Donald Dale Patterson

Patterson, Donald Dale

90, of Clearwater, FL, originally from Spring Lake NJ, passed away July 29, 2025. Dr. Robert and Ruth Dale Patterson of Spring Lake New Jersey raised and spoiled their son along with his two beloved older sisters, June and Betty. He graduated from Monmouth College and after spending time as a Navy Corpsman, he attended his father's alma mater medical school in Kirksville, MO. While in medical school, he married the love of his life and literally the "Girl Next-door", his beloved wife of 64 years, Sylvia "Sissy" Delaney Patterson. After medical school and a couple babies, he moved the family to Clearwater, FL, and practiced his kind and warm-hearted old school medicine for over 40 years, still carrying his black doctor bag and making house calls even when physicians stopped that many years prior.

In Clearwater, the family continued to grow with four more kids. He shined as a father of the large Patterson brood, bringing home a menagerie of pets including a pony, dogs and pregnant rabbits. Don also loved commandeering a motorhome full of Pattersons for the summer trek up the East Coast, never wanting to miss a Civil War battlefield or hole-in-the-wall diner. His amazing talents were cleaning every bit of meat from a lobster, creating a soccer field in the backyard, and most of all, living a life that all his family would try to imitate.

"Papa Doc" is going to be immensely missed by his six kids, Donnie (Pepa), Michael (Dawn), Chris (Trisha), Brian (Wendy), Susan (Richie) and Dennis (Mike); his 14 grandchildren, Katie, Donnie, Chris, John, Knox, Delaney, Ty, Annie, Ben, Sloan, Drew, Carlin, Aidan and Maisie; and his two great-grandchildren, Clay and Max.

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