Getting to know Pat Anderson was not easy. She was an intensely private person who preferred a role in the background. Yet when it came to her family, she was front and center with unconditional love and support throughout the years. Marie Nygren, a longtime family friend, fondly remembers, “Pat loved whole heartedly; she was a lioness, fiercely devoted to her family.”
Pat Anderson epitomized the expression Steel Magnolia – a lady of timeless beauty with a backbone of steel, the foundation of the Southern family. Marie concurs, “Pat was a beautiful Southern lady, inside and out. She was a woman who enjoyed being a woman.” Friends described her as incredibly strong, independent, smart, opinionated, and when it snuck out, she had a great sense of humor.
She created a comfortable safe haven for her family
Eloquently Southern to her roots, Pat was born in Crossett, Arkansas, the younger of two daughters. The Adams family later moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where both sisters attended college. Pat and her sister June were extremely close. June’s daughter Becky Sweat laughingly says, “Even though Momma was nine years older, both sisters dated and married friends, both optometrists, within a year of another. They also chose the same silver pattern!”
Becky adds, “from the time she was a little bitty girl, Pat was known as a beauty. Between the sisters, it was known that Momma was the smart one, and Aunt Pat was the pretty one. Yet, they always smiled and corrected whoever might have said that, saying Momma was pretty too and Aunt Pat was smart, too!”
The two families came to live in Georgia within 80 miles of one another – LaGrange and Cedartown. The closeness between the sisters passed on to their five children. Becky remembers all the fun she, her brother and three male cousins often shared. “Our mothers planned wonderful day trips and weekend excursions. It was always something different and creative and so much fun!”
When June died at a young age, Becky was 18, her brother Perry 12. “Immediately, Aunt Pat stepped in,” Perry Jewell recalls, “and became our second mother. We lived in different towns, but she never let our families part ways. She had lost her sister; we had lost our mother. But it was important to Aunt Pat that our lives remain as much the same as possible. She made sure our families shared holidays. She created a comfortable, safe haven for us.“
A new partnership that soared
In 1984, Pat and Ray Anderson married. The two brought incredible strengths to their new partnership – Ray as an entrepreneur and business leader and Pat as a support system with a big heart that unstintingly gave to those she loved. At the time, Ray was CEO of Interface, the company he had founded with his life’s savings and into which he invested his heart and soul. It would be 10 years before Ray, the hard-driven, logical-minded engineer experienced the epiphany that resulted in his changing the way his company did business and becoming a passionate proponent for Planet Earth and Tomorrow’s Child. Marie Nygren observed, “Ray always had a big heart, but I think Pat helped him open it to new depths, new visions.”
As Ray became the public face and champion of the environment, Pat was right there behind him – with the same strong passion. She filled a vitally important role for Ray; she was always there on the home front. She supported him 110%. “Pat was the home fire that made it possible for my dad to do what he did,” said Mary Anne Lanier, Ray’s daughter. “She was the perfect helpmate for Ray’s vision.”
Marie Nygren came to know Pat through Pat’s oldest son Sam. “All her boys adored Pat. And she adored them. Sammy was like my little brother. He and my husband Steve were friends first. After Steve and I married, Sammy and I adopted one another. We named him godfather to our youngest daughter, Quinn. Her christening happened to be scheduled when Ray was on one of his speaking trips, that particular time to Sweden. With Sammy as godfather, this was a vitally important family event to Pat. We were in our living room, just about ready to begin the ceremony, when we heard a knock on front door and in walked Ray Anderson, straight from the airport. I saw the smile they gave one another. I know Pat passed on her devotion to family to Ray and he made that super effort as much on her behalf as ours.“
A lady of many depths
Pat was as conscientious and detailed as a person could be. Her planning was legendary. No detail was left undone. Pat’s father had OCD, and Ray used to laugh that Pat came by her obsessive preparation for parties and trips, even weekend activities, naturally.
