Lonnie Alfred “Bo” Pilgrim, 33°, Portrait Received into Dallas Scottish Rite Hall of Honor

From September-October 2004

Lonnie Alfred “Bo” Pilgrim, 33°, Portrait Received into Dallas Scottish Rite Hall of Honor

The portrait at right has been placed in the Scottish Rite Hall of Honor, Dallas, Texas, to honor Lonnie Alfred “Bo” Pilgrim, 33°, an outstanding individual in Industry, Community, Church, and Masonic Leadership.

From a single feed store, Pilgrim’s Pride, Ill. Pilgrim’s company, has become, with over 100 locations, the second-largest poultry company in both America and Mexico as well as the largest in Puerto Rico. Today, Pilgrim’s Pride employs 40,000 people, processes approximately 2.5 billion pounds of chicken, 300 million pounds of turkey, and 250 million dozen table eggs each year. Sales in 2004 will be approximately 5 billion dollars. Each day Pilgrim’s Pride plants process over six million chickens. Their hen’s lay over 7 millions eggs a day.

Ill. Pilgrim, the company’s Chairman, a major stockholder and co-founder, was born in Pine, Texas, on May 8, 1928. His father was the Postmaster of Pine, a small rural community south of Pittsburg, Texas. Starting in 1946, with $1,000 in cash and a $2,500 loan, Aubrey, the eldest Pilgrim brother, began a feed store that was to become his legacy to the poultry industry. Later, Bo and Aubrey became partners in the store and began giving away 100 baby chicks with each sack of feed purchased. Then the farmers began bringing the chickens back to the Pilgrims to sell. The brothers sold their first chicken from a pen behind their farm supply store over 50 years ago. As the demand for the chickens grew, the first steps were taken toward creating the modern, vertically integrated chicken company known today as Pilgrim’s Pride.

Between 1950 and 1955, individuals began building chicken houses to raise crops of 3,000 broilers for the Pilgrim brothers to sell. In 1958, when demand for chicks began outstripping supply, the Pilgrim brothers bought out a failed Mt. Pleasant hatchery and began paying growers to raise chicks for them, which they in turn sold to processing plants in Texas.

That same year, a group of Mt. Pleasant businessmen pooled resources and built a plant designed to process 12,000 broilers a day. Two years later, the Pilgrim brothers joined with one of the original investors, Arnold Anderson, and leased the facility.

In 1966, the same year Aubrey died, the brothers bought controlling interest in that Mt. Pleasant processing plant. At the same time, an industrial group began building a facility next door. When the competing company ran out of money before it got into operation, “Bo” Pilgrim injected fresh capital, gaining status as part owner of that facility before production even began.

As Chairman, Ill. Pilgrim operates by placing his religious principles first. Currently he teaches Sunday school in the Baptist Church of Pittsburg, Texas. In addition, the company employs a large number of Chaplains during their daily operations. He starts every meeting with a prayer.

“ I'm a trustee of the Lord," Brother Pilgrim says. “The Lord owns everything on this Earth. When I give, I am giving what belongs to Him.” “Bo” does not set guidelines or have restrictions for corporate or personal giving, but relies on prayer to know what is best. He personally reviews each of the many requests he receives each week. Approved requests are generally for education or hardship. “I am sensitive to what the Lord wants me to do. My greatest joy is finding someone who can’t help himself or who doesn't know where to turn and I can help.”

“ Bo” had open-heart surgery in 1975, and after suffering a heart attack in 1982, he turned his attention to developing a more nutritious product. In 1984, the world’s first fresh boneless chicken was introduced, followed the next year by the first lean chicken with less fat and cholesterol and fewer calories. He then developed nutritionally enhanced “Eggs Plus” with Omega 3, Omega 6 fatty acids, and vitamin E.

Accolades and honors paying tribute to Brother Pilgrim reflect his contribution as an entrepreneur and agriculturist: 1987 East Texan of the Year by the East Texas Chamber of Commerce; 1995 Dallas Baptist University Russell H. Perry Enterprise Award; 1997 Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture by the Texas County Agriculture Agents Association; and 1999 Texas A&M Distinguished Texans in Agriculture. “Bo” is Past President of the National Chicken Council, Washington, D.C., and serves on the NCC Executive Committee and Board of Directors. He is Past President of the Midwest Feed Manufacturers Association, and has served on the Dallas Baptist University Board, the Texas Water Resources Board, the Governor’s Task Force for Agriculture, and the Governor’s Business Council. True to character, “Bo” hopes his recognition encourages other people to serve the Lord and to honor God’s plan for mankind.

“ Bo” received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree from Dallas Baptist University and an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Stephen F. Austin State University. “Bo” Pilgrim “is a great example to our students of what it means to be a servant leader,” says Dr. Gary Cook, President of Dallas Baptist University. “He is respected by all who know him because of his high ethical standards.”

Addressing a commencement audience of graduating seniors at Stephen F. Austin, “Bo” said, “Ability will enable a person to go to the top, but it takes character to keep him there.” His greatest joy comes from witnessing and introducing the plan of salvation to as many people as he possibly can, so everyone in the audience received a copy of his "Good News for Modern Man."

A gazebo sits in front of the Pilgrim’s Pride distribution plant in Pittsburg, Texas. Under its shade is a bronze statue of “Bo” Pilgrim reading from the Bible. Perched beside him is his company’s mascot, Henrietta the chicken, and lying on the bench are a pilgrim hat and several “Good News” pamphlets, timeless reminders to future generations that they, too, are here to serve a higher purpose.

The corporation policy statement is "Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is committed to the Court of Honor.” In 1991 at the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of Texas, “Bo” Pilgrim was honored with the prestigious Sam Houston Medal, a very high and rare honor presented only by the Grand Lodge. Individuals in the past such as Walter Cronkite, Burl Ives, and Bob Crosby have been recipients of this Medal. In the 164-year of the Grand Lodge of Texas, less than 30 of the Medals have been presented. Ill. Pilgrim received the Thirty-Third Degree, Inspector General Honorary of the Court of Honour, on November 15, 2003, in the Valley of Dallas.

Lonnie Alfred “Bo” Pilgrim is a dedicated family man, Mason, and Churchman. The great ideals taught by these entities are his guiding lights, and he truly lives up to the integrity to which all good men and Masons aspire. In essence, he is a great and good man, one we hold in the highest esteem.

Note: The above is reprinted from the May 2004 Scottish Rite News for the Valley of Dallas; www.dallasscottishrite.org. An abbreviated text appears on page 20 of the Sep.-Oct. 2004 Scottish Rite Journal, page 20.