Bigg’s Nursery owner Mike Biggs of Greenfield, 2011 Weakley Countian of the Year and 2012 Weakley Countian of the Year Houston Patrick, county mayor | | | Weakley County Mayor Houston Patrick coined the phrase, “there will be no mullygrubbing in Weakley County.”
Tuesday evening, though, Patrick was speechless for probably the first time in his life, when long-time friend and last year’s recipient of the Weakley Countian of the Year award Mike Biggs of Greenfield, announced Patrick was chosen for the prestigious title.
For the last 10 years, the Weakley County Chamber of Commerce has presented a Weakley County resident who goes above and beyond the normal calls of duties with the Weakley Countian of the Year award during its annual President’s Banquet.
Business leaders and notables turned out for this year’s event, which would be an evening of awards in the ballroom of the Boling University Center on the campus of University of Tennessee at Martin.
As the county mayor, Patrick is also known for his active involvement with numerous planning boards, commissions, organizations and programs of work statewide, regionally and locally.
Politics aside, the citizens of this county know him as leader, civil servant and friend. His list of contributions to the county is extensive. Patrick is the past president of Rotary and a recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Rotarian Award.
He served as the Weakley County Register of Deeds for 24 years, and president of the Tennessee Registers’ Association in 2000. He also served 12 consecutive years as chaplain of the Register’s Association. The 2012 Weakley Countian of the Year was the first chairman of United Way for Weakley County. As pastor of Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church for the past 41 years, he also makes himself available to counsel countless people. He is known to rejoice at weddings and lend a comforting embrace to friends in times good and bad. His devotion is described as exceeding the usual hours of 9 to 5.
“If one were to look up truth, honor and integrity in the dictionary, this man’s picture would be beside all of those traits,” Biggs said Tuesday evening.
People of the community can often find him smiling arm in arm with his wife, the former Maxine Cockroft. Mrs. Patrick serves as officer at First Citizen’s National Bank in Martin. The couple has one son, Joseph Madden Patrick, who resides with his wife Jennifer in Spring Hill. WCP 4.26.12 |
