DAN PATTERSON In college, I studied history, business, and music. All 3 of these courses of study have enhanced my life immensely and opened many doors of opportunity. As a younger man, I was not a very serious student, nearly always underperforming. But as time went by, I developed a deep love of learning, reading, studying, teaching, and presenting. God still works in mysterious ways
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hen I was 13, my Dad purchased a trucking and warehousing company in Oxnard. Very shortly thereafter, I found myself doing odd jobs for the new family business for the remarkable wage of 50 cents an hour. Over the next 8 years, I worked for my Dad in different capacities. Then in 1978, I left town to attend a Christian Liberal Arts college in Fresno. After college, I married my amazing wife in 1981 and we lived in the Fresno area. In 1982, my Dad invited me to return to the family business to be groomed for succession so I took him up on it. Over the next 10 years, I was trained in basically every facet of the business from operations to warehousing to marketing to personnel to accounting and finally overall management. This offered me a wealth of very valuable knowledge and experience for which I am deeply grateful. There was just one small problem… my heart wasn’t in it. The trucking and warehousing business was my Dad’s passion but not mine, and no amount of training, experience, or even money could change that. So in 1992, I left the family business and I obtained my Real Estate license, and ventured into a career that I have thoroughly enjoyed for nearly 30 years. Incidentally, It came as no surprise to me that neither of my two children expressed an interest in a career in Real Estate. As they say, what goes around comes around.
My wife Debbie and I have been very happily married for over 40 years. We’re now at that point where we practically know what the other is going to say before it comes out of their mouth! It causes us to laugh a lot. We share so many of the same passions and pursuits, yet we each have unique passions and pursuits also, and that keeps things interesting. We are, and always have been, cat lovers. Dogs are cool but cats rule! 2021 has been a monumental year for our family. Our daughter Rachel who lives in Dallas, TX., married her husband John in April and our son Shawn and his wife Glenda, who has been married 7 years and live here in Ventura, gave us our first grandchild - Daniel Azariah Patterson!
What do you consider some of your personal major accomplishments? In 2008 I was asked to join the staff of a local Ventura church as a Pastor/Teacher. It’s something I never imagined I would ever do. But apart from my wife, my kids, and now my grandson, it was and still is the most meaningful investment of my life. I cannot imagine my life void of fulfilling this divine calling!