Mr. David Mark Patterson
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David's obituary
David – Our Son lived life fully!
David Mark Patterson was born May 16, 1978, in La Mirada, CA and passed December 29, 2023, in South Lake Tahoe, CA at the age of 45.
Ever since David was a small child, most of Jolene’s statements were prefaced with “He marches to the beat of his own drum!” Whether it be talking to parents of his friends, or family members asking about David, questioning the way he dressed or the style of his hair, none of our peers seemed to have a child that dressed, acted, or thought the way David thought.
Dave excelled at school, had enough credits to graduate High School a year early at the end of 11th grade. He moved to our local mountain areas and snowboarded whenever possible. He returned to college, first at San Diego State, then finished up at Long Beach State with a degree in art, “of some sort”.
Dave’s college graduating project was a unique set-up of a small school room with a mattress in the center of the room with dictionary pages scattered on it and around the room; fascinating phrases written on all 4 walls; and a unique audio system connecting his hosting friend and those of us experiencing the room to talk with David ‘from a distant, unknown, location’.
Dave mostly lived on his own, traveled about, making choices that many of us wouldn’t have made. He loved the snow, the mountains, and the lakes surrounding those mountains. In a recent picture we were able to see the view Dave enjoyed from a point near his apartment in South Lake Tahoe.
As an amazing illustration of Dave’s survival and wanderlust trait, he arrived at the entrance to Disneyland Paris with his girlfriend and a pass in his pocket. When the Hostess wouldn’t allow the use of the pass, Dave confidently said, ‘Call my dad, he’ll tell you it’s OK.’ As part of the early 2AM call to California, she spoke with a sleepy father to get the info necessary for Dave to enter and thoroughly enjoy the experience.
He once found a journal that Jolene had written about her Dad. She was writing about the dad that she had when she was younger, and the Dad that she had at 80 years old. And, she was pondering how her children might remember the older Jolene, compared to the younger Jolene. Dave dated his thoughts 4/9/1999 and added the following:
Dear Mom
I spent so far almost 21 years with you. There are tons, I mean tons of fond memories. Writing this will be one of them. You’ll probably read over this when I get married and again when I have my first batch of kids and so on. So, I am gonna start a list… and I’ll continue on my own and give you those to add to your collection.
Here I go:
“Joe’s Bar and Grill” you stab em, I’ll slab em”
Being spanked with a wooden spoon and making it break.
My first ski trip in 4th grade which caused my addiction to snow.
You bringing sno-cones to my birthday and giving to my class.
I remember being in trouble, a lot, at school for pantsing people, bringing nudie magazines, fighting.
You saved me when I fainted in Rowland Heights
Taco Bell nights, when dad was at school
Taking me to soccer practice
Taking me to the skateparks to get memberships
Taking me to all my buddies houses
4th grade birthday/swim party with strawberries and angel food cake
Helping me cut my hair
Taking me to gymnastics and seeing you and dad cry at the competitions
Taking me to a trout farm
Virginia Lakes
Sam’s Spa, getting rained out
Mission Bay camping
The station wagon, road trips, driving backwards (cuz I sat in the far back)
Teaching me to drive
All the times you gave me girl advise
All the times you held me while I cried about my girl problems
Pizza pockets and Costco muffins in the outside freezer, always.
Grocery shopping, and me always throwing a skate magazine in the cart.
Teaching me how to sew and being patient when I broke your machine.
You stealing my first girlie poster that Matt had given me for my birthday.
Stocking stuffers
Valentine gifts
Always telling me, “I got such cute legs”
Taking care of me when I’m sick
Scratching my back
Popping my pimples
Putting Tabasco sauce on my fingernails, so I wouldn’t bite em.
Taking me to see ET, I cried sadly as we left.
Picking me up from Los Altos when my pants were too big.
Idyllwild, always having super good snacks
Buying me collared shirts when I was really into those.
Oh, yeah, taking me to get stitches in my lip from skating.
I will write more later, my head hurts….
A short 15 years ago, during the Thanksgiving weekend, it was a watershed, ‘ahh hah’ moment for Mark in understanding who David was. While visiting Matt’s home we received the ‘one call’ from Dave at the local police station. On his return trip from Oregon, he was being booked for attempting to spend the night “under-the-stars” at Golden State Park. And his dog was spending the night at the local animal shelter. In the morning Mark lovingly arranged for a dog friendly hotel, picked up both, fed them, brought them to the hotel, said sad goodbyes, and cried all the way back to Matt’s. Dave demonstrated again his trait of being a survivor, being creative, being watched over by a Heavenly Father.
For the last six years Jolene has been Dave’s sole family connection. She’s kept in contact with Dave mostly by email although he would often send a postcard from Tahoe on special occasions. In his emails he frequently would mention to say Hi to Grandma Cleo and to Kristen. Jolene was gracious about forwarding copies to the family, so we had a sense of staying in touch.
The most recent times of visiting with Dave were some years ago at Martha & Mark’s wedding, more recently at Grandpa Dick’s funeral, and most recently, Jolene was able to visit and play with him at Lake Tahoe. They had a blast with pictures of smiles and much laughter. The photos showing Jolene & David parasailing were from that visit.
He apologized for not being at Kristen ‘s wedding, as he felt he would ruin it. He had recently evacuated where he was living due to fires and had to drive with friends and their chickens to Reno to stay until it was safe. I think that experience really scared him.
Dave was a hard worker in all the establishments he found himself in. A couple of years ago, he took Jolene to many prior places of employment, and she was pleased to see the staff very welcoming and kind to David.
His life was challenging, he was lonely, and he had thoughts foreign and different than most of us.
David was kind and self-sufficient, with strong emphasis on ‘self-sufficient’. Upon hearing of his death, a loved family member noted that he was “an intelligent and caring person”.
We loved him with all his quirks.
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