If Elena and JD Patton’s garage door is open, everyone in the neighborhood knows they are welcome to play.
Their Camarillo street feels like a scene from a 1960s sitcom. Children play in the street for hours, and parents keep watch from lawn chairs and chat before calling the kids inside for dinner. Neighbors share conversations over the fence, host summer barbecues in their driveways and actually ask each other for a cup of sugar.
It was on one of those afternoons in May 2025 when Elena Patton was sitting in her garage and watching her four children play outside when neighbor Linda Wolfkiel walked over and said she had to ask a serious question. If something happened to her and her husband, Albert, would the Pattons take care of their three children?
Elena said yes without a second thought. She had no idea that within less than a year, both Linda and Albert Wolfkiel would die, and she and her husband JD would become the children’s guardians.
With the help of their close-knit community, the newfound family of nine is now picking up the pieces and doing what they feel called to do as neighbors.
“We’re going to take care of these kids and do what we have to because we promised the Wolfkiels we would, and we love them — all of them,” Elena Patton said. “They had a beautiful family. We have a beautiful family and we’re just going to merge them and it’s going to be OK.”
‘My person in the neighborhood’
Elena and JD Patton moved to the neighborhood in 2014, when the oldest of their four children was just a baby. Larger-than-life Linda Wolfkiel was the first to introduce herself.
She called herself the Mrs. Kravitz of the neighborhood, explaining that she was just like the nosy neighbor from the popular ’60s TV show “Bewitched.” Kravitz was always in everyone’s business but in a good way.
At the time, Elena Patton insisted she didn’t need a Mrs. Kravitz, but as their children began to play together, the two women became close friends.
“I didn’t care that she was Mrs. Kravitz at that point because I think I needed someone to be like that for me,” she said. “She was my person in the neighborhood.”
Albert Wolfkiel was more introverted but was always happy to help the neighbors after his wife signed him up. A computer engineer with the U.S. Navy, Albert Wolfkiel bonded with JD Patton, who served with the Navy Seabees and retired at the rank of commander.
One of the original homeowners on the block, the Wolfkiels treated everyone like family.
Their most important role was parenting their two daughters and one son, and they did everything they could to ensure they had a good childhood and grew up to be good people.
Unexpected loss
In October, Albert Wolfkiel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and he died Dec. 8 at 60 years old.
Linda Wolfkiel underwent her own surgery the very next day. She planned to tell the children of his passing when she was released from the hospital, but due to complications, she never returned home.
The neighborhood rallied to give the children a Christmas as they stayed with their grandparents. They hung up their lights and bought them gifts, all while dropping off meals and offering rides.
Linda Wolfkiel died Jan. 30, and even in her final days, the 57-year-old remained grateful for the outpouring of love.
“It was their own good deeds coming back to them,” said neighbor Caroline Clifford, who served as Linda Wolfkiel’s healthcare proxy and informed the children of their father’s death. “I truly believe that because of Linda and Albert our street is what it is, and we are as tight as we are because they helped build the community.”
A new normal
After several court visits, the Pattons obtained permanent guardianship of the Wolfkiel children.
Clifford said she couldn’t think of a better couple to care for them after the tragedy.
“What they’re doing is so admirable, and not everyone can do that,” she said. “It takes very special people to open their home to their friends’ kids and welcome them in as part of their family.”
Throughout the process, she said, the Pattons have been so respectful of the three children’s needs and boundaries.
The children, 11, 12 and 16, lived in their own home with a family friend until the end of the school year.
“There’s enough turmoil in these kids’ lives that if we can keep at least some routines the same and some semblance of normality, we want to maximize that,” said JD Patton, who currently works for the County of Santa Barbara.
In June, the families held a memorial for the couple and then all moved into the Wolfkiel home while the Patton home undergoes renovations.
Over the summer, they have had more time and space to learn about each other and adjust to their new normal.
Children, Elena Patton said, should not have to deal with such difficult emotions. They participate in counseling, but it’s hard not being able to fix everything for them when that’s all she wants to do.
“I call the kids my blessings,” said Elena Patton, a stay-at-home mom. “I hope that one day they feel that way about us too.”
‘An amazing village’
Recognizing that each child needs a safe space that is just their own — their own kids are 7, 8, 11 and 13 — the Pattons are renovating their home to accommodate their new family of nine.
Moving out of their tight-knit neighborhood was not an option, especially since the Wolfkiel children have already lost so much.
“It’s something that’s really hard to find now, and the fact that we found it is part of the reason why Linda and Albert asked us to keep the kids here, why we don’t want to leave, why we want to get through the challenges here on this street,” JD Patton said. “We have a support system.”
One of their neighbors made a GoFundMe to help the family renovate their home and raise the children.
The page has already generated $30,000 of the $100,000 goal, and the couple said words cannot express how thankful they are for everyone who has donated.
“When these kids see that people are giving to them because they know that they’re surviving through such extraordinary times, that helps them realize that they’re going to make it,” Elena Patton said. “It really does take a village, and we have an amazing village.”
The Pattons said they will continue telling the three children about their parents and the community they created in Camarillo in an effort to keep their memories alive.
“I don’t want them to forget how good of people their parents were,” Elena Patton said through tears. “There are parts of their parents that I see in them, so it’s like we still have them here.”
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Camarillo family of 6 keeps promise, welcomes in neighbors’ 3 children
Reporting by Makena Huey, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Makena Huey, Ventura County Star | USA TODAY Network
