Patrick Williams and Beverly Williams

00:06 Hello, my name is Pat Williams. I am 73 years young today's date is October 29th, 2020. I live in Amarillo, Texas with my wife at 51 years Beverly.

00:26 Hi, I'm Beverly but I Do by Bev Williams on 71 years old considered for the younger than Pat. Today is October 29th, 2020 and I also live in Amarillo, Texas and I will be talking to Pat and I asking him some of these interview questions.

00:46 Tell Pat I know that we put together a long time but there are some things that I would still like to know about you so why don't you begin by telling me where you grew up where you were born where you grew up in a little bit about your child.

01:03 Military brat I was born and my father was the captain of the Guard there.

01:15 Every three years we moved. I've lived at nurburg Heidelberg Berlin.

01:24 Killeen Texas, Fort Hood and Amarillo, Texas

01:32 High School here in Amarillo

01:36 Then went to college and played four years of baseball and Mitt Beverly.

01:45 Matthew tell me about yourself from my life was not nearly as interesting my childhood. I am born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, I grew up in a very traditional family. I went to elementary middle school and high school here and then I went to Texas A&M where I got some degrees in education and I've lived here my whole life. So I Patrick has been able to move around and then see more of the world than I have but Pat tell us a little bit or tell me tell me a little bit about when you grew up about your dad. He served in the military and can you tell me a little bit about what he did in the military for war?

02:35 When he passed away, I found out a lot more better than I ever had before he went through one of the first OCS schools after Pearl Harbor to California and develop the alligators and soldiers from the ship to store he wound up in Germany. He was wounded.

03:08 It was part of the nerd bird Trials take back to United States. I went to back we went to Berlin in one of his jobs was.

03:21 Handing back prisoners or Russian prisoners to the Russians that had surrendered and they quickly stopped that because the Russians I would kill them soon as I can to mow before surrendering.

03:37 He was a company commander of the first take Battalion across the 38th. Parallel. Korea. Also was a lot of places he was a courier for the U-2 flights.

03:54 Whitney would take the pictures. He was basically an alpha male in our family gone, but when he left

04:08 I guess he gave his alpha male status to my mother and she handled us.

04:17 What about your bed? I wanted to add just a little bit to pass Denver for boys in his family and his mother Corral and raise those four boys at for his father was in and out. My dad was also a very patriotic person. He served from the time. He was 18 years old the day he graduated from high school and he went into the army and he was in the Pacific front and he told a lot of stories about dealing with the Japanese and the concentration camps. He was not in a concentration camp that he had friends who were and so he was on the album that was going to invade Tokyo right before the bomb. He often talked about that though. He didn't tell us much about his

05:13 Military career in the fact that he was wounded during the war and was a disabled veteran, but he talks a lot about the significance of that bomb and how it said 800,000 the Blythe maybe millions and how grateful he was that he did not have to invade Japan as was planned.

05:35 I know you're bad words.

05:39 Pretty

05:41 That's so you would have not buy any cars or anything that was made in Japan. If my dad was pretty much like that with the Germans because he'd been in an up-and-coming from the greatest Generation had a different form of PTSD in the fact that it's like has said they he would not years have any in to do with the Japanese in this is the time to be humorous story. He wouldn't Buy televisions that were from Japan and one day I vs. Bubble by saying Daddy you realize the internal working of all televisions come from Japan brother is RCA or Westinghouse or whatever and from that point. And he he loosened up a little bit, but I think they were

06:41 So traumatized by the severity of the war and the severity of those camps that it affected them until the day he died and until the day pets pause the greatest impact.

06:57 Well my parents and my mother's definitely probably had the greatest impact in my life because my mother was a woman of extremely strong Christian values and a high degree of integrity. And so open my brother and I were growing up mother gave us a lot of good advice. She would say if you make a dollar fifty an hour, you need to give this employer dollar 75 or you're stealing from them. And so we grew up with with values that we don't see a lot of today. For example, if you tell somebody you're going to do something and you did it on a handshake.

07:45 That was your word in your word. Let's go and if you didn't do it.

07:51 There were consequences that that you have to pay and so my mother also taught me that any dream that I had was a complicated but it could be accomplished through hard work I grew up very poor and we be my parents on to produce house and we piddle Tomatoes go to the door after school. And so when you think about the poverty level I was in it's amazing that from my childhood. She would say when you go to college and when you become a lawyer this is going to happen. And so I think she instill so many important values than me, but I still used today and that we passed on to our children and onto the Thousand children that died within education.

08:44 Sir Patrick, she was the most important person you are most influential person in your life. Where you go which college are you going to go to and how are you going to put back into this passage? He is not be a paper your whole life Integrity. He was of the utmost importance to help.

