In Memory of Kevin, Tools R US (1 Viewer)

[Inthefive555]

I don't know what else to say but condolences to all who were close to him. I am not fortunate enough to be close enough to meet any of you, but I really do appreciate all the contributions that were made to make this site the repository that it is (bar none, the best technical outlet of any vehicle I have worked on, BMW and Porsche included - and that is definitely saying something). As such, almost all the pertinent threads I have watched/saved that have saved my butt in a thousand different ways have one thing in common: Tools R Us has provided his invaluable feedback and technical expertise along with his real flavor in getting many, me included, up and running again.

So, from someone who cannot physically be there, please let me know which avenue to take to contribute to the family. I hope to in the future be able meet and thank many of you in person before I have to do so like this.

 

[fumann]

First of all, my deepest condolences to Kevin's family.

It's been almost a week since we learned of Kevin's passing and I have not had a single waking hour go by without some thought or memory of my friend. Sleep has been uneven and sporadic at best. This is a tough time. I know I'm not alone in my feelings, but somehow, I feel very alone today.

Like @inkpot , it has taken me some time to collect my thoughts enough to post some of them here. Many of Kevin's friends are my friends too and good people who volunteer to work together on the Tonto National Forest with TRAL. Many of his friends are Toyota enthusiasts and 4-wheelers. I never tried to take much of his time, as I knew there were so many people that relied on Kevin for his sage advice. I could always count on Kevin and of course John taking time as much as needed, whenever I needed it. I could also count on Kevin to tell me if something wasn't needed. "Just wheel it!", he would say. His voice echos in my mind as I write this. The mass outpouring of feelings here on Mud is testimony to the way he lived and the affect he had on people.

Kevin was tall and slim and perfectly suited to working on lifted land cruisers. When Kevin walked, it was reminiscent of the way a giraffe moves, with a slow, careful and deliberate grace. When Kevin touched anything he demanded that it work perfectly. He did beautiful work - @DSRTRDR Claudia's FJ40, come to mind. Though he worked with a crippled hand, Kevin was a skilled fabricator. We are going to miss his sentinel announcement for a fixed repair - "Perfect!". Many of the great ideas and things he has invented have been commercially exploited by other people here on Mud. He could have exploited his forum celebrity too - brought great products to market and gotten rich off the Mud community. He didn't do that. He wasn't about having all the cool stuff. He didn't need it. Kevin was cool without all the attachments. Kevin died without a lot of money, but he was rich in friends, and we all are richer for having known him.

After becoming disillusioned with 4WD club politics, Kevin turned away from his president's position at Copper State Cruisers and turned his attention to TRAL, where he was instrumental in building the community of volunteers - including a very large Land Cruiser membership. He didn't want to be the CSC club president, it was handed to him. In TRAL, he took no official title, but he was involved in everything. Over the years, he brought hundreds of people into TRAL. He never liked being the leader, he really preferred to back seat drive or to be the Spotter. I think that's what gave him such a unique objective way of looking at things.

Why did Kevin love TRAL so much? Historically, the OHV community and land management agencies like the Forest Service and BLM have been at odds with one another - OHV users screaming at FS and BLM about road closures, and cash-strapped land agencies complaining that they don't have resources to address the problems. This approach has yielded very little traction. Kevin saw what Rich Smith was doing at TRAL and realized that whining wasn't ever going to work, and the only thing that would really work is showing the land agencies how much people cared and to be willing to put in the hours to make the forest a better place for us all. THIS WORKS MUDDERS!!! The FS welcomes TRAL's contributions, making maps, installing information kiosks, marking and repairing trails and telling them what is going on in their forest. By doing this, we keep more trails open and the forest is a better, more harmonious place to be. This and many more things are what Kevin was about.

We can honor his legacy every time we are off-road enjoying public land, be courteous to others, to take the time to pick up a little trash, and leave the place a little cleaner than we found it.

If you really want to honor Kevin, ask your local land managers how you can GET INVOLVED help them keep trails clean, safe and open, and get/stay involved in your local community.

This one really hurts!

I'm going to miss you Kevin - my sage, my spotter, my friend.

--Trent

 

[BrotherRob]

First of all, my deepest condolences to Kevin's family.

It's been almost a week since we learned of Kevin's passing and I have not had a single waking hour go by without some thought or memory of my friend. Sleep has been uneven and sporadic at best. This is a tough time. I know I'm not alone in my feelings, but somehow, I feel very alone today.

Like @inkpot , it has taken me some time to collect my thoughts enough to post some of them here. Many of Kevin's friends are my friends too and good people who volunteer to work together on the Tonto National Forest with TRAL. Many of his friends are Toyota enthusiasts and 4-wheelers. I never tried to take much of his time, as I knew there were so many people that relied on Kevin for his sage advice. I could always count on Kevin and of course John taking time as much as needed, whenever I needed it. I could also count on Kevin to tell me if something wasn't needed. "Just wheel it!", he would say. His voice echos in my mind as I write this. The mass outpouring of feelings here on Mud is testimony to the way he lived and the affect he had on people.

