Dorothy: [00:00:00] For the longest time, we seriously thought his name was Sunshine. That’s the nickname he got when he came to our Shrimp Boil back in 2015, because he had that paddle up, he was bidding on everything that came along and he was raising those bids left and right. Yes, he is Mr. Sunshine. Today, we’re going to be talking to Pat McDavid, who has been rallying the community all these years to, to raise money, to raise awareness. From his dentist to his daughter in law, he has made coming to the Shrimp Boil a family affair and one that he truly cherishes. And you’re going to hear about why giving back to the community is so important to Mr. McDavid. When you subscribe to our show, you help us grow. Someone you know may need to hear this story, so please share with your family and friends.
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Pat, tell us a little bit about you, what you do, your background.
Pat: Yeah. Real quick, I want to talk about The Rose mostly, but no one likes to talk about yourself, but, uh, born and raised Austin, Texas. I’m the number two of five kids. I was born with a challenge because I’m left handed, red headed, and Irish. I’ve been working my entire life to try to overcome that.
You know, that’s that’s the very small version.
Dorothy: Okay.
Pat: Born and raised in Austin, went to school in Austin, joined the military in 1977, after college, didn’t know what to do. Typical. Typical kid. And, [00:02:00] um, turned into a really good career. 79, I joined the paratroopers. I wanted something that was a little challenging. And in 79, I applied for and was accepted to Officer’s Candidate School. So I went to Fort Benning, Georgia. Got my commission. Served with the 82nd, 18th Airborne Corps. Um, got to, uh, command two really good airborne units. Um, a lot of experience. And it’s, it’s worked out well for me in life, so.
Dorothy: And then you started a whole second career.
Pat: Yeah, I did. So after, came off active duty early 90s and went to work for Jacobs Engineering. Uh, Jacobs was always hunting military officers. They, they knew the background, they knew the training they’d receive. So that’s really how I got into the industry, was through Jacobs.
I worked at Texaco Chemical in Austin, um, while I was in college. For And, uh, Jacobs was a perfect fit. Really enjoyed them. Big, you know, they’re, they’re no longer Jacobs, they’ve been purchased, but long story short, it was a really good 10 [00:03:00] years with them. I’ve got to network with a lot of people in the industry.
And when I say industry, we’re mainly petrochemical, refining, heavy manufacturing. So, um, Jacobs was a good experience. And ultimately, I’d landed at the Mundy companies. Um, So to back up, my wife retired from Exxon— 24, well after 24 years, and she retired years ago and I was supposed to follow her and I had a good friend who worked for the money companies. He asked me to come play with him for a couple years help him get some things done. And that was almost ten years ago.
Dorothy: Oh my gosh.
Pat: So I haven’t found my way home yet. But I’m not gonna retire you do. So—
Dorothy: Ok. You’re on.
Pat: Don’t ask that question, you don’t have to answer it.
Dorothy: Yeah, you’re on. You’re on with that one, I tell you. I don’t know if you know this or not, but this is a very special Shrimp Boil. It’s our 35th, and so we’re going to have the 80s theme. Can we get you to come in a costume?
Pat: I thought I was in one. I’m [00:04:00] only shorts and Hawaiian shorts.
Dorothy: I mean, really. I don’t. Well, we’re going to try to encourage people to come looking a little like the 80s, and we’re going to celebrate the 80s.
Pat: Yeah, I might remember that era. Yeah. I might.
Dorothy: All right. I tell you, I tell, they, this is a very young team. They don’t know the 80s. You know, they think they do. But it’ll be fun.
Pat: I’ll look at the picture of my driver’s license, that’d be pretty cool.
Dorothy: Oh, that’d be, oh, no, no, we’re not going to do that. But anyway, this is a special year and we’re so pleased to have you coming back again this year. But you first came to the Shrimp Boil, at least our record show, back in 2015.
