Article Title: At Minuteman Press, Memories of Brenda Patterson are in Full Splendor

Edition: August 2001
Category: People
Author: Nat Frothingham
Article:

On Saturday morning, January 27, 1996 21-year-old Brenda Patterson was driving her small Honda to a weekend housecleaning job in Haverhill, New Hampshire when she hit a patch of black ice and collided with a van. She was killed instantly.

Patterson's sudden death rocked the people who knew her. And her life and death continue to be remembered with special regret and loss by all the folks at Montpelier's Minuteman Press, where she worked during the week as a graphic designer. The tragedy most especially hit owners Pinky and Jean Clark and their son Kevin.

On the first anniversary of Patterson's death in 1997 Kevin Clark put out a yellow rose with a ribbon tied to a tree in front of the shop.

In 1998, the Clark family put out another rose and began discussions with the Montpelier Tree Board about planting a tree in Patterson's honor.

A first tree was planted in 1999 and a small granite marker from Northeast Granite was added that gives Patterson's name, the date of her birth, June 23, 1973, and the date of her death.

This spring the Clarks, with the help of Windy Ridge Landscaping, have planted a third replacement tree in Patterson's honor and Pinky Clark has received permission to plant a temporary garden which is in full bloom today in front of Minuteman Press.

Patterson was married when she died, and she and her husband had just bought a house.

Jean Clark has scribbled a full page of notes about Patterson that recall her remarkable qualities: "conscientious, playful, attentive, a true professional, inquisitive, efficient."

Jean Clark said that Patterson "thought Montpelier was 'the big city.'"

Coming from small town New Hampshire she was amazed at the size of the Montpelier post office.

"She was an employee who was careful, always anticipated problems ahead of time, asked questions and then put the wheels in motion to get the job done," Clark remembers.

Kevin Clark said that under normal circumstances there is a little distance between the employees and owners at Minuteman Press, but he said it was different with Patterson.

Clark and his wife Trish fondly remember several camping trips they took to the White Mountains in Maine with Patterson and her husband.

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