Kevin was tall and slim and perfectly suited to working on lifted land cruisers. When Kevin walked, it was reminiscent of the way a giraffe moves, with a slow, careful and deliberate grace. When Kevin touched anything he demanded that it work perfectly. He did beautiful work - @DSRTRDR Claudia's FJ40, come to mind. Though he worked with a crippled hand, Kevin was a skilled fabricator. We are going to miss his sentinel announcement for a fixed repair - "Perfect!". Many of the great ideas and things he has invented have been commercially exploited by other people here on Mud. He could have exploited his forum celebrity too - brought great products to market and gotten rich off the Mud community. He didn't do that. He wasn't about having all the cool stuff. He didn't need it. Kevin was cool without all the attachments. Kevin died without a lot of money, but he was rich in friends, and we all are richer for having known him.

After becoming disillusioned with 4WD club politics, Kevin turned away from his president's position at Copper State Cruisers and turned his attention to TRAL, where he was instrumental in building the community of volunteers - including a very large Land Cruiser membership. He didn't want to be the CSC club president, it was handed to him. In TRAL, he took no official title, but he was involved in everything. Over the years, he brought hundreds of people into TRAL. He never liked being the leader, he really preferred to back seat drive or to be the Spotter. I think that's what gave him such a unique objective way of looking at things.

Why did Kevin love TRAL so much? Historically, the OHV community and land management agencies like the Forest Service and BLM have been at odds with one another - OHV users screaming at FS and BLM about road closures, and cash-strapped land agencies complaining that they don't have resources to address the problems. This approach has yielded very little traction. Kevin saw what Rich Smith was doing at TRAL and realized that whining wasn't ever going to work, and the only thing that would really work is showing the land agencies how much people cared and to be willing to put in the hours to make the forest a better place for us all. THIS WORKS MUDDERS!!! The FS welcomes TRAL's contributions, making maps, installing information kiosks, marking and repairing trails and telling them what is going on in their forest. By doing this, we keep more trails open and the forest is a better, more harmonious place to be. This and many more things are what Kevin was about.

We can honor his legacy every time we are off-road enjoying public land, be courteous to others, to take the time to pick up a little trash, and leave the place a little cleaner than we found it.

If you really want to honor Kevin, ask your local land managers how you can GET INVOLVED help them keep trails clean, safe and open, and get/stay involved in your local community.

This one really hurts!

I'm going to miss you Kevin - my sage, my spotter, my friend.

--Trent



View attachment 2136294

Well said, Trent

 

[Rudster]

Trent, couldn't of said it any better. I like many others are still at a loss and have had many rough nights sleeping.

 

[cartercd]

In 2009 I asked Kevin for fan clutch advice for the Arizona desert. He invited me to his shop and we did the fan clutch mod right there and then. He was selfless when it came to helping his fellow Mudders - whether it was helping a newby over an obstacle on a trail run or sharing his sage advice on repairs/modifications. As someone who frequents the Tonto National Forest, I also have tremendous respect for the tireless work he did keeping trails accessible. He will be sorely missed. It is great to see the overwhelming support from the Mud community - including so many that never met him but benefited from his tremendous knowledge.

My condolences to his family and close friends, and if there is anything that we can do to support the family I'm in.

 

[OGBeno]

@Romer

Can we make this a sticky for a bit as a place where folks can post up to honor Tools?

Pictures, stories, memories?

I think we owe him that.


Onur

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

I never met Kevin but remember how helpful and informative Tools R Us was in all of the posts that he made.

He was a sage of the LC community.

My condolences to those who knew him.

 

[Romer]

@Romer

Can we make this a sticky for a bit as a place where folks can post up to honor Tools?

Pictures, stories, memories?

I think we owe him that.


Onur

Done

 

[Flipped Bezel]

RIP to @Tools R Us....

Reading through Kevin's many posts for the time that I've posted (and the years that I lurked) showed him to be a voice of reason and knowledge of all things Land Cruiser. The community is a better place for his contributions and many would be well served to mimic his generous nature and follow in his actions of that was which very indicative of his strong character.

My prayers and condolences to his family in their tough time of loss...

 

[ChaseTruck]

...
Many also know of Kevin, (and John’s), incredible work over the years in opening more than 300+ (?) miles of off road trails in the Tonto National Forest outside of Phoenix, an amazing recreational resource for one of America’s largest cities.

The actual number is somewhere close to 3500 miles of open trails in Tonto NF after the new travel management plan becomes active, courtesy of the Tonto Recreation Alliance members - prominently featuring the efforts of Kevin Patterson, and of course many of his friends including @inkpot , @-Spike-, @richardlillard1 and others - working the Forest Service to see the light about off-highway vehicle recreation.

