Salina Area Chamber of Commerce

William Henry Graves was born on a farm in rural Saline County, on May 23, 1914, the second of four sons and one of ten children. In 1940 he married Helen Mayo, and the couple had two children, Martha Graves Reese and W.P. “Bill” Graves, former Kansas governor.

Bill’s parents were industrious people who instilled a solid work ethic in their offspring. However, as the family grew, adversity beyond their control plagued this large farming family. Damaged crops from a succession of floods, followed by hard times during the Dirty Thirties, brought about the loss of their farmland and machinery when they could not meet their mortgage payments.

Despite the dismal condition of farming in the 1930s, there was one bright star on the horizon. A preference for using the motor truck to transport livestock and commodities was growing. With the loss of their agricultural means, the Graves family had only their determination to survive and a light-duty 1933 Dodge truck with hydraulic brakes. A friend and neighbor dropped by one day and told Bill’s father that he was getting out of his farm-to-market trucking business. "If you've got a truck," he said, "I'll turn the calls over to you." Thus, a new business was launched—small scale, inglorious and undistinguished from competitors, but a definite start.

Soon father and sons were hauling crops and cattle to market for area farmers. They carried coal from the open-pit mines at Pittsburg to eastern Colorado. On the return trip, they carried vegetables to Salina. By the end of 1935, a second truck had been added and the bank account showed a balance of $65. But ill health of his father threatened the future of the family business when cash was needed to pay medical bills. Bill surprised his father with the needed amount tucked in his wallet, a savings cache for a new truck.

With the death of his father in 1939, Bill became the head of the family trucking business. Even the advent of World War II and while he was in uniform, Bill purchased an important piece of operating authority from a competitor: the right to haul commodities within a 25-mile radius of Gypsum. It would be a move that set the four Graves brothers on a path of growth.

Following the war, Bill and his three brothers, Dwight, John and Lowell “Jim”, established a business that three years later in 1948 grossed more than a quarter of a million dollars. In May 1949, the business was incorporated. In March, 1972, the company took the necessary steps to prepare for a public offering of shares. Bill became president and general manager until 1976, at which time he became Chairman of the Board until his retirement in 1981.

From a modest beginning, Graves Truck Line grew into one of the largest regional motor carriers in the nation. At the time of its sale to American Natural Resources in 1978, it was a multi-million dollar business, boasting an unparalleled record of service and safety.

Called “Mr. Transportation,” William H. Graves was held in high regard by his peers and the community. In 1946, he was elected president of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association and remained an active member during his lifetime. He also served as a director and state vice-president for the American Trucking Associations. In 1998 Bill was inducted into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame. William H. Graves died March 18, 2005.

Accepting the award on behalf of William Graves is his wife Helen.

Henry David Lee
(Pioneer Award, 1858-1925)

“Other than the coming of the railroad, his arrival was the greatest thing to happen to Salina.” That statement by a local businessman summed up the legacy of H. D. Lee. His influence can still be seen around the community to this day.

Born in 1849, in West Randolph, Vermont, Lee was one of nine children sent off to live with friends after his father died. He was four years old at the time. At the age 11, Lee left his foster home with $1.50 in hand and started his formal education at the Alden Private School in Tunbridge, Vermont near where he was born. When he completed his four-year education, the school principal offered Lee $75.00 a month to remain as an instructor. He refused saying it was time to go home and help his mother and his siblings.

Home life did not last long: he moved to Galion, Ohio where he worked as a hotel clerk for three years and managed to save $2,000. With an additional $3,000 loan from C. L. Crim, a local banker, Lee invested in real estate in the area. By 1875, the young entrepreneur had a $20,000 profit that he combined with another loan of $50,000 from Crim to buy an independent oil company.

Stricken with tuberculosis (often attributed to exertion at work) Lee sold half his interests in the oil firm to John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company in 1886, but stayed on to manage the firm for another two years. Further declines in his physical condition force him to sell his remaining shares. During the time of his illness, Lee was seeking to move farther west to improve his health. He also saw the rapid expansion of the Midwest as a tremendous business opportunity and chose Salina as the place to start.

In 1889, the H. D. Lee Mercantile Company began as a wholesale grocery business at the corner of Santa Fe and Elm Street. Several years later, the firm expanded its merchandise to include notions, stationery, school supplies and eventually-overalls. Unfortunately, in 1903, a spectacular fire destroyed the building and $450,000 of stock. The physical plant was rebuilt shortly thereafter.

Lee was probably most famous for one-piece work overalls that were made in 1913 in his garment factory. They were called “unionalls” because they resembled a cross between overalls and a suit of union underwear. The garment was so popular that it became the Army fatigue uniform for all United States soldiers during World War I.

He opened a second garment factory in 1915 in Kansas City, Kansas and a third in 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri. By 1920 he also had plants in Indiana, New Jersey and California. His company evolved into manufacturing Lee Rider jeans and other Lee clothing products.

