Grand Bay donor creates unique tribute to friend

By Evan Duffy

(Aug. 10, 2006) -- Charles “Buddy” Patteson had not always been a regular blood donor prior to meeting friend and fellow co-worker Paul Watts, Sr.

“I think I tried to give one time while I was in the service because they were offering us the rest of the day off if we gave blood,” said Patteson. “But it was Paul who got me to start donating regularly.”

Patteson said his career as a regular blood donor began back in the 1970s, when Watts did the one thing it usually takes to recruit a new donor: he simply asked Patteson to come along.

“I remember he came around and said, ‘ I’m going to give blood, why don’t you come along and go with me,’” said Patteson. “After that, we just got into the routine of going and giving blood. He’d come by and say, ‘Alright, we have to go give blood today,’ and we’d get together and go. I have been a regular donor ever since, every 56 days if I could.”

Unfortunately, Watts passed away several years ago, but his legacy of blood donation lives on with Patteson, who is now working on his 16th gallon. After his friend’s passing, Patteson memorialized Watts by creating a unique work of art as a tribute to both his and blood donation.

“For the longest time I used my gallon pins for tie-tacks,” said Patteson. “But a fellow can only have so many tie-tacks. My wife kept telling me I needed to think of something to do with all my pins, and one day we were at a fair and I saw this man who was making things out of wood. I got the idea to have him make a clock, with the gallon pins as the numbers. I told Paul’s daughter that I was going to give my 12th gallon in honor of her father, and I used my 12th pin to have the clock made.”

The clock, which is a cherry-finished routed wood plaque in the shape of a blood drop, features 12 of Patteson’s donor pins and a brass plaque memorializing his friend and blood donor mentor Paul Watts Sr. The clock now hangs in the Josephson Donor Center in Mobile, where it serves as a tribute to both men and an inspiration to those who know the story behind its creation.

As for Patteson, his work as a blood donor is not yet done.

“I’ve always enjoyed giving blood, and I plan to continue. I’m two pints short of 16 now, and I want to give 24 in my lifetime. I want to make a military clock with all 24 pins,” said Patteson. “I read an article one time that said those who give blood are less likely to get cancer, but I give blood because it’s easy and it’s something that can save lives. I’m an O Positive donor, so I give every chance I get.”

Every two seconds, someone in this country need blood just to survive. Over 700 units of blood must be collected each day in the Alabama and Central Gulf Coast Region alone. The need for blood is always critical, and it is only through donors such as Paul Watts Sr. and Buddy Patteson that the blood supply can be maintained at a safe and stable level.

To give blood, one must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in general good health. If you can’t give blood, please recruit someone to give in your place. After all, when you give blood, you give the gift of life. There’s really no greater gift one can give.