Patrick shaped by father's absence
Over the course of a career that would take him from Milton to the governor's office, Deval Patrick has said little about his father, Laurdine "Pat" Patrick, a gifted baritone saxophone player who traveled the world with the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra and a host of jazz greats.
Read more: Patrick Shaped by father's absence (Sally Jacobs, March 25)
The Globe's Sally Jacobs was online Wednesday, March 28, at 2 p.m. to field your questions and comments about Deval's complex relationship with his father, and how it ultimately shaped in part the man he is today.
The transcript follows.
Sally_Jacobs: Hi. Welcome to the Pat Chat. Feel free to send any inquiries you may have..........
henry__Guest_: Did Deval inherit any of his father's musical gifts?
Sally_Jacobs: Somewhat. He played the drums as a child and had a deep interest in music of many styles, particularly jazz and musicals.
sun_ra_fan__Guest_: Hi, thanks for the chat. A lot of great people were formed by being the opposite of their dads. John D. Rockefeller's dad was a bankrupt drunk, for example. It seemed like a theme of your story was that Deval Patrick would not have been as organized or responsible or driven in conventional settings if his dad wasn't so unconventional. Is the governor pretty open about that?
Sally_Jacobs: I found Deval unusually open about his relationship with his father, but up to a point. While he talked openly about a number of things, he also keeps his core feelings about the subject to himself.
Horatio__Guest_: How does Deval's relationship with his father shape his political stances?
Sally_Jacobs: I didn't talk to him about that. But my feeling is that his relationship with his father invariably shaped his development as a human being, as with any parent and child. So, to some extent, that relationship must bear on his political self.
smittybelle__Guest_: forgive my cynicism, but I found it interesting that this well-written article (which is something of a Puff Piece) hit the newstands at an "interesting "time, for Patrick anyway, since he's been buffeted in the press recently. can you speak to the timing, and the fact that the piece may generate a bit of sympathy for Patrick at a time when it appears he may need it?
Sally_Jacobs: Fair question. But in fact, the story was in the works for nearly two months. No connection to timing.
sun_ra_fan__Guest_: At one point, you mentioned that long after Pat Patrick's death, his representatives discovered Deval -- and had $45,000 in royalties to give him. Was that for that bouncy 60s song "Yeh Yeh?'' Was that money from a commercial that used the music, or just residuals or the piece was on some popular compilation album?
Sally_Jacobs: It was indeed for royalties for 'Yeh Yeh.' In other words, every time the song was played on a commercial or a film a couple of quarters dropped into the Pat bank. After all those years, it accumulated!
tarheel__Guest_: sally, did you find much reluctance from the governor's family to talk to you about such personal matters?
Sally_Jacobs: I found them quite open and generous with their time. Deval's older sister, for example, talked with me for hours on the subject and provided the Globe with many photographs. His wife Diane also took time to help me understand the relationship. But at a certain point, they all felt they had talked enough and more or less closed the door.
Q__Guest_: As an NRBQ fan I have a new liking of Deval, who knew?
Sally_Jacobs: You're not alone. I got a lot of email in response to the story. While Deval held the subject a bit at arm's length, he also revealed a pretty vivid dimension of his life.
chicago__Guest_: Hi Sally, could you tell me about the influence ABC had on Deval, and whether that helped him at all with the absence of his father?
Sally_Jacobs: Deval's Milton years were clearly a critical juncture in his life. I think he felt deeply supported by both ABC as well as many of the people he met during that time. To that extent, I would say that the experience clearly helped him deal with his father, particularly at a moment when his father was not supporting him or the school that he had chosen.
Centrestreet__Guest_: I went to Milton with Deval & although we were not great friends such as he and Will Speers were, I found him engaging, highly intelligent and very quick off the mark. I'd completely forgotten about the dust-up at graduation until I read about it and, while it could not fail to affect anyone, Deval was always strong enough to handle such things. He will be a fine governor of the Commonwealth.
Sally_Jacobs: So maybe you can tell me something. Was the incident witnessed by many other than those in the Patrick family?
hi__Guest_: How did you pick which songs of his to use on the web? i loved listening and reading it at the same time.
Sally_Jacobs: Well, there was no way we weren't going to use a song called Yeh Yeh! As for the rest, we tried to reflect the different eras of Sun Ra, as the band had a different sound over the years.
bertjazz__Guest_: I just wanted to thank you for a great article - an amazing narative and beautiful story well told.
Sally_Jacobs: Thanks. Seems like a good note to wind up on! Thank you all for dropping in to chat about Pat.
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