entrepreneurship | Oral History

entrepreneurship

OHB 0011

OWENS, C. B. Founder and chairman of board, Owens Country Sausage, Family background; farm life; education; starting part-time home delivery sausage business from home farm; early productions methods; first wholesale account with Wyatt Stores, 1933; first processing "plant," full-time business retail store, butcher shop; expansion of territory, facilities, products, employees; other business interests.

OH 0679

Executive, Caltex Petroleum Corporation. Educational and military background; employment with Caltex, 1946; marketing assistant, Philippines, 1947; market expansion in Philippines; living conditions and social life in Philippines; major contracts; Huk rebellion; expansion of Philippine district offices; assignment to Davao; competition with Shell and Standard Vacuum; training of Filipino nationals; “case and can” market; construction of bulk terminals in Philippines; Batangas refinery; assistant district manager, Manila, 1955; Indonesian fields, importance to Philippines; impressions of C.

OHB 0038

Founder of Fischer’s Meat Market, Muenster, Texas. [Note: Name changed to Fisher. Original family name, Fischer, maintained only to identify business.] Family background; farming and public education in Muenster; establishment of meat market, 1927; business expansion to include groceries, 1933; effects of Depression in Muenster; production and marketing of Fischer’s Sausage; opening of retail store in Denton; description of deer processing; business volume; sale of business, 1975; views on government regulations; civic activities in Muenster; dominance in area food markets.

OHB 0053

Owner and operator, Brook-Mays Music Company and C. & S. Music Company, Dallas, Texas. Family background; comments on Depression in Comanche, Texas; experiences playing trombone with North Texas State’s Aces of Collegeland band; duty as radar technician and infantryman during World War II; experiences in postwar Austria; teaching music in Dallas public schools and managing band department of Brook-Mays Music Company; election as president of company, 1954; history of Brook-Mays Music Company; interest in C. & S.

OH 1086

Attorney. His experiences concerning the development of the Kaiser Permanente Health Care Program, 1959-95. Joint venture between Kaiser Permanente and Prudential Insurance Company, 1979; difficulties in establishing HMOs in Texas.

OHB 0051

Owner and operator, Frank Ellis Dealer in Everything, New Hope, Texas. Family background; employment with father, Frank Ellis, in general store; description of New Hope, 1920s; effects of Depression on New Hope businesses; comments on operation of credit business; food market opening; business operations during World War II; sale of business, 1946; employment as feed salesman; general store advertising; father’s use of peddling wagon; comments on Dallas fair and Mesquite trade day; comments on retirement.