Dennis Patrick Greenlee, Sr.

His name was Dennis but he went by Pat. He was born in rural Indiana in an area now known as West Terre Haute. Pat was the youngest of seven children born to Ed Greenlee and Josephine McCrary. Ed was a carpenter, handyman and farmer. Pat always bragged about Ed’s vegetables—especially his corn and rhubarb. But it was Pat’s Mom, Jose, who managed the family. Jose worked as a clerk in the county treasurer’s office.

The Greenlee clan was not a family of means—the family home did not have indoor plumbing until after Pat graduated from high school. They used an outhouse. Pat was raised during the Great Depression and Jose was active in local politics. Pat was always proud of his mother’s work in support of FDR. Jose’s view of politics was a powerful influence on Pat throughout his life; he rarely strayed from his Democratic bent.

Pat graduated from Valley High School 1948. He was president of his class, a class of only 26. He was a starter on the school’s basketball and baseball teams—but was kicked off the baseball team for smoking.

After high school Pat worked shining shoes in what he always referred to as “the shining parlor”. Pat often said that while working at the shining parlor, “I had more money than I ever had in my life”. The parlor was located in a pool hall. There Pat learned to play pool with the best of them. Later, he would play on various pool teams with his buddies from the Wayside Tavern in Lacey. He was very good. One his best lines was, “Show me a good pool player, and I’ll show you a misspent youth.”

Pat was a lover of music—especially the big band era of the 40’s. He used his shining parlor “wealth” to travel to Chicago to listen to the great bands of the time. In some cases he could not afford the ticket so he talked the ushers into letting him listen from the lobby. His favorites were Harry James, Tex Beneke, Woody Herman and, of course, Glen Miller.

Pat was drafted into the Army in 1951 during the Korean conflict. Pat was never deployed overseas and never saw combat. He grew quiet when talking about that time because of buddies who were killed in action. Pat had a head for accounting and bookkeeping and the Army used those skills by making him a supply clerk. He served in the “Dixie Division” in Mississippi and North Carolina. His units were racially segregated—a fact that Pat never understood and that he criticized for the rest of his life.

While Pat’s time in the service helped shape his world view, it also allowed him to meet his best friend—Bob Wirtz from Green Bay, Wisconsin. The two became so close that after each married and had their own families, there were many family trips to Green Bay to visit.

On the night Pat was discharged from the Army, he visited a club in Terre Haute. There he met Mary Ann Schmidt—a local beauty in nurses training. He approached and said his first words to her: “I know you’re just dying to dance with me, aren’t you?” His brashness must have been fetching because they married less than a year later.

While Mary Ann worked at St. Anthony Hospital in Terre Haute, Pat had a bookkeeping job at Indiana Mushroom Company, which was later purchased by Green Giant Co. Pat rose through management at Green Giant and in 1962 was transferred to its mushroom farm in Olympia. So, Pat and Mary Ann packed up and moved the family, which by now had three children, along with Mary Ann’s mother, to Olympia.

Pat continued to work for Green Giant and stayed on when it sold the farm to Ostrom Mushroom Co. He retired in 1993.

Pat was an active and engaged father. He umpired Little League games and was a charter member of the Timberline High School athletic booster club. He never missed a game. There was nothing Pat enjoyed more than showing off his family to his friends. He and Mary Ann liked to bowl and while the kids were young they were part of various bowling teams. But their passion was music and dancing. Music was always playing in the house, with Pat trying to persuade his kids that big band music was the best ever played. He didn’t care for Led Zeppelin. He tolerated the Beatles only after getting over his objection to the mop top look. Pat and Mary Ann were frequent visitors to whatever venues would allow them to dance. And they were great dancers.

Mary Ann was Pat’s dream. He cared about her so. After she passed in 2020, he surrounded himself with pictures of her and repeated to anyone who would listen, “she was my everything.”

Pat was known for his wit, his turn of a phrase and his ability to tell a joke. But, he was also known for his compassion and sense of fairness. Pat had more pet sayings than anyone can imagine. Just when you’d think you’d heard them all, he would unleash a new one, and they were funny--always.

Pat’s three children, Dennis (Patty), Lynn Saville (Mike), and Mark (Becca), and his four grandchildren, Mark (Liz), Julie (Jake), Aaron (Carolyn) and Rachel, and his two great grandchildren, Kellyn and Ryan are so proud to be part of his legacy. We were very fortunate to have him. Using one of Pat’s sayings, “it’s been a slice of heaven.”

In lieu of flowers or remembrances, the family asks that you make a donation to the American Diabetes Association, in Pat’s name.