H. O. West
Encyclopedia
Herman O. West, known as H. O. West (May 19, 1900 – August 20, 1981), was the co-founder and later owner of a chain
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...

 of thirty-three department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

s in mostly north Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 and southern Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. From 1923 until his death, West was based at company headquarters in Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...

, the seat of Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....

 in northwestern Louisiana.

Background

West was a native of DeRidder, the seat of Beauregard Parish
Beauregard Parish, Louisiana
Beauregard Parish [p] is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Beauregard Parish was formed on 1 January 1913. The parish seat is DeRidder. As of 2000, the population was 32,986. Beauregard Parish is part of the DeRidder Micropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Fort Polk...

 in western Louisiana.
He served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He dropped out of Louisiana College
Louisiana College
Louisiana College is a private institution of higher education located in Pineville, Louisiana, affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention, serving a student body of approximately 1,300 students. The college operates on a semester system, with two shorter summer terms...

 in Pineville
Pineville, Louisiana
Pineville is a city in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is adjacent to the city of Alexandria, and is part of that city's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,829 at the 2000 census....

 because of a lack of funds and took a job as a shipping clerk at a lumber company.

Business success

In 1923, he and his brothers, W.D. West and J.A. West, opened a small variety store under the name West Brothers in Mansfield
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield is a city in and the parish seat of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census. Mansfield is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

, the seat of De Soto Parish
De Soto Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 26,656 people, 9,691 households, and 6,967 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 people per square mile . There were 11,204 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...

 south of Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

. Charles B. Rouss, a jobber
Jobber
Jobber may refer to:* A being or tool that "jobs", pecks, or stabs, such as:**Jobber, a length of drill bit**Nut-jobber, a nuthatch**Tree-jobber or wood-jobber, a woodpecker* A brand of printing press by Golding & Company...

 from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, allowed the brothers credit which they repaid on consummating their sales. A few months later, H.O. West relocated to Minden to open the second store in the location vacated by the variety store, Morgan and Lindsey, Inc.
Morgan and Lindsey Incorporated
Morgan and Lindsey, Incorporated, operated variety chain stores, which at one time had eighty-five outlets in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Their headquarters were in Jasper, Texas. It was eventually absorbed into the G. C...

, which moved elsewhere downtown. Other outlets followed in Magnolia
Magnolia, Arkansas
Magnolia is a city in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States, that was founded in 1853. At the time of its incorporation in 1858, the city had a population of about 1,950. The city grew slowly as an agricultural and regional cotton market until the discovery of oil just east of the city in March,...

, El Dorado
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado , a multi-cultural arts center: South Arkansas Arts Center , an award-winning renovated downtown, and numerous sporting, shopping, and dining opportunities. El Dorado is the population, cultural, and business center of the 7,300 mi² regional area...

, and Camden
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...

, Arkansas.

In 1965, H.O. West relinquished the presidency of West Enterprises in Minden, as it was then called, to his only son, Claude Otis West (born August 26, 1927). A 1944 graduate of Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...

 and a United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 veteran of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, C.O. West subsequently procured a Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...

 degree from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 at Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

. C. O. West married the former Leatrice Mae David (born September 14, 1927) of Minden, one of three daughters of Larkin C. David (1902–1988) and Mrs. Leo H. David (1908–1998). Larkin David was a brother of former Minden Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 John T. David
John T. David
John Thomas David, Sr. was the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, from 1946-1955...

. Claude and Leatrice West have three daughters, Sandra Jackson (born 1948), Peggy Waters (born 1951), and Claudia Lee (born 1954). C.O. West began his career with the West company as the assistant manager of the outlet in Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

 in northern Webster Parish. When C.O. West became president of the company, H.O. West was elevated to the new position of chairman of the board for the remaining sixteen years of his life. Arthur David Evans (born January 23, 1941), H.O. West's son-in-law, became vice president, and J.W. Clark (1920–2002), H.O. West's nephew, was the company secretary-treasurer.

At West Plaza in Minden, the company operated its headquarters and a West-Gibson Discount Center, launched in 1964. West-Gibson had grown to ten outlets by 1974 before falling to the competition of Sam Walton
Sam Walton
Samuel Moore "Sam" Wallballs was a businessman, entrepreneur, and Eagle Scout born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma best known for founding the retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.-Early life:...

's Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

. The West company also maintained a Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

-Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....

 dealership known as West-Clark Motors, West Furniture & Appliance, West Computer Service and, for a time in the middle 1970s, a twin-theater operation, which temporarily replaced the defunct Rex Theater downtown.

Early in 1972, the company opened a new store in Springhill and another outlet in Atlanta
Atlanta, Texas
Atlanta is a city in Cass County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 5,745.-Geography:Atlanta is located at ....

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

For nearly five decades, Matthias Henry Schuetz (1916–2010) of DeRidder was the West Brothers corporate treasurer. In 1976, H.O. West bought out his brothers' share of the company. That same year, six female employees at the West Brothers outlet in Vidalia
Vidalia, Louisiana
Vidalia is a city in and the parish seat of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,543 at the 2000 census.- Geography :Vidalia is located at and has an elevation of ....

