Obituary: Michael R. Patterson, 69

Michael R. Patterson passed away September 23, 2012 near Laramie, Wyo. He loved traveling and died doing what he loved.

He was born in Astoria, Ore. on November 9, 1942 to Cora Halvorsen Patterson and Clair LeRoy Patterson. The family lived in a floathouse on the John Day River. In 1951 he moved with his family to Anchorage.

Mike attended school in Anchorage and joined the Navy after high school in 1960. Part of his service time was shipping out on the Aircraft Carrier Midway.

After his honorable discharge in 1964, he lived in Vancouver, Wash. and Redwood City, Calif. He spent many years working as a long-haul truck driver.

Michael gillnetted with his father as a young man. He began coming to Southeast Alaska in 1979 where he ran a fish tender out of Wrangell where he met his wife, Lauran Woolery. They were married in 1988 and made their home in Wrangell.

He hired on the Alaska Marine Highway System in 1983 and retired as an able-bodied seaman.

Mike loved fishing, hunting and all things outdoors, music and dancing, boats and cars, tinkering on machinery, all animals but especially his tiny Chihuahua "Dos" who traveled with him to keep him calm and happy.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Sandra.

He is survived by his wife Lauran; daughters Christine (Rick) Gamas of Glasgow, Mont. and Caity Rooney of Reno, Nev .; son Allen Rooney of Las Vegas, Nev .; family friend Gigi Torgramson of Wrangell; sister, Michelle (Stacy) Driscoll of Boise, Idaho; brother, Jimmy Patterson of Wrangell, nephews Cory, Josh and Jeremy Patterson, and Christopher Pulju; nieces Tanya Driscoll, Malissa (Chris) Kuhlman and Theresa (Jack) Glenz, as well as many cousins.

A service is planned for late December.