Fredda Davis Jones

Comanche, Texas: It was quite a jump from California and the FBI back to Texas and the pecan business, but nevertheless it was a jump that Odie Dollins took in 1979 when he moved to Comanche, Texas to come on board as the manager of Durham Pecan Company.

Today Odie owns the company, having purchased it from the Durham family in 1996. It is the evolution of exactly how all of this came to be that United brings to you today. It is the story of just what can still be accomplished with enough ambition, drive, hard work, and yes, maybe a little luck thrown into the mix as well.

“I made the decision to leave the FBI for two reasons. One, we were more or less stuck in San Francisco. We had children that I did not want to raise there and we had parents and grandparents in Texas. I wanted something better for my family than what San Francisco had to offer.

“Also there was the fact that with the FBI, you’re pretty much stonewalled after about five years in one location. In order to advance you have to go into management and be willing to move all over the country to do it.

As I said, it was quite a jump; however, before arriving in Comanche the jump took a short detour via Arlington, Texas.

“I was a CPA and had always thought that eventually I would own my own firm so we decided to move to Arlington where I worked as an investigative auditor for Sun Oil Company, investigating potential fraud but still planning to own a CPA firm.”

And then as so often is the case, life interfered. Odie’s father-in-law, Walter “Red” Durham, contacted him about the fact that he needed help in running his shelling plant, Durham Pecan. Red was at that time sixty-two years old and was beginning to think about retiring. He asked Odie if he would be willing to move to Comanche in order to learn the business with the knowledge that at some point he would have a chance to own the company.

As they say, the rest is history. “In August of 1979, I had never lived in a city of less than 250,000 people, so you can imagine that Comanche was very different for me. However, there was a level of enthusiasm that comes with the opportunity of owning ones own business and that certainly made up for the size of the town. I got busy involving myself in the community with the youth council, the school board, and other organizations.”

Then once again life intervened and changed the course of things. In 1981 Red learned that he had cancer that would require surgery and a long recuperation. At this point, Odie who had actually only had the 1979-1980 season’s experience under his belt was catapulted to front and center of the company, much sooner than he had expected. However, the show did have to go on, so to speak, and so go on it did.

In 1989 the company bought what is today the retail store and packaging plant, which includes a nut roasting operation. This part of the business has continued to grow over the years and today they carry over 200 different products there in addition to the roasting. The store and roasting operation is under the management of David Brawley who has been with the company since 1993.

Durham Pecan continued to expand and in the fall of 1990 construction began on a new shelling plant, and the business moved into it in the spring of 1991. It was an extremely refreshing change from the old building and morale continued to build.

Then…it was October 1, 1996, and opportunity knocked on the door, giving Odie the opportunity to buy the business. When asked what his lowest point in the business was, Dollins thought for a moment and then replied that that point probably came in 1996 right after he purchased the business from the Durham family.

“I bought the business, looked in the mirror, and wondered how in the world I was going to make it work.”

My thought is that people usually make things work because they don’t really have a choice. They make things work because they are determined to so and they don’t like what the alternative has to offer. I would guess that was the case with Durham Pecan and its success.

Although Durham Pecan had been in the business for years, it didn’t really have the name recognition that it needed. Ellis Pecan in Fort Worth did and in 1998 Durham’s had the opportunity to purchase Ellis from the Hammonds family who owned it. This family was actually in the black walnut business in Missouri, and they were looking for someone to come in and help them shell their pecans, manage the business, and assist with marketing their pecans. Odie agreed to do this for them, working two days a week there, and then on August 1, 1998, he had a chance to purchase the business so the Hammonds could return to Missouri and their black walnut business.

O.P. Leonard, Jr. of Fort Worth was a partner in this venture, and that has always been extremely interesting to me because my grandfather was acquainted with O.P. Leonard, Sr. and he often took me to visit Leonard’s Department Store in Fort Worth. Anyone past the half century mark will remember the train that ran in one area of the store, and I thought it the most magical of outings to be allowed to go to Leonard’s and ride that train!

Apparently Odie had much the same reaction to the old store as did I and when recalling the partnership with Leonard, his eyes took on a far away look as he began to relate a memory from the past.

