A graduate of Western's ROTC program, Pattengale served in the U.S. Army from 1959-64, two years of which he served as a member of the U.S. Advisory Mission to Iran (1962-64). Upon his return, Pattengale enrolled at the University of Michigan and completed his Master's and Ph.D. in Musicology.
During his tenure at MSUM, Pattengale served as a board member and president of the Minnesota Alliance for Arts Education and was appointed by Gov. Perpich to the council charged with creating the Minnesota High School for the Arts (now known as the Perpich Center for Arts Education). Additionally, Pattengale was awarded the distinction of being named the Burlington Northern Professor of the Year in 1992 at MSUM. A musicologist by discipline, Pattengale also directed graduate courses in music history, performed as harpsichordist with the faculty baroque ensemble, lead the Collegium Musicum, and team-taught humanities courses with art and humanities faculty members.
But Pattengale doesn't just play the harpsichord, he also has some experience constructing them. In 1975, he and his father-in-law, Raymond Neuman, built their first harpsichord, a Hubbard French double kit. On a sabbatical leave in 1991, Pattengale researched Italian harpsichords and with Neuman's collaboration and they built two Italian harpsichords from "scratch"—a Smithsonian copy and a smaller Italian based—from an instrument at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, S.D.
After retiring to Petoskey in 1997, Pattengale founded the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra with several retired professional musicians. The GLCO incorporated in 2001 and has presented over 120 concerts to more than 10,000 community members in Northern Michigan. The orchestra was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Grant in 2012 for its performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Additionally, Pattengale provided the program notes and performed as harpsichordist with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years.
In 2005, the Crooked Tree Art Center in Petoskey, Michigan, presented Pattengale with an individual “eddi” award for his contributions to the arts community.
In 2006, the Board of the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra created the “Pattengale Award” in recognition of his volunteer efforts on the orchestra’s behalf.
Pattengale continues to perform as harpsichordist with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, in addition to singing in the Orchestra's chorus with his wife, Alice MacArthur Pattengale (BS '56).