Two weeks after their marriage Pat got his draft notice and decided to join the Marines rather than be drafted. Five weeks later he was on his way to boot camp. Kathy sent him a letter while in boot camp saying he was going to be a daddy as she found out they were expecting their first child. After boot camp Pat was assigned to duty in Vietnam and was there when their son was born. After returning he and Kathy moved to Camp Pendleton, California where he decided to make a career out of the Marine Corps. He reenlisted and they were off to Hawaii for 3 years. The remainder of his military career was spent between the Washington, DC area and several trips overseas. During their first tour in Washington, Kathy developed a passion for jewelry to which Pat responded 'if you like it that much get a job working in it". Kathy did just that and has had a career of over thirty years in Jewelry retail. During this time she became a graduate Gemologist and appraiser. After retiring from the Marine Corps, Pat began his current career working for the U. S. Department of State. Kathy continued to work in Jewelry until 2005. She now enjoys being a "lady of Leisure".

Their love for motorcycles began in 1969 while they were stationed in Hawaii. Pat got his first bike which was a Kawasaki 80cc. He outgrew that in about 5 weeks and moved up to a Suzuki 125cc. That lasted about 2 months then he got his first "big" bike which was a Honda CB 350. They sold it when they left Hawaii and bought another one which Pat rode from Michigan to Virginia on. They went through various larger bikes until Pat quit riding his CB 900 Custom in 1987 because he had no one to ride with and they had taken up golf as a safer sport. In 1997 Pat got the urge (Kathy says started going through his second childhood) to begin riding again. He had been seeing a lot of these new fancy bikes that all these old guys were riding and it looked like a lot of fun. After much pleading (on his part), Kathy agreed he could get a new bike but he had better ride it. On his first long distance trip to Carlisle, PA to go to a bike show and get some accessories for his 1982 GL 1100 he met a gold wing rider named Paul Sheffield from then VA-Y. They struck up a conversation when Paul stopped to see if Pat was ok since he was sitting on the side of the road. They spent the day in Carlisle where Paul told Pat about GWRRA. Pat being excited about this new organization he could join came home and told Kathy all about his day and the new friend he had made. He promptly went on line and joined GWTA. After talking with the director for GWTA he realized he had joined the wrong organization. He looked up GWRRA and joined them. Shortly after he was riding down the street and was flagged over by another guy on a real pretty red Goldwing 1500. His name was Jim Hamill and he lived around the corner from Pat. Jim invited Pat to a meeting of Chapter I in Manassas the next day and said he would stop by and pick him up. From that first meeting where Pat was welcomed like a member of the family (especially the getting hugs from all these women) he was convinced he wanted to get better acquainted with these folks. He came home all excited and told Kathy about all these motorcycles riders he met and what friendly people they were (especially the ladies) and how he wanted them to join this chapter. She was not convinced this was the type organization she wanted to belong to, especially all the hugging and stuff going on, but she let him go. It was about 2 months later when she first met the chapter because she was working weekends and couldn't get off. Once she met this extended family she was all for it.

Since the 2nd month of their joining they have been involved in some capacity on the staff of the chapter and district. They began as the assistant ride coordinators in 1998, ride coordinators and treasurers from 1999-2001; Assistant Chapter Directors from 2001-2003, Chapter Directors from 2003-2004, Senior Chapter Directors 2005, Assistant District Directors in 2006. They are both active in Rider Education with Pat being a Senior Master Tour rider and Kathy being a level III co-rider.