Scarred by tragedy, Maria Marzitelli sat down in 2010 to pen a book about her 17-year-old son Patrick, who had passed away as the result of accidental aviation fuel inhalation while working at the Anoka County–Blaine airport.
“I wrote it because he told me I would,” says Marzitelli, explaining that after Patrick died, she was inspired to write two books and a song about the tragedy. But the writing wasn’t easy. “I was so devastated,” says Marzitelli. “Each time I would write a paragraph about how he died or something about his life, it would take me a couple of days to recover.”
Despite the emotional toll, Marzitelli published I’ll Never Let You Go, available online through Dorrance Publishing Co. in 2012. It is the story of the last months of Patrick’s life told partly from Marzitelli’s perspective, partly from her husband John’s, and partly from Patrick’s point of view. “He would come home and tell me everything that was going on in his life,” she says, “so I wanted to write it as closely as I could from his perspective.”
Marzitelli has recently finished her second book, Finding Rachel, to be published later this year, and is working on a third book.
The family also started the Patrick Marzitelli Science and Aviation Foundation in Patrick’s memory, which funds an aviation class at White Bear Lake Area High School-South Campus. The class allows students to use John Marzitelli’s plane and log flight time to obtain their pilot’s licenses, and awards a few college scholarships each year.
Fine more information about The Patrick Marzitelli Science and Aviation Foundation here. Be sure to purchase tickets for their annual event, too:
Fourth Annual Patrick Marzitelli Memorial Golf Tournament
May 17, 1:30 p.m., $100 per player
Manitou Ridge Golf Course
3200 McKnight Road, White Bear Lake.
