We lost Dad suddenly on the bright, sunny Thursday morning of May 24, just as the tomato garden was becoming established.  He was as industrious and focused as ever until his very last day.  Patrick was born in Pittsburg, KS on June 22, 1926, the fourth of five children born to Abbie and Albert Massmann.

          Patrick (Pat) graduated from St. Mary’s High School in June of 1944 and enlisted in the Navy the following week.  After basic training he was sent to Boston and assigned to the USS Tinsman, a destroyer escort.  After passing through the Panama Canal, the ship’s mission took the crew to ports across the South Pacific, and to the Philippines, China and Japan before returning to San Diego in December of 1945 by way of Hawaii.  An honorably discharged veteran before the age of 20, Dad has shared many interesting and exciting stories with us about his experiences during the war.

          On returning home, Pat attended Kansas State College in Pittsburg using his GI Bill education benefit.  He earned BS degree in Physics in 1951, and began a lifelong career in engineering.  He worked in oil exploration along Gulf Coast during the formative years of that industry.  It was during this time that he met his best friend and the love of his life, Eleanor Louise Morris (Ellie), and they were married in February of 1955.  Their 54 year marriage was one of unconditional love and devotion to family, strengthened by the sense of humor, adventure, patience and kindness that they shared.

           Pat and Ellie alternated life between Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, following the fortunes of the oil industry while raising a family of four children.  In 1962, Pat changed career paths from oil to aerospace, and moved the family to Florida.  As a part of the team responsible for the suborbital tracking of military and civilian missile launches, Pat was involved in the evolution of the Gemini and Apollo space programs, culminating in the first landing of a man on the Moon.  Pat and Ellie made sure that the children understood that we had front row seats to an important time in our country’s history. 

In the seventies and eighties, Pat and Ellie moved to North Carolina, Washington, Ohio, Colorado and then back to Washington with the nuclear power industry.  No matter where their travels took them, they made a beautiful and loving home for their family, always working as a team.  Even after Ellie passed away in 2009, Pat happily hosted the growing family gathering on Christmas Eve each year as grandchildren married and great-grandchildren came along.

In retirement, Pat’s energy was channeled into vegetable gardening, with his tomatoes becoming a local legend, and impressively maintaining his home and yard.  Pat is deeply loved by his grandchildren, who know him as kind, thoughtful, “with-it,” and keeping up with what’s going on in each of their lives.  He and Grandma Nick (Ellie) are their role models, and set the standard for what strong family relationships should be.  Dad’s loss leaves a void in our family that cannot be replaced.  His love, companionship, and devotion to family will be missed forever.