Lonnie Alford “Bo” Pilgrim was born May 8, 1928 six miles south of Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas to Alonzo Monroe Pilgrim and Nettie Gertrude Gunn Pilgrim. Lonnie was the fourth of seven children born to the couple. The nickname of “Bo” was given to him when he was a boy and he went by it for the rest of his life.
He grew up near Pittsburg where his father was a merchant, operating one of the only two stores in Pine, the small community where they lived. Alonzo died in 1939 and for a time, his mother ran the store. In 1946 Bo’s brother Aubrey along with a partner named Pat Johns bought a small feed mill from W. W. Weems in Pittsburg for $3,500 and invited Bo to join them. Aubrey was in his early twenties and Bo was about eighteen years old at the time. Bo began his long career by driving the feed store truck. His rate of pay was 50 cents an hour. Mr. Johns is likely a reference to a somewhat older Thomas Jeffie “Pat” Johns also of Pine, who is believed to have sold his interest in the business early on. As the company grew, its headquarters remained in Pittsburg for a long time. The grain elevator/feed store facility is still there and has operated from time to time as part of the Pilgrim enterprises.
Anecdotes of the early feed store practices included selling 100 baby chicks with bags of chicken feed. The company had an open offer to buy the chickens back and turn them out in a pen at the feed store. Aubrey’s obituary noted that other customers would then come by to purchase chickens. This was essentially the start of what became an integrated poultry business.
Highlights of the history of the Pilgrim poultry processing business during Bo Pilgrim’s lifetime:
- Expansion in the 1950s to include the former Hudson Cotton gin, converting it to a feed processing plant in Mount Vernon, Texas
- First chicken processing plant leased in the 1960s, also in Mount Vernon
- Death of Aubrey Pilgrim from a heart ailment in 1966, Bo becomes CEO of the company, succeeding Aubrey in that role
- Incorporation in 1968 as Pilgrim Industries, Inc.
- Texas heat wave of 1980 which caused the deaths of 600,000 market birds and 20,000 breeder hens, just for the Pilgrim entity
- After more expansion, name changed to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in 1985
- Public stock offering in 1986
- Expansion into banking (Pilgrim Bank)
- More expansion including acquisition of WLR Foods Inc., in the turkey business
- 2002 listeria outbreak and product recall for Pilgrim and other companies
- 2008 sale of WLR Foods Inc. to Hains Pure Protein Corporation, ending the turkey part of their poultry business
- 2008 bankruptcy filing at a time when Pilgrim employed about 5,000 people in and around Pittsburg
- 2009 emergence from bankruptcy and controlling interest acquired by Brazilian company, JBS, S. A.
- 2017 death of Bo Pilgrim
Pilgrim Bank began in 1911 as First Guaranty State Bank in Pittsburg. Later changes saw a name change to First State Bank. Bo Pilgrim acquired the bank in 1969 and it later changed its name to Pilgrim Bank. It is currently still in business and has expanded to several other branches and locations in Texas.
In 1989, Pilgrim made headlines when he was said to be handing out checks on the Texas Senate floor during consideration of a worker’s compensation bill, a practice that was not believed to be contrary to any existing statutes at the time. Later lawmakers would enact legislation prohibiting themselves from accepting donations inside the Capitol, along with other changes in Texas campaign laws.
During his tenure with Pilgrim’s Pride in the 1980s and 1990s, he became known for his humorous commercials, including one depicting him as skydiving while wearing his trademark black suit and flat brimmed pilgrim hat, along with numerous skydiving chickens. Bo was often shown carrying a pet chicken, nicknamed “Henrietta.” He appeared in others where he read ad copy. Whenever he spoke, his Texas accent was quite apparent. His commercials often closed with this tag line, “I’ll never sell a fat, yeller chicken.”
For some time, Pittsburg was the location of a Pilgrim chicken restaurant called “The Hat.” Atop the building was a stylized pilgrim hat. The restaurant closed in 2002 and for a few years, the enormous hat and a fiberglass bust of Pilgrim was moved to a pavilion at the local company headquarters. When the company moved its headquarters in 2019, the hat, bust and bronze statue under the pavilion was moved to storage.
It is said that Bo did not like to give interviews. Although his fortune rose and fell at various times during his life, his personal faith and philanthropy were subjects that he could be encouraged to discuss. He became a Christian as a youth and reportedly was always generous with his wealth as it grew. Major charities mentioned are the Bo and Patty Pilgrim Chapel at Dallas Baptist University, the Patty and Bo Pilgrim Cancer Center at Texas Oncology in Mount Pleasant, the Witness Park and Prayer Tower in Pittsburg. In addition, he was noted for his support of the American Bible Society, Liberty University and others over the years. With the American Bible Society, he is said to have financed a booklet called “Good News for Modern Man” and given out thousands of copies to people over the years. Pilgrim donated to various causes in communities where his employees, neighbors and friends lived. It was said of him that at Christmas, he donated money for food and gifts to be given to needy families. He and/or other Pilgrim family members created the Pilgrim Foundation, a private foundation based in Cooper, Texas.
Bo Pilgrim was married to the former Patty Redding of nearby Leesburg in 1956. The couple was married for sixty-one years and had two sons and a daughter. The family resided in Pittsburg. Local folks called their beautiful estate “Cluckingham Palace” and it sported an iron gate at the entrance bearing a silhouette in the shape of the old Pilgim’s Pride logo. Bo died in 2017 at the age of 89. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers and sisters. He was a long time member of First Baptist Church of Pittsburg where his memorial service was held, after which he was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery in Pittsburg.
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is still publicly traded, although the majority (reportedly over 80%) of the stock is owned by JBS, S.A., called a Brazilian meat processing giant. According to published records, the company had gross revenue of around $17.6 billion at last report.
Texas History Notebook 