Honoring my friend and yours
Whereas I usually agree with the community’s choices for Unsung Heroes and the Chamber of Commerce’s Businesswomen of the Year, I believe our beloved Penelope “Penny” Gregory has flown under the radar screen. We lost Penny recently to a tragic car accident so I wanted to honor her here and tell the story of how I see her as an unsung hero. Full disclosure, Penny has been my best friend for the past 18 years.
Penny would say that she was “reinventing herself” when she landed a new job or started a new business, but it was always all about how she could be helping others. She came to Taos with years of experience as an executive with assisted living corporations. As with most of us, she had to start from the ground up here in Taos despite her corporate experience. And I mean literally from the ground up, as she recently reminded me one of her first jobs in Taos was pulling weeds and caring for chickens.
She decided early on that whatever she did the goal was to help the community she lived in. Penny taught business and computer classes at University of New Mexico-Taos, she managed the local Lincare oxygen office, and worked for the state in the Developmental Disabilities program. From these experiences she saw a real need not only for caregivers for the disabled and elderly but also, a need for job opportunities. She set out to start a business to fill these needs. Penny was a one-woman show who built AAA Home Care from the ground up to the thriving, successful company it is today with 100s of employees throughout north-central New Mexico. She always said, “the most important thing I do is pay my employees.” Not only that but the New Mexico Association for Home and Hospice Care presented her an award in 2018 for having the best trained employees.
Those who knew Penny would probably agree she was rough around the edges but it was only because she was so passionate – about her clients and their care, her employees, her neighbors, her backyard birds, the wildlife she protected, the dogs and cats she rescued, the trees she saved. She was very proud of the fact she had the only certified organic piñon crop in New Mexico.
All of this took a lot of work, dedication, perseverance and prayer. But she balanced this with her joy of music, dance, hunting and fishing, swimming and gardening, all the while with a wonderful sense of humor.
Penny was preceded in death by all of the four-legged children she raised with love and respect – Jay/Jelly Bean, Buck, Colleen, Kit Carson, Tonka, Wing, Sonnet, Chief, Suki, Gunner, Buffy, Remmie, Ranger and Pal. She is survived by Soleil, her sweet calico cat, and all of the wildlife in north central New Mexico, that she worked so hard to conserve their natural habitat.
In keeping with the health and safety protocols due to the COVID pandemic the plan is to hold a virtual celebration of Penny’s life in the near future. If you would like to participate in this, or if you would just like to share stories, memories or photos please contact me at kathktaos@gmail.com. Keeping with Penny’s life mission to help others please feel free to make a contribution to a charity of your choice in her honor.
Lastly, Penny’s own generosity to the community should not go unnoticed – from bringing cookies to the State Police and the Ranchos Post Office staff to show her appreciation – to making monetary donations to our local fire department, animal shelter, homeless shelter and even to individual local musicians just because they brought her joy. She did not look for or expect recognition for her generosity. As a dedicated Christian she would tell you she was just using what the Good Lord gave her to use while she was here. Now He has taken our unsung hero home.