Patrick Michael Donovan was my best friend. I considered him a brother.  This is his story.

He grew up in Fort Washington Maryland.  He had one sister, Gail and two brothers John and Jimmy.  His mother Lorraine was a kind and loving women.  His Father was tough and distant.

Patrick described his childhood as a wonderful time.  The family had a condo in Ocean City were they spent many wonderful summers. He went to Catholic elementary, middle and high school.  His favorite past time at this age was playing pranks on his siblings. Crank calls were his favorite.  In middle school Patrick showed an affinity for learning languages.  He was fluent in French and learned some germ.  The highlight of his middle school years was a trip to Paris.

While in high School his parents divorced.  The family could not afford the expense of Catholic school so Patrick went to a public high school his senior year. He also started what can only be thought of as a series of jobs that provided support for the family.  Patrick remembrances of these jobs provided an unending series of funny stories.

Patrick first job was at Pizza Hut.  His boss was the beautiful Melissa Underwood.  Patrick said she ran a very tight ship nd actually scared him sometimes.  He buckled down and worked hard and quickly earned her respect.  One of the perks of the job was that he worked with his friends from High School.

Melissa sold him her old car.  A GEO Prism that had seen better days.  He paid 500 dollars for it. When he re-connected with Melissa many years later, he convinced her he still had it. For a second or two,  she actually believed him.

His sister Gail got into College and needed a car.  Patrick gave her the GEO.  Only Gail could not drive a stick shift.  Patrick, who later in life would teach difficult technical subject to thousands, said, "I think being a driving instructor is the hardest job."

Patrick next job was bank clerk at Andrews Air Force base. The position required him to work with wives of  Air Force Officers.  These women came from Germany and Korea.  Patrick learned both languages and got a good grasp of bank accounting.  A co-worker, Ian was from the United Kingdom. When he returned home he invited Patrick for a visit.  They spent the summer traveling in the UK.

When he got home Patrick went to PG Community college and worked nights making donuts.  Over his life, Patrick earned numerous technical certificates.  He was proudest of his SharePoint ones but there was a special moment as he brought out his dough master diploma from the donut place.

Patrick did well at PG and made it into Maryland.  He earned a degree in business management.

Patrick first job out of college was with an office supply company.   They had sales contest.  These were always won by a mean and pushy women who had developed large clients who would place large orders when she asked. She always won. Patrick figured out how to beat her.  He waited until the last possible moment to place his orders. She had already left. Patrick placed the orders and won,

Realizing that alienating the top sales person did not lead to a secure future, Patrick moved on. He studied Microsoft access.  He learned databases and eventually got a position with a company specializing in database management.  He learned Oracle and got certified in cold fusion software.  In technology, Patrick was the man! 

He was hired by a leading consulting company.  They had 25 people on the project.  They worked day and night.  Patrick noticed they were not focused on results but created mountains of paper but never completed anything of value.  He quietly finished the project.  Trained the customer and left.