Brian Chick would be the last man to admit to being anyone special, and yet that is exactly what he is. In an era in which labels such as “hero” are too easily bandied about and people are honored for kicking a soccer ball or singing nicely, it is good to be reminded of the unacclaimed good souls who are truly worthy of recognition. Without a shadow of doubt, one of these good souls is Brian, even though he insists that he was simply “doing right” by Pat, his wife of 62 years.
As an editor at LifeBook Memoirs, one becomes accustomed to working on stories that are remarkable and even mind-blowing. However, I have never worked on a life story that has touched the hearts of everybody involved in its creation in quite the way that Brian’s memoir, Our Pat! A473, has done. It is a wonderfully uplifting story of a couple who stand as an inspiration to us all.
In the introduction to his book, Brian says that he wanted only to tell the story of “how amazing Pat was and how she was ‘the brains’ while I was ‘the laborer’.” In recounting the way in which, as a couple, they overcame every challenge thrown at them, however, one can only admire the dedication, fortitude, and love that Brian demonstrated each and every day as he helped Pat live a full, active, and largely independent life that saw them visit far-flung corners of the world. (Brian even persuaded the first low-cost airline entrepreneur, Freddie Laker, to change his boarding policies.) And yet, in this book of more than 40,000 words, there is not one word of self-praise, remorse, or regret.
It is impossible to overstate the challenges that Pat and Brian faced in every aspect of their lives—the word “enormous” simply isn’t enormous enough. Brian recalls Pat once saying, “If I had a miracle granted to cure one part of me—legs, hands, or speech—forget the walking, forget the hands; I would choose speech.” As she explained, whenever she met someone new, her struggle simply to be understood was always the first barrier she had to overcome.
The couple lived their entire lives in the valleys of South Wales, but they first met when they corresponded as pen pals. Romance blossomed, and they married in 1961, with Pat’s father, Bill, carrying her in his arms from the wedding car.
This is a powerful story—an emotional and poignant one that rightly details how difficult life can be for anyone born in such circumstances—but it is anything but a negative or downbeat story, and there are plenty of truly laugh-out-loud moments. Both Brian and Pat were as willing to laugh at themselves as they were at the rest of the world, and every mishap and misadventure is told with a lightness and humor that testifies to their insistence that they only ever wanted to be treated like any other couple.
People react differently to the task of opening up about their thoughts and feelings in an autobiography or memoir. Brian admitted that, as a private person, he was required to bare his soul, but he surprised himself with how he managed that particular challenge. His explanation? “I love Pat so much that I want the world to know it.”
Despite their many years of battling to overcome the countless obstacles placed in their way by chance of birth, Brian insists, “All of us can see someone worse off, including me, and we must all reflect and appreciate what we have at this moment in time.”
What Pat was fortunate to have in those 60-plus years of her marriage to Brian was a husband and caregiver who put her first every time and who gave her a quality of life that went far beyond what many people could dream of.
In the concluding words of Our Pat! A473, Brian says, “I am so, so proud of my dearest wife.” You can be one hundred percent certain, Brian, that Pat was equally proud of you. Reading your story will help your readers to reconnect with a faith in humanity that is being sorely tested in the modern world.
Thank you, Brian. You genuinely are one of life’s good guys.
P.S. In case you were wondering, the book’s title, Our Pat! A473, harks back to their courtship, when a young and dashing Brian would cycle twenty-seven miles each way just to see Pat.
Written by Stephen Pitts, LifeBook Memoirs editor
