Meet Pat O'Brien and Jerry Wilson

Pat O'Brien lived in West Seattle near the ferry landing for 13 years, graduated from O'Dea High School and was former Sen. Bob Grieve's administrative assistant.

He made his living selling insurance. He now lives across the street from Jerry Wilson in Des Moines. It was his idea to feed the neighborhood every St Patrick's Day, and got his friend Jerry to cook the corned beef and cabbage while he barbecued the salmon.

The two them painted the green stripe down the middle of the street. They have done it for five years and this year they served 32 adults and 10 kids.

I met Jerry Wilson when he was standing behind me in line at Fred Meyer. Elsbeth saw me after spending a fortune in the clothing department and yelled my name to attract my attention. Jerry Wilson thought she meant him and said to me, "Wonder what that woman wants"

I said, "She wants you to pay for her basket of clothing."

I then told him my name and told him I foolishly bet her a million dollars and lost and she is collecting her winnings one outfit at a time.

Later I learned that Wilson is a retired Boeing engineer who loves to cook corned beef and cabbage, came from Aberdeen, was once a logger, a bait cutter on charter boats and a fishing guide on the peninsula rivers.

He once picked up a couple of fishing clients at the Merck Hotel in Aberdeen and he and a friend took the two down the Humptulips River. Their clients looked familiar, were named Jim and Bob, caught their limits and had a roaring good time, leaving a nice tip.

They turned out to be movie actors James Arness and Robert Mitchum.