Pat and the big 90

Wednesday, December 2nd, Alley Pat will turn 90. That's n-i-n-e-t-y years old.

That's 1919 to 2009... what a ride.

I'm happy to report that Pat is recovering nicely from his mild stroke. I went to visit him this past Friday. He's out of the care center at home at his daughter-in-law's. His voice is stronger but he has to walk carefully till his balance gets better.

One of his old Morehouse pals, a retired dentist from Birmingham named George, stopped by the same day. He has known Pat since 1943, and Pat's memories of those long ago days are quite sharp. And his short term memory is improving each day, and this is normal in this sort of healing process. It was fun to watch these two spry codgers cutting each other up.

Debra, Pat's daughter-in-law, says they don't have anything planned to commemorate this great day just yet, but that they would like to have some sort of public event early next year perhaps. I told her that I - and all of his fans - would be at her side to help in any way possible.

What you can do is send Pat birthday wishes the old fashioned way, to this old-school analog address:

James "Alley Pat" Patrick
1740 Joseph E Boone Blvd

Atlanta GA 30314

Or just leave a comment to this blog post with your name and I will be sure to get the message to Pat for you.