In Memory

Michael Patrick VIEW PROFILE

Michael Patrick

Mike was tragically killed in an automobile accident in the summer of 1965 (might have been 1964) while returning from a Cinncinnati Reds baseball game. Another man in the car was killed (Gary Browning) and a third, our classmate Tom Pope, was injured but survived. Mike had been attending Yale University. A very smart young man (a perfect 800 on the math section of the SAT's) he was also a wonderful athlete, a fine baseball player for Waggener's team and good at basketball as well, so good in fact that while he never went out for basketball at Waggener he made the Yale University freshman team. Mike came from a big loving family with, as I remember, 2 brothers and 2 sisters, Mike being the oldest. His parents were a lot of fun and always made Mike's friends feel welcome when they visited. His dad, Hugh, drove Mike and 2 fellow Waggener classmates to the start of their freshman year at Yale, a memorable trip for those involved as Hugh was a character. His sister Stephanie, who  passed away sometime before 2010, was married to Tom Bullitt.

Mike was a great guy, a practical joker who could be very aggravating at times, but always your friend. It seems like his face was constantly smiling and on the verge of laughter and that's how I remember him.



 
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08/24/12 01:42 PM #1    

Edward Warren

Mike Skelton's fine summary captures very well the Mike I knew and lived with during our first year at Yale.  As Mike notes, Mike Patrick's family was both big (six children as I recall) and very interesting.  Everybody seemed wip smart and fun to be around.  As Mike says, our drive to New Haven with Mike's Dad was an unforgetable coming of age moment.  Buying third-hand furniture for our grubby room in Farnam Hall, meeting classmates from all over, most of whom seemed certainly richer, smarter and better prepared.  It was a shock to all three of us, perhaps Mike most of all, because he had to wait tables in the dinng hall as part of his financial aid package.  Most of all, I think Mike missed his family as he told me on numerous occasions during our freshman year.

I was saddened when Mike decided to take a year off but that was nothing compared to the way we all felt when we learnded in the late summer of 1964 that Mike had died in a car accident returning from Cincinatti.  Such promise never allowed to be fulfilled.  He is still missed even in our Yale class -- many classmates asked me about Mike last summer at our 45th reunion. 

 


06/13/14 08:37 AM #2    

Barbara Wilson (Sanders)

Mike,  It was the summer of '65.  I remember that year b/c I was with my sister at either the mall or at Byck's after having returned from Paris, where I'd taken a class at the Sorbonne.    We ran into Mike P.'s sister, and when she told me that sad news, I nearly fell out.   I still think about that tragedy and know it must've stayed with you and Eddie throughout college and beyond.  Thanks for sharing your memories of Mike Patrick---such a talented boy from Louisville, whom we all were lucky to know---even if it was just a little bit of the big picture of him.  All the best, Babs


06/13/14 12:33 PM #3    

David Neideffer

Mike was a great guy and I have missed him.  He drop out because he could not pay for the (free ride).  When we help the kids at risk in LA & Orange Cty I think of Mike.  What he would have become.


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