The Legacy of Pat Padgett

I remember early conversations with Pat Padgett. As my Dad he carried this regular burden for my success and he would tell me so. He wanted my life to be different and better than his life and the way he saw to accomplish that was college.  But these conversations also confused me. I would look at my Dad’s life and see happiness and success. I didn’t see a struggling man, I saw someone who knew what they wanted and knew how to run after it. And, as a young man at the starting line of life I was biting at the chomps to also “run after it.”  But, Pat Padgett was a man who knew things and as my Dad a man who’s opinion I respected immensely. And so, after my Tennessee Nashville Mission I set my sites on college. The school to go to at that time was Brigham Young University, prestigious, known and respected. But, my lack of interest in school caught up with me and I was denied entrance. I instead enrolled at Ricks College with the aim to work hard, prove myself and continue applyin...

Nineteen eighty-five was an eventful year. Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke” — this was an awful idea, they reversed course within three months, Michael Jordan was named “Rookie of the Year,” Nintendo released their NES gaming system in the US market and an 18 year old Jeffrey Padgett stood in a missionary training facility in Provo, Utah.  I would stay there for three weeks before leaving for my Tennessee Nashville Mission. I remember my time at that training center well. It was an important moment for me because it was the moment I ventured away from the protective watch of my parents and into the great unknown. At the orientation there was this specific moment when the individual who presided over the gathering pointed to two doors, one on his left that my parents would use to leave and one on his right that I would walk through. He said, “say your goodbyes, this is the last moment you will see your parents for the next two years.” And so it was.  I walked through that 4 x 7 ...

  On a typical Friday afternoon, I sit down at my desk, I return phone calls and emails that are pending since the morning. When the clock strikes 3:00 a notification flashes on my screen, “Time planning for next week.” I then transition whatever I’m doing at that moment and begin working to outline next week’s priorities and projects. At this point in my life I’ve been in the restoration industry for over 20 years. I’m not “green” like I once was and I’m confident in what I do. But, I didn’t get here overnight. I realize I stand on the shoulders of giants, or rather, at least for the purposes of this series of blog posts, I stand on the shoulder of one particular giant, Pat Padgett. PAT PADGETT THE CARPET CLEANER Pat Padgett is my Dad, he’s a local legend. He ran a neighborhood carpet and upholstery cleaning business most appropriately named, Pat Padgett the Carpet Cleaner. Those were of course simpler times and I look back at my father’s business with gre...