Remembering Pat Kerwin

For me personally, this is a very difficult email to write.

The Chamber office can sometimes feel a bit like an island. While I direct the day-to-day work of the organization, our Board of Directors is an incredible resource to me. They are my colleagues, sounding boards, problem-solvers, and, over time, dear friends. They are the people who make sure I am never truly doing this work alone.

Pat was an enormous part of that for me.

Anyone who had the privilege of working with Pat knows that when he cared about something, he gave it his whole heart. He was thoughtful, intuitive, hardworking, and remarkably aware of the people around him. He genuinely loved people, and that was reflected in the way he approached both his professional work and his service to our community.

As General Manager of Buche Foods in Oacoma, Pat took tremendous pride in his store, his team, and this community. We watched him pour himself into making that store something special. Somehow, even with the demands of his own work, he continued to find time to show up for the Chamber.

And Pat showed up again and again.

He looked forward to the Harvest Festival and stepped in wherever he was needed, including personally delivering pumpkins for our pumpkin patch. He helped with our Parade of Lights, decorating a float and proudly hauling our Grand Marshal. He was a tremendous supporter of our Rock the Bluffs fireworks campaign, working alongside his Buche Foods team to decorate, fundraise, and help us make the event successful.

He loved being part of our annual scholarship process and was always excited about the opportunity to support young people in our community.

Pat was also one of the strongest advocates for our Annual Awards Gala. He believed deeply in recognizing people for the work they do. He would remind us how important it was for people to know that their efforts were seen and appreciated.

I find that especially meaningful as I write this today, because I hope Pat knew how deeply his own efforts were seen and appreciated.

There are countless other things Pat did for this organization. Some were big and visible, and many were the quiet things that happen behind the scenes—the conversations, ideas, advice, encouragement, extra set of hands, and willingness to simply say, "I'll help."

Those things add up.

Over nearly six years of volunteer service, Pat gave countless hours to the Chamber and to the communities of Chamberlain and Oacoma. He did so while carrying tremendous professional responsibilities of his own. He never treated his Chamber service as simply attending a monthly meeting. He invested himself in the work and in the people behind it.

Pat made this place feel like home.

Our Board has lost an irreplaceable colleague and friend. Our Chamber has lost one of its greatest champions. And our community has lost someone who gave far more of himself than most people will ever fully know.

There will be a very noticeable empty place at our Board table, at our events, and throughout so much of the work we do.

On behalf of the Chamberlain-Oacoma Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and staff, we extend our deepest condolences to Pat's family, his Buche Foods family, his friends, coworkers, and everyone whose life was touched by him.

Pat believed people deserved to be recognized and appreciated.

So today, Pat, we recognize you.

Thank you for the countless hours. Thank you for the ideas, the advice, the pumpkins, the parade floats, the fundraising, the scholarships, the laughter, and all of the times you simply showed up.

Most of all, thank you for being our friend.

You will be deeply missed.

With a heavy heart.