Obituary of Thomas Patrick

Thomas Austin Patrick, died on April 19,2012 at his home in Burlington, MA. He was born October 29, 1937 in Childress, Texas to Roy Lee and Cleda Millard Patrick. He received his BS in electrical engineering in about 1960, maybe 1961. He was from Winnsboro, TX when he entered A&M College as a junior, transferring from Tyler Jr College. Tom moved to San Diego after graduation and worked for Convair Aeronautics which then became General Dynamics, Aeronautics, then Astronautics. In his early thirties he moved into cardiovascular research with a team at Scripps Institute. He worked with a team at a university in KY for a few years and another team at Harvard until age 60 including a research trip to Africa to study the blood flow of the giraffe. Tom designed equipment for a variety of research labs in the country as well as Europe and Australia. He loved his work and considered himself very lucky to have found work that was so stimulating and fulfilling. After the team at Harvard was disbanded, Tom worked with a team in PA and then taught at ITT in Woburn, MA. He was very surprised to find how much he loved teaching after leaving his perfect work/job in research. At the time of his death at age 74, he was working part time for RL Controls in Woburn, MA as Electronic Development & Design Engineer. They work on the maintenance of the public (train) transit system of the greater Boston area. Tom is survived by his loving wife and best friend of 24 years, Jeanette Patrick of Burlington, MA and two Scottish Fold cats. He is also survived by siblings: his older sister, Virginia Patrick Hanley of Midland, TX; his younger brother Bob Patrick of Houston; his younger sister, Cherry L Patrick Jamison of Radium Springs, NM; two nephews, a niece, three great nephews and two great nieces; and many cousins and wonderful friends. Tom was a quiet, nerdy kind of man; bright, creative, curious and always cheerful. He believed it was better to be nice to people and make them feel good, than to be powerful or in control. He exercised plenty of authority in his life and accomplished a great deal professionally; but he really liked people, and they knew it. He is deeply missed in this world.