129 Years of Family Serving Family: Patrice and Meggan Wesche, Eglin AFB Exchange

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 129 years of family serving family.

Who They Are: Patrice Wesche, office assistant, and daughter Meggan Wesche, materials handler team lead (eCommerce), Eglin Air Force Base Exchange

Years with the Exchange: Patrice, 24 years; Meggan, 18.

Military connections: Patrice’s husband and Meggan’s father is a 22-year Air Force Veteran, who served in various rescue and recovery units during his career.

Patrice’s father was also an Army Veteran, who served in the 1^st Infantry Division during World War II.

Patrice’s father-in-law served in the Army and her brother-in-law served in the Navy.

Early Exchange connections: Patrice became familiar with the Exchange while working as a vendor at the Camp Foster Exchange on Okinawa. She was later hired on as seasonal associate, then became full time.

“What’s funny about that is I was supposed to be let go after Christmas, but I was still on the schedule,” Patrice said. “No one noticed I was actually supposed to stop working six weeks before that. They decided that they were going to offer me full time.”

Meggan said she was familiar as a military brat, so she went to the Eglin Exchange for her first job, where she started at Burger King.  After returning from college, she worked in receiving.

“I wanted to get a job and my mom got me in touch with the people here,” Meggan said. “They worked around my schedule while I was in high school. I later left because I went to college. I came back, then decided to give it another shot. I just remembered the Exchange being a nice place to work.”

Working together: “We communicate well together,” Patrice said. “I work the front of the house, she works the back of the house, so we sometimes we bounce things off each other. Sometimes, when I tell Meggan I need something done, I’ll say, ‘Don’t ask me why. Just do it. Isn’t me being your mother enough reason?’ We have our fun moments, but we’re professional.”

“When I came here, I was trying to do the ‘Patrice’ and ‘Meggan,’ thing,” Meggan said. When I’d tell people something, like ‘Give that to Patrice,’ they’d say, ‘You mean your mom?’ It kind of stuck. There was no getting around it. Seeing the look on new people who come in and aren’t aware that we are mother and daughter is fun. Some people get it in a day or two. Some people get it six months later, but it’s always fun to have people put two and two together.”

A family place: Patrice and Meggan have been able to bond with each other and their families at Exchange events.

“When we did our last back-to-school event, my sister had been here in Florida, and her kids, as well as mine, were able to participate,” Meggan said. “All of them were running around the different events in the carnival we put on. That was so much fun. The kids also came and helped with (Hurlburt Field’s annual) mock deployment for children, where we had an Exchange table. They go through step-by-step what their moms and dads do to deploy.”

“Last year, during an Easter egg hunt, I had four of my grandkids come out,” Patrice said. “We had more than 4,000 Easter eggs. They helped me set up, too, since they like spending time with their granny.”

Patrice Wesche,, left, and daughter Meggan, right, with family at an Eglin AFB Exchange back-to-school carnival.

Family Serving Family: “It means everything,” Patrice said. “A lot of families here come from different places. Some have been everywhere, done this and that, but then you get people who come in for their first time and don’t know where to look next. We help give a sense of direction.”

“It’s our way of paying it forward,” Meggan said. “There’s been so many people who have come into our lives as a family. They helped us when we were new to the area. At work too, we’re a family. We all just look out for each other. That moves forward to the sales floor for our shoppers because we take care of our shoppers in every which way they need. The shoppers pay it forward to us because they give us the opportunity to serve, take care of them and help make their days better.”