Pat: It’s been a while. So. How I landed there, um, my wife went with her sister. Her sister worked for Baytown Nissan, and they used to always have a table. So, uh, Deborah S. wanted to come one year. Wanda went, she came home, just thoroughly enjoyed it. And Flatt told me, you’re going next year. Yes, ma’am. So I went and that’s just it just great walking through the door. It’s so family oriented [00:05:00] You see the little kids the adults the children, you know, it’s just a good fit and i’m a sucker for a live auction.
Dorothy: Yes, you are. Thank you, Wanda for doing this. And I remember that you started bidding on something during a live auction. Now, you know Most of our folks come year after year and Bear our auctioneer knows everybody.
Pat: He does.
Dorothy: But he was going, who is that? And, and we didn’t recognize you. We didn’t know you. And, uh, so you were in some bidding war with somebody else.
Pat: You know, Danny.
Dorothy: Oh, yes.
Pat: Danny and I are old friends.
Dorothy: Oh, okay.
Pat: And, um, from when I saw Danny’s there, you know, I wasn’t trying to bid against Danny. But we, you know, sometimes we get competitive. But the real key on those auctions is, you know, people come with just X amount of money and you want them to feel good about donating. So some of the donations, um, people just aren’t bidding enough on them.
So that’s really how I got the name [00:06:00] Sunshine with Bear. If the bids were too low, then I just get after it.
Dorothy: You raise that paddle and here we go again.
Pat: You want the people who donate something to feel like they really did good.
Dorothy: Oh yeah.
Pat: Yeah, so that’s really the drive. And when the bids go really high, then you just say rock and roll into your purse. That’s it. Just let it happen. I’ll work on the next one. So like I said, I enjoy live auctions.
Dorothy: Well, Bear had such fun that day. We all did. We were all just holding our breath because you really drove up one or two of those live auction items. And. I don’t know what it was about that year, but we, they weren’t bidding, uh.
Pat: Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know. And so you don’t want to walk away with, you know, some, some of those younger couples, some of the older couples too, they may only have a hundred, $200 and kind of gauge them and they really want that. You let them have it.
Dorothy: Right. Right.
Pat: And focus on other things. But yeah, I just love auctions.
Dorothy: Oh, you do. We’re so glad you do.
Pat: That’s the reason Wanda always sits on one side. She starts tapping my leg, but I know. [00:07:00]
Dorothy: Let’s watch for that this year. That’ll be fun to see her doing that. And not only do you come and you participate and you bid and you win many things, but Wanda even brings things for us.
Pat: She does. She’s got some really cool stuff for you this year. So she loves to crochet. I mean, she is a master crochet. And she makes little animals, blankets. So she makes cardigans and that’s just what she does. So she’s working on a little form, uh, display for you guys. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say or not, but anyway, it’s pretty cute.
I think that’ll you’ll enjoy it.
Dorothy: That’ll be so neat. I know you’ve told us you, you came because it was fun. Wanda told you it was fun. You love auctions. Is there any other reason why you come to support The Rose?
Pat: Absolutely. So, Wanda is, comes to y’all for her mammograms. And last year, she convinced, or maybe she didn’t have to convince, we had invited my daughter in law and son to come to The Rose with us. So, Megan now [00:08:00] comes to you guys for her mammograms. And, uh, we’ve gotten a little sister to come last year with her nephews. We’re trying to get different groups to expose them to The Rose, one so they can help donate, but so they can spread the word too.
Dorothy: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Pat: Really, it’s turned into more just having fun at the auction to trying to raise funds for you guys and your mission. It’s a real intent.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness, that is so important.
Pat: There’s only so many philanthropies you can give to, and y’all are one of them. Y’all are really our favorite of the Masonic organizations, y’all are.
Dorothy: Oh, yeah. Thank you.
Pat: Mm hmm.
