Patteau was my friend. That may surprise some of you, but we were real life friends for 15+ years, I met Gene at my Arrowhead tailgate sometime in the mid 2000’s. It was the only time we ever met face to face. We hit it off at the tailgate. We only knew each other from Chiefs Planet, we were obviously totally opposites in our political views but outside of that subject, we found we had a lot in common.
We decided to stay in real life contact after the game. Over the 15+ years we kept in touch with what was happening in our real lives. We worked together many times on the packages for the troops. He gave his time and not just money to help get those packages out to the troops.
He was so proud of his daughters. He would go on about how smart they were. Both are successful in life now. They live in NY and LA and as he said so proudly, just as conservative in their views as him.
Gene went through a divorce, daughters moving to different states. Moving etc. I shared with him my son’s path, my moves, milestones etc.
And then there was Gene’s health issues. I swore to keep them to myself. Sometimes I wanted to defend him about being short or aggressive towards someone. You would be short too if you only ½ of one lung left.
At the end, Gene needed a walker to move. On oxygen all the time. Have multiple cancers in different places. Paralysis in his right arm so when he posted on the Planet. He was only able to post using his one good arm and hand.
He was still fighting all that to the end. He did not go gently into the night. He went out fighting death with everything he had. I can only hope that when my time comes, I’ll have the courage he showed.
I will miss my friend.
Gene is the one behind Stevie Ray on the left. [Reply]
That history lesson on you and patteeu was just what I needed tonight, thank you for sharing that story, RM... he was clearly held in high esteem by everyone that knew him [Reply]
I’m getting tired of people dying, army buddies, co-workers, friends and family. Now CP guys are resting in peace. Been a hard few years in this category.
Patteeu; always good for the last say in something, right?
I wasn’t going to post anything more than a simple “RIP” type thing. And, sadly, I think I’ve confused him with one of the sauls I don’t get along with. I was looking through all the rep messages we’ve exchanged over the years, We got along a lot better than I remembered.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends, (rainman, good story), and from reading these posts there’s a few of you who thought pretty darn highly of him, even in disagreement. That’s pretty awesome.
Reminds me of my favorite Frost poem;
“ To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of the intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friendsa
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know that one life has breathed easier
because you lived here.
This is to have succeeded.”
I say Rest In Peace, you have succeeded...... [Reply]
Thanks for the info Rain Man, I had no idea you two were acquainted let alone that long.
One funny thing I remember about Pat was that he couldn’t watch YouTube videos on here until like 2010. He said he had dial up in the sticks where he lived.
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
After we got our graduate degrees, we went our separate ways. I moved to Denver and he moved back to his hometown area of Kansas City. He went to work for an IT consulting company, and got assigned to a big project in ... Denver. So we met once or twice when our schedules allowed. But then we fell out of touch for several years.
I started my company and was working alone from home all day, and at some point I found the Star board to talk football. It was a great social outlet for a lone eagle entrepreneur. That led me to CP, and I happily posted there for a couple of years when I got a PM. It said, "I think I know you."
Patteeu and I had coincidentally found CP, and you know the rest.
He was a great guy. Always honorable, always clever, always respectful of others. I think we were destined to be friends because we had this Forrest Gump-like quality of always encountering each other - college, our engineering jobs, grad school, and chiefsplanet. I'm tempted to say that if I had a twin it would've been patteeu, but I don't think that does him justice. He was always moving through life at a higher level, and I was honored to ride with his posse.
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
At that point, I was not enjoying my job at all, and my career prospects were on a road to nowheresville. So I was doing some thinking and one day I met patteeu for lunch, just the two of us. I said, "Hey, I hate to leave you, but I'm about to do something radical. I'm going to quit, and I'm going to go to law school at the University of Texas at Austin."*
He looked at me and grinned. "I've got something to tell you as well. I've decided to quit, and I'm going to go to law school at the University of Texas at Austin."
I cannot overemphasize how freaky that was. Neither of us had ever talked to the other about going to law school. Neither of us had any connection to the University of Texas at Austin. Neither of us had ever even talked about quitting our jobs. But somehow we made exactly the same decision at exactly the same time.
As it turned out, I decided to pursue another degree, but we both moved to Austin and got our graduate degrees together. And then...
This sucks. We could all learn from Pat how to deal with those we disagree with. Pat had one of the best senses of humor. Whenever I’d post something I thought went over everyone’s head, I’d check and see a fresh rep from Pat. He was also very thoughtful and always remembered things that I’d briefly mentioned about myself and asked about how that was going. Gone but never forgotten. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 2112:
Thanks for the info Rain Man, I had no idea you two were acquainted let alone that long.
One funny thing I remember about Pat was that he couldn’t watch YouTube videos on here until like 2010. He said he had dial up in the sticks where he lived.
Makes me feel a little jackass-ish for posting an awful gif of a guy waving bye in the other thread. I think he would have appreciated the humor of it though, given its near-board tradition.
RIP Patteeu. Condolences to those that had a personal relationship with him. Certainly an entertaining and intelligent fella. [Reply]