Saturday, November 14, 2015
Having worked with Patti for many years at GSA in the Northwest, she has become one of those people that has left me with a great deal of hope in the goodness and contribution to the common good of mankind.
What impressed me most about Patti was her humble leadership and rolling up her sleeves and pitching in to help the soldiers in the trenches. In leadership, she never forgot her previous challenges in the field, thereby advocating decisions that helped, not further burdened those who would have to make those decisions work. And she worked with those in leadership harmoniously and was highly respected and valued, especially when she challenged the status quo in a convincing, often humorous way that rallied support and camaraderie for those up and down the chain of command.
When visiting field organizations, she would make promises to do something to help out situations that prevented success. She wrote those promises down and it became her personal goal to follow through on all of those promises before leaving the Region. And she did it ! That says much about her character. Her word was her bond and she genuinely cared about the mission and people she served.
This world is a better place because of Patti, as many fellow American civil servants will heartily agree. She will be missed, but the lessons we learned from her will continue on. And my hope in the goodness of humanity is strengthened because of the sincere goodness in the heart of Patti Lear.
- Brent Allan
