I wouldn’t have guessed the world’s bestselling author is James Patterson. His books have sold more than 450 million copies across the globe. His books depend on a driving narrative and not the development of his characters. If asked about his background, I would have gotten that wrong as well. He was born in a working- class family. I read excerpts from his newest book, James Patterson on James Patterson: The Stories of My Life. It is his memoir. I have made bold various parts of his memoir that resembled my own life below. It was like discovering that you have a twin.
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I will quote some excepts in bold and follow with his connection to me.
My dad grew up in the Newburgh poorhouse. It was called the Pogie. His mom was a charwoman there. She cleaned the kitchens and bathrooms there, and worked from 7 to 7, seven days a week. My father had a 6th grade education. I don’t know why he didn’t go further. The implication was that there were hard times for the family. He would go on to put one of his sisters through college. He paid for all of it.
His working-class childhood in Newburgh, New York – where he’d sometimes drink beer at the bar with his dad at age 5 or 6 – and unlikely path to fame. I was the designated family member charged with going to the Maple Grill to retrieve my father from the bar and get him home. I saw life by looking up into the bottom of a barstool hearing that familiar mantra “just one more, then we will go.” Later in life after a physical altercation with me, he stopped drinking on his own.
Brother Leonard, the Christian Brothers principal at St. Patrick’s had a divine plan for me. I applied to Harvard, Yale, Colby, and Bates. I never heard back from those schools. Oh, I never sent your transcripts. I only sent them to Manhatten College in the Bronx. You will get a full scholarship and never have to pay a sent. To this day I have a problem with authority figures. Brother Leonard is the reason why. I had wanted to attend Penn, but I knew that I would be paying my own way. I couldn’t afford it. I went to a state school to get my foot in the door. When I applied for the ordination process, I was turned down by a bishop “because I didn’t have enough real-world experience.” He told me to come back when I had some. Clearly, he didn’t take the time to read my file. I had already worked in several different factories. My cousin was my mentor who was very angry and commented that “I had too much real-world experience.”
I went to graduate school in religion in the city, substitute taught in every challenging school in the Philadelphia School District, and was reluctantly approved by this bishop. Later in life I was part of the commission that approved people for ordination. I made doubly sure that candidates were treated fairly. I went on to study at two of best universities in the nation and trained at one of the marquee hospitals for training in counseling. But it wasn’t until all of his seminarians were invited to his home that I could feel the anger rising as I drove up the never- ending drive with pool on one side, tennis courts on the other, and stable behind the manse. I didn’t know that this is what he meant. He had back up with family wealth, a limousine liberal (who did do some good in the city), and then retired to an island off the coast of Maine that he owned. I had my problem with his authority.
Before I take leave of my hometown, I have to say that, to this day, I look at the world through the lens of a blue-collar kid who grew up in Newburgh. It’s a blessing. I think it’s why I never been full of myself, too impressed with best-seller lists. It’s why I’m kind of a working- class storyteller. I just keep chopping wood. Amen. I have lived my life in two very different worlds, the haves and the have nots. I have learned so much by being blessed by that reality. You need that experience to truly learn that there is more that unites us than divides us. I went from being a janitor to being a Jarvis Fellow to Duke. I have learned that I have just as much bias as many others. I learned that again when reading about James Patterson. I assumed he was awash in back up. I had similar experiences on my own when I was working in the wealthiest communities in Connecticut. I was always asked where I prepped to arrive where I did. I would respond with, “The Alan Wood School (which is the mill where I worked).” Although the questioners never heard of that school, they assured me that it must be a good one.
I was president of my high school’s senior class which doesn’t mean much to me after all these years. But what does mean something to me is that when two tragedies occurred in my high school class recently, one daughter overdosed on drugs, and a classmate was injured in a motorcycle accident when a deer ran in front of him, they reached out to me. They said, “We got to call Jimmy (that is how they know my name).” Why that is what really matters to me is that they know that I am there for them when the need arises. I cherish that connection in both the have and have not world that I have bridged all my life.
Recently I needed a medical procedure quickly. After a phone call I was seen immediately. The secretary of this physician was wondering how I could get an appointment so fast. I said, “I know people in high and low places.” She laughed out loud.
When it is all stripped away in life, I believe that James Patterson and I have the same world view. Best-sellers and other honors don’t matter. What does matter is having people know that you ill always be there for them no matter where or when you were part of their lives and no matter what their status happens to be.
I still write in pencil. I am writing this with a number 2 pencil. As I look to my left there are two yellow pads that are always written on, and sometimes in such a way that I can’t remember why those words had any meaning for me.
So, Francis hooked me up with Jay Acton, a hot young editor at Thomas Crowell, a small family-owned New York publisher. Jay and I worked beautifully together. He worked with me for about a month on the manuscript. Then Jay rejected it. My 31st rejections. But Francis Greenburger talked me down off the ledge of the 30 story Graybar Building, where J. Walter Thompson had its offices. He sold it to Little Brown that week. And the rest is history. The Jay in my life is Jay Crawford who didn’t reject me but called me to be the Chaplain of the Episcopal Academy. It reminds me of how chance encounters place us on a path in life that becomes our destiny. I actually tried to talk him out of the offer as my life was in turmoil due to a serious illness in my family. My life was a totally unpredictable time. He just repeated, “We want you!”
So, one of our guys made it, James Patterson, the world’s best-selling author. Kudos to him!
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