Arthur (Art) Patterson passed away on March 26, 2022.

[He lived with is wife, Mary, in Emily, Minnesota.  When we finally have more information about Art's life and his many accomplishments as a runner and cross-country star at St. Louis Park High School, we will develop an expanded notice here.  If you have stories about Art that you wish to have included in such a notice, please send that information to us using the Message Center under Member Functions, at the link at the left side of this website.  We offer you a big "Thank You" in advance for your contribution.]

In the meantime, there is little doubt that Art loved the outdoors, hunting and fishing.  He claimed his father and grandfather taught him the love of the outdoors and all it could provide.  They taught Art how to shoot and to hunt.  He boasted often of his collection of North American big game, which is still only about half of the species that exist in North America; but Art still hoped at the end of life to have bagged one of North America's biggest bears.  (We presume that would have been a grizzly bear.)

While living in Emily, Art joined the Planning and Zoning Commission of his city government.  In that area, Art was simply known as Commissioner Patterson, and he could be found often running along the county roads or on the local golf course, where he and wife Mary would often play a round of golf on the days when they were not fishing or pontooning on their lake.  It ought to be no surprise that Art was still running as long as he could.  We recall that he proclaimed at the 50th class reunion that, "Once I get home, I think I'm going to start running again."  His long-time goal had always been to set a world record in running for a man of his age.  The "Roy Griak" in him was never going to go away!

Surprising as it may be for a runner, outdoorsman and all-around big-game hunter, Art had a calmer hobby of collecting butterflies.  He had a labeled specimen collection of them that numbered around 1500.  He would sometimes run along with a butterfly net in hand and captured what he would see flying along side him.

As any good athlete/hunter would attest, Art still had goals: more guns, taking his wife on an African safari, a new set of golf irons and a better pair of running shoes.  Who ever in high school could have expected that this mild-mannered and unconfrontational classmate could ever want to take down the biggest game in the world?  Art Patterson will remain in our memories as one of the nicest men our class ever produced.