer science from Old Dominion University. In April of 2003 I began to run into Patrick again. This time we talked in more detail and we learned that my partner Howard, Patrick, and myself shared many common interests. Our friendship grew and we attended concerts and festivals such as Harborfest and Bayou Boogaloo in downtown Norfolk. It was an outstanding summer! Patrick excelled in college and we enjoyed hearing about the exceptional grades he was making in many classes as well as animated stories of his eccentric professors. Patrick was an avid reader and owned hundreds of books. A friend suggested that he save money and check out books from the library, but Patrick told her he preferred to own books. I know of a few occasions where he re-read a favorite book. His library covered a myriad of topics. Many were science fiction, but a number were non fiction. Other topics included health, science, humor, classic literature, and world religion. Although Patrick indicates in his paper entitled, "Dee" that he is not religious, his library included books on Buddhism and Taoism. Patrick appeared to me to be well on the path to the Buddhist concept of enlightenment. He lived modestly without many conveniences some of us take for granted such as a car, cable television, and microwave oven. However, he was generous with the things he did own or could share with others. Late in the summer, Patrick began to feel tired and experience discomfort. He encountered roadblocks scheduling appointments at the Veterans hospital. He waited over 30 days for an initial appointment only to have it cancelled by the VA without explanation. The appointment was rescheduled for January 2004. Patrick was persistent and left numerous voicemails with the VA, even indicating he could be dead by 2004. As he began to feel worse, he visited the VA emergency room in Hampton several times, but they failed to diagnose the lymphoma attacking his body. On November 24th, Patrick was unable to answer the door to his apartment when we were picking him up to take him to an appointment at the VA in Hampton. Because the cancer had entered his spinal cord he was unable to move his legs. At this point he finally agreed to abandon the VA and gave us permission to call paramedics who transported him to Sentara Norfolk General a few blocks from his home. Patrick was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma the next day. It is a rare but rapid lymphoma striking only about 300 individuals per year in the United States. Patrick was admitted to the neurological ICU and Sentara provided an amazing level of care for Patrick over the next 22 days. He indicated to his doctors he wanted all available treatments and they complied. Patrick was brave and did not publicly entertain the idea this was a battle he would lose. After several days of radiation and chemotherapy, he was moved to a positive pressure room in the Burn/Trauma ICU to reduce a chance exposure to infection. Here we met truly exceptional caregivers and we are grateful. Howard and I were with Patrick when he died peacefully on the morning of December 11th at 7:10. Memorial Service, December 19th, 2003
Newspaper Articles Featuring Patrick
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This site was last updated 06/30/04
I was introduced to Patrick in 1992.
He stood out in a crowd and I always remembered his name. We spoke
whenever we saw each other, but never in depth. Later in the
90's, Patrick regularly traveled to Washington, DC on weekends where he made friends
and was considered a local. Patrick left the Navy in
November of 1998 and began working in a technical support call center
for Pitney Bowes in March of 1999.
A
small group of friends and former coworkers attended a memorial service
for Patrick held in the Norfolk Radisson, Nations Room. It's a
beautiful room overlooking the Norfolk Scope.
For three hours, we shared memories of Patrick and dined together.
The service concluded with Sarah McLachlan's,
