Patrick John Weiss

March 17, 1963 - February 7, 2022

Patrick John Weiss, 58, of Aberdeen, passed away February 7, 2022, in Rapid City, following a more than six year battle with cancer.

Pat was born on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1963, in Hot Springs – the second of two sons born that day to Jack and Patty Weiss.

Growing up in Hot Springs across the street from the school's Case Auditorium, Pat, along with his twin brother John and younger brother Jonas, all became active in wrestling at a young age. Always the smallest of the three brothers, Pat struggled to make varsity while in junior high due to being unable to make the minimum weight to wrestle in the 98-pound division. While most others on his team were cutting weight, he would drink water before weigh-ins to reach the minimum of 85 pounds.

Finally making the varsity team in high school, Pat did not win a single match his freshman year (0-18), so he dedicated himself to improving over the off-season and went on to earn a 12-13 record his sophomore season. As a junior, he improved immensely to earn a 22-3 record overall and made it all the way to the championship match of the 1980 state tournament, but finished as the runner-up. Finally, as a senior in 1981, he won the 98-pound Class "A" championship, finishing with a 28-2 record overall to become the school's first-ever State Wrestling Champion. For his efforts, Pat was later inducted into the Hot Springs Bison Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

After high school, Pat attended Chadron State College on a wrestling scholarship and earned a degree in Accounting. Throughout his college years, he would drive home to Hot Springs nearly every weekend to work for the Blatchford family at Coast-to-Coast, which was also where he worked during high school.

In 1986, Pat enlisted in the U.S. Army and served until 1989, which included an overseas deployment in Korea. After the service, Pat moved back home to Hot Springs and hired on with the Burlington Northern Railroad, first working out of Alliance, Neb., Edgemont, and Glasgow, Mont. He then settled in for a few years at Glendive, Mont., where he worked from 1990 to 1998. His next stop was in Aberdeen where he worked until 2021, culminating a 31-year career with BNSF. He loved his job and made many strong friendships and continued to work for several years after his initial cancer diagnosis – never making excuses and even keeping his own personal health struggles a secret from most everyone. Towards the latter part of 2021, he chose to come home to Hot Springs and lived with his mom, to be closer to family and benefit from all of their love and care.

One of the things Pat looked forward to most every year was the annual pheasant hunting excursions to Redfield with friends and family. Pat was always taking care of everyone else, going overboard with food, drinks, and ammunition. He even purchased three Chevy Suburbans only for pheasant season, so that everyone would have their own suitable vehicle in which to road hunt every year.

The prototypical "nice guy," Pat was always willing to do absolutely anything for anybody at any time. He was all of his nieces' and nephews' "favorite uncle" as they looked forward to his generous gifts on birthdays and at Christmastime, which often included an envelope stuffed full of single dollar bills.

Pat is survived by his mother Patty Weiss of Hot Springs; brother John (Tracy) Weiss of Hot Springs; brother Jonas (Mary) Weiss of Dolores, Colo.; and sister Dana (Brett) Nachtigall of Hot Springs.

He is preceded in death by his father Jack Weiss.

Honorary pallbearers include all of his nieces and nephews: Jake and Amanda (Weiss) Rau of Spearfish; Cameron and Holly Weiss of Hot Springs; Jesse and Carlie (Weiss) Atwood of Cheyenne, Wyo.; Randi Weiss of New York, N.Y.; Derrick and Chandel (Weiss) of Omaha, Neb; Trey and Regina Nachtigall of Spearfish; Jaylen Nachtigall of Hot Springs.

Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, at Chamberlain-McColley's Funeral Home in Hot Springs.

A Christian Funeral will be held 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Hot Springs with Deacon Craig Pearson presiding.  This will be "live-streamed" via www.StAnthonyHotSprings.org The committal will follow at the Evergreen Cemetery in Hot Springs.

A memorial has been established to benefit the Hot Springs Little Bison Youth Wrestling Program and to create an award that will annually honor an area 106-pound high school varsity wrestler – the smallest weight class of the tournament. Memorials may be sent to: 301 N. 17th Street, Hot Springs, SD 57747.