WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. - Before addressing the crowd of news media and well-wishers at the scene of her husband’s death three days ago, Michelle Patrick needed just a moment.
Then, she spoke through tears.
“As our family struggled to deal with our heavy grief … you, the public, reminded us that we carry this burden together,” she told the 100 or so people who gathered Friday night at Dodd Road and Smith Avenue in West St. Paul, where Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick was fatally shot Wednesday during a traffic stop. “You provide us with the hope that we’ll someday climb out of this deep grief we feel.”
Asked to share a memory of her 47-year-old husband, she smiled quietly and said he could “make $10 feel like a hundred” and liked to drive fast.
“He would love and appreciate all you’ve done for us,” said Michelle Patrick, who was joined by other family members.
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She was married to Scott Patrick for 26 years - they were high school sweethearts - and has two daughters, Erin, 17, who graduated from Trinity School at River Ridge last spring, and Amy, 13, who will attend the private high school in Eagan as a freshman in September.
Meanwhile, thousands of police officers and other mourners are expected next week at the services for Patrick.
Both the visitation and funeral will be at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church at 1575 Charlton St. in West St. Paul.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Parking will be available at Henry Sibley High School at 1897 Delaware Ave. in Mendota Heights, with shuttle service provided to the church. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Two processions will follow the service - one with members of the law enforcement community and the latter with Patrick’s family and Mendota Heights colleagues.
Route details will be announced next week.
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum News Service.
