Patrick Hugh Lynch

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by John Byers on June 11, 2007:

All the members of the Class of '51 are special. But Pat was EXTRA special. A man of great integrity, spontaneous humor, fierce tenacity, probing incisiveness, and welcoming friendship. Pat was my roommate for one year after I was shanghaied from D-1 to I-2, and most of my memories of him are of the funny, outrageous stories he would tell of teenage life in the wilds of rural Montana. Pat's father died when he was still quite young, and his mother told him that he was now the man of the house and responsible for running their ranch! Pat said he grew up pretty quickly after that. By his own admission, he was fairly undisciplined and he regaled us with tales of (mis)behavior that had us laughing, shaking our heads, and thinking "Oh, r-i-i-i-ght!" Then one of the characters in those stories, Wally Leland, was appointed to the Class of '53 and promptly became a regular visitor to our room. I was stunned to hear Wally tell us many of the same stories! Pat had a head start on most of us for living life to the fullest! Pat was one of my groomsmen when Peggy and I were married at Fort Myer and, ironically, died on our 56th wedding anniversary. Later, when we attended the Basic Officer's Course at Ft Knox, we moved with our wives into an old farmhouse in Vine Grove, KY, a social experiment I would advise all newlyweds to avoid at all costs. However, Pat's infectious sense of humor found something funny every day (like the time the cow took up sentry duty on our porch!) and he kept us all sane. And after Korea, we served together in the 3d Cavalry where Pat's willingness to take on tough assignments and pursue them to success earned him a big reputation as the "go to" guy. Pat had a bent for things mechanical and, after retirement, he acquired an old pickup truck that must have been older than we were. It was rusty and dented and noisy, but he kept it running and used it for years to haul stuff up to his ski lodge at Snowshoe. He was very proud of it and, when he and Lois moved to California, he arranged to park it at the home of another classmate (who shall remain unnamed) whose dear wife thought it was atrocious and a blight on the Northern Virginia countryside. But smooth-talking Pat allayed her concerns and the truck stayed there for years except for the annual trips to Snowshoe. And with duct tape, chewing gum and Elmer's Glue, he kept it running all that time! I have written of the happy and funny times we shared, Pat and I, because that's the way I want to remember him. The good times we spent together, Pat and Lois and Peg and I, are the fabric of strong memories that will serve us well through the years ahead. Peg and I have always admired Lois (for putting up with wild Pat, for one thing!) and know she'll survive this tragic time because she has that kind of character and mettle. But our hearts ache for her and for Erin and Shannon and Pat.

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