, the seat of Concordia Parish
Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Concordia Parish borders the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana. The parish seat is Vidalia. As of 2000, the population was 20,247. It is part of the Natchez, MS–LA Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Prehistory:...

 in eastern Louisiana, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence,...

 that the company had discriminated against them by not considering them for promotion to managerial status. All the West managers were men. In a 1982 district court trial, West Brothers called no witnesses but prevailed on grounds that the women had never even filed a written application to become a manager. West took the view that it had no need to present its own evidence because the plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...

s "have effectually shown a non-discriminatory" policy by the company, citing the case Lewis v. Brown and Root. In 1986, however, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Louisiana* Middle District of Louisiana...

 in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 reversed the district court on grounds that West Brothers had not taken into consideration some of the women's verbal applications as well as their belief that the company would have resented their even filing such applications for managerial positions.

West and Company closes, 1988

At the time of West's death, company stores extended into Texas, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The West store in Homer
Homer, Louisiana
Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...

 in Claiborne Parish
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....

 was one of two businesses in the building which now houses the Herbert S. Ford Museum.

The company announced on May 12, 1988, that it was closing because of "circumstances beyond its control." A "going-out-of-business" sale began on May 14 and was still underway on July 4, 1988. Minden Press-Herald
Minden Press-Herald
The Minden Press-Herald is a Monday-Friday daily newspaper published in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, by Specht Newspapers, Inc...

publisher Bill Specht in an editorial described the West family as "class people, always upbeat. They never complained and were more eager to help you with your problem instead of asking for help themselves."

In 1989, after a year in insurance and investments, former West vice president David Evans was named the president of Minden Building and Loan Association. Evans replaced Jack Edwin Byrd, Jr. (born July 3, 1946), who instead became president of Minden Bank and Trust Company, since part of Regions Bank. Jack Byrd subsequently returned to the presidency of MB&L, and David Evans became chairman of the board.

Philanthropy

In addition to his business activities, H. O. West was a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 and large donor to the First Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 Church of Minden and the Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College, his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

,
which named its H.O. West Field House in his honor. He was named a Louisiana College trustee in 1952 and was the trustees chairman from 1958 to 1959. He followed the motto: "What we are is God's gift to us. And what we become is our gift to God."

A veteran of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, West was a member and commander of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...

.He as named "Outstand Citizen of Webster Parish" in 1947 and two years later became the first president and thereafter a director of the Webster Parish Free Fair Board, since renamed the Bossier
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...

/Webster Fair and Forest Festival, and he was a member of the board of the former Peoples Bank and Trust Company, including a stint as bank chairman from 1969–1970. He left the bank board on January 13, 1971.

In 1948, West was named chairman of the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

 fund drive in Webster Parish. In 1952, Governor Robert F. Kennon
Robert F. Kennon
Robert Floyd Kennon, Sr., known as Bob Kennon , was the 48th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1952-1956. He failed to win a second non-consecutive term in the 1963 Democratic primary....

 of Minden named West one of the first five members of the newly-assembled Louisiana Civil Service Commission. West was also active in the Minden Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...

, Lions Club, and Masonic lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...

.

Death and legacy

West died in Minden Medical Center at the age of eighty-one. In addition to his son, he was survived by his wife, the former Gladys Tatum (October 18, 1906– December 13, 1989), and a daughter, Gloria West Evans (born October 17, 1941); a brother, W. D. West of DeRidder, and three sisters, Mrs. Merle Harper of DeRidder, Mrs. Fred T. Smith of Warren
Warren, Arkansas
Warren is a city in and the county seat of Bradley County, Arkansas, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimated population in 2006 was 6,219....

, Arkansas, and Mrs. H.L. Wiggins of Mansfield. Services were held at the First Baptist Church. West is interred beside his wife at Minden Cemetery
Minden Cemetery
The Minden Cemetery, located in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States, has graves dating from 1843, seven years after the founding of the city in 1836...

.

Juanita Murphy Agan (1923–2008) of the Minden Press-Herald, reflected in a 2007 column of her teenage years working for West Brothers in Minden in 1937:

"As [one] entered the store on the left was the ladies Ready-to-Wear, dresses and coats. On the right were the men's suits, pants and jackets. Down the center of the store were tables that held blankets, sheets, pillow casings, socks, underwear, baby things, and shirts and other clothes that could be folded such as pants, overalls, and men's jumpers. In the back of the store was the shoe department. [West] carried work shoes and dress shoes both for ladies and men and children. . . .


[West] hired a group of young people that worked there as extras. At least fifteen met the door each Saturday. To be able to make sales a clerk had to be there as the customers came in and be the one that made the sale. There were no Wal-Marts back then, so West filled the bill for a variety of merchandise at reasonable prices.


It was a pleasant surprise to be hired in about three months at West Bros. The salary was $1.50 a day with the opportunity to make more if you made sufficient sales. If you were fortunate enough to sell $40.00 worth you earned $2.00, and if your sales were $55.00 you earned $2.25. Now that was what I wanted to hear, and wanted to make. This was not picture-show money; it was money to help buy some groceries. By the time I was fifteen I had learned a lot about selling. . . . "


Clyde Austin (born 1937) of Minden recalls having worked part-time at West Brothers during Christmas 1953. "The day I worked, Mr. West told us to go pick out any shirt that we wanted for Christmas. He was a very nice and kind man."

West was listed in the 1959 edition of Who's Who in the South and Southwest and in Who's Who in Commerce and Industry in 1961.

Coincidentally in 1923, a second Herman O. West of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, opened a drug store there. In 1972, a charitable foundation was established in the name of that Herman O. West in the field of pharmaceuticals and health care.
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