Patrick John Gill was born Nov 6, 1949, in Ballard to Max Gill and Mary Maglashan. He was the eldest of 4 children. He grew up in the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Seattle (now Shoreline) and then lived in Seattle all his life except for a few years in N Carolina. Patrick was a typical Seattle kid, he loved sailing his small boat, digging for clams, rebuilding a motorcycle and as a teen playing his guild acoustic guitar.
Patrick worked at variety of jobs, as a house sider, carpenter, real estate agent, apartment maintenance and finally as a school bus driver before he retired around 2015. In high school he played guitar in a popular rock and roll band with 3 friends. As an adult, he distinguished himself as one of the finest guitar finger pickers in the state. As a young man he gave a concert at his high school and at a local college and played at numerous venues throughout his life. He was learning to play a slide guitar before becoming hospitalized. Typically, Patrick passed on a musical career as he preferred to have a more settled life than touring and hustling for gigs would provide.
After he retired, he devoted himself to spending time with his wife Brett as she continued working until 2020. Over the years they had many adventures. Camping out in their pop-up trailer all over the state and for a month at a time on the Oregon Coast. He loved exploring new places and meeting new people. They traveled to Mexico and Spain and took a cruise to Alaska. He and his wife purchased kayaks and explored Puget Sound, and lakes and rivers both here and in their travels. Their chihuahua Miss Honey laid out in the sun on the front of his wife’s kayak and their larger dog Cinnamon would be towed by Pat in a rubber raft with a camping mat. It was quite a sight. Pat could always figure out new ways to do something. Pat was always working on some new interest.…sewing masks, working with leather, cooking gourmet meals, working on a 25 ft sail boat, sailing at the wooden boat center, welding a decorative gate for the deck, building elaborate raised gardening boxes for the porch, making jewelry, building and selling cat houses with windows and second stories, remodeling the house, creating a plan for a never to be built DADU, writing songs, and writing 2 books (only once a child and the attitude crew). He was always busy.
He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in February 2020. Both he and his wife devoted all their time to researching cures for his aggressive cancer and trying all regimes that offered hope. However, he passed away on Wednesday April 26, 2023, with his wife by his side at Shoreline Health and Rehab center. The day before he died his nurse asked him if he wanted a sponge bath or shower. He quipped “I’m a guy!” The people around him laughed as he delivered this with perfect comic timing and tone.
He will be missed for his quick and sometimes unconscious wit, his constant effort to be a better person (he took up meditation to stoic quotes in his later years), his world class musicianship and his kindness to those he loved.
He leaves behind his wife of 32 years Brett Gill Bowman, his ex-wife and friend Libby Hicks, his 3 sisters, his biological daughter Anna Nichols Hicks, and his many friends.
Service will be held on Saturday May 20th 3:00 PM at Woodland Park United Methodist Church, 302 N 78th St., Seattle WA 98103. A social gathering will be after the service at a nearby home. Please contact me at songgill8@gmail.com for details (please put the word memoriam in the subject line). You can also leave a message or text at 206 354 2087.