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]
I remember that tailgate. Having not been a frequenter to DC at that time, at first I wasn't sure why Patteau came up to the group with his hands up, an I'm unarmed pose.
It didn't matter your political leaning at that time, everyone could come together in peace and joy for something we all had in common. Everyone was welcome and everyone had a good time.
DC has become crazier and tries to spill out into the Lounge way to often now.
Hopefully everyone can lay down their arms here and say RIP.
Ouch. I don’t post on CP like I once did, but Patt was one of my favorites. We disagreed on a lot politically in DC, but we always found a way to share some common ground or at least common courtesy for each other. He would often defend me or temper my posts when under attack, and I would do the same for him. Even though we worked on opposite sides of the aisle, it felt like we were allies and, dare I say it, friends even if we’d never met in real life.
RIP Patt. Hopefully there’s blazingly fast high broadband wherever you are now. [Reply]
Back in the days, long ago, when I used to talk politics on the Planet, Patteeu and I would exchange PMs discussing what was going on in certain threads. He seemed like a really good guy. [Reply]
Thanks for sharing the incredible story of your friendship forged through this site. Thats very cool and a testament to the good that can come from this site. [Reply]
Pat and I had a lot of disagreements in recent years. I'm not entirely sure how he described his political leanings, but he certainly struck me as libertarian with regard to moderating. He hated that DC existed in the first place and hated that we would ban people from threads when they posted politics in the Lounge. And just in general, he basically wanted CP to run with almost zero moderation and was a frequent participant in the "gripe about the mods" thread as a result.
But there's no question that he was a far more level-headed and thoughtful person than the "DC crazies," and I can't think of a time he wasn't respectful with his criticism. A few times he even managed to convince me to see things his way.
I'll always appreciate that. And I appreciate someone having been around here for so long that they literally think about how they can tell everyone here of their passing in a way that is truly unique and yet perfectly "ChiefsPlanet" at the same time.
Wow, I had no idea that I had met him, but the photographic evidence is in the OP. I've met so many CPers over the years. I can't say I had much interaction with him here, other than his disagreements with mod actions. He liked to do that a lot.
Pat and I had our disagreements in DC but we always respected each other. The cool thing was outside of DC we agreed alot and I always respected what he said. I talked to him a few times about his health issues and I am absolutely heartbroken he has passed away.