William Patterson remembered as passionate politician, devoted father ALISHA MORRISSEY Transcontinental Media

William Patterson, a passionate politician, described as one of the House of Assembly's best hecklers ever, has died at the age of 85.

Despite his advanced age, Patterson's family was shocked by his death, as just the day before he'd been having a new shed built to house his ATV.

Sandra Patterson, his youngest daughter, says only a week before his death she was helping him mow the lawn at his Placentia home.

Sitting in his office to do a telephone interview, Sandra describes a framed article about her father's passion for antique cars. The fact that he restored a 1932 Chevrolet and a 1935 Buick is something people who only knew him as a politician would probably be surprised to learn, she said.

"We always used to joke and say he loved his cars, Gooseberry Cove and Mom, and what order would he put them in?" she says, taking a few minutes away from choosing the hymns for today's funeral.

Patterson leaves behind a massive family, including his wife Ettie, 11 children, 18 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

"She just lost her soul mate of 60-odd years," Sandra says of her mother. "She's doing as well as she can."

Joe Walsh, former managing editor of The Telegram and a good friend of Patterson's for more than 30 years, says the former MHA was always interested in activities and matters in the Town of Placentia.

But he was more interested in his family and dedicated to his wife and 11 children, Walsh says.

Sandra agrees, saying if asked, all of his children - nine girls and the two boys, who still run the family business in Placentia - would say they had a close relationship with their father.

"He certainly understood the value of taking time and enjoying time," she says, adding that her father was a great lover of history and poetry and could recite the masters at the drop of a hat.

In recent years, Patterson had become a survivor. He survived, prostate cancer, bowel cancer, heart disease and diabetes, but was still out loading the trailer on the weekends, Sandra says.

"No one thought he was pulling out each time," she says. "He suffered a lot more, and suffered quietly, more than anyone ever knew, I think."

Felix Collins, current MHA for Placentia-St. Mary's, was mayor of Placentia for the 14 years that Patterson was the MHA for the area.

"He was always there to facilitate contacts with various government agencies and to open the doors of various departments for us," Collins said in a prepared statement for the media.

He served under premiers Frank Moores, Brian Peckford and Tom Rideout, before leaving politics.

"He once told me that he loved politics, but hated singing 'O Canada' and eating cold plates."

Former political rival and close friend Bill Hogan says he'll miss Patterson, who he used to heckle about his Tory roots.

"I always claimed that he was a good man on the wrong team and our communities were the better off because of it," says Hogan, a staunch Liberal.

"We were arch political rivals and really good friends," Hogan says, explaining that they worked together, despite party lines. "You had to get what you could for your communities ... we couldn't afford philosophical differences in that era."

Hogan, now the mayor of Placentia, will attend the funeral, and confirms that Lt.-Gov. John Crosbie, also a political friend of Patterson's, will attend.

But the attention is probably what Patterson would have wanted least, says his daughter.

Sandra says he was always modest.

"Dad didn't like a fuss. He wouldn't want to be doing this right now. ... Dad did what he did, in most cases, very quietly. He didn't want a fuss made about him, there were no pretensions about him," she says. "He was an incredible man."