(Photos courtesy Christopher Boffoli unless otherwise credited. At right, WSB’s Patrick Sand in 2016)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

My heart is broken to have to share with you the news that WSB co-founder Patrick Sand has died.

Patrick died suddenly at our home/HQ in Upper Fauntleroy on Thursday morning (October 17). He called for help and I found him on the floor. SFD medics tried 10 rounds of CPR but were unable to revive him.

So many in West Seattle know Patrick as the salt-and-pepper-haired photographer who’s always there when something’s going on – breaking news, festivals, art walks, school sports, so much more. Photography and breaking-news rapid response were his major responsibilities for WSB, as well as our advertising business.

Patrick was my husband as well as my co-publisher and business partner. We had 40 years together, starting with our first date in Grand Junction, Colorado, in fall 1984. He had grown up there and was running a radio station; I went there for my first news-producing job, working at a TV station in the same building. My TV career later brought us from San Diego to Seattle in 1991; we looked around the city for places to live and chose – mostly because of its water proximity – West Seattle, where we welcomed our son five years later. Another milestone of sorts for us in the mid-’90s, Patrick took an early interest in the internet in 1994, and we bought a PowerMac and got connected via an early ISP called Delphi.

A decade-plus later, Patrick and I founded WSB as a news site in 2007. I had started it in late 2005 as a “blog about West Seattle” with random ramblings; in December 2006, after the big windstorm left tens of thousands of West Seattleites without power (us included), readers who had found us by then started asking us for more information about the status of restoration, and other problems. So we started trying to find out. During the next year, we started covering more and more local news, and in fall 2007, after some readers suggested we should try selling advertising, we decided to try to make a go of it as a business, so I quit my TV news job.

At the time, he was stay-home dad for our son Torin, which he always said was his favorite job ever, along with WSB. Stay-home fatherhood was relatively uncommon in the late ’90s-early ’00s, so it was his first round as a trailblazer, which we then were considered for launching WSB in the hyperlocal-news wave of the late ’00s.

WSB won a national Online Journalism Award and regional awards from organizations like SPJ and CityClub, but the most meaningful awards were local, like the Orville Rummel Trophy for Community Service that we carried in the 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade.

We rode in a little electric-powered cart that Patrick had to drive nerve-wrackingly from the downtown dealership where we found it (we declined the traditional ride in a convertible). Also so meaningful – the honor we received from the Fauntleroy Watershed Council last year.

(WSB photo by Patrick Sand, October 2023)

WSB will go on. Patrick was too proud of, and dedicated to, our work to want to see it end just because his time on this plane of existence was up. His joviality and fortitude are irreplaceable, among so many other attributes I can’t even give voice to right now, so bear with us as we figure out how to move forward. Please honor his work and role in the community by continuing your partnership with us in community-collaborative news coverage.

(Photo courtesy Lora Radford)

Patrick Sand, 67, son of the late Henry B. Sand and Mildred E. Sand, is survived by me (wife Tracy Record), son Torin Record-Sand, rescue cat Sullivan.

To quote Jackson Browne‘s beautiful memorial song “For a Dancer” – “Somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go, may lie a reason you were alive, but you’ll never know.” I’m pretty sure Patrick did know … and that all those of us whose lives he enhanced knew too.

With warmer, sunnier weather, more people are outside, and that invariably means more lost/found items. If you don’t frequent the WSB Community Forums, you might not realize we have a lost/found (non-pets) board there, and right now we have several new listings – lost/found keys and a found backpack, for starters. The forum boards are self-post zones (though we assist if needed) and you can get a login by going to westseattleblog.com/log-in (only required if you want to post something – otherwise it’s open to all for reading).

P.S. Our West Seattle lost/found pet listings are in the same place as usual – here.

Sometimes we include this reminder in the daily preview list, but today we’re making note of it separately: The WSB Community Forums‘ Freebies/Deals/Sales board is our spot for listings of yard sales, other items for sale, and free items. In the latter category, there’s a new listing this morning for free wood, and two late-season yard-sale listings. The Community Forums are also home to our free listings for local businesses with job openings, and the Lost/Found/Non-pets board (pets have their own page here. To post in the Community Forums, you need to register – go here for that.

Usually we’ve moved on to other news and information by 10 am at the latest, but today the traffic roundup has been stuck at the top of the WSB front page for a few extra hours because of technical trouble that’s kept us from publishing anything new for the past few hours. Thanks to our tech team for sleuthing and fixing the problem so we can resume publishing!

