Blue Ridge Electric Presents Highest Retiree Award to Sam Patterson
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (November 5, 2002) – Sam Patterson, of Lenoir, has received the highest honor bestowed on a retired employee by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation.
Patterson was presented the Honored Cooperator Award Saturday night during Blue Ridge Electric’s employee service celebration held at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center in Boone.
The award honors select retired employees who have contributed in an outstanding way to the development and operation of the cooperative, and who exemplify cooperative principles such as commitment to community, innovation and accountability in delivering customer service, and integrity throughout their lives.
Upon presenting Patterson with a distinguished engraved mantle clock to commemorate the award, Blue Ridge Electric Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson commented, “Sam is most deserving of this award—his commitment to our objectives and goals and the way in which he embraced the cooperative philosophy easily gives Sam this place of honor among a long line of honored cooperators in our Cooperative Hall of Fame. Sam is one of those unique persons who other employees always respected. He has also been very active in the community working with youth sports, serving on the Caldwell County planning board, the Caldwell Memorial Hospital Foundation, and many other community relations groups. I am very proud to announce Sam Patterson as our 2002 Honored Cooperator!” added Johnson.
After 38 years of service to Blue Ridge Electric, Patterson retired in January 2001 as a project specialist in the Distribution Services Group, working in Caldwell District for the cooperative.
Blue Ridge Electric Membership Cooperation is a not-for-profit electric cooperative serving over 64,000 member-owners in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties as well as portions of Alexander and Wilkes counties.
