Craig was my first friend that I remember. He was my brother from another mother…and father and sometimes my frenemy. He made me laugh and sometimes cry and scared the crap out of me on a regular basis growing up. He tried to get me to eat worms, we were constantly riding our bikes around the block and in the “new roads” (that’s what we all called a new addition that was added to our neighborhood), we walked through the woods in the back of his house to the store to get candy, to visit his grandma, to go to Hoagies or just adventuring around UP. We were always trying to play with our older brothers and their friends in the cul de sac when they would play flag football and 500 or whatever. I remember going to Pietro’s and The Straw Hat with him and his family and Flaming Geyser Park.Then when we got a little older and Craig could drive that opened up a whole world of possibilities. He loved to drive and as fast and as crazy as he could get away with…and sometimes didn’t. He took me to Ocean Shores, the waterfront, 5 mile drive, Chambers Creek, Sunnyside Beach, and loved to go get fireworks at the Reservation in Puyallup. He loved it when I would bring my friends along so he could scare them too. I moved away for a lot of years once I got married but in the last 5 years or so we tried to meet up and stay in touch when I would visit WA. He definitely made a huge impact on my younger years and I’m so glad that we stayed in contact recently. He was a unique character and I loved him like family along with the rest of the Patton family. He will be so greatly missed by many. Thanks for making my life better Craiger!
