Patric Book Lives On

John Patric, as a young man a well-known author who wrote for National Georgraphic and whose books often were condensed in the Reader's Digest, in his later years was viewed as an eccentric.

Before his death, the Snohomish man was a perennial candidate for office, showing some of his defiance in the way he filed, going on the ballot as John "Hugo 'n' Frye" Patric.

His brother Bill Patrick in recent years has run for a variety of offices himself, the state Senate a few years ago, county executive this year. Owner of a Snohomish hardware store before it was razed by fire several years ago, Patrick filed as Bill "Hardware" Patrick.

Patrick still has a number of soft-covered copies of his brother's books, primarily one about a trip to the Far East, "A Yankee Hobo in the Orient," published in 1945. Very often, Patrick will give a copy of the book to someone he thinks might be interested.

When Patrick filed papers to run for county executive last week, he brought along a number of copies of the book for employees in the auditor's office.