Dorothy: That is, that is so special. And you know, you’ve been there. A lot of times you’re seeing the patients that we helped during times when they didn’t have the funds or didn’t have insurance and and you know how many of them come back and bring a cake or—
Pat: Well—
Dorothy: bring something—
Pat: Good Lord, forgive me, but it’s kind of like going to I was [00:09:00] raised a Southern Baptist. I’m not Southern Baptist anymore. I love my beer, but, uh, you want to leave church feeling good. You walk out of The Rose, you walk away from the Shrimp Boil, feeling the same way.
Dorothy: We are used this, that, that line, because—
Pat: She made me sign that form. So I can use anything you want.
Dorothy: Oh, that’s right. Uh, but you don’t have any family or friends who are dealing with breast cancer?
Pat: We all do. I don’t, I think you’d be really tough in America, well in the world probably, to find a family who doesn’t have something like that going on. My grandmother had it, um, right now Megan’s mother is fighting a battle.
Dorothy: It’s everywhere. When we started, uh, the Shrimp Boil back in the 80s, it was like 1 in 13 women, and now it’s moved to 1 in 8.
Pat: Oh, I see.
Dorothy: I mean, that’s In the world of medicine, that’s a very big jump over just three decades. You know, you, you don’t usually see that, but cancer seems to be [00:10:00] touching everyone’s life of some kind.
Pat: So is it more recognition?
Dorothy: Don’t think so. I think, I think we’re really just seeing more of it. You know, even though we may not have kept the best records before mammograms became so popular or so well accepted. There’s something’s just shifted, and the, and the big thing that’s shifted in our world is the younger women are dealing with it more now than they did, even with our records, you know. And we serve that diverse population of insured and uninsured, so it, there’s no—
Pat: To the younger women. You know, Megan came, but y’all made it. I think I wrote you an email to call you guys after a visit. She just elated how friendly, how pleasant, how easy it was.
Dorothy: Oh, that is good to hear.
Pat: She’s a teacher, so I’m sure she’s spreading the word.
Dorothy: Oh, and teachers, you know, they have such limited time.
Pat: No time. Grandkids or outlaws. No, they’re precious. Yeah, they’re busy. They’re a busy young couple.
Dorothy: They’re [00:11:00] busy, yeah. And women in general don’t always take that time, so yeah, that’s good to hear. And we try to stay on time, too. That is a big goal of my technologists. They feel really compelled to. Be on time. Move the women in. Work with them.
Pat: If such a thing can be a pleasure, she just had to call me when she got through. Because, again, she was elated. I’m thinking, you know, that cannot be fun.
Dorothy: Now—
Pat: But, I’m glad you’re happy, dear.
Dorothy: Yeah, yeah.
Pat: So, well done.
Dorothy: Thank you. Thank you. You know, we should really put you on our committee. Cause if you’ve gone to all these other events, you’ve seen things we probably haven’t even thought about doing.
I, I, I’m going to have to pick your mind on that now, come on. But I, I, you know, what, what is it that, um, besides some of the things you’ve talked about, anything else that’s unique about our Shrimp Boil, our live auction, we’ve, we’re [00:12:00] wanting to invite more people to come and, and, you know, It sounds like a shrivel. It sounds like something outside, but it’s not. It’s inside.
Pat: You know, I really wasn’t ready for that one that. Personally, Again, it’s just a feeling when you walk through the doors of the kids running around. There’s no member of my family I would not invite. Just any of them. So we started off getting one table.
We had to get another one because people we’ve been inviting want to continue to come. My little sister says, when is it this year? You know, they bought two years ago, the little figurines y’all had the little angel.
Dorothy: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Pat: She bought one of those and we bought one. And anyway, since she did that, she’s just wants to come every year. So long story short and to make it better, I’m not sure. I’m not sure what I would do to make it better. It’s just really family oriented. And of course, you know, the mothers are the backbone.
Dorothy: That’s it.
Pat: So. It’s, uh, [00:13:00] it’s well done.
Dorothy: Thank you.
