Mr Patrick went to Te Whiti School and then to Wairarapa College, where he made a name for himself as a top athlete and rugby player. Short-distance running and hurdles were his favoured events.
"We'd be walking around the Basin Reserve in Wellington and he'd say, 'I won gold here'," Mrs Stevenson said.
He played club rugby for Greytown and Gladstone and helped Wairarapa to win the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury in 1950, which Mrs Stevenson said was one of his proudest moments.
Mr Patrick could never be persuaded to support the Hurricanes - the Patrick family settled in Christchurch generations back and he was a Crusaders man through and through, according to Mrs Stevenson.
He became a top Ayrshire cow breeder later in life after he and wife Nancy bought Mr Patrick's grandfather's farm in Pukio, South Wairarapa.
The Patrick Ayrshire breeding legacy started with an Ayrshire stud named Taonui.
Many awards followed including Champion All Breeds Bull and Champion All Breeds Cow at the Royal Show in 1973.
The Patricks can also claim a Royal connection - in 1984 they went to Britain and discovered the Queen's herd included seven daughters from their Ayrshire bull, Taonui National Lord.
Mr Patrick's son, Bruce, and his wife, Tina, run the family farm in Te Whiti while Mrs Stevenson and husband Richard run a dairy farm in rural Carterton. Bruce and Tina's son, Mathew, is also milking cows as a fifth generation dairy farmer in the Patrick dynasty.