When Sam decided to open a store at ADAC called Tables, Pat put her creative design talents to work to help get his store off the ground. She made trips to London with Sam to scour antique shops to find just the right products. She also activated a dormant finance background inherited from her father and helped Sam get his books set up. Always behind the scenes, but always 100% supportive.
Staying quietly in the background was her preference, but when Pat had an opinion, she was not reluctant to let you know. John Picard, an early sustainability strategist and one of Ray’s Dream Team at Interface, used to tease her and call her Judge Pat. “She always listened intently, but was definitely opinionated. When she had something to say, you’d better listen! You didn’t want to be on her hit list.”
Pat seemed to lead a charmed life
From outward appearances, people saw a reserved lady who lived an ostensibly happy, successful life. People saw the joy and love she received from her family and the great pleasure she had in being there for those she loved and in filling their needs. But there were also many difficulties and great sadness in her life. She endured hardships that tempered a core of incredible strength. As a child, Pat was sent to live with a relative when both her mother and father became ill with tuberculosis and had to be treated in a sanatorium. Early in her adult life, she lost her beloved sister. And in later years, Pat endured the unimaginable – the deaths of two of her sons. She had an internal strength that was amazing. At the end of her sons’ illnesses, she stayed with both of them around the clock during their final days.
Pat’s niece Becky observed, ”Through it all, Aunt Pat and Ray were wonderful together. He saw her pain and strengths; she got him to open his heart and do the great things he ended up doing.”
Favorite memories of Pat
Marie Nygren. “Ray and Pat were the first people Steve and I shared our idea of what would become the Serenbe community. I remember we went to dinner and put out our idea of this new way of living. After we finished talking, they looked at one another, looked back at us and I remember they said in unison “It’s brilliant! You have to do this! They both understood the importance of the environment to our future. They both “got” that we are stewards of the earth.” Pat at Steve and Marie Nygren's Wedding
John Picard. “We always had great discussions. I was someone she could gossip with about what was happening in Ray’s corporate life and as his stardom in the environmental arena continued to rise, about what was happening internationally. She was voracious in her quest for knowledge. But always, always, the first thing she did, was to sit me down on the couch and say, before Ray takes you away, have a cup of tea and show me your pictures of those beautiful babies. To Pat, no matter what personal successes I might share, the measure of my life was my kids. Not the work. Life’s short, she would say, know the priorities.
“For the 15 years of our friendship, I was her entrée into technology and a doorway to the world. From AOL to the internet, I introduced her to some of her biggest frustrations and in the end, managed to put a big smile on her face.”
Jim Hartzfeld. “In September, 1994, Ray was inducted into the ISyE (Industrial Systems Engineering) Hall of Fame at Georgia Tech. The event took place shortly after Ray’s famous epiphany speech to his internal team at Interface. I had been blown away by Ray’s message and decided to attend Ray’s induction. I sat in the back row of the large auditorium style room, and started a conversation with the ladies next to me, telling them how interesting I thought the man receiving the award was and about the speech I had just heard him give. With a twinkle in her eye, the lady closest to me smiled at me and replied, ‘It’s nice to meet you. I’m Pat Anderson, Ray’s wife. And the young lady next to me is Mary Anne Lanier, Ray’s daughter.’ We were friends from then on!”
Becky Sweat. “If there were two things Aunt Pat was fervent about, it was manners and grammar. Her Southern upbringing dictated that manners were an absolute to any lady or gentleman. Cell phones were a paradox to her. Although she always had hers with her, she couldn’t keep her displeasure from showing when people would talk loudly on their cell phones at restaurants, standing in line or shopping. Only her manners kept her from walking up to them and telling them what she thought! Grammar was also a point of contention. She was always correcting our grammar, which I appreciated as I got older.
Throughout her life, Pat Anderson was a woman who followed her heart. She was the rock of her family and a survivor. As John Picard said, “She had a great capacity of intelligence tempered by a great capacity of consideration.” She was feisty, fun and a great friend. We’ll miss you, Pat!
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