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]
If I was being as curt as possible, that would be my official response.
Hope/think he knew, I considered him the closest to my symbiote/proxy.
We rarely disagreed on anything important, and what we did disagree with we would probably hash out, ending with both of us conceding at the same time 'eh, you could be right.'
And I can't even calculate the number of times I'd read some thread positively fuming at all the bad takes and poor reasoning going on, . . . then I'd see patteau's avatar, and literally sigh in relief as I read all my own criticisms covered concisely and eloquently.
Rare to find someone who so enduringly and consistently finished each other's, . . . sandwiches.
But then again, what did I know. Didn't even know he was sick. So even though I told him many times, probably didn't even register.
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.” [Reply]
Like I said in the other thread. I’ll miss him because he was one of the best posters on CP. We shared the same political leanings & he was insightful. Glad he got to see the Chiefs win a Super Bowl before passing.
I dont even know what to say. Tears real fucking tears that man always had a way of humbling people by saying less including myself. We always gave eachother shit but it was all love. His departure thread allowed me to be the loud mouth goofy asshole I've always been and to be humbled yet again by him silently.
Pat I love you man. I wish I knew what to say so I'll leave it at this. Thank you. [Reply]
He was good people, even if I didn't agree with him politically or know him in real life. Seriously a good person that I will miss. I found his obit online. I will leave it to BigRedChief or Rain Man to post it if they think his family would be okay with that. Wish I could have met him in person. [Reply]