Anyways. I met Kevin Patterson on 12.27.2005 when there was still some daylight left after their run to TipTop Mine in the Table Mesa area north of Phoenix. Claudia in the '72 FJ40 went on that Landcruiser run, whereas I went with some K5 buddies to run the Lower Terminator trail. We (Kevin, BrotherRob, Spike, Claudia, and me) met up after that, and for reasons that I can't exactly remember (it's still daylight... right??), we thought it would be a great idea to seek out the trail going around the north side of Lake Pleasant, some 20+ miles, starting in the late afternoon. Of course it got dark, we made it through (Humbolt Wash near dark, with an interesting climb out that had what in the dark felt like a 2-foot ledge at the top; it was too late in the day to let off the gas there, so everyone came up locked, and put the front tires in the air...), had dinner afterwards, and then decided it was a great time and we would 'wheel together again. We did, for many years.

I've started going through photos on my computer, and here's the first picture of Kevin, dated 01.01.2006, on a trip to Chiva Falls, down in Tucson. [My recollection was that it was New Year's Eve 2005, because coming out of the trail at the tail end of the group (I didn't want to perturb the Landcruiser experience with the K5, so I was tail gunning...) I remember getting pulled over by a young police officer nervous enough about what New Year's Eve would bring along; turned out to be a misunderstanding, and everything was fine. Good thing they pulled me over, because I was one of the few trucks that didn't have a gun under the seat somewhere...]. Computer sez it's 01.01.2006, so I'll probably lose that argument... here's Kevin in his LX, on 295 Nitto Terra Grapplers, back then:

 

[BILT4ME]

Do you think there is any way we can petition to get a trail or section of trail within Tonto officially named for Kevin?

"Kevin Patterson Land Cruiser Memorial Trail"
(@Tools R Us , IH8MUD)

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

The beginning RIP

New Toy!

Hi, my name is Kevin and I am a Cruiserholic, bought my first in 1975, a 1973 FJ40 with 21K miles, it now has over 200K. After a five month search for an 80, I found a 1996 LX450 with all the fun stuff, lockers, no roof rack, no porches (running boards) and light colored! It had 34K miles and...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[elhombre]

I'm just another guy that Kevin took the time to help over the years too. I am sorry for the family's loss. I too, feel a loss. May God welcome him with open arms.

 

[cme4lyt]

Unfortunately, I didn’t know Kevin personally but I had the pleasure to interact with him on many occasions when I needed tech advice. He was a wealth of knowledge and our MUD world was a better place with him around it.

RIP my friend and sincerest condolences to the Tools R Us family.............

 

[RedComet]

My condolences to his family for such a sudden loss. Never met him irl but I could always count on his posts to be full of good information. Sorry to hear about their loss. Mud lost a good one.

 

[Congo Cruiser]

Reading through so many fine tributes, stories, and testimonials reminds me that one of the more profound measures of our remarkably short lives on this earth is how others remember us after we’ve departed.

I never met or even spoke with Kevin, but respected and looked forward to his posts. His support of proper forest management and conservation echoes the eternally selfless efforts of men like Aldo Leopold and John Muir...on Kevin’s own scale.

For a mechanical novice like myself, having contributors like Tools weigh in on an issue, thread, or topic provided credibility that quickly led me to click “Watch” with enthusiasm. His knowledge, posts, comments, and willingness to share are most certainly a fitting legacy within this community.

As Plato so aptly said, “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” Kevin was one of those rare wise men.

Heartfelt condolences to his family. Rest easy Tools.

 

[Shoredreamer]

Such sad news. I only knew of Kevin @Tools R Us from his direct, precise and knowledgeable content on the forums here that I followed like Cruiser gospel, but he was a great example and inspiration of a master in his field. I would have loved to meet him in person, but his “art” will live on in my life and keep me motivated and passionate in my life. RIP Kevin. And condolences to his family and friends.

 

[BrotherRob]

Do you think there is any way we can petition to get a trail or section of trail within Tonto officially named for Kevin?

"Kevin Patterson Land Cruiser Memorial Trail"
(@Tools R Us , IH8MUD)

Great idea

 

[BILT4ME]

Great idea

I'm not from around there, and I'm ignorant on how to do something like this.

Can some of the other 'Mudders help with information?

 

[richardlillard1]

This was just sent out to those in TRAL, but any are welcome and encouraged to attend:



Hello everyone,

As a follow-up to my last email, what follows is the details for November 30th.

We will be meeting at Cottonwood Camp in the Four Peaks area at 10am. Google calls this Stewart’s Camp for some reason, but they are the same location.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

Several years ago, back when Kevin was the president of Copperstate Cruisers, he organized a cleanup of Cottonwood Camp. He continued that tradition with TRAL’s involvement in the Four Peaks Cleanup every year and several of us feel that this is a great location to meet up, socialize, exchange stories, and remember Kevin and his superlative contributions to our lives.

TRAL will be providing lunch and I’m told there will be an abundance of power discs (that’s the proper term for cookies, as you may recall).

From there we will be able to branch out and go wheeling, but please don’t feel an obligation. This event is welcome to anyone and everyone who would like to come out.

To help make sure we have enough food for everyone, we ask you to please take a moment of your time to RSVP at the link below.

Memorial Gathering for Kevin Patterson

Thank you all and I hope to see you there.


Richard