The Legend of Willy & Patches (pt I)

Patches & Willy, Thanksgiving 2000

We dig deep into the izzy family past to bring you one of my favorite memories in the secret agent world: the inescapable duo of Willy and Patches. They were moles rooming together in the low income, drug den apartment complex (“Le Chateau”) across the street from the church building we operated out of. This file, part I, is the life and times of Willy Klink.


Willy came to the izzy family by way of his criminal dealings. He needed to perform several hundred hours of community service as per his probation officer. So he goes across the street to our food pantry and asks if he can volunteer in exchange for these hours needed. Usually, I hated dealing with community service people. They had no heart in what was going on, no commitment of any kind, and flakey as hell. So I politely refused these folks whenever possible. There were plenty of other places in town they could serve. But for some reason I felt like Willy was supposed to hang around. Maybe it was the CEO whispering in my ear. I don'’t know.

A neat, somewhat tidy, and conservative-looking guy wearing birth-control glasses, Willy served and served well. We developed a trust in him and over time made him overseer of the entire food pantry operation. He had a real love for people in need and got to know them all on first name basis. His slow, West Texas drawl (developed in his hometown of Coleman) was classic. He had a laugh like ZZ Top's La Grange (ah-HAW-HAW-HAW-haw). He often told great stories, like how as a 13 year old kid he and his brother were sledding down the legendary "Jack-Ass Hill" in Coleman. Willy slammed his head into a mailbox and he had seizures ever since. His brother got his front teeth knocked out on the same hill. To this day, I can't drive through Coleman without thinking about Jack-Ass Hill and how it almost wiped out the Klink family lineage.

Willy had an epiphany in his apartment one afternoon while I was visiting. He was depressed and tired of his life of drugs and various failures in life. Somehow he saw hope and life by serving in the food pantry which brought him joy. Right there in his apartment that day in early May 2000 he decided to follow my friend Jesus. I remember the date well because at that moment I originally planned to be at some conference featuring a big name charismaniac. But the night before, both Agent Wife and I received orders from the CEO that “training is over...it'’s time to start DOING it”. Thus, I've rarely visited long teaching sessions or conferences since. I'’m not the cause of Willy'’s salvation, but I'’ve always wondered what would have become of him had I not gone to his apartment that day.

Willy hung with us for the better part of 2000 and early '01. At his and Patches' request, The Bossman and I read The Book together every Friday morning. We combed through the gospel of John one chapter a week, then slowly went into Acts. It was a funny atmosphere for a "bible study". Beer cans, ash trays and some paraphenalia and an occasional Playboy littered the coffee table. The place was usually trashed but tidyed-up in a "Willy" kind of way. And questionable-looking guys always wandered in during our reading and discussions. As soon as they realized The Bossman & I weren't there for drug deals or saw The Book on the floor, they'd quickly scatter out. Like The Book was kryptonite or something.

By late 2001, our Friday morning gatherings had faded away as did Willy from our lives. He slowly quit coming to help at the food pantry. A landmark event happened for him in October 2001 - he finally paid off probation and his debt to society was over. I think he took on a celebration mode and started partying hard. He started hanging around some secretive characters that wouldn't let me get near them.

The izzy group had (what turned out to be) our last ever "Family Night". This is a big dinner meal outreach for all the family, folks who got groceries and their loved ones, etc. There was usually 150-250 people at these. We needed the grocery room in operation that night so I recruited Willy as we were going to be short handed.

When Family Night started, we became concerned when Willy didn't show up. He was always dependable and on time. About 20 minutes into the outreach gig we got a call from his roommate Patches. All I heard was that they were at the emergency room and the outlook was not good. I jumped in the BnT (brown-n-tan, the official izzy van) and raced over to the hospital. I had no idea what to expect as I didn't know of Willy being sick that week.

I got there and flashed my associate pastor creds so they sent me to his room. I still didn't know what was going on. As soon as I touched the door knob, those white lights above the door started flashing and a siren started going off. Someone pushed me out of the way and said I couldn't go in there right now. Next thing I know, I'm being sent into a counseling room with Patches and a few of their drug friends.

The doctor came in and said Willy was dead. They don't know what went wrong, but they suspected that he had taken some bad batch of dope. That's it. Boom. He's gone. I missed seeing him one last time by 5 seconds. Damned brown-n-tan. Those drug friends of his left and were never seen again. Ever. Willy died October 25, 2001, right in the middle of izzy's last Family Night, which began the ministry's own demise a year later.

The izzy group hosted our first ever memorial service a week later. There was no body as his brother donated it to science since he had no money. The memorial was quite a slice of life from the izzy family and beyond. There were homeless people, little old ladies in wheelchairs who Willy served with groceries, ministers, Willy's gay brother from Coleman, even an old high school buddy of his who read the obit in the paper.

Four years later and I still miss him. We used to sit and talk in his apartment for hours, watching Gun Smoke. He was once a guitarist in a blues band and I always dreamed of jamming with him when he paid off probation so he could buy a guitar.

Willy was a true friend and will forever be missed.