J. Patrick Harley was born Jerome Harlukowicz to Mathew and Marion Harlukowicz on November 25, 1938 in Gaylord, Michigan and died a resident of Hinton, West Virginia on May 10, 2023, survived by his wife of 14 years, Nancy North Harley, and many friends and relatives.

Part of J. Patrick's early childhood was spent in Paradise, Michigan, located in the Upper Peninsula, before his family moved back to Gaylord. In his twenties he legally changed his name to J. Patrick Harley. He earned a Bachelor's Degree at Eastern Michigan University, and in his sixties earned a Master's Degree from the University of The Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. After exiting the U.S. Army he led a very full life that included being a ski instructor in Michigan and in Vail, Colorado, and coaching a yacht team in the Summer Olympics in Mexico in 1968. He taught himself to play various stringed instruments (e.g., guitar, banjo, mandolin) and briefly sang with various groups in San Francisco in the early sixties.

Describing himself as having gone from "riches to rags" many times, J. Patrick owned a waterbed store in Ohio, a tropical fish store in Michigan, and a garage and florist shop in Alamo Heights (San Antonio), Texas. After moving to San Antonio in 1973 he began working with stained glass. Largely self-taught, he also took lessons from other artists. In addition to his stained glass pieces, he created beautiful beveled glass entrance doors for a local home builder. He loved cars and motorcycles. He was particularly fond of the Karmann Ghia, owning so many at one point that he had to borrow his neighbor's driveway for parking.

After moving to Hinton, West Virginia in late 2009, J. Patrick eventually returned to working with stained glass after the owners of Avant Garde Salon made an area available to him to use as a studio. Another glass artist in Hinton, Patty Jeffries, later located a small building with large windows on all four sides that was available for rent on the Hinton Bypass. He moved into that building in January 2021, and Harley's Stained Glass was registered with the State of West Virginia. There he found what he had unknowingly been searching for all his life-a stained glass studio in a location on the river, with light from many windows, and all the equipment and supplies he needed to fill his days and parts of many nights with creating beauty. After his vehicle accident on April 20, 2023, he was focused on getting well enough as soon as possible to return to his studio. However, when it was determined that he would have to remain connected to a machine and would not be able to return, he made the choice to enter palliative care. He was at peace with his decision, and passed peacefully a little over 24 hours later. As his friend, Harry Peck observed, J. Patrick is now "Adding colors to sunsets."

From the finale of the TV series The Good Place:

Picture a wave in the ocean

And then it crashes on the shore

And it's gone.

But the water is still there.

The wave was just a different way for the water to be for a little while.

Memorial services for J. Patrick Harley will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday June 10, 2023 at Hinton First Presbyterian Church with Dr. Isaiah Kim officiating..

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Summers County Humane Society/ACWP.