Pat and Jim Register moved to Deercreek in 2001. They chose this community carefully for their retirement home, and after an extensive search, found their beautiful Bishop Lake home which has been a Deercreek View award winner. When they arrived, Jim and Pat had been married nearly 50 years, both successful Jacksonville business leaders involved in their church and community.
They met in 1948 at Andrew Jackson high school. Jim’s family had recently moved to Jacksonville from Tampa and Pat’s from the mid-west. They began going steady as Juniors and married the year after graduation.
They were hard workers then as now. Pat rose through levels of responsibility in banking, while Jim enlisted in the Navy and pursued his higher educational goals, culminating in a BS from University of Florida and a Master’s Degree from UNF. His career with State Farm Insurance presented ever increasing responsibilities until his retirement in the mid 1990’s. Their son, Jim, Jr., a State Farm agent, then called on his father to share his knowledge and work ethic for several years.
Ahead of her time, Pat managed to rise to the positions of Vice President at Atlantic National Bank while balancing motherhood of their boys, Jim, Jr. and Jerry. She retired in 1993 after 40 years in banking.
Pat’s financial background has made her a highly qualified Treasurer of Deercreek Home and Garden Club for the past six years. Her first involvement came when she met Dottie Patterson selling luminaries, and she worked in that effort for several years, finally taking responsibility for the management of the sales function as well as collecting and depositing the monies collected, as Treasurer.
Pat’s quilt group meets at Deercreek Club to work on the 100+ quilts the 12 members make and give to charity each year. That comes to more than 1000 quilts in the time Pat has lived here. She has also taught quilting workshops in the past.
The Bunco group also depends on Pat to make sure they have the proper number of players each month, and that group has regularly made a day of it by attending Deercreek Home and Garden Club meetings on the afternoons after their games.
Jim Register served Deercreek as President of DCCOA during a crucial time. His experience with a home owners association in their previous Grove Park neighborhood gave him the experience to rally the residents and defeat the developer who wanted to dig an enormous borrow pit just outside our boundaries. This would have jeopardized our security and our water levels. Eventually a bus load of residents plus other individuals appeared to protest the proposal and it was defeated in City Council.
When asked for a comment, Pat said that Deercreek was the best thing that ever happened to them. We think they are one of the best things that ever happened to Deercreek.