In August 2022, Bucky and Bobbi Lane Patton celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a riverboat cruise in Europe. Bucky, the owner of Hendricks-Patton Furniture and Appliance, and Bobbi, a retired registered nurse, have served the Athens-Limestone community in numerous ways — a long family tradition on both sides of the family. Their continued involvement in the community makes Bucky and Bobbi true Limestone Legends.

Bucky, a 1959 graduate of Athens High School, was the only person who went to Athens to letter in five sports: football, basketball, baseball, track, and golf.

“The only trophy I ever won was in the state tournament for golf. The new leader of the Country Club, Burleson, had two sons that played golf, so us three went down there together and we all came home with a trophy,” Bucky said.

Bobbi grew up in Courtland, graduated from Decatur High School in 1960, and said she “didn’t do nothing.” She and Bucky each went to Alabama but it wasn’t until they were both at Florence State that their lives would collide.

“I didn’t want to date him,” Bobbi said. “One of my sorority sisters at Alabama wanted me to date her next door neighbor (Bucky) and I wasn’t about to. I told her that I can get my own dates.”

Bucky’s aunt’s husband grew up and was friends with Bobbi’s father. They lived in Florence and convinced Bobbi to come to dinner to meet Bucky.

“I hated blind dates. I had been to parties with him there and he got in a fight with somebody,” Bobbi said with a laugh. “I had always heard of Bucky Patton, but it wasn’t good.”

They met and both Bucky and Bobbi were quickly smitten. “I thought he was cute,” Bobbi recalled.

Bucky recalled what his father advised him in regards to relationships, “He said, ‘You dating all these good looking girls in Athens, you need to find you a country girl. I did and they have a farm on the Tennessee River. They still have it. When we were dating, I brought her home to introduce her to my father. He said, ‘Bobbi, I want to let you know we have the only swimming pool in Athens, Alabama.’ he was bragging and she said, ‘That’s fine, Mr. Patton, but I have the whole damn Tennessee River and a boat.’ They never got along. She got right back at him.”

Bucky does not shy away from talking about the many girls he dated in school and prior to meeting Bobbi Lane. So what set her apart from the others?

“I dated nothing but blondes in high school — cheerleaders, majorettes, and all. This is what [Bobbi] was when I met her, auburn colored. I couldn’t believe that auburn colored hair would turn me on. It took me 60 years for me to get a platinum blonde. I finally got a blonde after all these years,” Bucky said. “She could fish and use a rod and reel. She knew how to fish on the river and all I had was a pole and a cork. She said, ‘That ain’t the way you fish!’ She taught me to use a rod and reel and took me hunting. A squirrel was up there and BOOM. She said, ‘Man, you just shoot them all to pieces. You can’t do that.’ She shot one and POW, she shot him right in the head. She said, ‘You must be a city boy. You gotta have concrete to live on.’”

After dating for eight months, Bucky and Bobbi were married on August 10, 1962. The newlyweds took a two-day honeymoon to Tennessee before settling down in Athens and starting a family. They have five children– Krisilyn, Mary Lane, Roy, Hillary, and David.

When Bucky’s grandmother passed away in 1973, the family moved into her house on Beaty Street.The home was in need of some repairs and updates. Bucky was working for his father at Hendricks-Patton and Bobbi was busy at home raising their children.

“It was all wallpaper and terrible. Daddy paid me 65 cents an hour when I got married. I told him that I need a raise. I told him I had friends at the Arsenal making $1 an hour. He said, ‘You aren’t worth $1 an hour. Go around the Square and see what the ladies are making. They were making 50 cents. He said, ‘I am paying you 15 cents more than they are. You save that 15 cents and live off the 50 and you’ll have something someday. So, we did one room at a time,” Bucky said.

As they saved to renovate each room of the house, Bobbi, an RN, decided it was time for her to go to work. She worked at Athens-Limestone Hospital as a labor and delivery nurse and relief supervisor and retired in 1998.

“David lost his shoes in a pond and I cried. I thought, ‘I need to make my own money,’” Bobbi said. “The utility bills almost killed us when we moved into this house so I decided I needed to go to work.”

Prior to Bobbi going to work, Bucky had become heavily involved in local politics, just as his father and grandfather before him. Bucky was asked to be on the local Democratic Party Executive Committee.

“From 1980 back, you could not be elected in Alabama unless you were a Democrat. Now it’s the other way around. I got on that and got to enjoying it,” Bucky said. “Then I decided I was going to run for the state office. I ran against Oakley Greenhaw– most popular guy in town and Wallace’s campaign manager.”

Bucky won the state office by 100 votes and after four years, Jimmy Carter asked Bucky to manage his campaign in Limestone County. Carter still sends Christmas cards to Bucky and Bobbi each year.

“I always wanted to be on the city council. I ran for that and won. The only thing I know that I did was I got the parking meters taken down. People come in my store and that red flag would come up and I’d say, ‘dern it.’ So, that’s the only thing I know I done in my four years,” Bucky said.

In the 1980’s Bucky served on the Athens City School Board. Patton is a familiar name to the Athens City School System.

“My granddaddy was on the first Board of Education in Athens in 1922. My daddy was on there in the 60’s, and I was on there in the 80’s,” Bucky said.

His grandfather’s name was on the old Green University school building as he was on the board when the school was expanded. His father was on the board when Julian Newman was built and the building has his name on it. Bucky was on the school board when Brookhill Elementary so his name can be found there. Now, Bucky’s daughter-in-law, Beth Patton, serves as Superintendent of Athens City Schools.

Of all the many ways Bucky stayed involved, including 18 years as a Scout leader, it was his time spent in the Athens Rotary that he enjoyed most of all.

“I was the youngest president of the Athens Rotary Club. I was 35. I have a picture of me, daddy and Roy. I enjoyed it more than anything. I was in for 25 years and never missed a meeting,” he said.

Although Bobbi grew up in Courtland, her roots are deep in Athens. “My family started the Episcopal Church. When I married Bucky, my aunt said that it will be like going home. My grandfather was the grandson of George Washington Lane and he was married to the daughter of Nick Davis. One man, Roy Malone, told me that my kids were kin to about 95 percent of the people in Limestone County,” Bobbi said.

Bucky has been working at, and now owns, Hendricks-Patton. He has worked there for 59 years. He also enjoys playing Pickleball.

“I still open up at 6:30 every morning and I get off at 2 in the afternoon. I haven’t been paid in two years. I work for free because she doesn’t want me home all day,” Bucky said. “I enjoy it and I meet people everyday. I will do it until I am not healthy.”

When Bucky isn’t working, he and Bobbi enjoy traveling the world and spending time together. Rome, Greece, and Egypt are a couple of Bobbi’s favorite trips thus far. It’s often their second visit to a location where they feel they learn the most.

The Patton’s look forward to Valentine’s Day and are still going strong after more than 60 years together. Bobbi describes Bucky as “the romantic one” and still receives flowers, chocolates, and written letters. Bucky feels he knows why their marriage has been so successful.

“Main thing that kept us together, I think, when we were young, it was hard for me to know what ‘no’ meant. I thought it might mean ‘maybe’ or ‘might,’ but no meant no. Once I learned that, I did good. When she had an opinion, we’d always fuss. When I found out her opinion was as important to her as my opinion was to me, we got together and compromised and we have been together ever since,” Bucky said.