Frederickson’s Curt Patterson loved to build things, then COVID-19 struck him down
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Joseph “Curt” Patterson loved to work, and he loved building things.
Whether that meant physically — like the decades he spent in construction and the two homes he framed in Frederickson for his family — or in the community — like the 11 years he spent helping to lead the charge for the development of Stan and Joan Cross Park — Curt was rarely idle, his wife of 57 years, Pat Patterson, recently recalled.
If there was a big project, Curt wanted to be part of it.
If a friend or neighbor was in need, Curt was always there, Patterson said by phone.
“He was a very compassionate person, and he was always helping somebody,” Patterson recalled of her husband, who passed away Dec. 20, at the age of 82, after what she described as a brief and “horrible” battle with COVID-19.
“If someone had a flat tire alongside the road, he would be the one to stop and help them. If somebody needed a ride, he would pick them up,” Patterson said. “I just remember so many times throughout our life that he was always that person.”
The life Curt and Pat Patterson spent together spans decades, and generations of American life.
Patterson, 78, recalled meeting her future husband while swimming at American Lake one summer.
Patterson grew in Lakewood, graduating from Clover Park High School in 1962. About the same time, the Army drafted Curt, who was raised in Alice,Texas, and sent him to Fort Lewis.
On those sunny, carefree days of her youth, Patterson remembered how it quickly became clear that Curt was “a good guy” in the crowd.
“He was a very kind person. He was always wanting to give me a Coke,” Patterson said. “I wasn’t a Coke drinker at the time, but he’s from Texas, so that’s the way they did it. They always had a boat, and an ice chest full of Coke.”
By 1963, the couple was married.
Together, they welcomed their first child, Steve, in 1964, followed by twin boys — Brian and Brad — in 1967, Patterson said.
“You know, we got married and we didn’t know anything. We started having our kids,” Patterson said of the family life she quickly forged with her husband, the bulk of which was spent raising three boys on the couple’s rural land in Frederickson.
“We built the house out here and we raised our boys here,” Patterson said. “They had the full run of this area. I would dress them and they would go out and run in the woods, wade in the swamp, build forts. … I think that was the greatest experience they could possibly have had.”
Away from home, Curt was embarking on a long career spent in and around construction, Patterson said, describing building as a “passion” of her husband’s.
After working in construction for 25 years, Curt was hired by Pierce County as a building inspector in 1991, Patterson said. Later, after being diagnosed with a serious lung condition that made Patterson fear she would lose her husband, he returned to work as a county plans examiner, until his retirement.
Patterson said her husband’s love of construction projects — big and small, and from pounding nails to reviewing detailed blueprints — was a constant throughout his life.
It also carried over to his life outside of work, Patterson said.
In particular, Patterson said Curt was proud of the role he played helping to create Cross Park, which officially opened to the public in October.
The first park in an area in desperate need of one, Cross Park — which sits on 4 acres next door to the Naches Trail Preserve prairie habitat — features a large community center built out of two historic refurbished and renovated Mayflower Dairy barns.
From fundraising to attending regular planning meetings, Curt spent more than a decade helping to push the project forward, Patterson said.
“I think you’re passionate about anything that helps your community,” Patterson said.
Asked how she will remember her husband, Patterson pointed to his “compassion.”
It was a defining characteristic, she said, attributing it to the childhood Curt spent helping to care for a mother with significant health issues in the wake of the Great Depression.
As a child, Curt quickly learned to cook, following his ailing mother’s instructions as she lay in bed, Patterson said.
Now, Patterson said she was learning how to carry on without her husband.
“I feel like I’m putting my life back together, one piece of a puzzle at a time,” Patterson said.
— If you’ve lost a loved one to COVID-19, we’d like to tell your story. Please email us at newstips@thenewstribune.com.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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