Then, M.J. and his wife Julie gave Patsy her first grandchild, 10-month old Avery.
“She’s adorable,” Patsy says.
M.J. says he hadn’t particularly planned to buy a hose in Arcadia. He was scouting one out for a friend and ended up buying it instead.
He moved back to his old neighborhood in 2005. He is now minutes away from Patsy and dad Marty.
“I moved into Arcadia proper by accident,” M.J. says.
Now, “It’s fun to drive through the neighborhood and be n a place that has signs to drive slowly because children are playing.”
The Nodilo family moved to Arcadia 25 years ago. There, Patsy and Marty created a backyard of dreams for M.J. and his younger brother John. Beyond the requisite swimming pool, the boys had a basketball court and putting green.
“It’s a good yard for kids,” Patsy says.
“Neighbors used to ask us to let them know if we ever decided to leave because they wanted the yard.”
The boys participated in sports, with Marty coaching Pop Warner Football and also basketball at the Scottsdale Boys & Girls Club.
Patsy was on the Arcadia Little League board for about five years, two as president. While in high office, she spearheaded a fund-raising drive that put lights on Ingleside playing fields.
Patsy says that when the family moved to Phoenix, the minute she was shown the Arcadia area, she knew it was the right place to live.
“It has such a good sense of community and family, and M.J said it, everyone who lives here loves it,” she said.
M.J. joined his mother’s financial advisory team at UBS—the office is in the Esplanade—after living nine years in the Bay Area where he was a management trainee with Franklin Templeton and later a financial adviser with Smith-Barney.
As much as he like San Francisco, M.J. says commuting 90 minutes to the Silicon Valley was no way to live.
Sitting in traffic one day convinced him to move, and “that probably spurred a conversation” about his coming to work with his mother.
When he got back to Phoenix, “I gave myself a 10-mile perimeter – nothing more” when looking for housing.
“I get enthusiastic every day knowing it’s going to be sunny and I get to drive by Camelback Mountain, drive by the Phoenician and the Royal Palms and pull into my office. And I get to work with my mother.”
The third team member is Adrian Larson, M.J.’s best friend from his San Francisco days.
“It’s been great for me,” Patsy says about M.J. joining her organization. “He’s very good at research. He loves investment, and he really cares about clients. He’s very smart.”
For his part, M.J. says, “It’s very important that I had prior experience. I felt like I had something to add to the group.”
The two complement each other.
Patsy says her son holds her “feet to the fire.”
M.J. says, “I have a tremendous amount of respect for my mother. She’s so kind to everyone.
“It’s certainly a trait worth emulating.”
E-mail Tracy at: tracywerth@cox.net
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