Will Patterson

Good bye Dad. I love you.

1937 - 2015, age 78. Passed peacefully in his sleep 2:30am Friday March 6, 2015, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Born December 1937, Sunny Bank, Gaspé, Quebec, Canada. He is survived by daugter Brenda Patterson, son Lee Patterson. Will is the Son of Elmer and Violet Patterson, and brother to Arlene, Emily and Kirk.

Places lived include Gaspé Quebec, Toronto Ontario, Scarborough Ontario, Burnaby British Columbia.

He enjoyed flying radio controlled airplanes, building electronic projects, computer programming, photography, hunting, fishing, camping, and eagle watching.

Established Nav-Gem Electronics and programmed the Nav-Gem Flight Computer. Using a Sharp 1401 Pocket computer. Later the Sharp 1403 was used, and the last model was the Sharp 1360 Pocket Computer.

Thank you to the many friends of willpatt on Window on Wildlife Discussion Forum. Special thanks to Doralyn, JudyB and Laurad for reaching out to me, letting me know about the forum, his posts, and of the desire of members to donate to his memorial.

I just started researching the follow-up info from the Eagle Article. Stay tuned.

Most images can be clicked for a larger version.

Nav-Gem » Eagle Article » Donations » Eagle Center » Photos » Memorial »

Nav-Gem Electronics

Starting in February 1985, working 10-18 hour days, Will's vision of the Nav-Gem Flight Computer gradually took shape. It was a flight computer you used to calculate the most economical altitude based on forecast winds; take-off distance, wind level, variable speed or fixed-pitch propeller.

Now, let me tell you my friend. I am a computer programmer by trade, and have worked on these little pocket computer wonders. Programming a pocket computer is no small task. On today's desktop computers, programs can be typed out with great speed. On a pocket computer, you are forced to peck out each command one at a time on a tiny 1 or 2 line screen, using tiny calculator sized keys. It's a wonder if you can get a program more then a few lines long done.

While he'd had a smattering of programming experience in his university days, he pretty much had to learn it all over again.

He filled the 8KB memory of a Sharp 1403, then later moved it to a faster and smaller Sharp 1360.

I feel very lucky to have been able to help him with his business when I was still attending school. It was with his encouragement, and generously giving me my own pocket computer, that I was spellbound by programming. I have spent the last 25 years programming computers now.

Thanks Dad, and way to go!

See the full article.

Donations

Our thanks to all those who kindly donated to Will's memorial. We were able to donate $500 in Will's memory to the National Eagle Center. We missed the date for the paver stone, but costs are covered and we will have one for next year.

Thank you to JoAnn, Bonnie, Jen, Doralyn, LakeMaMa, Anita, eve48519, gemini, hermit, Laura, Sherri, JudyB, Patricia O and Beverley O'Neil for joining with the Patterson family to honor Will!

Citizens' Plaza Pavers

This is an engraved paving stone that would be located near city hall in Burnaby BC. Each individual concrete paver measures approximately nine inches square and costs $100 (with $50 covering production costs and $50 going to the local registered charity or non-profit group of your choice). Up to six lines of suitable text, with up to 20 characters on each line, can be used to tell your story. More information on the Citizens' Plaza Pavers web site.

My sister Brenda was able to scope out the area. Looks very nice. They are run once a year in September. Once the stone is put in, Brenda will get pictures so I can post them.

Photos

A few photos to remember Will. Hoping to get more posted soon. He loved his radio controlled airplanes.

Son Lee, Will, daughter Brenda at the hospital

Will and son Lee at the hospital

More Photos

Photos from when I went up to Vancouver for the memorial. I got some shots of Burnaby Lake where he flew his plane, Burnaby Central Park where he went to walk all the time, and OWL, and even what the site from his news article, Let the eagles stay.

The map below has numbered locations that corrispond to the images below. The image is large, so click on it to get the larger version.

1 & 3. Burnaby Lake

2. City Hall, Pavers Stones Site

4. Eagle Article Nest Location

5 & 6. Burnaby Central Park

The squirrel with the patches of fur gone was perfectly healthy. Little guy had a bad case of fleas.

My sister doesn't really have 3 fingers. While taking the pano photo, she moved her hand, and the camera compensated by chopping her finger off.

7. O.W.L.

OWL is located in Delta, which was off the map to the south. In the main waiting area, they have a barn owl as their maskot. He can actually fly, and had been released, but he kept coming back, and was too use to being around humans.

The place was well taken care of. Very friendly and help people. A family had come in just before us and were volunteers. They had just brought in a couple rescued birds.

Eagle Article

Will was published in an article from the Burnaby Newsleader on Saturday, September 15, 2007. The article, titled Let the eagles stay, talks about how Will spent much of the spring and summer photographing and video taping a pair of eagles successfully raise their two eaglets. When he learned about development plans for a high density four-story building, on the site where the eagles nested, he approached the city of Burnaby, highlighting the Best Management Practices for raptor conservation, which is part of the provincial Wildlife Act. The developer was then required to hire a certified biologist to survey the site and report back to the city before a final permit would be issued by the city. City staff was last reported as working with the Ministry of Environment to ensure the developer adheres to the Wildlife Act.

You can see the development plans on the right of the photo, and the tree between the board and Will's head. I'm still going through the follow-up to see if there was a resolution to the issue.

Very interesting follow-up from Will, after he contacted a city planner. A very good example of how he doggely follows things up, and is able to reach out to the right people. A skill I never picked up sadly.

Thanks to JudyB for pointing me to the article at Hancock Wildlife. I was able to contact the Burnaby Newsleader and obtain the full article.

Photo of the eagle when it returned September 30, 2007.

Memorial Service

A memorial was held in Burnaby Central Park, in Burnaby BC, Canada, on June 19, 2015. My father loved having BBQ's, so that is exactly what we did. The weather was perfect, the animals came by the table to say hi (see the ducks and squirrels from the burnaby central photos), and we had a visit with Will's cousin, Roger Miller, who we hadn't seen since childhood. We all shared memories of Will, and had a wonderful time. To wrap things up, Paul sang Let The Mystery Be by Iris Dement.

His memorial board contained photos of him flying at Burnaby Lake. Article about his Nav-Gem Flight Computer. Photos from the hospital. Visit from Vicki and his sister Arline. Source code listing with sorting algorithms. Circuit diagram. Koby's colar, Will's trusted K9 friend. Shot from when he was in the air force. School Lacross team shot. Top photo is from Gaspé Quebec, where he was raised.