Q P In his 60s, Clive Patterson delayed his retirement He's become a parish priest ByMARGHAYLOCK Staff Reporter MILFORD - At 66 years of age, Clyde (Pat) Patterson has just purchased a retirement home near Wellington, but plans to live there have been postponed because of his new career. Recently, he was or- dained as an Anglican priest, by the Bishop of Ontario, Rt. Reverend Allan Read, and now has the parish of Marysburg, which in- cludes St. Philip's Church in Milford and St. John's at Waupoos. Patterson says he made the decision to become a priestafter consultation with the Bishop of Ottawa, who assured him he had time for a career in the church. He studied at Queen's University, because of its proximity to his home in Oxford Mills, near Ottawa and is now working towards his Master of Divinity. Patterson originally attended the University of Alberta, where he met his wife, Frances and, before the Second World War, was a high school teacher. He enlisted in the service and after his discharge entered the federal public service, where he worked from 1945 to 1976. His career involved work in three depart- ments. Patterson was employed, first, with the Department of Veter- ans' A f f a i r s , in rehabilitation work, then spent 19 years with the Civil Service Com- mission, where he became director of operations. In 1965, he took over as director of Emergen- cy Planning Canada and continued in this capaci- ty until 1976, when he retired to enter the con- sulting field. Patterson says he has always been active in the church, "especially from 1975 on" and saw an opportunity for a new career . His w i f e , Frances, was sup- portive of his goals and this winter joined him in studying The History of Religion at Queen's University. "This type of parish is precisely why I went in- to the church," Patter- son says, referring to his new duties in Marysburg. "It is where there is a real need and it is com- pletely fulfilling." "This parish has a large group of people with a wide variety of skills who are complete- ly supportive of their church and minister." There are 36 families in St. Philip's congrega- tion and 27 in St. John's and a total of approx- imately 135 baptized persons in the two com- bined. "This is something closely related to the things that I have done, already," says Patter- son, discussing his new post, here. Through his several careers, all of his work has been ^people- related." "One of the convic- tions I have had, after living in a rural area for a considerable time is that it is hard to con- ceive of a viable village or town without a religious core," Patter- son observes. He and his wife made their first visit to Prince Edward County in December- 1984, after Recently ordained, 66-year-old Rev. Clyde (Pat) Patterson is parish priest for the Milford area. The women of his Anglican congregation presented him with this clerical stole. (Staff photo). he was offered a parish in Marysburg. "Our reaction was to buy a house near Well- ington. We are going to start its reconstruction immediately and we will use it as a cottage and guest house, until retirement." The Pattersons have had a book on maple suga r p r o d u c t i o n published by the Na- tional Capital Commis- sion. A second publica- tion on the hand tools us- ed by Canadian farm families in the Ottawa Valley from 1850 to 1875 is soon to be released. The first is entitled Sap's Running and the second, Harvests Past. I