Everett H. Patterson

Everett Hale Patterson, son of Harley was born Aug. 3, 1906. From his early childhood days he remembers when most streets in Napoleon were unpaved. Amusement consisted of a Saturday night at the Dreamland Theatre where the admission charge was five cents. He would deliver bread which sold for six loaves for 254 to his neighbors for a penny in order to obtain spending money. He enjoyed ice skating on the canal in the winter, which was great sport in those days. Everett and his friends also fished in the river and canal and did trapping.

Everett and Edna Patterson

He began his career early due to the death of his father, being the eldest son. In 1924 he became employed at the Shaff Brothers Drug Store and has worked in drug stores over 50 years.

He married Edna May Bernicke in 1927. She was the daughter of William and Ida Bernicke. For many years William Bernicke was a blacksmith in Napoleon. When asked of his family, he would always say that he had six daughters and each one had a brother. His seven children were: Helen Rettig of Holgate, Mathilda Woodward Gunsenhouser now deceased, Edna Patterson, Esther Leifer, Selma Matthes of Adrian, Michigan, and Dorothy Little, and one son Raymond Bernicke of Napoleon.

'Everett and Edna are members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. They have one son Russell.

Submitted by Russell Patterson