Helen
Robson Walton: 1918 – 2007; Mother of Four and a Store |
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| Helen Robson Walton 1918 – 2007; |
| Mother of Four and a Store |
| Published: Monday, July 16th, 2007 |
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| ...Bentonville without mentioning Wal*Mart, and likewise, its hard to
mention Wal*Mart without mentioning Sam Walton and his now late spouse and genius partner
Helen Walton. The Walton’s were strong and permanent fixtures on the Bentonville,
Northwest Arkansas, national (and global) scenes for more than forty years now with their
one of a kind American Dream creation, Wal*Mart. “Team Walton” wrote the book on
maximizing business opportunity. Wal*Mart has its detractors, but its success is hard to
ignore.
This tribute, however, is dedicated to the Mother of Team Walton. With all that she
accomplished, it’s only fitting to pause a moment and pay tribute to one of the most
creative, giving, humble, wealthiest and intelligent women to ever live. Mother Helen was
a strong, industrious and capable woman. She set the mark and banner so high that clearly
there are many lessons to be learned from her life, the way she carried herself and the
methods by which she guided others. But her dream continues to live, and her works
continue to inspire, motivate and improve the quality of life of others in ways that only
heaven really knows. |
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“It’s not what you gather, It’s what you scatter,” was one of Mother
Helen’s favorite mottos as shared by two of her grandchildren during the public
memorial ceremony. Former President and CEO for Wal*Mart, David Glass also shared a story
of how she |
| would spend time with the spouses of Wal*Mart in a sort of “grass
roots” way to discuss their various hardships. He said “she had a full time job
raising four children, but she never passed up an opportunity to share what she thought
about the associates.” He also noted, “she believed in making everyone a partner
in the business,” and that Wal*Mart’s very lucrative “Profit Sharing”
plan was one of her many invaluable contributions to the company. |
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Rick Niece, President of the University of the Ozarks said Mother Helen had, “…
a strong Christian faith, and she loved students.” He shared a story of how Mother
Helen showed up at his offices one day, “unannounced” and wanted to visit his
library to do research for a woman’s speech that she was working on. He said that
whatever he was doing immediately became very unimportant to what she ... |
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