SAMUEL MOORE WALTON

Samuel Moore Walton 1918 to 1992 

Sam Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee Lawrence on March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.  He had one brother James Lawrence Walton  born December 20, 1921 in Kingfisher.  Sam died April 5, 1992 at the age of 74 in Little Rock, Arkansas.  He was buried in the Bentonville, Arkansas Cemetery. 

Sam and his brother James, lived with their parents in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on the family farm until 1923.  His father Thomas sold the farm and they moved from Oklahoma to Springfield, Missouri to work for his brother at the Walton Mortgaging Company as an agent for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, during the Great Depression.  The family moved around a lot because of their dad's job.  Most of Sam's education was in Missouri.  In 1940 Sam graduated with a Business Degree from the University of Missouri.  After graduation he was employed by J. C. Penny in Des Moines, Iowa.  

In 1942  at the age of 24, he joined the Army and married Helen Robson on Valentine's Day February 14, 1943.  She was born in Claremore, Oklahoma December 3, 1919.  She attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, graduating with a Degree in Finance.  In She and Sam had four children:  "Rob" Samuel Robson Walton born October 27, 1944 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; John Thomas Walton born October 8, 1946 in Newport, Arkansas; James Carr Walton born June 7, 1948 Newport, Arkansas and Alice Louise Walton born October 7, 1949 Newport, Arkansas.  

Sam and his brother began their career in the retail industry working in Ben Franklin Stores, which was a franchised unit of Butler Brothers of Chicago Illinois.  Sam supported various charitable causes. He and Helen were active in the 1st Presbyterian Church in Bentonville, Arkansas, he served as an elder of the church and a Sunday School teacher, teaching high school students.  With help from of a loan from his father-in-law Leland Robson, plus his savings from when he was in the military, he purchased a Ben Franklin Variety Store in Newport, Arkansas.  His second store was a tiny store called Eagle Department Store.  Walton worked the concept of "service leadership" into the corporate structure of his Wal-Mart Stores based on the concept of Christ being a servant leader and emphasized the importance of serving others based on Christianity.  

Walton pioneered many concepts that became crucial to his success.  According to Walton, if he offered prices as good as or better than stores in cities that were four hours away by car, people would shop at home.  He insured the shelves were stocked with a wide range of goods.  He offered good made products at a lower price than other department stores.  The Walton's Five and Dime Store in Bentonville, Arkansas is now the Wal-Mart Historical Museum.  His first two stores were in Newport, Arkansas and after succeeding with the two stores at such a distant, he became enthusiastic about scouting more locations and opening more Ben Franklin Franchises.  Sam had spent countless hours behind the wheel and with his brother he was close to and being a pilot in the war, he decided to buy a small second-hand airplane.  Both Sam and his son John later became accomplished pilots and waged thousands of hours scouting locations and expanding the family business. 

When his military service ended in 1945, Sam, Helen and the two older children moved to Newport, Arkansas.  He had gained early retail experience, eventually operating his own variety store.  In 1950 the family left Newport for Bentonville, Arkansas, where Sam opened the Walton's 5 & 10, in the downtown square.  They chose Bentonville because Helen wanted small-town living, and Sam could take advantage of the different hunting seasons, that living at the corner of four states had to offer.  

In 1954, Sam opened a store with his brother in a shopping center in Ruskin Heights, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.  With the help of his brother, and his father-in-law, he went on to open many new variety stores.  He encouraged his managers to invest and take equity stake in the business.  By 1962 he and his brother owned 16 stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. Fifteen Ben Franklins and one independent, in Fayetteville.  

The first true Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas when Sam was 44 years old.  It was called the Wal-Mart Discount City Store, located at 719 West Walnut Street, and launched a determined effort to market American-made products.  The effort was made to find American Manufacturers who could supply merchandise for the entire Wal-Mart chain at a price low enough to meet the foreign competitors.  Inspired by the early success of his five and dime store, he opened first true Wal-Mart. His competitors thought his idea of a successful business built around offering lower prices and great service would never work.  

As it turned out, the company's success exceeded even Sam's expectations.  The company went public in 1970, and the proceeds financed a steady expansion of business.  Sam relied on his associates as well as his workers.  He relied on the workers to give the customers a great shopping experience that would keep them coming back.  He made his associates partners in the success of the company.  He believed that the partnership was what made Wal-Mart great.  As the stores grew, Sam also experimented with new store floormats, including Sam's Club and the Wal-Mart Super Centers. The first Sam's Wholesale Clubs premiered in Midwest City, Oklahoma in 1983.  The company even made the decision to take Wal-Mart to Mexico.  

In 1985 Walton became "Forbes" magazine's "richest man in America".  By 2002 Wal-Mart had become the "worlds" top retailer and Oklahoma's second largest employer.  Sam and Helen Robson Walton were inducted into Oklahoma's Hall of Fame in 1987 and 1992 

In 1982 Walton was diagnosed and treated for Hairy Cell Leukemia.  In 1990 he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had gone through radiation therapy and chemotherapy at M.D. Anderson Caner Center in Houston Texas.  Sam died in Little Rock, Arkansas on Sunday April 5, 1992 a week after his 74th birthday of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.  A few days before his death, his son said Sam was still reviewing sales data in his hospital room.

The news of Sam's death was relayed by Satellite to all 1,960 Wal-Mart Stores, at the time.  His company employed 400,000 people.  There were 1,735 Wal-Marts, 212 Sam Clubs and 13 Super Centers at the time of his death.  Sam was buried in the Bentonville Cemetery.  He left the ownership in Walt-Mart to his wife Helen and their four children.   Rob Walton succeeded  his father as the Chairman of Wal-Mart, and his son John Walton was a director until his death in 2005 in a plane crash.  The others are not directly involved in the company except for through their voting power as shareholders.  However, his son Jim Walton is Chairman of the Arvest Bank.  The Walton Family held five spots in the top richest people in the United States until 2005.  Two daughters of Sam's brother Bud Walton, Ann Kroenke and Nancy Laurie hold smaller shares in the company. 

There is also Sam's working history.  I included some, but not all. This article would become way to long to post on my blog.  Look up the biography of Samuel Moore Walton on the web.  Thanks for reading.

posted by *Starlight*  March 2, 2026