The Best of the Best

I've used the phrase Best of the Best many times this past week.  He was the complete package, tall, handsome, smart, athletic, rugged, upbeat, happy, loving, doting father, loving husband, and despite all that--humble.  He was like the golden retriever in the park; everyone wants to gather around that beacon of unconditional love and energy.  You can see why Renae fell for him.

I loved skiing with him.  It was like our brains were connected; we hardly needed to talk because he always saw the snowpack the same way and we automatically made the same terrain choices.  He was always my first call when I was choosing avalanche instructors for one of our classes.  I remember thinking several times that I would love to see his application in the pile if we ever had an opening at the Utah Avalanche Center.

Like most people, my only regret is not spending more time with him.  I should have taken the advice of my 96-year-old mother-in-law from the Czech Republic who has lived with us these past 10 years.  She was not only a broze medalist in gymnastics in the Olympiad, but survived the Nazi invasion and later the Communists.  Probably 10 times per day she will look out the window or look at a flower and say in her thick accent, "Look zee beauty."  And every time I head out the door, she says "Enjoy every minute."

I was very honored to be asked to be the MC of his memorial as well as using my photo in his obituary.
Here is a panorama photo I took of the memorial from the podium.  Zooming in on my big monitor, I conservatively counted over 300 faces and there were many people back in the shadows I could not see.  Should we all be so lucky to have so many people at our memorial.  Such is the trail he left in this world and the ripples in our pond will spread outward through many people for a very long time.

 If you want a full resolution version of these photos, you can download a zip file from my Dropbox folder at:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhtubo8i4rfcw19/Craig_Patterson_memorial_pano_and_obit_photo_by_Bruce_Tremper.zip

Bruce Tremper