Pat, who in recent years had solidly established himself as the theater critic and columnist for the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, was telling me he has ended his years of working in the newspaper world and was moving on to other endeavors — freelancing and getting serious about writing “the novel.”
“I took a buyout from the company (Bay Area News Group), thus ending a moderately dazzling career that began in the Tracy Community Players building around 1964 or ’65, when I asked the publisher of the local paper if I could write a column for him,” he said. “I’ve written the column in one form or another in one place or another ever since.”
Wow, I thought. It really doesn’t seem that long ago — but it was — that Pat joined the Press staff after his columns, dubbed “Patrickland,” gained an immediate loyal audience among Press readers. I seem to remember his first job was as combination classified ad salesman and reporter/columnist. He wore a number of hats at the beginning.
Pat had — and still has — a great ear for dialogue and a deft touch for melding conversations and situations into his columns. His words and wry sense of humor have resonated with his readers for more than four decades.
After launching his career at the Press, Pat moved on to the Hayward Daily Review and later joined the staff of the Contra Costa Times. At the Times, he continued to double in brass, serving as the newspaper’s live-theater critic while pumping out a column on a regular basis. After the Contra Costa and Alameda newspaper groups merged, Pat’s column occasionally appeared in other Bay Area News Group papers.
During periodic get-togethers, Pat would tell me he was still working on a novel. He didn’t go into details about its content, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some dusty tank town in the Central Valley of California turns out to be one of the novel’s principal locations.
In replying to Pat’s recent e-mail, I told him he’ll have to come down to Tracy soon for lunch, and he agreed.
A third person will definitely be added to our get-together. Larry Minner was sports editor when Pat was at the Press, and Larry, still a Tracyite, retired from the Modesto Bee a year ago.
When we sit down for lunch, I’ll be able to lean back and listen to the two not-so-old-timers talk about life during — and now after — newspapering. It should be interesting, and without a doubt, entertaining.
It was indeed Marge
Following last week’s e-mail from Leslie Towns Navarra (another former Press news staffer) on discovering her 92-year-old next-door Sacramento neighbor, Charlie Cooper, was originally from Tracy, I received an e-mail from Cooper’s niece, Mary Harriet of Tracy.
“I called and told him (Charlie) about your article, and he is very excited to see it,” wrote Mary. “You guessed correctly. It was Marge Larsen whom he had talked to that morning.” (She had called to wish him happy Father’s Day.)
Marge, of course, grew up across Highland Avenue from Charlie and was in the same Tracy High Class of 1934. Those ties led me to guess correctly it was Marge who called.
And yes, Mary, too, is a former Press stalwart, having worked a number of years as a key member of the composing room staff. For certain, this has turned out to be an “old home week” column.
• Sam Matthews, Tracy Press publisher emeritus, can be reached at 830-4234 or by e-mail at shm@tracypress.com.
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