Letter From Bob Clark, Co-Founder of Brandon & Clark, Inc.
Where have the years gone? As I reflect on the past sixty years many mental pictures flash through my mind. Most are good memories of a dream Basil (pop) Brandon, brother Bill, and I had of starting a company built on service and honesty. Pop was our salesman; Bill, outside service; and I ran the shop. Our Mom Brandon was in charge of the office and money. We had very little money, but a desire to work hard, and all we expected in return was a good living for our families. Pop knew nothing about motor repair, but his boys could fix anything that used electricity to make it run. Pop was a super salesman; therefore we had plenty of jobs. Our hours on the job were long. At the end of the day, Bill and I divided up the service calls that were left over and finished our day mostly getting people's water pumps running.
We were blessed as a company to have many loyal customers; but more importantly we had loyal employees who were experts in our field.
Our first location was a building 25x75 feet at 312 North College Avenue. There was no heat; and the lighting consisted of four 75 watt lights hanging from the 12 foot ceiling. Our big opening day—April Fool's Day in 1950—was a cold dreary day. We had no customers, telephone or heat. It would be six weeks before we could get a phone line.
Pop built a work bench and desk Bill and I built our oven and winding machine out of scraps found at the junk yard. For equipment we had an AC welder 6" South Bend lathe, and a winding head which we built out of 3/4 inch key stock.
Neither Bill nor I told anyone we were going into business, but shortly after leaving our jobs, customers started bringing us work, Pop started bringing in work, and after about three months we hired our first employee, Le Roy Murphy. About three months later we hired Clovis Ward, who became one of our most loyal and important employees in our Company.
After five years we had out grown our first location and we now had about six employees, so Pop found a lot on 4th street. We built a 50x100 foot building with a hoist covering the back 25 feet of the shop. We were in high cotton. This became our home for the next twenty years. While in this location we doubled our floor space every five years. Mom and Pop both died in the late 1960's and early 1970's, so Bill and I bought their 1/3 of the company. We were forever grateful for their contribution to the growth and guidance of the company. It would have been difficult without them.
In the mid 60's our growth was such that we started dividing the company into departments and appointing department supervisors. Clovis was put in charge of small motor repairs and counter sales. Jerry Townsend, large motor and air compressor repair. Johnny Jackson, outside service. Bill Ross, sales manager. In the early 70's we opened a shop in Hereford with Doug Crouch as manager. Our Business was growing in sales, repair and number of employees. We were again out of room and could not expand any more in our 4th street location. The city (Lubbock) needed seventeen feet of the front of our building to widen 4th street so the only thing to do was move again.
In 1974, we bought a lot at Ave H and 38th street and built a metal building and tilt-up concrete building that are still the main offices, warehouse and repair facilities today. In 1975 we moved into our new home. The next 35 years brought many changes to our Company. We bought a shop in Odessa, opened a transformer shop in Lubbock, opened a shop in Fort Worth, and bought a shop in Hobbs, New Mexico. We also created an Engineering and Control Fabrication department along with a Wiring and Service department in Lubbock.
In 1995, the second generation took over the management of Brandon and Clark who are: Walt Clark, Roger Clark, Gary Clark, and Karen Rummel.
We have seen many changes in the electrical industry with many more changes to come, I'm sure. We at B&C are blessed to have had some many quality employees and customers involved with us over the last 60 years, and with quality people and leadership we will see another 60 years. Never turn off those four 75 watt lights, for they are still lighting the way!
I am sure that Pop, Mom, and Bill are looking down saying, "A job well done".
— Bob Clark
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