“When I was a boy growing up in Fort Worth, I was from a middle to lower middle class family and of course, the Leonard’s owned Leonard’s Department Store there in Fort Worth. While I was growing up in Fort Worth, my good friend’s dad was a captain on the fire department and his second job was at Leonard’s. When they put in their escalator, he guarded it, and I used to play on that very escalator. Had you told me at that time that I would ever be the business partner of O.P. Leonard, Jr., I would have thought that a very remote possibility.”

To me, however, the partnership wasn’t a strange thing at all. When O.P. Leonard, Sr. passed away, O.P., Jr. and sons-in-law, Jim Anthony, and Leland Hodges, inherited pecan orchards. They needed someone to shell for them and Durham Pecan began doing that in 1995.

Although Durham’s has since purchased Leonard’s interest in Ellis Pecan, it continues to shell his pecans from his Big Valley Farm located between Goldthwaite and San Saba as well as those from Anthony’s orchard in Granbury and Hodges’ in Brownwood.

Ellis Pecan, which is now of course Durham-Ellis Pecan, still has a presence in Fort Worth as the Durham-Ellis Pecan Distribution Warehouse and Retail Store. This part of the operation is under the leadership of sales managers Ronnie Bradshaw and Paul Rich.

Now, in case I’ve totally misled you into thinking that Durham Pecan is a one-man operation, I need to be sure that I make it clear that that is not the case at all, and Dollins is the first to point out this fact.

General Manager of the company, Rickey Jones, is the longest standing employee of the company, literally learning the business from the backend of a truck at the age of sixteen and on through the various stations and departments of the company. If asked today, Rickey will tell you that much of his early knowledge of a shelling plant came through his one-time boss, friend, and mentor, the late John Haile.

Plant manager Tony Hicks has also been with the company for years, eighteen years to be exact. It is on Tony whom Rickey relies heavily to keep day to day operations functioning precisely. Having seen it from the inside out, I can certainly vouch for the fact that it is not easily done.

Keeping the equipment and refrigeration running is vital to the business and C.R. Shelton who has been with the company since 1992 is indispensible in the role of maintenance supervisor.

As with most companies, many of the faces at Durham Pecan are newer and fresher than they were a few years ago. Son-in-law Clint Welch joined the company in 2000 in the capacity of sales and purchasing, and in 2006 Keith Prater moved back to Comanche to become the company’s controller. Keith’s wife Mica now serves as the office manager.

Obviously with more than one hundred employees, it is impossible to name them all and yet Odie reminded me over and over again during this interview that without these valued employees, Durham’s would cease to function.

“This company is not a one person operation. It is made up of a tremendous amount of energetic, highly motivated people and their loyalty and integrity must be understood. No one person can run an operation like this, and those who have been with us deserve a tremendous part of the credit for what we have accomplished.

So, let’s reiterate. Just what have they accomplished, in a nutshell?

In 1979 Durham’s shelled bout 3,000,000 in shell pecans. Since then they have shelled as many as 10,000,000 and will shell approximately 9,000,000 this year.

In 1979 the company owned one 25,000 sq. ft. building. Today it has over 100,000 sq. ft. in its multiple buildings.

In 1979 there was no packaging plant or roasting operation, just a shelling plant.

Today, Durham Pecan employs about 100 people, which makes it the largest manufacturing business in Comanche and one of the county’s largest employers as well.

“I was just one cog in the wheel….sure, it took guts to step up and buy the business…but….equally important are the people who have shown that they care about the company and making it the very best it can be.”

Obviously, others are beginning to notice just how good the Durham’s best is. In 2009 Durham Pecan was named Region Five’s Texas Small Business of the Year by the Texas Association of Business. Durham’s also received a superior rating by the American Institute of Baking (AIB).

Of course, their loyal customers such as Ben E. Keith, Mrs. Baird’s Bakery, Blue Bell Ice Cream, Lammes Candy, Eillien’s Candies, and Luby’s Cafeteria have recognized Durham’s quality for years…that’s why they buy from them!

So, what does the future hold for Durham Pecan? That’s simple. As long as nuts are healthy, Durham Pecan will stay healthy, and that sounds like a deal to us here at Texansunited.com.

 Visit Durham Pecan at http://www.durhampecan.com.