WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Fred Lowder, one of the early leaders of NACS and its 1966 president, died on June 21 at the age of 83.
Fred was born September 30, 1933, in Olney Texas, on his grandparents’ “Willis Farm.” He attended grade school in Olney and high school in Wichita Falls and then earned a B.S. in accounting from Midwestern State University.
After college and service in the U.S. Army, with a tour of duty in Korea, Fred entered the family business. He set up the original books for Jiffy Food Stores and the family business grew to include Wholesale Food Distribution Company and a real estate company. In the 1960s, he was the first retailers in the area--and one of the first retailers in the country--to bring self-service fueling and Icee machines to his stores. After selling his interest in the 66-store chain, Fred purchased Happy Food Stores, a chain of convenience stores in Oklahoma City.
Fred later sold Happy Food Stores and founded Discovery Training Ministries, a Dallas-based nonprofit providing seminars to deliver learning skills for ongoing life enrichment and quality of life.
Fred was very active in the industry. He was one of the 33 people at the first NACS annual meeting in 1961 (which evolved into the NACS Show) and attended 46 of the first 47 NACS annual meetings.
Fred served as NACS chairman in 1966, which was a pivotal year for NACS in both advocacy and in growing its annual meeting.
That year, to better engage with Congress, NACS moved its office from California to Washington, D.C., but that was not without its challenges, as Fred recollected years later.
“I remember going to Washington to visit with [NACS CEO Harry Hunter] and I walked up to the door, he was so proud of that little office, and the room number on the office door was ‘711.’ Harry said, ‘Isn’t that number perfect?’ And I said, ‘Harry, you can’t do that… This is more than 7-Eleven. It’s about the whole industry’. So we had that changed from suite 711 to some other number,” Fred recalled.
The year 1966 was also the year that the NACS annual meeting was held in Las Vegas--making NACS the first food-related association to hold a meeting there.
“We were the renegades. All the food industry was saying, ‘You upstarts, that’s not the place to have a meeting. It’s sin city.’ But we had a meeting in Las Vegas anyway, and the rest is history,” noted Fred.
Later, Fred was instrumental in creating the Prayer Breakfast at the NACS Show, which eventually became one of the highest-attended events at the NACS Show.
“I remember that when I was president in 1966, I would go to (other association meetings) and seeing the professional presentations and all the refinements, and saying, ‘I wonder if NACS can ever raise to that standard.’ And I’ll say this: NACS not only raised to that standard, it’s exceeded it by far anything you could possibly ever have imagined it would be,” Fred said.
Fred and 1965 NACS Chairman Hugh Howton shared recollections about the industry’s early days in this NACS video.
“Fred and those other industry pioneers reshaped our industry and allowed us to grow to the level we are today. His positive impact on our industry in terms of its growth--and its culture and spirit--will continue to resonate for years to come,” said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour.
In addition to his work with NACS, Fred was president of the Texas Retail Grocery Association. He also served as president and vice-president of the Wichita Falls Symphony, president of the North Texas Boy Scouts and vice president of the Boy Scouts’ South Central Region. Fred was an active member of First United Methodist Church and served on the finance committee, the administrative board, various remodeling projects and as an usher for decades. At one time, he was a Methodist Lay Speaker.
Fred is survived by his wife, Linda Gray Lowder, whom he met at First United Methodist Church. They were married in the same church almost 60 years ago. Fred and Linda are the parents of two sons, Steve and Kevin, both Eagle Scouts, and have five grandchildren.
A memorial service for Fred will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, June 24, at First United Methodist Church (909 10th St., Wichita Falls) with Rev. Paul Goodrich officiating. Burial will be held prior to the service at 1:00 pm, in Riverside Cemetery under the direction of Lunn's Colonial Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home (2812 Midwestern Parkway, Wichita Falls, TX) from 6:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday, June 23, 2017.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations may be made to the charity of choice. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.lunnscolonial.com.