As a very successful businessman in Salina, Lee also organized the Farmer’s National Bank, Kansas Ice & Storage Company, Lee Flour Mills Company, Lee Hardware Company, and Harvester Building Company. At the time of his death in 1928 in Texas, Lee employed 500 people in Salina and 4,500 people nationwide. His Salina companies alone were worth over $12 million. He was also one of the first trustees of St. John’s Military Academy and was the one who suggested a bond issue for the establishment of the Salina Country Club. He even put up $5,000 of his own money toward the project.

Henry D. Lee’s business accomplishments were a key ingredient in Salina’s growth during the era.

Accepting the award on behalf of Henry David Lee is Gordon Harton, president of Lee Jeans in Merriam, Kansas.

Alfred P.G. Schwan
(Contemporary Award, 1976-present)

Alfred Schwan was born July 11, 1925, in Marshall, Minnesota — the eldest of Paul and Alma Schwan’s three sons. During his school years, he helped his father make ice cream in the small local dairy that would one day become Schwan’s Sales Enterprises and later The Schwan Food Company. Alfred was fascinated by flight and wanted to become an aeronautical engineer, but when World War II began, his passion for designing airplanes turned to a dream of aerial combat. He joined the U.S. Navy, was accepted as an aviation cadet, and earned his wings.

In 1946, Alfred was married to Doris Gettert. To their union were born five sons. After Alfred left the Navy, they were involved with several entertainment and restaurant business ventures before he joined Deere & Co. Eventually he became chief industrial engineer for the John Deere Plow Works.

Then in 1964, his father asked him to rejoin the family business in Marshall. After working in the dairy plant, he managed manufacturing and distribution activities for the rapidly expanding company. And when Schwan’s purchased a small Salina factory in 1970, Alfred guided its dramatic growth to become the world’s largest frozen-pizza manufacturing facility. During the next 35 years, it would grow from 12,000 square feet to more than 500,000 and offer employment to more than 1,500 people.

Friends and employees call Alfred a “people person” because of his easy smile, energy, and can-do optimism. These qualities were especially needed following the death of The Schwan Food Company’s revered founder, Alfred’s younger brother Marvin.

The position of president of Schwan’s was one that Alfred had neither aspired to nor expected to have thrust upon him. But Alfred provided the assurances of trust, dependability, integrity and a sense of Schwan family continuity. During his tenure as Schwan’s president and later as chairman of the company’s board, Alfred has led Schwan’s aggressive growth across America and overseas. He championed quality improvement, teamwork and product innovation. He supported improved customer communication and customer retention efforts. And his outstanding demonstration of integrity during the 1994 nationwide recall of Schwan’s® ice cream is hailed yet today by business experts as among the finest demonstrations of corporate ethics in U.S. history.

Today, as chairman of board for The Schwan Food Company, Alfred Schwan continues to demonstrate the personal and professional excellence that assures the corporation and its millions of loyal customers a rewarding relationship for years to come.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Al Schwan.

John J. Vanier
(Historic Award, 1926-1975)

Mr. John J. Vanier was born February 12, 1897, on a farm in Pawnee County, NE., his forebears having come to the U.S. from Switzerland. When he was 13, his family moved to Topeka, KS, where Mr. Vanier studied shorthand and general business subjects at Strickland’s Business College in preparation for a career.

Mr. Vanier’s first position was as a stenographer for E.D. Fisher Commission Co., a grain firm, at Kansas City, MO. at the age of 18. Mr. Vanier entered flour milling in early 1917 when he was offered an office job with the Abilene Flour Mills in Abilene, KS.

Following his service in the Marine Corps during World War I, he returned home to work in the Abilene Flour Mill. On May 13, 1922, John married Lesta Kauffman of Abilene. The couple would go on to have three children, sons Jack and Jerry and daughter Joyce. In 1925, he secured controlling interest in the Western Star Milling Company, located in Salina. He took the Western Star Milling Company from a struggling enterprise at the time of purchase, to an efficient, profitable firm, which allowed him to assume control of other grain and milling firms in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. His success also allowed him to found the Central Kansas Hereford Ranch, later shortened to the CK Ranch, near Brookville. In 1935, John Vanier began the CK Ranch’s registered Hereford Herd. By the 1950s, the CK Ranch’s registered cattle reached 2,000 head with annual registrations totaling over 1,500 a year.

These ventures were only the beginning. He continued to expand his holdings, adding farm and ranch property in Hunter, Dorrance, Herington, Manhattan and Salina. He established commercial cattle ranches in Wyoming, Colorado and Oklahoma, while expanding his business empire to include milling plants, elevators, soybean plants, food processing plants, livestock feed mixing plants, dehydrating plants and pelleting plants. Starting in 1946, he served on the board of Directors for the American Hereford Association, elected the organizations President in 1952. He also belonged to the Kansas Livestock Association and the National Millers’ Federation. In 1978, he was one of the first 38 members inducted into the Honor Gallery of the Hereford Heritage Hall.

