Patrick C. Wilkins
Author of
About the Author
It can be said of Patrick Clifton Wilkins that he was born in a "soddy"
in the sand hills of western Nebraska on a December night in 1927, when
a blizzard was whipping through the area. In an effort every bit as valorous
as that of the mail service, a doctor summoned from a nearby town braved
the rain and snow and gloom of night to deliver the Wilkins baby. But he
was too late! A ranch midwife had already done the job.
"I think so few people noticed my birth," jokes Pat Wilkins
today, "because they were so caught up in all the hoopla over What's-His-Name's
solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean earlier in the year."
Charles Lindbergh and Nebraska aside, Oregon has been home to Wilkins
since 1935, the year his parents moved away from the Great Depression and
the Dust Bowl of the Midwest to find a new life for their eight children.
After high school, military service, and a short course at a broadcasting
school in Hollywood, Wilkins began his communications career at a radio
station in El Paso, Texas. He was soon back home in Oregon, however, working
for several small town stations. It was an experience in one of those towns
that gave Wilkins his first good feel for journalism.
"When I was hired to be the newscaster at KSRV in Ontario,"
Wilkins says, "I had only two or three years experience, but I thought
I was pretty hot stuff, ripping and reading copy off the news wire machines.
Boy, I was in for a surprise. I was told by the boss that I was to gather,
write, and broadcast a fifteen-minute, completely local newscast each evening,
six days a week." Wilkins says he "struggled" with that job
for over two years, but realized he was learning his craft.
In his forty-year career in radio and TV, Wilkins has been a news director,
an anchor, and a reporter, becoming a familiar voice and face to Northwesterners.
But he is best known for the on-the-road feature reports he did for many
years for TV station KATU in Portland. "Kind of like Charles Kuralt,"
he says, "but with a smaller territory."
Since his retirement in 1990, Wilkins has not let up much. For a few
years he lent his writing talents to the North Cowlitz Environmental Council
at Castle Rock, Washington, and also wrote, photographed, narrated, and
produced two award-winning documentaries about environmental issues in the
region.
In addition, Wilkins has worked at a number of odd jobs "just for
the experience and their story potential." These jobs included washing
rental cars at Portland International Airport, cleaning dishes at an electronics
plant cafeteria, and stuffing kits on the assembly line of a first aid kit
manufacturer. During this time he also wrote his first book, Somewhere
in Oregon. More recently, Wilkins has been engaged in doing freelance
reporting for radio and newspapers, and is currently a regular columnist
and book critic for the West Side Newspaper in Salem.
Among awards held by Pat Wilkins are those bestowed by the Freedoms Foundation,
the Oregon Medical Association, the Oregon Federation of Teachers, and the
Society of Professional Journalists. He is also an honorary tribal member
of the Oglala Sioux at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, as well as of the Confederated
Tribes of Colville, Washington, and an honorary chief of the Chief Joseph
band of the Nez Perce. His Indian name at Pine Ridge translates to "White
Wolf," and at Colville to "Grizzly Bear Spirit."
For much of his life Wilkins has had a passion for car restoration, and
for thirty-five years drove a Triumph TR-3B, an English sports car he bought
new in 1963, "drove it till it dropped," then restored it to new
again. When he retired, however, Wilkins switched to a pickup so he could
haul his fishing gear everywhere "just in case I need it." And
apparently that happens often.
The pickup is also handy for gathering obsidian, the volcanic stuff from
which he fashions arrowheads. "Much like the Indians did, but for a
different purpose," he says. "Today's flint-knappers -- arrowhead
makers -- produce them as a form of art and as a way to get in touch with
the past."
Pat lives with his wife Gayle in Salem, Oregon. He has six children,
ten grandchildren, and a great-grandson, all but a few within easy reach
of home.
Somewhere in the Northwest
On the Road in Oregon & Washington
Through four decades, Pat Wilkins was a familiar face and voice to thousands
of Northwest television viewers who tuned in his newscasts, yet Wilkins'
true calling lay outside the studio and along the less traveled roads of
Oregon and Washington. Here, far beyond the usual range of TV cameras and
crews, Wilkins searched for the people, places, and events that shaped what
a colleague calls "his first love, feature reporting."
