William A. Patterson
Overview
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
from 1934 until 1966.
Patterson was born on a sugar plantation in Waipahu on Oahu, Hawaii. When Patterson was 13, his widowed mother moved to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, while he remained at Honolulu Military Academy
Honolulu Military Academy
The Honolulu Military Academy was founded by its president, Col. L. G. Blackman, in 1911. It was controlled by a board of 10 trustees of which the president was a member and presiding officer ex officio. It had no endowment, but owned a fine piece of property consisting of about of ground and six...
. Not liking the academy, he decided to leave. He persuaded a captain to allow him to work on his ship in exchange for passage to San Francisco.
Instead of finishing high school in San Francisco, Patterson became an office worker at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
bank, though he later attended night school.
Quotations
When you have an idea, hang on to it. It's the most valuable thing in the world. Nurture it. Test it. And remember: you can grow a toadstool overnight, but it takes time to grow an oak.
I was engaged in what I believe to be the most thrilling industry in the world — aviation. My heart still leaps when I see a tiny two-seater plane soaring gracefully through the sky. Our great airlines awe me. Yet I know they were not produced in a day or a decade.
It may take years to put your idea into action. But if it has real worth, time will prove it, and you will have something that will endure.