Pat: You want me to look around this year and see what I can fix?
Dorothy: Yes! Yes! We’re always looking around and, and, you know.
Pat: Catch me in about a second, beer. My opinion’s changed.
Dorothy: Oh, uh, okay. I, you know, I do remember something. Especially how fast that paddle was coming up and how Wanda was over there pulling you back. Yeah. After a while. Yeah. Did you come by this community support mentality from your parents?
Pat: Oh, it’s always been that way. So, my mom was a vacation Bible school teacher. Um, four boys and one girl in the family. Excuse me. So, when a child was born, dad said, You’re playing the piano. You’re playing the guitar. You’re playing the fiddle. We had a band.
Dorothy: Oh.
Pat: Yeah. I always played at the, the cemeteries, suppers, and chilly cook offs, raising funds for the church, and things like that. So, we’ve just always done it. So, back to the, the Bible school, we were volunteered every year to help mom with vacation Bible school. So, you know, we, we learned real early, [00:14:00] okay, this is what we’re going to do. Hey, it’s fun. Let’s do it again. Sometimes you have to be drug into it to start, especially at that age.
But once you start getting rewarded as in emotionally, it’s easy, easy to keep going. So yeah, we’ve done a lot of volunteer work, coaching sports, interacting with the kids and parents. And of course the military, you meet everything known to, well.
Dorothy: It gives you a very wide range of understanding people.
Pat: It really does.
Dorothy: And, uh.
Pat: So, you know, when you’ve been blessed, giving back is easy.
Dorothy: Yeah, and the Mundy Corporation has been very good to us, too. Yes.
Pat: So, again, like I said, I went for two years. I’ve got to talk about Shane and his group. I think they made a, the Mundy Foundation a couple of years ago made a fairly good.
Dorothy: Very nice.
Pat: Very nice of you guys.
Dorothy: Yes, and then when we, We were going, how did, how did this happen now? You may not have been behind it, but when we saw your name and we went, Oh my gosh, it was sunshine. It was sunshine. He did it again.
Pat: Yeah. So [00:15:00] anyway, the Monday foundation is part of the Monday family, but Shane Burton is the sole owner of the money companies now. And Shane is third generation. His wife was part of the family, right? And Amy, and they’re just both precious. Um, it’s, it’s a company that you enjoy going to work for every day. It’s a company you don’t mind working late at night to handle stuff that didn’t get wrapped up or somebody needs some help. Um, I’ve got some fantastic operations VPs.
Sometimes I feel like I just, I don’t need to be there. They’re grown men and they’re doing their job and they’re grown women and they’re doing fantastic. It’s just a pleasure. And that’s, um, we’re talking about when you’re going to retire, you’re going to let me know so I can retire.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Pat: It’s just one of those. Very fortunate to be with an organization like that because at our age, and I’m not even going to guess how old I am, you look forward to doing something different and then you don’t. Said, hey, I really enjoy it. Why should I not do it? And their environment is just, hey, you’ve got to raise the kids, the fourth generation of Shane and Amy’s all three of their [00:16:00] children are with the company, which is the fourth generation of the Mundy family.
So it’s, um, it’s hard to pick a time. There’s always one more thing you want to get done before you go.
Dorothy: You do, absolutely.
Pat: And they, they just make it so easy to be a part of it. I mean, that’s—
Dorothy: Well, and you know, that’s, that environment here at The Rose, and, and not because I had anything to do with it at the beginning, really.
You know, a couple years ago, because I’m asked often, You know, isn’t it time? And uh, when we, it was like when we started the podcast, all of a sudden I saw a different purpose for what we do. You know, I’d done plenty of talks and staff does presentations all the time, but I realized with this communication vehicle, we could probably reach more.
And what I’ve learned, just like with you, I’ve learned that everyone has a part of this story called The Rose. They do. Whether it’s a [00:17:00] community support, whether it’s someone we helped. And I can’t tell you how many times, when we first started The Rose, because it’s an unusual name.