In following this love, Wilkins spent twenty years of his working life
on the road somewhere in the Northwest, traveling the countryside in search
of stories that capture the history and heart of the region. "Kind
of like Charles Kuralt," he says, "but with a smaller territory."
Contained within these pages are more than thirty of Wilkins' favorite
stories collected from thousands of miles of travel, with subjects ranging
from a red rooster that captured the heart of a town to a man who defied
a volcano, from a desert cave that reveals ancient secrets to an underground
city that shelters the homeless, from a herd of goats that predict the weather
to a restaurant that serves the "worst food in Oregon."
Toss in some native mythology, regional history, and modern technology
-- and you have a recipe for a series of armchair excursions that will steer
you along the road to adventure, somewhere in the Northwest.
ISBN 1-930111-46-0, 115 pages, 7x8.5 inches, trade paper, maps, photographs,
artwork. $13.95 cover price.
"Wilkins is a craftsman and an artist in his own right. And his
affection for his subject matter shines through in every word." Dan
Hays, Statesman Journal
"Wilkins has a way with a tale. He offers nuggets of history and
snapshots of life off the beaten path in the Northwest, and peoples them
with folks from the region's past and present. The collection is a pleasant
stroll through the myths, history and people of the Northwest." Bill
Andrus, East Oregonian |
"Pat Wilkins is a fine storyteller. This is a collection of his
best, and I envy you if you're about to experience Pat's stories for the
first time." Paul Linnman, author of The Exploding Whale: And Other
Remarkable Stories from the Evening News
"If you're fairly new to the Northwest, you'll love Pat's tales
and the bits of history that may have otherwise slipped under the threshold
of time. If you've lived in the Northwest for a long time, you'll love them
for the memories they evoke. If you've just purchased this book, you're
about to experience hours of the best kind of storytelling by a classic
storyteller." Adam W. Wiktorek, author of Boomerang
"Once again Patrick Wilkins brings us tales of unique people and
places in Oregon and beyond, as only the master storyteller can. You will
enjoy this book." Dr. Jerry McGee, author of The Lewis River High
Scalers & the Dam Kid |
Somewhere in Oregon
On the Road Across the State
For more than twenty years as an on-the-road TV reporter, Pat Wilkins
traveled the highways and backroads of Oregon in a quest to find the people,
places, and history that make the state so special. Now with thirty of his
favorite stories collected here, Wilkins takes readers along for the adventures
to be found somewhere in Oregon.
ISBN 1-930111-55-X, 114 pages, 7x8.5 inches, trade paper, maps, photographs,
artwork. $13.95 cover price.
"Wilkins' stories are informative, often fascinating, and sometimes
infused with the touch of the poet. They are also stories of the heart and
they nearly always reach deeply into the indefinable something that says
'Pacific Northwest.'" Dan Hays, Statesman-Journal
"Offers fascinating peeks at odd tales and leaves readers craving
for more. Much more." Lee Juillerat, Herald and News |
"A good book! Interesting, compelling." Chris
McCartney, West Side Newspaper
"The stories are delightful for both newcomers and
fifth-generation Northwesterners." Rodger Nichols, The Chronicle |
Somewhere in Eastern Oregon
On the Road East of the Cascades
Eastern Oregon is a land of distant horizons, endless sagebrush--and
countless stories about the people and places that make this region unique.
For more than twenty years, it was Pat Wilkins' job as an on-the-road TV
reporter to track down these stories, to travel the roadways in a quest
to capture the character and the history of the dry side of the state. Compiled
here is a collection of those tales that range from the Columbia River to
the California border, and from the flanks of the Cascade Range to the depths
of Hells Canyon.
ISBN 978-1-930111-69-1, 114 pages, 7x8.5 inches, trade paper, maps, photographs.
$14.00 cover price. |
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A collection of historical material from the above three
books has been compiled into a new edition:
To contact Pat Wilkins
Phone: 503-371-3556
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