Richard Durward Patton

Born July 29, 1949, Palo Alto, California

Written by Chris, Richard’s wife, in November 2020

Growing up in Palo Alto in the fifties and sixties was in many ways idyllic and unsettling.  We were able to play with friends and neighbors outside until dark, walk or ride our bikes to school, parks and downtown without adult supervision and generally just be kids.  Football games on “the island” on Forest Avenue with best friend, Jon Pelkey, were memorable moments for Richard, as were many games of kickball and tetherball at the nearby Crescent Park elementary school.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, his future wife, Christie Putz, lived down the street.  The story goes that he came by to meet her on the day she moved in and, as they were chasing each other around the house, he broke a mirror, but she took the blame which impressed him no end.  There is also a movie of them in a play in her backyard in 1958, he in a black cape and Christie in a crown.

Other memories of that time were not so pleasant:  We had “Duck and Cover drills” at school, and one of the neighbors built a bomb shelter in the event of a nuclear war with the USSR.  We both had nightmares of that scenario.

When Rich was in fifth grade the family bought Wildwood in the Santa Cruz mountains, and they spent weekends there.  Two years later, when Richard’s father took early retirement, the family moved to Santa Cruz and Richard went to Scott’s Valley Middle School and then Soquel High School.  These years were busy with owning and riding horses (which Richard did not totally enjoy, but his sister Nancy really wanted horses :)) , belonging to Pogonip Country Club and, with his brother, doing a lot of work on the property.   To this day he is very proud of the improvements he helped make including the retaining wall below the lawn and the ditch down the quarter mile driveway.

In 1964, when Phil started attending law school at Santa Clara University, the family moved back to Palo Alto and Rich started Palo Alto High School as a sophomore.  He was reacquainted with Chris, as friends, and they both graduated in 1967.  Richard attended the University of California, Santa Cruz his freshman year, but romance had blossomed in the summer, and he transferred to the University of Oregon in his sophomore year to be closer to Chris who was attending Lewis and Clark College in Portland. 

After many trips back and forth from Portland and Eugene, Chris transferred to U of O, and they were married at her parents’ home in Los Altos Hills in 1970.  Richard graduated with a degree in Anthropology, then went back to school for a degree in Mathematics and education.  After substituting in junior high school, he decided that was not for him and so went to Law School at the U of O where he graduated in the top five of his class.  During this time Chris was teaching high school biology in Creswell, a small town near Eugene where they lived on a small farm with cows, pigs, chickens, a garden and a German Shepard dog named Dune.

After graduation, Richard got a clerkship at the Oregon Supreme Court in Salem, where they moved, and Chris taught Junior High science.  After a couple of years, they moved to Santa Cruz where Richard practiced law with his father and brother.  During this time Chris attended Stanford School of Law, graduating in 1981, one week after their first child, Brooks, was born.  After Chris’ one year clerkship with the Court of Appeal in Oregon, with Rich practicing law at home while taking care of Brooks, they moved to Ventura, CA to partner with the Law Offices of Richard Francis, who they had met and become friends with in Salem.

In 1982 they moved back to Santa Cruz and had their daughter, Kelly in 1985.  Chris started working for the Santa Cruz Superior Court shortly thereafter while Richard worked from home and took care of the kids.  He was a stay at home dad before his time and was a fantastic father and husband.  Life was filled with kids’ sports and school activities, and gatherings and barbecues with the Patton clan. 

After Richard’s parents died, Richard and Chris purchased Wildwood from the siblings, happy to keep it in the family and continue family gatherings in the place where Phil and Alma had made such good memories with their children and grandchildren.