Life nearly shattered

It was early afternoon on a sunny spring day when Pat Bozarth pulled off a Spokane arterial onto a side street to readjust the load in his pickup. When he reached for the door handle to get back into the truck, he briefly glanced up and saw the car that was about to change his life forever.

Nine days later, he fought back to consciousness at a hospital.

The driver of the car, who was reaching for something on the floor as his car plowed into Pat, was out of jail two days after the accident and, as it turned out, would never appear for his vehicular assault hearing. The driver had no driver’s license and no insurance and hasn’t been heard from since.

Police reports indicate that the driver admitted to having taken a controlled substance, evidence of which was found in the vehicle. There is a warrant out for his arrest.

That was a year ago.

In the meantime, Bozarth nearly lost a leg. He fought massive infections. He had kidney failure. He nearly died. And, facing financial ruin, he nearly lost his home and his Spokane Valley business, Southwest Electronics, at 5629 E. Broadway Ave.

Bozarth, 57, who grew up in Spokane Valley, had no medical insurance, but fortunately, he had comprehensive insurance on his truck, so the uninsured motorist coverage is helping with his nearly $300,000 medical costs.

“I’m sure glad Pat let me talk him into keeping full coverage on the truck,” his wife, Dolores, said.

Bozarth has undergone three surgeries and continues physical therapy (most of it at home on his own after the costs of working with a therapist exceeded their financial ability to pay). And he is learning how to walk again.

Fortunately, his shattered right leg did not have to be amputated. The pain is constant. He is still wobbly as he moves about with his walker, and his stamina is limited.

But he is alive – and so is his business, thanks to the amazing efforts of Dolores and their son, Jason. The three of them operate Southwest Electronics as a small, family business that repairs most all things electronic – from new big-screen TVs to VCRs and from older car stereos to industrial circuit boards.

With Dolores taking a lot of time to care for Pat much of the past year – giving him injections, cleaning wounds and helping him move around – the working staff at Southwest was cut by two-thirds. Jason, 35, worked unbelievable hours to keep the shop open.

“I had to let go of some of the in-shop repair work that dad did and mostly focused on the service calls,” said Jason.

There were long hours and, yes, some lost customers.

“A lot of our regulars understood and were willing to wait for us to get to them as we could, but, of course, some couldn’t, which we understood,” Jason Bozarth said.

People even contributed cash to a jar on the front counter with Bozarth’s picture on it. Dolores came in when she felt she could leave Pat, plus she did work from home.

“We scrimped and saved to keep our house and the business,” Dolores said. “But even with that, if it wasn’t for the kindness of some people, we would have lost the business for sure.”

She credits Southwest’s landlord Rocky Rothrock for letting them slide on the rent for the first three months after the accident (they have caught up now) and Sacred Heart Medical Center, their phone and utility companies, their distributors and others who gave them breathing space to get their financial feet under themselves again.

“Once they heard about what happened to Pat, they extended just the kind of support we needed in terms of time,” Dolores said. “Without that, we couldn’t have kept the shop.”

Both Dolores and Jason can see that Pat is now a changed man. He used to be constantly stressed, but he no longer lets the little things bother him.

“He also knows that I can pick up the ball and run with it if I have to,” Jason said. “He realizes that he doesn’t have to carry all the weight.”

If he’s learned anything from the experience, Bozarth said, it’s the value of his family and “to be prepared, which I wasn’t. You just never know what’s going to happen.”

One sunny Monday this month, Bozarth came into the shop, the first time in a year. He saw the shelves along the west wall, all filled with his airplane memorabilia (Pat is a pilot) – World War II radio gear, control panels, microphones and more. It was good to see it all again.

“I’m coming back,” declared Bozarth, who now helps with the phones and tending the front counter. When his equilibrium stabilizes, he’ll be back doing the work he’s done for the past 30 years.

His wife said now that customers are hearing that Bozarth is coming back, they’re coming back, too.

There are still obstacles. It’s hard for Bozarth to move around with his walker. Dolores Bozarth has had ankle surgery and Jason, a leukemia survivor whose knees are damaged from chemotherapy, has a bad back, the result of an auto accident this past September.

“It is interesting to see us in action when we need to move things around in the shop,” Bozarth laughs. “We’re quite a sight.”

Still, he’s grateful to be moving at all.