1923-2024
———
Max, “Pat” Patterson passed Friday, July 26, 2024, at Regency Pullman. Earlier in the month he celebrated his 101st birthday on July 8 in Pullman with his family and new great-grandson.
Pat and family (wife Annette, daughter Celeste and son Paul) came to Pullman 66 years ago in 1958 from Purdue University where he had just completed his Ph.D. and joined the Horticulture Department at Washington State. Born on a farm near Bourbon, Ind., Pat had worked on the muck farms in Northern Indiana as a child, first bring water to the men, later weeding onions, then many other jobs. He met Annette at Bourbon High School where he played basketball, ran track and later graduated in 1941, then enlisted in U.S. Navy. Annette and Pat were secretly married on July 11, 1943, in Michigan, because V-5 Naval Aviation Cadets were not supposed to be married. As a seaman first class, he saw the United States through many training centers including Flight Preparatory School at DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.; Civil Aeronautics Authority War Training School at Marquette University, Milwaukee; and the U.S. Navy Aviation Technical Training Center in Jacksonville, Fla. He continued his pre-flight training at the University of Georgia, Athens; then to the Naval Air Station, Flight Training Center in Dallas; and finally the U.S. Navel Training Station in San Diego. Annette followed him to most of these stations, where she also found work to be close to Pat. He was honorably discharged in January 1946. During his time in San Diego, Max made many trips to the Fairmont Library when off duty and Annette was working. He checked out and read 11 volumes of Luther Burbank’s horticulture books, who was an American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science. These books explained a lot of the practices that he had done as a kid. Burbank’s books awakened his interest in agriculture, so he enrolled at Purdue University with the assistance of the GI bill and later graduated from the Purdue in 1949 with a degree in horticulture and a minor in vegetable crops.
Then it was off to work as a research associate at Cornell University’s New York State Experiment Station in Geneva while also working on an Master of Science degree. Annette was expecting their first child, weeks before he started at Cornell. Celeste was born in July 1949 and Pat earned his Master of Science degree in vegetable crops with a minor in plant physiology in 1953.
Then Pat moved the family back to Indiana to pursue his Ph.D. at Purdue University. He was hired as an instructor with the understanding that he would embark on a Ph.D. designed to meet the needs of a new field of study, postharvest physiology of fruits and vegetables. Pat and Annette welcomed their second child, Paul, in January, 1957, in Lafayette, Ind. When Pat took his Ph.D. final exam in the fall of 1958 they were off to Washington State College (now WSU). Pat was excited to return to the state he’d seen briefly at 7 years old when his mother, sister, brother and two neighbor boys all went west in 1930 on the “Yellowstone Trail.” It was a “Grapes of Wrath” story as his mother was recently divorced, they had no money and there was a promise of work in Toppenish, Wash., running a boarding house and picking fruit for the older kids. They didn’t last long in Toppenish, but Pat fondly remembered Washington and its potential. Later, it was his weather training in the Navy that revealed the banana belt temperatures in central Washington and the potential production of temperate crops due to the million acres that was coming under irrigation from the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River that sold him on the position at Washington State sight unseen.
There he taught tree fruit production and postharvest physiology, mentored many Master of Science and Ph.D. students who went on to pursue successful careers in academia and industry. The apple industry benefited from Pat’s research in postharvest physiology using controlled atmosphere storage. Today, many fruits and vegetables utilize these practices to provide wholesome, ripe produce year-round. Pat had a long and fulfilling career at WSU, only retiring at 72 to spend more time with Annette. They traveled extensively nationally and internationally with their friends, son, daughter and grandchildren.
Pat and Annette were longtime members of the Pullman Presbyterian Congregation. He was a deacon, elder, delivered sermon audio tapes and helped with the landscaping. Pat was a joyful, gentle, loving person who enjoyed people and life to the end.
Annette preceded Pat in death in 2017. Pat is survived by daughter Celeste Shaw, son Paul and daughter in-law Nuket, grandsons Kevin and Cameron and great-grandson Myles. In Indiana, Pat is survived by sister in-law Pauline Becknell, niece Corinne Lucas, and nephews Luke Becknell and Michael Martin.
There will be a remembrance from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at Corbeill Funeral Home, 905 S. Grand Ave., Pullman, and a graveside service Monday, Aug. 5, at Sandridge Cemetery in Bourbon Ind., where he will be reunited with Annette.
Corbeill Funeral Home of Pullman is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be made at corbeillfuneralhomes.com.