Pat: You’d be surprised who does know.
So, case in point, I was at the dentist yesterday, and Dr. Peck’s a fairly young dentist, Deer Park Family Dentistry. Anyway, he was asking me, what are you, what are you going to do this week? I said, well, tomorrow I’m going to go meet Miss Dorothy with The Rose, and we’re going to sit down and have a cup of coffee.
He knew exactly who you were.
Dorothy: Oh my.
Pat: He knew where the Shrimp Boil was. And he asked me, when is it this year? I told him it’s 22nd. I said, you need to bring some of your money and come on out there. So yeah, you would be surprised.
Dorothy: I love the way, bring your money and come out there. Yeah, yeah, right.
Pat: I’ll buy a shrimp for him.
Dorothy: Interesting. Interesting. I didn’t, yeah. Well, and, and it’s that. It’s the community that supported us for so long. You know, when, when we started, now we’ve always had a, “Houston address” for our, our centers, but it was Pasadena Deer Park La Porte communities [00:18:00] that really stood behind us.
Pat: Yeah, and to me that’s important. Pasadena is, families; Working class; I hate to put it that way, but they’re, you know, that’s the background of our country.
Dorothy: All my family’s from Pasadena.
Pat: Yeah, that’s the backbone of the country.
Dorothy: I used to say, you know, I can talk about Pasadena, you can’t. But I can because my family’s from there. You know how that goes.
Pat: You know what I mean then.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Pat: So the fact that y’all have it there in Pasadena I think is very important.
Dorothy: Oh, yes.
Pat: Very important.
Dorothy: Yes. And when we outgrew the SPJST hall and then the, uh, Well is it that, uh, there was another place on, uh, Spencer that we were at for just a short time, and finally grew so big that we had to go to the convention center. I mean, that was a real—
Pat: Yes, a big move.
Dorothy: We felt like we were really stepping up here, you know, we’ve become big time.
Pat: You start going to George R. Brown, things like that. The perception of the public of you is totally different.
Dorothy: It is. And we love, [00:19:00] we love this community.
Pat: Bear wouldn’t know where to go.
Dorothy: I tell the story that there was a time when I, we’d done Shrimp Boil for ten years or something and I said, I’m You know, it’s time for us to do something else, a Shrimp Boil. I mean, even though, you know, it was, it was successful, but I said, we need to have a gala or we need to have one of these fancy dancy things, you know. Uh, the community said no. Uh, they, they talked me down. I kept going, I used to run this place, but, you know.
Pat: You’re older and wiser like I am, and your ears work better.
Dorothy: Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that amazing?
Pat: Or you finally use them.
Dorothy: Well, that’s true. That’s true. But this has always been a community event and go back to the Mundy Corporation just a minute. It is corporation, right? Mundy Corporation?
Pat: Well, it’s the Mundy Companies.
Dorothy: Companies.
Pat: It’s a conglomerate of six, seven, eight different operating companies. Um, we do mechanical maintenance, logistic support. [00:20:00] For a lot of the major oil companies and chemical companies and some of the heavy manufacturing. I don’t have permission to use their names, so I better leave that part out. But, uh, we’re all over the Gulf Coast, all the way up the eastern seaboard. We have office in Columbia, South Carolina, Corpus Christi, goodness gracious, a third of our workforce is on the east coast.
And again, that group of professionals is just as wonderful as the group we have down here on the Gulf Coast. I mean, it’s, it’s not that the company generates them. They’re attracted to the company and once they get here, they stay. So again, you know, Shane is a wonderful guy. He lets us run our business. He lets us run the company. We need a, we need a guidance on something. It’s there. Other than that, we’re good. Hey guys, you know, come to the office and have a cup of coffee.
Dorothy: Yeah. It’s a great.
Pat: Great leader.
Dorothy: Did it start in this area?
