An Old Friend will die Today

My longtime neighbor will not see the sun set today. Two people could not possibly have been more on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, but we made it fun. His sense of humor brought everyone a lot of joy. We traded barbs almost every time we saw each other. On my last visit he said "I am glad to see you,but I don't know why?".

My old neighbor had conviction, he believed what he believed, and was not going to change his conviction on a whim to get a few votes. One thing I always remember fondly about Pat was the time I was running for the board of directors for the local phone company. A member of his party was sent through the crowd to tell everyone to vote against Mike Quinn. Pat told the political hack " No one tells me who to vote for!".

Pat was a sailor, and I never met a sailor I didn't like. Pat and I worked on a lot of projects together and we always had fun doing it. Anyone who ever met Pat remembered him for his ability to get a laugh out of anything. Pat never took himself too seriously. We had only known each other for a few years when I ran into Pat one day going into the NAPA store at the end of the street. Pat was selling hair pieces at his barber shop in those days. Of course he had one for himself. As Pat held the door open for me at the NAPA store he reached up and grabbed his hair piece like it was a hat. He held it over his heart and said "Good day sir". Curious I asked Pat "How do you hold that on?". Pat replied without hesitation "With wood screws".

Pat knew my political views and his were diametrically opposed, but he also knew if he needed me for anything all he had to do was call. I knew the same about Pat. In this regard we learned a lot from each other. Both of us considered ourselves to be Irish and I think this was our common bond. Many times Cissie and I have considered moving, but what has always kept us here was the good neighbors. We have always been blessed with a real neighborhood. Pat has moved to a different neighborhood, but I am sure a lot to the angels there will soon know his stories by heart, and I presume he took a few of his books there to peddle.