Patrick Livingston

Patrick Livingston is a native of Detroit who visited Bob-lo Island park almost every summer until it closed in 1993. During his formative years, he explored the island from tip to tip (including the forbidden fenced-off areas). In the gray seasons he would sometimes walk across the Ambassador Bridge and catch a bus to Amherstburg where he would while away hours staring across the river imagining the silent park into life. One of the highlights of his early life came upon being hired as a crew member of the Bob-lo boat SS Columbia. The Columbia became one of the ships he profiled in his book Eight Steamboats – Sailing Through the Sixties, selected as a Michigan Notable Book of 2005. With that book successfully launched, Livingston began work on his next work Summer Dreams – The Story of Bob-lo Island which was also selected as a Michigan Notable Book in 2009. In spite of his Bob-lo fixation and steamboat experiences, Mr. Livingston matriculated from Monteith College of Wayne State University and joined the US Peace Corps as an agricultural technician in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Upon return to the states he began a career with Michigan State University’s Extension Service as an educator with the Michigan Sea Grant and 4H Youth Programs. Mr. Livingston now divides his time writing and assisting with the Great Lakes Education Program in the Detroit River and Lake Erie with occasional stints as a guest teacher with Detroit Public Schools. He is currently completing his first novel that explores 24 thrilling hours on –where else? – Bob-lo Island.