Patrick C. Wilkins Author of Somewhere in Oregon

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 Oregon On the Road Across the State "The stories are delightful for both newcomers and fifth-generation Northwesterners." The Chronicle "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 "A good book! Interesting, compelling." West Side Newspaper "Offers fascinating peeks at odd tales and leaves readers craving for more. Much more." Herald and News "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." East Oregonian "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.'" Wilkins is a craftsman and an artist in his own right. And his affection for his subject matter shines through in every word." Statesman Journal "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 "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 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. 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, roaming 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 thirty of Wilkins' favorite stories, gems of state history, that he discovered while traveling somewhere in Oregon. ISBN 978-1-930111-55-4, 82 pages, trade paper, maps, historical and contemporary photographs, drawings. $16.00 cover price.

To contact Pat Wilkins

Phone: 503-371-3556

E-mail: bearcreekpress@eoni.com

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