Keith Patterson:
CLASS OF 1968
St. Francis High SchoolClass of 1968
Watsonville, CA
San Diego State University - MusicClass of 1975
San diego, CA
Don Bosco CollegeClass of 1973
Newton, NJ
Fullerton Junior CollegeClass of 1971
Fullerton, CA
Our Lady of Guadalupe SchoolClass of 1964
La habra, CA
Keith's Story
1. CATCH UP: My high school was a junior seminary (studying to become a priest). After I finally figured out that I was not cut out for that lifestyle, I returned home briefly (La Habra, CA), majored in music at Fullerton Community College, then transferred to San Diego State University (still majoring in music).
Sang and played bass in a rock/pop band for several years, met and married a wonderful woman, then joined the military (U.S. Coast Guard) in order to be a part of something bigger than myself, and provide some healthcare and other benefits and stability for my beginning family.
Intended to put in 4 years, then use the G.I. bill to continue my music education and pursue a career in that area. Turned out I -really- enjoyed the Coast Guard and made a career of it.
Along the way, we discovered that we were unable to create children of our own, so we adopted three (all grown up and living on their own now). Somewhere along that journey, we fell apart (my wife and I), and got divorced. With mutual agreement, I kept and raised the children (teens at the time).
Eventually, the kidlets somehow magically became adults and I decided to give marriage another stab, marrying a woman with a young child. Apparently true to my pattern, that child is now a teen and I'm separated and soon-to-be-divorced from my second wife (but this time my youngest child is living with his mother). Have a good relationship with ex#2 and see the young 'un every week.
For that matter, I have a good relationship with ex#1 and am in at least weekly contact with my other three (grown) kidlets.
So now I'm living alone (bummer), retired from the military (actually had a good time serving my country and sorta miss being a part of that community), enjoying a second career with Kaiser Permanente as an I.T. Project Manager (lots of data analysis which probably bores the heck out of most people, but I -love- it), re-connecting with my music (composing and arranging, singing with various groups in the Bay Area), and participating in one of my all-time favorite activities -- sailing.
All in all, not doing badly. Pretty good health (although I definitely need to lop off a lot of weight), still active and really enjoying life again, hate the living-alone thing but figure I'm probably not going to go down the relationship aisle again having fumbled it twice already.
Now I'm looking ahead and see a second retirement on my horizon (from Kaiser), and starting to think about "what next". It's probably going to be one of two options.
a. I buy a crusiing-capable sail boat and do some serious sailing probably setting off down the coast to Mexico then sorta follow the winds across the Pacific and see where they take me for a couple of years. Just to do it and because there's nothing more incredible than drifting along in a sail boat on the open sea with a gazillion stars above. or
b. Maybe stay in the Bay Area, finally finish up that music degree, settle in and maybe teach music, and take little composing and arranging jobs as they come along and just tinker with my music in whatever direction I get interested in.
The question is whether to go a-wandering or settle in and go for stability where I am. Just don't know which way I'll lean right now, but got a couple of years before pulling the plug on Kaiser.
Not sure if that's surprising in any way, but that's where I am today in 2008.
2. WHICH TEACHER: Kindergarten...Mrs. Cuttingham (but she's probably long gone). Grammar School...Sr. Anette (loved her fiesty spirit). High School...Fr. Luna (my musical mentor).
3. WILDEST THING I DID IN SCHOOL. I'm sad to say...nothing. I was always Mr. straight arrow. In retrospect, I probably played...Expand for more
it way too "safe".
4. FIRST CRUSH. First crush was Donna Lang (2nd & 3rd Grade), then I fell hard for Christine Coffey in 4th grade....hmmmm, I don't think I ever lost that crush. I used to sit behind her in class, and lightly run my fingers through her hair. It was very sweet and I can still to this day remember how wonderful that felt. Never went any further than that but has always been a cherished memory.
5. HOW DO I HOPE FRIENDS REMEMBER ME? Actually, I've never thought about that. In fact, I don't much care about what anyone thinks of me. I've always been focused forward, not backward. I've laid out paths in my life and marched down them not worrying a lot about whether it was the "right" path or not. I've always found that picking a direction or a goal....any direction or goal...then pursuing it....was rewarding. You know what they say...it's not the destination, but the journey. I've always found that to be true. So I don't spend much energy looknig back and wondering or worrying about how people will remember me.
6. TO BE HAPPY, I'D BE WHERE, DOING WHAT, WITH WHOM? I think my greatest contentment would be sailing on a good boat in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles from land, sailing "down wind" wherever that was heading, in a warm climate. I guess in my mind I'm either alone (but I don't feel lonely, just quiet) or with someone who's a soul-mate...that I'm so comfortable with that it's easy to share that limited space in the boat with a like-minded partner....but mostly, I think I imagine that scenario sailing alone (because I think I've pretty much given up on the concept of a soul-mate).
7. WHAT'S BEEN MY BIGGEST SURPRISE? I think that once I abandoned the concept of becoming a priest and I thought about my future, I always believed that I'd be a great husband. I'm kind and gentle and giving, and thought I'd make for a good, supportive husband for my mate. Evidently, at least two women greatly disagreed with that, being twice-divorced. I'm blind enough to my own deficiencies that I'm still surprised that that occurred.
8. MY ONE DO-OVER. I think I'd have fought to keep my first wife with me. When she left, I thought that's just what she wanted and needed, so I supported her in that and said nothing. Looking back, I wish I'd have fought for her to stay. I don't know that the outcome would have been any different, but I think I owed it to our years together and to our children to try harder to convince her to stay. I think our children would have had a better life than the one I was able to give them alone.
9. WEIRDEST JOB I EVER HAD. I never had a weird job. I was always too much the straight-arrow. I guess the most-different job was while making my living as a musician, but I don't consider that weird.
10. WHERE HAVE I LIVED. Well that's a typical military story. My reason for moving was because the military transferred me here and there. So I've lived all over, but I guess primarily in the Bay Area, Boston and Oklahoma City. I had several assignments in each of those places, then lots of other short assignments in all kinds of other places...Maine, Yorktown Virginia, Washington DC, Florida, Anchorage and Kodiak Alaska, Seattle Washington. I spent my childhood in La Habra, CA; moved to Watsonville CA for High School; did a year in "novitiate" in New Jersey. Lived for a time in San Diego...then all the military postings, and back to the Bay Area (where I'm still living).
That's my story to date. Who knows what future chapters may still need to be written. Probably not many if I settle in here and do the music teaching thing. Probably lots of new chapters if I do the cruising thing. Time will tell.
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