Rest in peace, Grandpa

I was very sad to hear yesterday that my grandfather, Eugene "Pat" (born on St. Patrick's Day) Weeden, had passed away at the age of 93.

He was a wonderful grandfather to me. As I got older it was fun to talk politics with him. He was very active politically. He was always writing going to county board meetings and writing letters to the editor to stir things up.

He had a number of jobs in his life. The one I remember him talking about most was when worked on toilets for the Kohler Company. He would explain how a siphon worked and how he had to be called back to the plant from retirement to get the toilets to flush properly when they changed to low flush toilets.

He was an extremely skilled craftsman. He built homes and he remodeled homes. He also built small models from scratch, particularly of ships. On one occasion he was invited to the commissioning of the U.S.S. Boone, where he presented the captain of the ship with a model of the ship. Very cool.

From the Sheboygan Press, Obituaries section:
"Eugene O. 'Pat' Weeden"
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20110428/SHE010301/104280495&located=rss

Rest in peace, grandpa.


P.S. I later learned that The Sheboygan Press ran a nice article about my grandfather.
"Pat Weeden, 93, fought for 'little guy'" by Bob Petrie
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104290463

Links sometimes go stale over time, of course. Normally that doesn't bother me. But I think you'll understand if I post the full text of this article here.

Pat Weeden packed a lot into his feisty 93 years of life, a life he called "well-lived."

Weeden spent the end of World War II in the Navy; ran a TV repair shop in the early days of the medium, worked many years at Kohler Co., did electrical work, built several duplexes which he rented out, and spent four terms as a Sheboygan County supervisor, during which he fought against the closure of the old Comprehensive Health Care Center nearly a decade ago.

Above all, though, family members say Weeden — who died Wednesday of natural causes — always looked out for the "little guy."

"If he thought somebody was being taken advantage of, because they didn't have a position of power and authority, he would go to bat for them," said Jon Weeden, 61, Pat's son and a retired executive director of the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

Pat Weeden's biggest fight was one he lost; as a county supervisor he tried to keep the board from closing Comprehensive, in the Town of Lima, where his son, Jimmy, was a resident and Pat was a regular volunteer, helping the residents learn woodworking.

Comprehensive, considered by officials as an outdated and out-of-code facility, was shut down in 2002 and the operation was merged into a new $10 million expansion at the county's Rocky Knoll Health Care Center near Plymouth. Then, after Weeden left the county board, he opposed the county's effort to sell the Sunny Ridge Nursing Home to a private operator. He fell short again, as Sunny Ridge was sold in 2007.

"He never was going to win, but he was not going to give up either," Jon Weeden said about his father's quixotic effort for the health care centers.

John Van Der Male, a county supervisor and a retired administrator at Comprehensive, said Weeden had a passion for the developmentally disabled.

"He was so dedicated to the facility and he had a compassion for the mentally ill," said Van Der Male, a longtime friend of Weeden, who continued to meet with him often for coffee over the years.

Weeden's volunteer work began after his retirement from research and development at Kohler Co. in his late 50s, to spend more time at Comprehensive with Jimmy, who was living with Down syndrome. One day, Weeden saw an old woodworking shop sitting unused in the basement at Comprehensive, and got management to let him teach the residents the basics of the craft — painting, gluing and sanding.

"He had this talent and he wanted to share his talents with the residents," Van Der Male said. The residents sold the wood pieces they made, and kept the money for themselves.

Weeden ruffled the feathers of fellow supervisors and officials on the health care centers issue, but those he battled understood and respected his drive and advocacy for the residents.

"I always felt he had the best interests of the residents we care for at heart," County Administrator Adam Payne said Thursday, adding that Weeden's opposition to closing Comprehensive "ultimately led to an even better thought-out plan for Rocky Knoll."

Eugene O. "Pat" Weeden was born in Sheboygan on St. Patrick's Day in 1918, which led to his getting the nickname "Pat" as a youngster. He grew up in Kohler, graduated from Kohler High School, and spent a short time in the Navy at the end of World War II.

In the early 1950s, Weeden operated a TV repair service in Kohler, with an electronics shop in the family's basement.

"There was a window that you could look into his workshop, and all these (TV) tubes were glowing because he was checking to see if they were OK," said son Joel Weeden, 60, who lives in Sacramento, Calif.

In 1994, at the age of 76, after some urging from a local taxpayers' organization, Pat Weeden ran for and won the Kohler seat on the county board.

"He was across the board on so many issues, not just the health care facilities," Joel Weeden said. "He thought that retirement benefits for public employees were maybe excessive."

Though Pat was defeated in 2002, Jon Weeden said his father wasn't terribly upset.

"He thought it would be more fun to be off the county board and irritating everybody," Jon said, laughing.

Pat Weeden continued to drive a car and live in the Kohler house where the kids all grew up until a year ago, when Jon said his dad began to suffer from the effects of dementia. The family moved him into assisted care at Libby's House in Plymouth, and in recent weeks, Weeden was receiving care from the Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice.

Jon Weeden said Pat told the family that he wanted a short, simple newspaper obituary, which reads that his father died, "at the end of a life well-lived."

"He wanted his obituary to be like the guy down the street."

And the comments after the article.

Oldschool1962
8:14 AM on April 29, 2011
A good man who fought the good fight and stooped to help those who had fallen behind. I didn't agree with all of his concepts and ideas, but you could not question his integrity or determination. R. I. P.
Report Abuse

wrestlemom
10:06 AM on April 29, 2011
A fond farewell to a man who fought the good fight with civility and passion, something a lot of people could learn from today.. Mr. Weeden you will be missed and may your legacy live on.
Report Abuse

onlysaneperson99
2:20 PM on April 29, 2011
He was a wonderful sweet man. He will be missed.


P.S. I later learned that the Sheboygan County Board later passed a resolution honoring my grandfather. Here are the pertinent documents: