5 minutes with Patrick Greenwood, Iowa 5th District Judge

Patrick Greenwood, Iowa 5th District Judge

HOMETOWN: Grew up in Leon, but now lives in Lamoni, Iowa

AGE: 48

FAMILY: I'm married. I've been married for 26 years and I have three kids. My oldest, Will, is a student at Iowa State, and my middle child, Kate, is a junior in high school and my youngest, Jack, is an eighth grader.

FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB: This job provides endless new information and challenges. There's nothing about any particular day that's the same. I get the opportunity to see various communities and court houses, and work with different people everyday. I think just the variety is probably the best thing about the job.

HEROES: My parents were always hard working people who, I feel like, played by the rules and tried to do the right thing.

PET PEEVE: I suppose from this perspective, probably, when people are unwilling to attempt to see something from the other person's point of view. Probably a lack of consideration for how people's actions may impact others.

PICK ONE THING TO END IN THE WORLD: Is it cliche to say "hunger?" Probably just mean-spiritedness. That might go a long way to ending a lot of other ills.

CAKE OR PIE? FAVORITE FLAVOR? Pie. Apple. That's so cliche, too!

HOBBIES OUTSIDE OF WORK: I like to read. I like to canoe and camp and garden, and try to be outside as much as possible, when we're not following kids sports activities.

A TREND YOU'VE NOTICED YOU'D LIKE TO SEE END: I'm not anti-technology because we now are dependent on it. It tends to breed a willingness to assume that we can do everything through remote communication, and that would be one thing I'd like to see trend backward so that we have more face-to-face contact and communication.