Patterson, Dave

From Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki

Dave Patterson was one of Bradford High School Class of 1988. Dave grew up in Bradford as the only child of a single mom, JoAnne Patterson. , JoAnne's husband died when Dave was very small.^PUTP6 JoAnne has a brother that served her son as a father figure while growing up.^PUTP33

By the time he graduated high school, Dave was six-foot-two, the tallest boy but way shorter than the tallest person in his class, Shae Kirkendahl who was six foot eight!^PUTP1 Dave was not happy with the small-town gossip in Bradford and hit the on-ramp, going to college at Columbia University in New York City. He married his college girlfriend, Julie Albright, and had two sons with her, Tyler and Cameron.

David declined the invitation to the 10-year reunion because one of his kids was sick. Emily Holst noted in 1998, "He doesn't make it back here much; he's too much of a New Yorker now. I think the last time I saw him was when he stopped in for gas a year or two ago." ^HS3 He worked as a book editor with Dunlap and Fyre.^PUTP4.

Dave's wife Julie died in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, while she was on the cell phone with Dave. Devastated by her death, he barely kept himself together, mostly for the sake of his sons.^PUTP1 He was helped to recover by Shae, who also lived in New York, and a classmate he couldn't remember, Eve McClellan.

Dave has never had a good relationship with Julie's parents, Deborah and Stan Albright.

Dave Patterson is the main character of Picking Up the Pieces.