09:16 How to treat women he was old school to the insta green both her mother and my dad came from small towns in the Texas Panhandle where you worked if you worked and worked

09:34 And probably he was too but most of that time station.

09:52 I was the average student I guess Audible for Port my average was up to three or four and after we got married, it was almost before pulling back with my 211 college hours.

10:15 What about you?

10:17 Well you and my parents did land plants me and my first principal at was a great influence on my educational career. He was an old retired Navy Chief and he was a tough old bird, but he taught me some things about dealing with kids that I feel like we're valuable and he would tell me it just means you have to have an extremely high expectations because kids ride to the occasion and they they will do that and you've always got to remember to be firm fair and consistent with equality and fairness being the most important of these and so he taught me. Well the first three years that I work for him and I think those values were things that I could speak into my teaching career at top 14 years and then I became a school administrator in I was a school administrator for about 23 years and started

11:17 Build yourself with the architects

11:20 During my career. I got to build two new elementary schools in Amarillo was an event because we had not had a new school in 30 years when the first elementary school that I oversaw was built and then five years later. I oversaw the building of a middle school which the values that I'm talking about carried on into the schools that I was privileged to develop and we became a blue ribbon school and that was my first trip to Washington DC to see all the things that that we value here in our home so very much patriotism and democracy and freedom and all of the things that we were taught to value and we've taught our children and now our grandchildren these values and

12:11 So I take my grandchildren.

12:15 There's a 1954 Jeep Willy right as you walked into the war memorial towed to my house.

12:31 Ruben back over there put it inside. He's help with cleanup.

12:39 You know where we work with kids and

12:45 I do discipline here. It's now about $300 a year.

12:51 And I talked to all of the kids that come through there that there's

12:56 Tri-Cities from how you live your life your face your family and everything else and when kids get everything else above their faith family. We will end up having problems and that we work with now I work right now in a very diverse campus since I retired on my I'm in instructional coach and our campus has a high percentage of refugee children in it. And I think one of the things that that has taught me is

13:41 But you've got to you've got to hide your values and you've got to be able to understand that every culture has a soup instead of norms and values and then family and then everything else is a universal concept that we are able to you know, it work with up loose high school kids, but it's been an eye-opening situation for me to go into the homes of these people because they live in a very impoverished environment and they lived

14:15 Anna top world and part of my job is to teach them English and to navigate something navigate to get the college and I always think about going to a foreign country and not knowing anyone and not being able to speak English. And so that's been a big part of our life is working with children or property or students in high school and but it hasn't always been this easy soap at talk to me a little bit about when you first became a coach in a teacher black your first day of school for your first year school go River Road.

15:05 K9

15:09 And it was a different environment. I had been in lower SES and these were mostly

15:20 Middle class white Cowboys down to the Earth people and they broke me in pretty well my first year anime.

15:35 It would add some of those kids are still.

15:39 Good good good friends that I have now.

15:44 You could change your profession with the wave of a wand. What would you be today is to be 73 years old and never had made a difference.

16:03 But now that I'm retired work a little bit better over at the

16:12 War Memorial

16:15 That's a unique place that allows me to do some things with some veterans that are in need now, but the kids I wouldn't change a thing.

16:28 You and I accepted into Law School Orchard and well, that wasn't my plan. I wouldn't change a thing either because I think back on the good times and the bad times of teaching in right now teaching is the hardest profession other than healthcare workers may be in our country, but they face these teachers face so many challenges that people are not aware of

16:58 But I also think about a pet said the impact we had one of the things our career that's been so rewarding is our words for powerful and they were powerful a positive and powerfully negative and it's kind of scary when you go back and think of some of the things that that you said that impacted kids lives and I remember a lot of instances where I can tell you that as far as Educators go. I I have a young lady in third grade who was parents getting a divorce and they told her in the divorce that she was adopted and she had no idea until p.m.

17:40 I'm so straight A student her grades Phil to failing. I called her in and did what any educator would do talk to her and said someday young lady. I'm going to come to your graduation and you're going to be the valedictorian and like those on and I gave her a kind of effect talks on life in general. She moved for my campus and I did not hear from this young lady for 9 years must a 9-year mother in it. She said

18:15 Your conversation with Tiffany has is driven her that all of these years and she's said that you're going to be so disappointed in her Miss Wiggins, but she's only the salutatorian ever class and I was like, okay and they invited me to graduation and I don't like graduations because they're long and dirtiest but they insisted I come and I was like, okay I'm coming in late. So I'll be back again and going to meet me at the door. Anyway to make a long story short. I went to the graduation and Her speech was about that conversation.

