Patrick Jay McCarthy

It has been 20 years to date since I have seen you. Seems like only yesterday that you took your cup of coffee and drove off in our suv with your dirt bike in tow. You gave the boys and myself such wonderful lives......lives we would never have had without you. You were a fantastic father and a superb husband!!! Thank you for making our lives so full with your love and patience and teachings. The boys still talk about the things that you have taught them and different humorous things that have happened growing up. You are always in my thoughts and prayers and love. Thank you for continuing to be with the boys and myself and for watching over us. Thank you for continuing to be so close to me. I appreciate the closeness that we still share. You are always remembered with such great fondness and with so much love........forever and always.

I remember him being so active. He always wanted to inspire us to be the same. He got me my first bike (or it's the first one I remember riding), he taught my sister and I how to box (we were like 5 and 9), but the very first memory I really have of him was when he came to visit my grandmother and we were still living with her at the time. I'm not sure if my sister was even born yet. He went on daily jogs apparently and I really wanted to go with him. Now, as a runner myself, I realize how annoyed he probably was but he still let me come with him. Of course, half way through the run I fell and scrapped my knees and and he had to carry me home. I think he still jogged so he didn't lose any exercise time. What a good guy!

Pat and I were surfing buddies during high school, he was my first room mate at USF - there are just too many memories to write about. I remember when we made our first skateboards from some old shoe skates and tried to use them in Pat's driveway(1961 or 62), and the time we were surfing at the Officers Club at Patrick AFB and the military police called everyone out of the water and a bunch of us were arguing with them when someone (?) took the keys from the military police car...we all left there...never did find out how they got some new keys. Of course I'll never tell who took the keys. Pat and I graduated from USF at the same time and our families all got together in Tampa for the graduation ceremony and had a great lunch (or dinner - I don't remember now) - this was significant day as it was a turning point for us both. The other memory that I would like to share is that Pat and I had started exchanging letters after many years; he was planning to come visit me in Hawaii; I came home from work one day and my wife told me that there was a phone call from Pat's wife - I called her back - it was a very difficult and sad phone call. After Pat and I graduated from USF we each went our separate ways and I was looking forward so much to getting together again.

I also remember how he made it his mission to make us laugh. It wasn't a hard task but he the fact that he wanted to entertain us was sweet.

I remember going up to visit him in Indiana every vacation. He had a cuddlie dog and a very comfy chair in the basement. He was always very nice to me. We used to eat blueberry bagles for breakfast and I still think of him when i smell them.

Barb, you need a sufer Pat picture on here :-)

OH my! Patrick and his friend Jessie graduated and went to college the year Barb and I started at Satellite. They came home a lot of weekends to surf and always took us with them. If there was a dance at the civic center in Melbourne, they took us, If there was a surfing movie at some board shop Nki and Barb were there with Pat and Jesse. A lot of girls thought we were seriously dating them, but the truth was Pat was just a wonderful older brother to his lil sis and her best friend. I remember tying 8 surfboards on the top of the karmen ghia, it looked like it was going to tip over! And then stuffing 8 surfers inside. Barb and I top as we were the only girls.We learned from Pat and Jessie to wear only Penney's towncraft teeshirts with pockets, preferably blue or green and Pendleton wool shirts over our bikinis when it was cold and to only bring a comb and our wax to the beach. He taught me how to fix dings in my board myself and I still have someplace , wrapped in a blue ribbon letters he sent me from Tampa. I remember making about 6 pounds of fudge (with Barb) and sending it in a shoe box over to Tampa...I think he had to share it with the whole dorm there was so much of it. Pat was kind and funny and smart. He was nice to his Mother, his little sister and his little sister's best friend. I had the biggest crush on him of my whole life and his memory is so dear to me that I can't write this without tears in my eyes

I remember sneaking into his room when he wasn't home and taking some of his Match Box cars so his sister and I could build roads in the dirt and play with the cars. I don't think he ever knew we took them.