Patrick Via

When God made Pat he broke the mold. He was a friend, ally, and mentor. From camping at June Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, sitting in Taos, New Mexico, listening to live music, or sucking Crawfish heads in New Orleans, Pat and Nancy were all about enjoying friends and having fun. Pat never met a stranger and was always willing to help a person in need. He was one of a kind!

Before completing college, Pat did a stint in the US Naval Reserve on active duty for 3 years on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. He returned to school and was graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BSCE. Straight from The University he went to work for the City Of Austin overseeing plans submitted to Department of Land Development. In 1978 Pat was recruited away from the City of Austin to join Espey Huston and Associates & eventually became Office Manager for the growing San Antonio office. When the land development went south in Central Texas, Pat decided to meet new friends. He and Nancy moved to Las Vegas. During this adventure he worked for SEA Engineers where he was overseeing plans for subdivision development. He also designed the civil portion of sites for various casinos, including the Luxor and Circus Circus expansion, but he also felt it was his obligation to contribute to their success by doing a little gambling and eating at the ever popular buffets. It was while here that he and Nancy started camping with friends. Four to five times a year, they would hook up their camper to his favorite Bronco and head for the mountains of California with that group of friends.

Pat & Nancy returned to Austin where Pat joined Jaster-Quintanilla Engineering and was responsible for the civil design portion of such various projects as one of the expansions of Darrel K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, UT Austin Disch-Faulk Field Renovation, and 3 large TxDoT Rest Areas outside of Laredo, Waco, and Columbus, Texas.

In 1995 Sam Hanna recruited Pat to help him with the engineering side of new business he was starting, Surveying And Mapping. In the early years, Pat took on the challenge of starting the Aerial Mapping Department. This was something that Pat knew nothing about, but being a man that never said no to a challenge, here we go. A few years later and once he had Aerial Mapping up and running successfully, Sam presented another challenge, Sub Surface Utility Engineering (SUE). Once again this was something new to Pat but this turned out to be his calling. To learn more about SUE, Pat spent the next couple of months working in the field with an expert in the SUE industry. Pat performed SUE on numerous highly recognizable projects in Texas over the next few years until his retirement. Just a few of these are; the expansion of Austin Bergstrom International Airport, the expansion of the ferry system between the mainland and Port Aransas for TxDOT, and the Laredo Utility System within TxDOT right of way.

Pat was born to, JR and Betty Via, in 1947, both predeceased. He is survived by the love of his life Nancy. Pat and Nancy would have celebrated 55 years of marriage the day following Pat's death. He is also survived by nieces and nephew they helped raise: Jaysie Hatch, her husband Grady, and Chayse 13 and Mackinsey 9; Kristy Fly and her children Paige 19, Madelyn 15, and Toby 13; John Collin Brown, his wife Crystal and their child Logan 19 months; and Tyler Ball.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.