Remembering ‘The Trail Boss’

by Bob Sparrow

For those who read our blog regularly, some of this will sound familiar, but last Saturday was such an emotional event that I simply couldn’t ignore it.  It’s the annual ‘Patrick Hike’, honoring our dear friend and neighbor, Patrick Michael, who passed away in April 2021 at the age of 61. He was an integral part of our amazing neighborhood that he helped build.  Everyone thought of him as their ‘best friend’. I never heard him raise his voice in anger, and he was just always there to add a humorous note or to help fix something with the assortment of tools he had in his garage. He was never boastful but had every right to be, as he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and was the owner of a very successful business that had something to do with pipes (the kind that transport stuff, not the kind you smoke!). He rarely talked about his success in business, so very few, including me, knew much about his business, which is now run by his daughter, Britney.

As I’ve mentioned here before, he was also our ‘Trail Boss’, getting several of us guys in the ‘hood to do a few hikes, culminating in 2008 with the climbing of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the Continental United States at 14,505 feet. Patrick and I went on to do several other hikes, including a week in the Himalayas in Nepal and a four-day hike to Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountain Range in Chile. For last week’s hike, the five remaining Whitney hikers didn’t call each other, but each of us separately decided to honor Patrick by wearing the shirt we purchased when we hiked Whitney. The photos of us together show us leaving a space for our Trail Boss and including Patrick’s wife, Pam.   

This year’s ‘Patrick Hike’ included thirty participants, counting kids and dogs, who took off at 8:00 am, on a three-mile hike in Peter’s Canyon Regional Park in the Orange County foothills. Those unable to do the hike, met with the hikers at Marc & Lisa Webb’s home, next door to the Michael’s, for an amazing potluck breakfast that was served along with Mimosas, and the famous Marc Webb Bloody Mary, which are the best I’ve ever tasted, so I think I had more than one!

We have started a charitable fund to honor Patrick and will be working with Habitat for Humanity to help build something in the area for a family in need of shelter. Patrick would have been the person running this kind of project, so we’ll all be thinking, “What would Patrick do?” as we work with this charity.

Patrick’s wife, Pam remains a solid member of our neighborhood community and often hosts parties which bring us to an amazing table in her dining area that Patrick built. I literally tear up when I rub my hand over its smooth redwood finish.

We should all be so well-remembered.