Changes

==Author and educator==

==Author and educator==

Patterson taught for more than forty years, mostly at Crane High School in Crane, a [[petroleum]] boomtown south of [[Odessa, Texas|Odessa]]. He also taught in three other small towns in southwest Texas: Marfa in Presidio County, Sanderson in Terrell County, and, his last assignment, Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County.<ref name=ppatterson/> His best-known understudy in the field of Texas history in Crane was the [[journalist]] and western]] novelist Elmer Stephen Kelton (1926-2009), who died a year after Patterson. Kelton with great emotion said that all of his writing talent had been developed by his mentor Patterson and without Patterson there could have been no Kelton.<ref>Elmer Kelton exhibit, [[Museum of the Desert Southwest]], Crane, Texas.</ref><ref name=ekelton>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranchmagazine.com/index.php/Around-the-Country/|author=Gary Cutrer|title=Kelton Rides on Up the Trail|publisher=''Ranch Magazine''|date=September 1, 2009|accessdate=April 5, 2014}}</ref>

Patterson taught for more than forty years, mostly at Crane High School in Crane, a [[petroleum]] boomtown south of [[Odessa, Texas|Odessa]]. He also taught in three other small towns in southwest Texas: Marfa in Presidio County, Sanderson in Terrell County, and, his last assignment, Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County.<ref name=ppatterson/> His best-known understudy in the field of Texas history in Crane was the [[journalist]] and western novelist Elmer Stephen Kelton (1926-2009), who died a year after Patterson. Kelton with great emotion said that all of his writing talent had been developed by his mentor Patterson and without Patterson there could have been no Kelton.<ref>Elmer Kelton exhibit, [[Museum of the Desert Southwest]], Crane, Texas.</ref><ref name=ekelton>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranchmagazine.com/index.php/Around-the-Country/|author=Gary Cutrer|title=Kelton Rides on Up the Trail|publisher=''Ranch Magazine''|date=September 1, 2009|accessdate=April 5, 2014}}</ref>

Between his high school graduation and college enrollment Patterson was a [[cowboy]]. This background spurred his success as a folk humorist and teller of tall tales. His sharp wit is reflected in all of his works of literature. He received the Founders' Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cowboy Symposium sponsored by the [[American Cowboy Culture Association in [[Lubbock]], Texas. He was an active member and past president of the [[Texas Folklore Society]]. He was affiliated with the [[West Texas Historical Association]].<ref name=ppatterson/>

Between his high school graduation and college enrollment Patterson was a [[cowboy]]. This background spurred his success as a folk humorist and teller of tall tales. His sharp wit is reflected in all of his works of literature. He received the Founders' Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cowboy Symposium sponsored by the [[American Cowboy Culture Association in [[Lubbock]], Texas. He was an active member and past president of the Texas Folklore Society. He was affiliated with the West Texas Historical Association.<ref name=ppatterson/>

Patterson's best-known book, ''Crazy Women in the Rafters: Memories of a Texas Boyhood'' (1976), is an account of growing up on a [[ranch]] near Upland, the first county seat of Upton County.<ref name=ekelton/><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4030994-crazy-women-in-the-rafters|title=Crazy Women in the Rafters: Memories of a Texas Boyhood,  University of Oklahoma Press|publisher=Norman, Oklahoma: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 1976, 242 pp.; ISBN 0806112808|accessdate=April 5, 2014}}</ref>

Patterson's best-known book, ''Crazy Women in the Rafters: Memories of a Texas Boyhood'' (1976), is an account of growing up on a [[ranch]] near Upland, the first county seat of Upton County.<ref name=ekelton/><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4030994-crazy-women-in-the-rafters|title=Crazy Women in the Rafters: Memories of a Texas Boyhood,  University of Oklahoma Press|publisher=Norman, Oklahoma: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 1976, 242 pp.; ISBN 0806112808|accessdate=April 5, 2014}}</ref>