Charles Roger Patterson Sr. passed away peacefully on January 29, 2022, in hospice care after a two-and-a-half-year battle with lung cancer. He was eighty-three years old.
Roger was born on Valentine’s Day, 1938 in Woodbury, NJ. He was the youngest of three children, the son of Dorothy Virginia Patterson (née Brannan) and John Leander Patterson.
Roger graduated from Woodstown High School in 1956, where his date and future wife, Barbara Thro Towson was a freshman. At the University of Maryland, he joined the ROTC and after graduation in 1961, he was commissioned 2nd Lt in the USAF.
Roger and Barbara married on the Fourth of July, 1964 in Lewiston, NY. Their so-called honeymoon was a series of protracted temporary duty assignments that took them to Texas, Okinawa, Thailand, and Guam, where he served as B-52 navigator for combat missions over Vietnam. When he left his last Air Force posting as a Captain, in Western Oklahoma, he and Barbara were faced with a big life decision; do they head east, back to NJ, to a comfortable and predictable life? Or do they go west on Route 66, where nothing was guaranteed except adventure? They flipped a coin, and headed west.
They settled in California where Roger started his career at IBM as a Systems Engineer in Sacramento and then a Programmer in Menlo Park. All three of their children were born in California, but the appeal of rural life led to Vermont in 1980. Roger was a Project Manager at the IBM lab in Essex Jct. It was there that he ushered in the innovative CMOS chip technology from Japan that revolutionized chip design for IBM. He continued with project management in Corbeil-Essonnes, France from 1985-1987 and then returned to Hinesburg, Vermont with his family where he remained at IBM until retirement in the mid 1990’s. He eventually started his own business consulting with various large companies on mainframe computer programming until he fully retired in his late 70’s.
Roger was always interested in military, political, and cultural history. About 25 years ago, after a job with JVC in Tuscaloosa, he became a big fan of Alabama Crimson Tide football (Roll Tide!) He enjoyed a good cigar, a vodka martini and a round of golf with his wife and kids. He will be remembered for his sharp mind and quick sense of humor. He always had a wisecrack for every occasion and a twinkle in his eye. He will also be remembered for his courage and confidence that he imparted to his wife and children on their many adventures -whether it was traveling up to the Sierra Nevadas or exploring unknown, washed-out roads in the Swiss Alps. He lived a terrific, full life, and provided his family with every opportunity for the same.
Roger is survived by Barbara Patterson (née Towson) of Simpsonville, SC, his beloved wife of fifty-seven years, his three children: Roger Patterson Jr (Milton, VT), Andrea Samuel and her husband, Matt Samuel (Anchorage, AK), and Andrew Patterson and his wife Jennifer Cole Patterson (Fairfax, VT), and seven grandchildren: Lucy and Violet Patterson, Julia and Amelia Samuel, and Lillian, Rachel, and Charlie Patterson.
Roger is preceded in death by his parents, Dorothy V. and John L. Patterson, his brother J.L. “Jack “Patterson II, his sister Dorothy V. “Jill” Patterson, and his nephew John L. Patterson III.
A graveside memorial is planned to be in Fairfax, VT on May 25, 2022.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. George the Martyr Anglican Church, 427 Batesville Rd. Simpsonville, SC 29681. and Hospice of the Upstate, 1835 Rogers Rd, Anderson, SC 29621.