Pat was born in the relatively small town of Cleveland, Tennessee (population about 12,000 in the 1950s). Cleveland is about 40 miles northeast of Chattanooga. Pat was born the youngest of five children, each about 4-5 years apart. (Three older brothers – Kenneth, Lynn and Mike, and a sister, Martha) His oldest brother was 17 when Pat was born. At time Pat was born, his mother was the assistant to the administrator of Speck Hospital, a small 20-bed facility. When she went into labor very early, the doctor assumed that the baby would not live. Pat was born at two pounds. The doctor put him aside, declaring him born dead, and treated his mother. One of the nurses saw some small spark of life in the tiny baby and began to try to revive him. Soon he was breathing and hollering. Ten days later, on Christmas Eve, Pat’s mother walked out of the hospital with him, declaring, “My baby’s not spending Christmas in the hospital.” The nurses wanted to call the police and report her for “kidnapping” the baby, but the doctor refused, claiming, “He’s going to die anyway – he might as well die at home.” Pat’s mother placed him in an empty aquarium with a heat lamp, heating pad and hot water bottle. She turned the house thermostat up as far as she could (above 90°) and the family celebrated Christmas in their bathing suits. Pat’s sister, who was ten years old when he was born, described him as looking like a “skinned rat with a big head.” She said, "I remember rocking that precious baby in the middle of the night with my shorts on and sweating up a storm, but I would have done anything for 'my baby.'" To the surprise of everyone but his family, Pat survived and thrived. He was often sick as a child with pneumonia and with hypoglycemia that sometimes led to convulsions, but he was a very active, happy child. He was also a well-known mischief maker. His family loves to share tales about Pat’s exploits as a child. (In all the best stories, you can count on someone ending up naked.) Pat's sister recalls seeing the young Pat standing in the front yard, naked, in the rain. When asked why he was doing so, he replied, "God sent the rain to make the flowers grow, so if I stand in the rain naked, it will make me grow." Pat’s siblings were all musical. Pat’s older brothers played guitar and Pat wanted to play as well. He was too small to play their big guitars, so they gave him an old broken ukulele to learn on. Pat was able to play by ear, duplicating songs he had heard and has soon mastered the ukulele and the guitar. In 1961, when Pat was about five or six, the family moved to Staten Island, New York, in search of new job opportunities for his father. That was a rough time for the family. One day during that time stands out vividly in Pat’s mind. When he was seven, he and one of his friends decided to play hooky from school. They left for school at the regular time, but didn’t go. They played all day at their fort in the woods, avoiding being seen and making sure to arrive home at just the right time, so as to not raise suspicion. Pat was very surprised to walk in the house and see his father sitting there. He wasn’t supposed to be home from work yet. Pat’s father asked, “So, Pat, how was school today?” Pat answered, “Fine.” His father asked, “Anything unusual happen? Any assemblies or announcements?” Pat replied, “No, it was just a normal day.” Pat was busted! It seems that the day he chose to try playing hooky just happened to be November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. All the schools dismissed early and closed, but, of course, Pat would not have known that. Later, he decided to try it again. Thinking and trying to be smarter, he and his friend spent the day riding the Staten Island Ferry. That worked for a while until the ferry attendants and cops began checking the bathrooms whenever the ferry pulled into dock. Finally, the family got a break. Pat’s father started a business with a man in Delaware and the family moved there in 1965. They had a nice house and Pat attended a really nice school. The family joined the swim club and Pat excelled at swimming. Pat pleaded with his father to buy him a set of drums. Pat, didn’t know at the time, but now thinks that his father almost went broke that Christmas to get him the drums he so desperately wanted. Pat later built up to a larger set with double basses and five cymbals. However, he eventually went back to the guitar because drums became boring. Pat’s father died of cancer at age 54 during Pat’s Junior year in high school and his mother died at age 61, soon after Pat graduated from high school. (by the skin of his teeth, he says). In Pat’s own words, “I was wild and crazy then.” He had held many part-time jobs, working as a stage hand in and around Philadelphia. His oldest brother had moved to Kansas City and offered him a chance to get out of the wild, drug-filled scene he was involved in. Pat moved to the Kansas City area (actually Lawson, Missouri) and lived with his brother’s family for a while. He later moved out and picked up enough small jobs to pay the rent. He tried stage hand work and that started that the theatre/music scene all over again. He enjoyed it for a while. He met and worked for many great bands and met many famous people. He has many stories about that time – just ask him! In the early 1980s Pat began working at Crown Center, first at the Crystal Pavilion restaurant as a dishwasher and later a sous-chef. He later moved to working in the storeroom that provided supplies to the many restaurants and shops at Crown Center. One summer day after work, not wanting to go home to an empty apartment, he headed across the street to hear a free, Friday night concert. As he describes it, “The best thing that ever came from working there was I met my true love, my wife Dottie. That's another wild story. We . . .” Pat's oldest brother, Kenneth, died in 1991 at age 52 of lung cancer. His wife, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, is a character actress, appearing in numerous movies and television shows. They have four children, Donna, Scott, Tamara and Jesse. There are 5 grandchildren: Teresa, Chris, Bhodi, Devin, and Sage. There is one great-grandchild, Pat's brother, Lynn, died in 2001 at the age of 59 of heart disease. He had been married and divorced twice. With his first wife, Linda he had four children, Erin, Lisa, Michael, and Lori.  With his second wife, Jane, he had one son, Matthew. There are six grandchildren: Erik, Alex, Zane, Max,  Bailey, and Michael, Jr. One granddaughter, Jaime, was killed by a drunk driver in 2005, when she was 14. Pat's brother, Mike, died in 2005 at the age of 54 of leukemia. He and his wife, Colleen, had 6 children: Sean, Steven, Christy, Kelly, David and Kevin. There are nine grandchildren: Madeline, Gavin, Jacob, Tyler, Caitlyn, Isabella, Luke (aka Connor), Peyton and Michael David, II, with another expected soon. Pat's sister, Martha, is alive and thriving, despite battling and beating breast cancer twice. She works for the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana and is the Music Director for the Lutheran Church on campus and for the Jewish Temple in Urbana. She is a phenomenal organist. Martha was married to Chester Alwes, but is now divorced. They have three children: Christopher (aka Kik), Jonathon (aka Joff) and Benjamin (known to his niece and nephews as Uncle Sheep because his initials are BAA). She has three grandchildren, Karlye, Sullivan and Canyon. Martha is the beloved aunt who appears so often is these pages as Colleen's cherished Aunt Marfa or Tia. In 1988, the family was involved in a serious car accident that led to a back injury and surgery for Pat. He could no longer do heavy lifting and labor, so he went through Rehabilitation Institute and attended Electronics Institute to be trained as an Electronics Technician. In 1990 he received an Associate's Degree of Applied Science in Communication, Electronic and Microprocessor Technology. He worked for GW Ryan, Gateway, and H&R Block as an Electronics Technician. In 2009, Pat was hospitalized and diagnosed with COPD/Emphysema and has since been determined to be disabled. He continues to stay as active as possible, playing in the Praise Team at our church, running the sound system for Sunday worship and working around the house and yard. Life has changed drastically since the onset of his disability, but Pat continues to say, "Life is Good!"