Adios, JP

Saw this sad news on the Web last night while surfing for local news from back home in Washington state. JP Patches, a local clown that had a long-running TV show that my brother and I grew up on, passed away.

I remember watching JP daily and seeing him at a parade or two.

This is what the Seattle P-I had to say (picture also courtesy of the P-I):

Chris Wedes, who as Julius Pierpont Patches became one of Seattle's most recognizable figures and a beloved icon to generations, died Sunday morning. He was 84 and had battled blood cancer since 2007.
At its peak, "The J.P. Patches Show" on KIRO/7 had more than 100,000 daily viewers daily and was broadcast in the morning and afternoon. It debuted Feb. 10, 1958, and when it went off the air in 1981 it was the longest running locally-produced kids show in the United States.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Beloved-clown-J-P-Patches-dies-at-84-3726596.php#ixzz21PlXsdFY