Patrick Carroll Wallace

Patrick Carroll Wallace, 78, passed away peacefully on July 9, 2024, in his home in Pendleton, Oregon. He was born October 8, 1945, in Belle, Missouri to parents Everett H. Wallace Jr. and Patricia J. Wallace.

Patrick graduated from Belle High School in 1963. He was president of his senior class. He was athletic, playing both baseball and basketball in high school. While on the baseball team he pitched a no-hitter. Patrick attended Southwest Missouri State College in Springfield, Missouri.

Patrick met his wife, Nancy Homfeldt, while in rival high schools. They met at a local drive-in in Owensville, Missouri when he was driving a red Triumph convertible. They attended his senior prom together. They were married on March 27, 1964, and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Patrick left college to work for his father Everett, who had just started his company, Wallace Well Drilling. He learned to run a drill rig at 18 years old, alongside his grandfather Floyd Abel.

Patrick worked for Layne-Western, an international drilling company, in St. Louis, Missouri. While there, he drilled his first large diameter well for Six Flags. He was offered a promotion with Layne-Western to become one of their youngest regional managers. He declined the offer when his father offered him a partnership in Wallace Well Drilling.

They moved to Pendleton, Oregon in 1974, after successfully bidding a contract for residential wells on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. They ended up staying in Pendleton when they had the opportunity to drill some of the first irrigation and city wells in northeastern Oregon.

After his father retired in 1981, Patrick started his own company, Wallace Drilling, with his wife Nancy as the bookkeeper. He was very proud of the thousands of wells he drilled throughout his career and was well known for his experience. He was generous, often donating extra footage to those who needed it.

Patrick was a licensed Water Well Driller for over 50 years. He was still running the rig himself when he retired in 2016. Although he admittedly became a workaholic, he managed to find time to joyfully paint his equipment, tools, and anything else that needed a touch of “Wallace Drilling Red.”      

While growing up, he spent a lot of time with his grandfather, Floyd Abel, at his cabin on the Gasconade River. Patrick loved to hunt and fish, making many trips with his father to Canada to fish for walleye and to hunt bear.

 He enjoyed elk camp in Oregon with many of his close friends. A favorite pasttime of his included collecting driftwood and making many wooden treasures. Mushroom hunting with “his girls” at the family cabin was a regular event. His keen sight and gentle acknowledgement of “you're standing on a bunch of them” with a grin and a twinkle in his eye accompanied most trips:)

 When at home, he could be found grilling for the family. He could grill with the best of them. Patrick loved Holiday meals and his wife’s daily homestyle cooking...always thanking her and complimenting the food. He was very gracious.

 He “tinkered” in the garage, watered every dead/dry blade of grass or stressed tree on the property with a hose in his hand and would have a content look of happiness as he patiently finished his project. He especially loved his time with his dogs and opportunities to eat ice cream. He had quite the “sweet tooth,” never turning down a chance for a piece of pie, pudding, or dessert of any kind.

Patrick was a member of the Pendleton Elks and the Pendleton Country Club, winning the Birch Creek Couples Tournament with his wife in the 1980’s. (He was not especially fond of golf :). He liked to give Nancy a hard time for the number of times she golfed by saying “no wonder she was better.” Despite his limited golfing skill, they remained members of the Pendleton Country Club for 40 years.

Patrick was considered a medical miracle by his doctors, always recovering from extensive surgeries, including open-heart surgery, back and neck surgery. He had two strokes in 2019, spending months in rehab centers. His wife Nancy then became his caregiver in their home for over five years until his passing.

He dearly loved his family: his devoted wife, his beloved “girls,” and his three very special grandchildren.

Patrick is survived by his wife Nancy, his daughter Deb Wallace and her partner Laura Erbach, his daughter Brooke Hilde and her husband Tony, his grandchildren Rylie Arruda-Hilde, Chase Hilde, and Kennedy Hilde.

He is survived by his uncle Terry C. Abel; brother-in-law Danny Ridenhour; sisters-in-law Jan Wallace Kern, Kaye West, Reta Williams and her husband Curt, and Susan Homfeldt-Botkin. Patrick is survived by nieces and nephews Stephen, Jon, and Jason Wallace, Shane and Josh Ridenhour, Carrie Sampson, Lauren and Zach Lansford, Ronda West, Heidi Homfeldt, Jonathan and Joshua Williams as well as extended family and friends.

Patrick was preceded in death by his parents Everett H. Jr and Patricia Wallace; his brothers Mike, Kelly, and Brian; his sisters Toni Ridenhour and Trisha Sampson and her husband Curtis; his grandparents Floyd Carroll and Mabel Abel; grandparents Everett H. Sr. and Jessie Wallace; his mother-in-law Kay  Homfeldt and father-in-law LeVern Homfeldt; his brother-in-law Billy Homfeldt; his brother-in-law Ron West; his nephew Shad Ridenhour.

Patrick lived and loved in both Missouri and Oregon. Part of his ashes will stay in Pendleton, Oregon and part will be returned to the Wallace family plot in Liberty Cemetery in Belle, Missouri…the places he held most dear.

                        You never really leave a place you love...

                                  Part of it you take with you,

                                        leaving a part of you behind

A private family celebration of life will be held at his home in Pendleton. A small family service in Missouri will be held later at a date to be determined.

Donations in his memory are suggested to Vange John Memorial Hospice, Hermiston, Oregon as they compassionately cared for him in his final months.

Please feel free to share your memories and condolences.