18:53 I heard salutatorian speech and you know it it gave me a whole new perspective on education and have a weekend at kids positively and negatively change it to I wouldn't change a thing that we do like that idea.

19:14 Well, I have three or four really best friends. And when I grew up is a different era in time. I ride the of entertainment was to roam the streets of the neighbor from the neighborhood or getting our car and we called it and dragged Pope in that meant we went from one end of the main street to the other but surely and Stacy and Darlene and I spent many and are on the road and Minnie and Aaron's local Drive-In checking out the guys. Well, I've moved every three years father was in the military. So it just depended upon a time.

19:59 Are the three years of Berlin Winger? We had a little league team that went to the Little League World Series.

20:07 We all just Bandit and

20:11 54 years after that I started looking for the teammates and we had a reunions in Williamsport with those guys are not yet become really really strong friends. When was the wing commander of F-16 the other villagers later became part of the national whatever he had to hike lyrics of the body and we try to get together about once a year I was

20:50 Text big one of them last night. In fact, so those in Men in high school had a couple good friends that I still see every once in awhile.

21:01 You know, what's interesting about do the union other than the fact that you found these men after 54 years of no contact was most of them had some type of connection to the military and you tried to do that. But you were for f41 after whatever it was when your knee was let out and I sit me up to Fort Sill Oklahoma for wait till I could not pass the IXL. I was drafted.

21:35 I don't have the money toward up horn up in baseball in did know how bad it was in the Army doctor said I shattered my kneecap. I don't know. Okay, and I didn't have any milk at the height of the Vietnam War. So I was grateful that he don't let's talk a little bit about 51 years of marriage. What do you use our longevity? 226

22:14 Strong faith

22:18 In God

22:20 It's been second a sense of humor. If you did know that if you don't have those two it's hard there's times where I was bred dogs and bred dogs just a piece of bread with mustard and hot dog didn't we work or we were living in 900 square foot house $50 a month.

22:49 You were working three jobs. I was working too. I was a member of the Teamsters Union also at what time trucks on the money yet. She had tutoring and she worked at Sears said oh so hard I agree. I would say he's gone. He's married to something very similar to him. But I think God putting God first in your family because it's easy sometimes to walk away and there were days when neither one of us are Gabriel. I don't think God about divorce but you know, you thought that getting in your car and taking a road trip for a while because life is hard sometimes and I think mean

23:49 Haitian and open-faced parent communication is critical if you can stay together for a while time and secrets are not good. And I also think that the ability to forgive because when you're in a partnership, you say things you shouldn't and you do things you shouldn't and if the other person has the inability to forgive, it just keeps mounting until it ends up in a very unproductive situation. So sense of humor just me and makes me laugh every day in some way and she's about to The Killing but yeah, it's sense of humor is I think very important to us and we have two children two daughters and they are you had two daughters within 5 months. How did you do that? Three years and

24:49 I was pregnant with our first child and we adopted a little girl who was 2 years old. He was severely abused who came into our life on the Thursday and joined our family the following Monday and so is a very very quick transition and never regretted it and she is a teacher today and the counselor and our baby is a principal and our son-in-law is an executive director in the school system and the other former son-in-law is in the school system. So we've always kind of been down by education and in one way or service organization, so don't you we were married a long time. We've been married a long time. Was it love at first sight?

25:45 I don't know if it was love at first sight but it was.

25:52 Do you believe in love at first sight?

25:56 A believer in that track shirt at First Sight and when you get to know somebody that develops into love I've seen people that are very attractive and I look have

26:09 And they're just not nice people, you know, which I think there's a chemistry at first and you have to

26:21 Keep that going in your hair after nurture. So what about you?

26:28 I don't believe in love at first sight. I think she was my supervisor.

26:35 Try to get me fired.

26:38 I did I did it was not love at first sight for us. I thought you was a good-looking guy and funny. He was not compliant and he was not follow my instructions. And so when we first met I had him removed from my ship we were both car and I hadn't taken off the shift they put him into the management program.

27:03 And from the the owner of the company came to me and said you must work with this man one night a week Sunday night and you must train him in the business side of the of the organization. And so from there. We we spent eight hours in between flights talking to each other and the relationship began and we started dating from that point and six months later. We got married and I couldn't figure out why my mother was mortified and scared to death because it's been six whole months and I look back now and think yes, I totally understand that but I do think marriage is a commitment and it grows you grow. You learn to love somebody and it grows and you go in a temporary contract and sometimes you have to go because this was abuse or whatever but marriage is a job. We've always said that if you do it, right so we have grandchildren.

28:04 How have you tried to influence both of our grandchildren?

