A Vision Fulfilled: Patti Penny's Journey

by Michael Pulley

Overview

Some give lip service to the American dream, some merely revere it, and some like Patti Penny pursue it rabidly, not just to better themselves and achieve notoriety, but with the goal of helping others also become successful.

In A Vision Fulfilled, author Michael Pulley captures much of Penny's personal history. From her more-than-humble, small town beginnings, he chronicles her journey of determination and sheer spunk-always fraught with disappointments and setbacks-that eventually lands her at the top of a business venture she carved out for herself, forever giving back to a community she cherishes. He describes how her pre-business experiences shaped her, forming her into a caring, hardworking woman who is unafraid of taking chances and always treats people fairly.

A Vision Fulfilled narrates a story about the struggles inherent in achieving the American dream, which has guided so many for so long. It's one woman's story that has the power to inspire others and make them better people through courage and hard work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781480886629
Publisher:	Archway Publishing
Publication date:	04/16/2020
Pages:	142
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

Michael Pulley earned a master's degree in literature from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He's been published widely in literary journals and has written novels, a short story collection, a memoir, and newspaper columns. Pulley has also been a high school and college teacher, college admissions counselor, and paralegal. He lives in Springfield, Missouri.

Editorial Reviews

2021-05-24
A debut biography focuses on a Missouri entrepreneur.

In this book, Pulley tells the life story of Patti Penny, founder of a staffing company that does hundreds of millions of dollars in business. The volume follows a traditional chronological format, opening with Penny’s birth in rural Missouri in the early days of World War II. Penny’s childhood was complicated by her often contentious relationship with her mother, which led to the girl’s spending long stretches of time living with her grandmother, who provided the foundation for her upbringing. After finishing high school, Penny decided to make her own way in the nearby city of Springfield, where she had an active but frugal social life while holding a variety of jobs. Penny married a man named Al after a few months of dating, and his instinct for frugality meshed well with her ambition and sense of independence. Although Penny worked part time after her two children were born—after being forced to leave one employer as soon as her pregnancy began to show—a job was both financially and personally important to her, and she found her niche in the personnel departments of manufacturers and hospitals. She returned to school to earn a bachelor’s degree as a nontraditional student, and, with Al’s encouragement, she used her hiring and management experience to launch her own staffing firm, which succeeded and grew within Missouri and beyond. The book balances the personal and professional threads of Penny’s life effectively, presenting a well-rounded portrait. Pulley has an eye for detail (Penny and Al wed on Dec. 31, 1960, so they could claim the marriage on that year’s taxes) and does a good job of drawing the story’s disparate elements together. While the text’s more analytical asides may seem forced (for instance, attributing Penny’s understanding of business to her mother’s often lavish spending), on the whole, the biography succeeds through its close narrative perspective that allows Penny to share the key moments of her life. Penny and her friends and family collaborated closely with the author on the work, a process he describes in the foreword.

An intriguing and informative account of one woman’s triumphant career path.

Kirkus Reviews