Pat: Oh, so it, I’ll give you the history real quick. So the Mundy companies was started in 1955, 70 year old company by A. J. Mundy. [00:21:00] A. J. was executive vice president for Canadian operations for Brown and Root. And that was back when the corporate taxes and your, your personal taxes were so high that an executive really was better off having their own company because of the taxes on the salary. So you really couldn’t afford to pay Dorothy what she’s worth. And when you did, then Uncle Sam got so much of it. So A. J. was encouraged by the hierarchy of Brown and Root to go start your own company, we’ll support you and help you get kicked off. So that’s when he founded the Money Companies. And then his two sons, John and Jack, kept Uh, Joe and John, excuse me, took over after he passed away, and then they passed it down to a grandson and Shane, and then Shane bought the grandson out, and it just keeps going. Now we’ve got he and Amy’s three kids all out of college, and they’re working for the company.
Dorothy: It does sound like just a wonderful place to—
Pat: A 70 year, 70 year history all over the United States.
Dorothy: That’s what we’re going to shoot for, for The Rose. Something exactly like that.
Pat: We’re only 35? Okay, well, I’ll—
Dorothy: No, why not?[00:22:00]
Pat: I’ll just—
Dorothy: No, not with me, but.
Pat: Well, I was gonna say, you make it to the seventies then.
Dorothy: No, you don’t have to work that long.
Pat: I’ll dress a different costume.
Dorothy: Okay. Oh gosh. Pat, thank you for being with us today. Oh, thank you. I kept saying I’m gonna call him Sunshine. I’m gonna call him Sunshine. I don’t wanna mess up, but you know, you honestly, and this is no, no extra on it. You have been mr. Sunshine for us and we appreciate you so much. We appreciate your support. And just coming here today and and helping us to promote the Shrimp Boil is great.
Pat: It took so long This knee is finally working better.
Dorothy: Well, that’s good.
Pat: You said you had one replaced.
Dorothy: Uh huh. Yeah.
Pat: Yeah. I got them both replaced. That’s the downside of being a paratrooper for 22 years.
Dorothy: Well, I didn’t have that kind of legs. Yeah I didn’t have that kind of impact but oh my gosh, you know when you told me that I got oh I’m never gonna get him. Sometimes people just don’t want to [00:23:00] do this. So, you know, well, that’s a that’s a pretty good reason, but maybe he just doesn’t.
Pat: Honestly, it’s you know, I’ve spoken at a lot of events. I was a PAC trustee for a while for too long and worked with the, um, OSHA stars, really it’s the Carolina Star. We had some events with their Department of Labor. It’s easier talking in front of three or four hundred people. Believe me. Than it is to sit
Dorothy: here. Sit with one, yeah. Yeah. I know. It’s.
Pat: You can just look at the audience and you don’t have to focus on anything.
Dorothy: I hate cocktail parties. You know, I hate where you have to go and do chit chat and all that. No. I understand what you’re saying. But we’re delighted you were here with us today.
Pat: Well, very much. It’s been a
Dorothy: pleasure. Oh, thank you for being here.
Pat: I think I’ll see you again pretty soon.
Dorothy: Yeah, pretty soon. June 22nd.
Pat: And I’m supposed to dress like what?
Dorothy: In the 80s. It’s, it’s our 35th Shrimp Boil. We want everybody to come. Four to eight o’clock, on a Saturday, June 22nd.
Pat: I’ll get Wanda busy designing my outfit. [00:24:00]
Dorothy: Oh, that would be so neat. Thank you. Really, seriously, if you have an outfit, I will. I wasn’t planning on this. This was the team’s idea, but hey.
Pat: Oh, really? Have you told them no yet?
Dorothy: No. I learned. You can’t tell this group no.
Pat: To be continued.
Dorothy: To be continued. Yes. All right.
Pat: All right.
Dorothy: Thanks again.
Pat: Okay. Thank you.
Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.Org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends and join the conversation on social media, using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need.
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