28:09 We have a granddaughter. That's a freshman at Texas A&M.

28:15 And we have a grandson who's a sophomore at Emerald High School?

28:22 I tried to it's still a damn the same Traditional Values that I was it still by my father.

28:34 Both of them Integrity character work ethic try-hard motor play basketball for Ohio State Championship another year, really really?

28:55 I always ask her to just have fun and play hard and everything will take care of itself do your best.

29:08 Do your best grandson just a lot of time together. He likes to be one day. He got home at about 9:00 that night. I got on the phone and call me back. It's so I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth.

29:27 We don't really get wet on.

29:32 I think I tried to stop and say that I said, I know that everybody has child prodigies we had to and I told them you're an amazing amazing kids. They are honest and they are loving and considerate and I don't think those are accidents. I think that comes from their parents their mother and stealing those values in them. I think it comes from you know, it takes a village.

30:04 To raise children and in our family it has been feelings because we've all tried to pick up the slack for things or you know needed and we all had the same values and we attend church together and we do a lot of things together at keep the family unit close and it's at faith family and everything else. We both had opportunities to leave and make more money and other towns, but we didn't you do you

30:42 I spent a little time at the

30:45 War Memorial

30:50 What a my job is to be the procurement officer with no budget.

30:56 And I've called every branch of the service and I don't how many.

31:02 Business is Aunt may have all donated stuff to us and to see the records come in and do that. It's filled that spot that I had with kids. And so I enjoyed that a lot now.

31:18 You know, it's been amazing to see how people respond to bedrooms in my area and Pat Sarah of the Vietnam War. They are not treated. Well when they came back and they were not honored for the service and we both had friends that were killed in Vietnam and we both have friends who have purple hearts and have displayed great X bravery during that war, but now people honor veterans and I've been amazed at what has been able to accomplish with simply asking people tell me about the war memorial but it does for veterans and would they be interested in donating beautiful pictures or military apparatus or paraphernalia or and it's really good to see that our country even though right now it's very divided.

32:18 Common values. I think we all have and

32:22 Honoring the military's one iPhone and I'm very grateful for that before we go cab. I have one more question for you. We've talked a lot about faith and God being the center of our our marriage in our life. Tell me a little bit about what does that mean to use to have face?

32:44 I'm not a very demonstrative Christian. Like I try to do is of my witnessing in my work ethics of that nature, but it rains that I will be I am saved there is a life after I've been saved by grace and when I get to heaven I'm going to say hey.

33:20 You rely on those things and get you through it.

33:27 Troubleshoot. Well, I I grew up in a very strong Christian home. And so I've had a like a lifelong opportunity to serve the Lord and to do what I think we should do babies very very very in tune to what the Lord wants me to do and that's has affected our lives in so many ways from family marriage.

34:06 And I don't know I think it's just so important to have a belief in enzyme with that belief because it's a look at the country today at 3 of warming to me that we are so divided and so I think it's so important that you have a foundation in the Border in God that that we can depend on the basis of your important things that to me. I think we're traditionalist. We would be considered traditional list in many ways, but in some other ways

34:37 I can certainly understand the views of our whole family in the race issues being raised to the military if a kid we never saw a lot of segregation and so on and we came back here and

34:59 Oh, man, I did so.

35:03 We we we don't have much tolerance tolerance for prejudice and Prejudice. We just don't put up with it.

35:12 And I grew up in Amarillo and it was a southern city and I did see many acts of discrimination and

35:24 When I grew up and accept in my home, my mother would say the Lord looks at your heart and not the color of your skin. And so put that to the side but that was the General thought in in our city at that time, but we have some people of color of different colors, So yeah, we are.

35:53 Millbury strongly about everybody having equal opportunity and respect and and dignity.

36:04 Agreed

36:06 So that's kind of the story of Pat and Beverly Williams in Amarillo, Texas Mia. Do you have anything else that you would like for us to talk about?

36:57 So that if you had one message that you would like to leave people who someday may look at this recording. What would your misses? Do you need to live your life?

37:13 Bet you can't look back and be proud of it.

37:17 With Integrity integrity

37:21 And having strong faith in God, I would not change anything in my life that used to be an old hat that I wanted in Albuquerque that I would have bought more about 2 years ago. So I don't even have any regrets. I would like to leave the message that

37:47 We live in the most amazing country in the world. And even though it's got its problems. I hope everyone understands that freedom is so important and the ability to have the First Amendment and speak and still honor be respectful to each other when we disagree but I love America and I love living here and I want to leave that message with everyone. It's not perfect but it's way better than anywhere else in the world. And so we've got to come together in and make it work because this is the greatest country in the world.