In 1957, the Vanier Family purchased the controlling interest in the then Farmers National Bank in Salina. The name of the bank later changed to The First National Bank. In 1982, the bank was purchased entirely by the Hale family and the name was changed to the Sunflower Bank.

In 2005, the Kansas Business Hall of Fame in Emporia, inducted John as the Historical Heritage Award Recipient. Described as a self-made, generous businessman, he actively supported various schools and colleges, including the Kansas State University Animal Husbandry Department, with money, land, cattle and opportunities for extra activities often held on the CK Ranch.

In 1970, he sold a major portion of his vast food manufacturing and marketing facilities to Archer-Daniels-Midland Company of Decatur, Illinois. The sale did not include any of the farming or ranching operations. He then served on the Archer-Daniels-Midland Board of Directors from 1970 thru 1978. John Vanier passed away on February 20, 1980 at the age of eight-three.

Accepting the award on behalf of John J. Vanier is his son Jack.

Charlie Walker
(Contemporary Award, 1976-present)

Charlie Walker was born in Salina on May 27, 1932. Charlie attended Hawthorne and Stimmel Elementary Schools, dropping out of school after the 9th grade. After working at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Steel Mill in Pueblo, Colorado, Charlie served in the Air Force during the Korean War. After completing his Air Force commitment, he returned to Salina with his growing family and opened his first business – Charlie’s Wholesale. Each workday started with a visit to the Ice House in north Salina, where Charlie would buy block ice to keep fresh the candy and tobacco he delivered in a small truck to “mom and pop” gas stations, taverns, and restaurants in outlying towns around Salina.

Eager to find a way to provide a better living for his family, which now included six children, Charlie started a new business in 1963 building truck-mounted vacuum systems designed to clean heating and air conditioning systems. Charlie discovered that his “Power Vac” trucks sold best in Canada, so he would put everything he had or could borrow into building a unit, then he and his partner would drive it to Canada. There he would stay until the truck sold, garnering enough money to fly home and start another unit.

Charlie developed a second truck-mounted concept in 1967, a heavy-duty mobile power wash truck that could travel to job sites and was powerful enough to clean about anything. These “Allied Mobile Power Wash” units sold well and were eventually franchised with the Servicemaster Company. Charlie noticed that his power wash units were washing a lot of trucks and became convinced that a professional truck wash, designed to handle a large volume of business with good customer service, would be highly successful. Charlie called his new truck wash “Blue Beacon,” and opened his first location in Salina in May 1973. Blue Beacon was an instant hit with truck drivers and Charlie immediately began adding new locations. By the spring of 2005, Blue Beacon had opened its 100th location.

Blue Beacon has diversified over the years. In 1981 the first Green Lantern Car Wash and Convenience Store opened. Green Lantern Express Service Car Washes are now in an expansion phase with new locations in Wichita, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

Charlie’s concern for the environment and need to conserve water led to the start-up in 2001 of three new companies that focus on water reclamation – Verwater Environmental, Walker Centrifuge Services, and Centrifuge Technologies Trading. These businesses are developing leading-edge technology and equipment, and now have projects underway throughout North America.

A hotel division, Lighthouse Properties, started in 1999 and has properties under development in Denver and Wichita. Lighthouse recently acquired The Raphael Hotel, located on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. The Raphael was recently recognized by “Travel and Leisure” magazine as one of the top 100 hotels in the Continental U.S. and Canada.

In 1999 Charlie opened the Rolling Hills Zoo, which features over 90 species of rare and endangered animals. In 2005 Charlie added a 64,000-square-foot Wildlife Museum. The museum integrates over 300 species of animals with nature and human cultures. Now called Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, the zoo and museum attract over 150,000 visitors a year to the Salina area.

A commitment to the youth in the area led to the 2001 opening of “The City,” a non-profit nightclub facility for teens. Charlie’s family also gave the lead gift for The Tammy Walker Cancer Center, named for a daughter who died of cancer at the age of 11. The cancer center opened in 2005 and allows Salina to provide the same cutting-edge cancer treatment that is available at large research hospitals.

Charlie’s companies and charitable organizations currently employ over 300 people in the Salina area and more than 4,000 people nationally.

Charlie is quick to point out that he could not have succeeded in business without help from other Salina business leaders. Mike Berkley and the Bennington State Bank took a chance on Charlie when he had little to his name, lending him the money for his first Blue Beacon. Charlie credits Dean Evans and other business leaders with teaching him the importance of giving back to the community. Following their example, Charlie has become well known for his giving back to the Salina community.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Charlie Walker.