Douglas William PATTERSON

1924 - 2022

DOUGLAS WILLIAM PATTERSON Douglas William Patterson was born on May 7, 1924 in Portland, Maine, and died at Sunnybrook Veterans' Residence in Toronto on December 20, 2022. Doug was the younger son of William Davenport Patterson and Sarah Jane (Whyte) Patterson and was predeceased by his brother, John (d. 2015 in Holden, Mass.) Loving husband of Elizabeth (d. 2015); incredible father to John (Catherine), Gord (Alison) and Dave (Leslie). Engaged grandfather to Joanna and Ashlyn, Adam, Issie and Gill, and Merritt and Mackenzie. His great-granddaughter, Callie, was born in July 2022. Doug spent his younger years in Portland and Augusta, Maine and Worcester, Massachusetts. His first job was in Worcester where he helped a friend collect newspaper subscription fees (each issue was 2 cents) so that he could go to the weekly movies. He moved to Woodstock, Ontario to attend high school and lived with his Aunt Marnie (his mother's identical twin sister) and Uncle Finn. Doug's mother felt that Canadian schools would offer him the best education. At age 15, he came close to dying of spinal meningitis. He was saved by the quick thinking of his Aunt Marnie, a retired nurse, and the hospital doctor who drove through the night to obtain the new sulfonamide wonder drug, the precursor to modern antibiotics. Ever the adventurer, at age 16, he was dropped off at the north end of Algonquin Park with his best friend, Craig McKay. They canoed for a week, with no adults, no life jackets, no bug spray, and no communication with the outside world. His Aunt Marnie was there at week's end at a pre-arranged spot to pick them up on the south end of the park. Each summer, Doug would travel with his parents and brother to join his cousins and grandparents across the bay from Port Carling in Muskoka. He and his cousins would often portage their light rowboat over into Silver Lake to fish for bass. They would jump or pole vault over the canoe cut as no bridge existed at this time (now known as Island Park Road). They rowed over to Port Carling to see the big steamboats come in. They would collect the mail at the little post office at the corner of the town's swing bridge. Sometimes they would have an ice cream cone at Whiting's Drug Store on the Port Carling wharf, if they had money in their pockets. His Aunt Marnie and Uncle Finn bought a cottage (Ferncliff) on Lake Rousseau which was just across the island from his grandparents' cottage in 1939. Ferncliff would later become the Patterson family cottage. In 1943, Doug enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He received his pilot's wings and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer. He started training on Mosquito Fighter Bombers, but by then, the war was winding down. After being discharged from the Air Force, he went to University of Toronto to study electrical engineering. In June 1952, Elizabeth and Doug were married in London, Ontario. Over the next six decades, they lived in Don Mills, Etobicoke, and the Swan Lake community in Markham. Doug worked for his entire career as an electrical engineer, most of it for Canadian Chromalox. Doug was happiest taking care of the Ferncliff cottage. He painted the same outside, peeling wall every summer. He helped with his grandchildren, raked the paths, chased off the red squirrels, occasionally swam, and made sure to take at least one leisurely boat ride at dusk in the old wood launch. He always wore the same faded beige windbreaker and Tilly hat. Many happy nights would start at the point in front of the cottage - high up on a rock face between two towering white pines with only a few carefully placed large rocks acting as a barrier to the water below. Miraculously, each son and then subsequent grandchildren respected the warning not to climb on the rocks and no one ever fell! When Doug retired from the office, Elizabeth was fond of saying that she retired from the kitchen, so Doug happily took over preparing many meals. They had many friends from Elizabeth's Western days, the bridge club and their Etobicoke neighbourhood. Craig McKay continued to be Doug's very dear friend some 80 years after they first met. The family would like to thank the caring staff at The Claremont, especially Cathy and Arlene; and Imelda and Gibson, of Home Instead, who were so kind in making his final weeks much easier. We would also like to thank the wonderful staff of Sunnybrook Hospital and the Sunnybrook Veterans' Residence where Doug had just moved into prior to his passing. At Doug's request, there will be no funeral. There will be an internment in Muskoka in the summer.