Looking for a job that’s close to home? The WSB West Seattle Jobs Offered section of our community forums has lots of new listings – 19 local jobs listed in just the past week – so we’re publishing one of our periodic reminders, in case you were unaware of its existence. For local businesses/organizations, it’s free to post a job. You do need a (free) log-in for the forum section – and if you don’t already have one, you can get that here. You don’t need a log-in to browse the section if you’re looking for work, though – just go here.

Despite its name, the Senior Center of West Seattle is about far more than serving seniors. It’s also a public gathering and event space, a community service provider, and it has ground-floor business space, too. Now the center is at the crossroads of envisioning its future, and would like your thoughts on both what it’s doing now and what it should do in the future, via a strategic-planning process. Explains center executive director Amy Lee Derenthal, “Our board and staff are thinking big and long-term as we imagine the future of our organization and the community as a whole.” We previewed the survey, and it has open-ended questions, not just checkboxes; when you have a few moments, consider participating – the survey starts here.

Today we’re welcoming InterConnection as a new WSB sponsor. That means they get to explain to you what they do:

InterConnection is a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization building digital equity by providing affordable computers and internet service to underserved groups. Digital inclusion is critical in today’s society, where access to information, education, health care, and employment opportunity is increasingly difficult without a computer and the internet. Since 1999, InterConnection has provided affordable computers to more than 300,000 people and prevented more than 6 million pounds of e-waste from entering landfills through environmentally sustainable computer refurbishment, re-use, and recycling.

Become a Business Partner, Enable Digital Equity in Seattle
Computers are often retired before their usable life is over. By partnering with InterConnection, businesses ensure that their computers are refurbished for reuse, or recycled instead of reaching landfills.

As the first U.S. nonprofit to earn R2 and ISO 14001 certification status, InterConnection provides sustainable IT asset disposition solutions for companies large and small. We follow industry best practices ensuring the confidential data and private information existing on IT assets is never compromised. InterConnection’s standard data destruction procedures are compliant with NIST 800-88 Guidelines for Media Sanitization and the Department of Defense 5220.22-M.

Drop Off Your Used Electronics for Reuse & Recycling
InterConnection proudly offers a secure, environmentally friendly way for community members to dispose of unwanted electronic devices and accessories at our Loading Dock in Fremont, Monday through Friday from 10 am-3 pm.

Shop
InterConnection has great deals on locally refurbished desktops, laptops, and tablets – complete with a 1-year warranty and free shipping nationwide!

Donate | Shop | Connect

We thank InterConnection for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

The state Attorney General’s Office is offering a new way to report robocalls – an online complaint form that is “specifically designed to assist attorneys and investigators to quickly react to complaints and stop the calls.” Along with that, they’ve also set up a new website “with descriptions of robocalls and telemarketing scams, including strategies for combating them.” Previously, you were only able to use the AG’s general consumer-complaint form to report suspicious calls. The new form is aimed at gathering information that will help state investigators “better track and discover patterns for robocalls in the state — and prevent other Washingtonians from getting more illegal calls.” Next time you get one, here’s the new form. Read up on robocalls (some of which ARE legal) and scams here. And if you want to report non-robocall types of scams/illegal telemarketing, you can do that here. And yes, the state has taken robocallers to court – today’s announcement notes three cases, including one in which a $10 million penalty was ordered.

Time for one of our occasional reminders that WSB has a section where local businesses can post job listings for free, so if you are looking for a new employee – or if you’re looking for a new job – check it out. The section is accessible via the JOBS link in the menu, whether you’re reading WSB in desktop/laptop or mobile format. It’s part of the WSB Community Forums, so you do need a login to post there. If you don’t have one, look for the box on the right sidebar in desktop/laptop/landscape-portrait view, or otherwise go to westseattleblog.com/log-in. If you post a job listing, please include direct contact info for applicants, as our software doesn’t offer direct messaging. If you’re looking for work, there are a dozen new listings just this week, from automotive-service adviser to kayaking guide – go look!

Today seems like a good time to remind you about the West Seattle Jobs Offered section of the WSB Community Forums. This is where West Seattle, South Park, and White Center businesses are welcome to post job listings, free of charge. So if you’re looking for a local job, drop in and check once in a while! You don’t have to have a login to read the Forums (or any other section of WSB) but you DO need one to post – so here’s how to get yours: If you’re visiting WSB with a desktop or laptop, look for the box on the right sidebar to show you how to get one; if you’re mobile, go to westseattleblog.com/log-in. When posting a job listing, please include contact info, so prospective applicants can contact you directly.