I thought I’d share with you the loss of a good man, whom I still consider my “Step Father”.
Pat McFall has been a family friend with our family since before I came into this world. He was born in 1926 to an Irish mother and father whom had emigrated from Ireland. He served in WW2 as infantrymen and was shot and wounded by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge through the calf and sent home.
He raised his own family of 4 children in Mankato, Minnesota in the 1950’s and 1960’s and was employed by the Department of Minnesota as Flying Game Warden in the Bemidji, Minnesota. He flew a Cessna 185 tail-dragger (STOL kit) with wheels, floats and ski configurations. Once he flew the Governor of Minnesota and the Chancellor of Germany on a flight with a twin-engine aircraft. They hit “CAT” and the aircraft flipped and plummeted a thousand feet in a matter of seconds. Pat merely pulled the aircraft out and apologized to the passengers for the inconvenience of the weather. He was given a citizen citation by the governor of Minnesota for “A heroic deed” which he dismissed because he said he was “only doing my job, it was no big deal”.
Pat was a best friends best friend. Always friendly, willing to lend a helping hand. If you needed help, Pat would offer before you asked. Pat lost his wife in 1976. He and my divorced mother began dating in late 1976 and Pat moved into our “finished” basement (with his 17 year old son, my step brother and best friend to this day) They married in 1978. He was there for me during my very turbulent latter teenage days and kept me on the straight and narrow path, making sure I didn’t tumble off the cliff of reality when I needed a father figure.
In 1979, Pat retired from the DNR in Minnesota and my mother and he moved to Washington State where he began commuting back and forth to Ennis Montana building his dream cabin 7,000 feet in the Gravelly Mountain Range. He divorced my mother and remarried in 1985.
On June 2nd, 1990, my fiancé (now wife) and I married at Pat’s cabin, after getting the Justice of the Peace up to the cabin in a 4WD vehicle (The only way to access his mountain retreat then). Jim (Pat’s son, my step brother) was the best man, and Pat’s new wife Liz was the Bride’s maid.
Pat was a river guide for fishing Brooke and Brown trout on the famous Madison River for the last 2 decades of his life, serving guests such as the Governor of Texas Ann Richards. He was a strong man and in the best of shape, built like a bull at 75 years old.
In 2005 he was diagnosed with bone cancer and went from stout and strong 200 lbs. to 125 lbs. He died yesterday at age 79, June 14th, 2006.
We will miss you very much Pat. I loved you like a father.
