A Tribute to Doyle Pargin

Doyle D. Pargin, a long time REALTOR® passed away

June 11, 2017.

Here are just a few accomplishments of Doyle Pargin:

  • Opened Pargin Realty in 1961
  • Sales Manager of the Year in 1963 
  • GAAR President in 1972
  • GAAR REALTOR® of the Year in 1972
  • RANM President in 1981
  • RANM REALTOR® of the Year in 1982
  • CO Nelson Award in 1994

The Rosary will be Friday, June 16th at 6:00pm at French's Funeral at 1111 University Blvd. NE (Click here to map it)

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, June 17th at 10:00am at Our Lady of the Annunciation located at 2621 Vermont Street NE (Click here to map it)

Click here to read Doyle Pargin's Obituary

Fellow REALTOR®, Cathy Colvin has written a tribute to her friend Doyle Pargin:

There are two things in life we absolutely cannot control. The day we are born into this world and the day we leave this world. In the middle, the meat of our life, we can certainly control how we live and share the gifts we are given.

On this beautiful June day, when I think of my friend, Doyle Pargin, these words come to mind and behind each word, the vision in my mind is Doyle’s kind and gentle smile.

Icon, Mentor, Respected, Mogul and Special are just a few words that come to mind when I think of my friend, Doyle Pargin and that sweet gnarled hand patting me on the shoulder as he looked me in the eye.

Doyle was a soft spoken gentle soul and yet a giant among us. Many of my real estate colleagues mentioned how Doyle paved the way for them and how he guided them to many successful years in real estate, he did the same for me 25 years ago. Doyle Pargin started Pargin Realty in 1961. He worked tirelessly until his retirement, but he never really retired. Once real estate is in your blood, it never leaves. In fact, up until just last year, Doyle still chaired the Realtor of the Year and C.O. Nelson award nomination luncheons. He would personally call each one of us to invite us to the meetings. If you received that call, you did everything you could to attend the meeting out of respect for this great man. His gracious ways and the clear gift of communication are a lost art today.

When Doyle recruited me to become a broker, he asked me to give him 6 months and give real estate a try. I am still here 25 years later. He took me under his wing and helped me learn things from the ground up. I remember him walking into my office and saying, “Let’s go measure a house.” I’d grab my coat and off we’d go. He never let me read the end of the tape measure, I was the one holding the hook. He wouldn’t let me write the figures down on the graph paper either, he kept his notebook under his arm and did both. We’d go back to the office and he would show me how to calculate the square footage.   He’d say, “come with me” and he’d take me to the men’s bathroom at Pargin Realty, that’s where they kept the old listings from before I was born. He would knock and yell out before we walked in and he would almost always find the old MLS print out with invaluable information or we would look in the old MLS books. He would guess the size and price of the houses back in the 60’s and 70’s and most of the time he was pretty close. Doyle wasn’t crazy about technology but he learned to live with it, he was old school and that was fine with him. Doyle encouraged me to get involved at the Albuquerque Board of REALTORS® from the very beginning of my career.  He shared the satisfaction and joy he got from volunteering and serving the real estate community.

Doyle touched the lives of countless REALTORS® in this community. I have never heard anyone say one unkind word about Doyle, he was kind and generous to everyone and offered great counsel and guidance to so many. He loved talking about how things used to be done before computers and mobile devices. Back in February at the REALTOR® of the Year luncheon, he pulled out the actual single page purchase agreement for Coronado Center and asked all of us if we could believe such a complicated transaction was done quite simply with a single page document! He then shook his head at the complexities we face today.

With this tribute, we honor one of the best men I have ever known and we bow in gratitude that he shared his gifts and sage advice with so many of us. He lived his life to its fullest each and every day until the very end. I will sincerely miss his undying friendship and guidance. 

I wish you a fond farewell, my very special friend. 

Cathy Colvin - NAR Regional Vice President-Elect for Region 11 as well as many other titles