Remembering Patrick McManus

By Brandon Hansen ’08

Eastern Washington is known to have a few back roads. And on these back roads, you’ll find a few loggers in their crew cab crummies heading up to the job site. It was in this setting that I discovered the work of author Patrick McManus, who passed away in April at the age of 84.

When I was a kid, going up “into the woods” with dad was a big deal. Going up “into the woods” is how every single logger references it, and it could mean going north up into Stevens County, Pend Oreille County and even over the bridge into Ferry County. It’s not the most location-friendly description.

But what it usually meant was we were going to be in dad’s truck for a while – a white Ford 350 crew cab he laid a tree over the first month he had it and still owns for dump trips. On these trips we would put in audiotapes of Patrick McManus’ books.