Senior Living Residents: Patrick L.
This month’s Renaissance Village Murrieta senior living residents spotlight is Patrick L.
Patrick was born in South Gate, California in 1948. He grew up in La Mirada, California and looking back on it now he sees it was a different atmosphere altogether. There was no need to lock your doors or worry about playing late outside like you do today.
Sisters, Sports, & Senior High School
Patrick has a sister, Sharon, who’s four years younger. There were not a lot of other girls around so she hung out with him and his friends. He loved playing sports. He was a lineman in Pop Warner Football and catcher and first base in Little League. Patrick had great parents. He remembers that all the kids in the neighborhood spent a great deal of time at his house.
The high school Patrick attended opened when he started and only had two grades of 9th and 10th. As a result, he was technically a senior for three years because every time they added a new class he was in the top class. This enabled him to get to know everyone in school really well. In fact, he’s still friends with his high school classmates and they have reunions every year.
Working Hard for What You Want
Patrick had many jobs growing up and his first job was keeping score at a bowling alley every night. He also worked at a hamburger stand flipping burgers. Patrick also worked at a dairy. He did everything from waiting on cars that drove up to milking cows and then bottling that milk. You name it and he did it.
Patrick got a police science and administration degree at Cerritos College in Norwalk. When the United States Army drafted him, he had to put his studies on hold. He spent eight weeks at Fort Ord. They put the fort on lockdown because of a Spinal Meningitis scare. This made things difficult because it kept everyone in their barracks. He spent an extra eight weeks at Fort Ord for communications training. Patrick then went to Vietnam and served in the Signal Corps as a Radio Teletype Operator. After two years of service, he discharged as a sergeant E-5.
After discharge, he returned to his studies and then went to the police academy. He became a Robbery & Homicide Investigator. He enjoyed the job and found everything about it exciting. The people he dealt with were those who robbed or killed. It was putting the bad guys in jail and he enjoyed every minute of it.
Children & Travel
Patrick has two daughters, Amber and Crystal. He shares that it was difficult raising them because you handle it a lot different from a boy. Amber lives with her family in Chicago and Crystal lives here in California and visits often. Patrick also has six grandchildren.
Outside of his Army travel, he’s also been to most of the South Pacific Islands, Israel, Guam, Amsterdam, and Bora Bora. He shares that Bora Bora was his favorite and he enjoyed relaxing there. After he retired, Patrick was a Casino Pit Boss where he oversaw the games in the poker room. He has a real love for the game and enjoys spending time at the casino at every opportunity. Patrick also enjoys watching college football. His team is UCLA. However, he also watches the SCC Conference with teams like Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss.
Patrick enjoys being on his own. He shares that Renaissance Village is a great place to live and there’s plenty to do here. Patrick shares that the community has a lot of nice people and you’ll make good friendships.
