I woke up this morning at about 3:45am, something I almost never do, I got the call 2 min later, Nat said "call chance now." I hung up the phone and called him immediately.
I met Patrick back in '90 or '91 I can't remember which and it doesn't matter. You don't realize the effect people have on you sometimes until something bad happens. Actually, isn't the old saying; "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" Well that's not something the Willis' are saying right now. They knew what they had. Gold.
Patrick is Chance Willis' brother in law but brother by choice. He was DEFINITELY loved. He was such a great guy. He literally made friends everywhere he went.
The ironic part about how he died is that unlike all the times he was in danger on the oil rigs, from the shooting and hostage take overs in Africa, to the leaks, explosions, clean up, storms, helicopter flights landing at night etc, Patrick died riding passenger in his friend's Corvette.
According to (CenlaNews.com)
"A 1998 Corvette speeding on Williams Lake Road goes airborne twice before crashing, claiming the lives of two Pineville men Saturday Morning.
Troop E State Police identify the victims as 41 year old Jeff Brossett and 44 year old Patrick Murrell, both pronounced dead at the scene. Brossett was the driver, Murrell the passenger.
The accident report states Brossett was driving at a high rate of speed when the Corvette went airborne, launching from a dip in the road. The vehicle rotated, ran off the right side of the road, hit a private driveway, went airborne again before crashing upside down on top of a sheared tree.
The fatal crash occurred about 10:50 AM Saturday."
Today's the first day and Chance was really upset over the phone. But he said if he didn't sleep in this morning, he'd be in that car too, riding with them. Close call true, but I say that's a wake up call.
Laken was out of town, she's now on her way back into cenla. Jason's already in from LSU. The family is distraught. It's terrible news.
You hear people described as a "nice" guy. I hate that actually, being blanketed as "nice". It's not fair, nice is something you say when you don't really know someone and you have no other way to describe someone thats sounds positive.
Patrick would do what he could for people. Period. He was an honest person, kind, and yes had an genuine gentle way about him. He loved God and his family and that's all that was important to him.
My heart goes out to the family. This really is a hard time. His wife, Tye, son, Jason, Daughter, Laken, and of course Chance, Brandi, Roy and Opal. They are going through a literal disaster in their world. A hole has been ripped open.
He'll be buried on the Willis land in Kolin, Louisiana. I've asked Momma and my brother's to try to be there as our families were connected and I can't be there.
Not a happy day.