My heart is broken. Im struggling for words, and so Im deeply thankful for the Browns as they were able to give voice to the following: Family friends of Sammamish murder victim Richard Bergesen have released the following statement to the media with the approval of Bergesens family. We’ve known Richard Bergesen for 30 years. He was truly like a brother to Dave and Cathryn and a third parent to children Chad and Mackenzie. He was the best man at our wedding and present for the birth of our two children. When we moved from California to Washington 17 years ago Richard moved up to Washington soon afterwards. Richard is best known for his kind and generous heart. Not only was he very supportive of our family, but he is very philanthropic as well. He is very involved with his home church, Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, and went on a mission trip to Chile and two trips to South Africa to work with AIDS patients. Afterwards he still wanted to give back more to the local community which is how he met Kevin Patterson. From what we know, Patterson had come from a rough background and was living homeless when members from Overlake Christian Church had first come in contact with him. Since we are not close with Patterson and do not accurately know his full story, we are choosing not to comment on his situation before he met Richard. Through the church’s request, Richard took Patterson in off the streets for what was originally agreed to be only for a few months but turned out to be about a year. Over that time, Richard got to know Patterson and his story and truly cared for him like a son. He would take Patterson to get his hair cut, got Patterson a phone and even paid for Patterson to enroll in classes at Bellevue College. Richard recently mentioned that he would never give up on Patterson who had become the son he never had (Richard has never been married or had kids). While a lot of the media attention surrounding this case may be directed towards the senseless murder that has taken place in the home of Richard Bergesen, we wanted to take the time to release a statement which gave light to Richard’s kind and gracious heart. Despite this tragedy we would hope that Richard’s story would still inspire others to care for homeless youth and give back to the community for that is what Richard would want. -The Browns (David, Cathryn, Mackenzie and Chad)
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:49:56 +0000
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