Perry Smith Patterson Jr.

1943 - 2020

Perry Smith Patterson, Jr
07/17/1943 - 12/10/2020
Perry Smith Patterson, Jr., a career naval officer and retired lawyer, died peacefully at his home near Eugene, Oregon on December 10, 2020 after a long illness. He was 77.
Commander Patterson was born in Coudersport, Pennsylvania on July 17, 1943, and grew up largely in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where his father was a prominent attorney. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy, the University of Virginia, and the University of Georgia, graduating with a business and economics degree. He began his naval career when he enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a seaman recruit in 1962. He was later commissioned through the Reserve Officer's Candidate program as a line officer in 1966, and completed two tours on the Staff of Commander U.S. Naval Forces, Vietnam as Communication Operations Officer. He was released from active duty to attend law school at the University of South Dakota. He was selected for a commission in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps in 1973 where he served until he retired as the Executive Officer of the Navy Legal Service Office San Diego, his most favorite tour, in 1988.
After his military career, he continued in public service as a prosecutor, first in San Diego and later as Deputy District Attorney in Kern County, California. After retiring in 2005, he moved to the Eugene area with his wife, Jacqueline Russell Patterson, a former teacher and civilian Contracting Officer for the U.S. Navy, whom he married in 1973. She survives him, as do a son, Loren Sean Patterson, and his wife, Barbara, of New Albany, Pennsylvania; a daughter, Jennifer Bridget Patterson and her husband, Louis A. Craco, Jr., of New York City; and three grandchildren, Tristan, Maggie and Louis Craco; as well as six siblings.
CDR Patterson was an active member of numerous service organizations over the years serving as an officer or board member in Rotary, Kiwanis International, the International Footprinter's Association, and the Military Officers Association of America. He was also a regional director for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve in southern Oregon.
CDR Patterson suffered with Lewy Body Dementia for a number of years and has made a donation to the Oregon Health and Sciences University Brain Bank in the hopes that some good would come from his death to this terrible disease. Memorial contributions may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association at www.lbda.org.
A memorial service will be held at a later date when such a gathering is once again safe.
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