Community Leader and Friend Remembered in Texas Panhandle

Amarillo is one of those great little big towns. When something happens in this city, it affects many of us. This weekend was one of those events. A great person, leader, entrepreneur, and friend to a lot of us passed away.

This is one of those stories that as a writer is hard to pen. J. Pat Hickman was one of a kind and a great leader that I had the joy of working with for seven years at Happy State Bank. Now, if you know Pat, he is a hands-on man. Working in the marketing department at Happy was one of the areas that Pat knew a lot about. So he was very involved in most processes. Pat was the CEO but knew a lot about many of the areas and loved to share his knowledge.

That kind of involvement was great but also nerve-wracking for a new member of the marketing team. As the years progressed, most anyone who worked near Pat learned a lot from him. Pat had a huge heart and made sure he knew every one of his employees' names.

That is not something you see in a place as big as Happy State Bank. We grew to thirty-four branches and every year Pat would personally show up to each and every branch with a hug and a Christmas bonus. Pat believed in the personal touch with his employees and customers.

I have so many stories about J. Pat from finally convincing him to let us play more than Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song on repeat for two days straight at the Amarillo Chamber BBQ. There were times we would receive text messages from neighboring booths asking us to please play another song. Pat loved it and it was a catchy tune. We would all sing and dance along because what else could you do? Finally, after many, many years we got to play other songs and we did rejoice. We still made sure "Happy" was in the mix a few times, it was a good compromise.

Working for J. Pat at Happy State we learned a few things that will stick with us for life. Happy believed in “Work hard, have fun, make money, while providing outstanding customer service and honoring the Golden Rule". We learned that day one. J. Pat lived what he taught.

We were also made to know and live "Family First". The one true place I worked that meant it. If they found out that you missed a family event for work, you were in trouble. They did not believe in that at all. I got in trouble one time for being at a Happy event the weekend my family was in town. I had to prove to them that my family was at the same event for us to all enjoy.

A new employee would start the bank learning about the Happy way at Happy Beginnings. Then later every employee would attend Happy Rock, which was a day-long training to enforce the core values and other aspects of Happy State Bank. The last part of the training was Pat taking the group into the board room and telling his Happy Story.

Then promptly at 4 pm, we in the marketing department would roll in a cooler of drinks including beer, soft drinks and water. As we rolled the cooler in, we would hear Pat say "It must be 4 pm." Pat did not believe in having a meeting after 4 pm that he couldn't crack open a Michelob Ultra. It was one of those things we loved about Pat.

Saturday night we lost this great man. It was only fitting that Sunday morning started with gray skies and rain. That was when a lot of Amarillo was finding out about the loss. The gray skies were our lives feeling a little dimmer with him gone. The rain was our tears but in true Pat fashion the clouds broke and the sun was shining bright. It was his way of letting us know everything was going to be alright and he was shining bright in heaven - with an Ultra.