Location: Dothan AL

Dr. Marnix E. Heersink

  • November 20th, 2024

Marnix Heersink is an eye surgeon by training, but an entrepreneur at heart. It started early. After moving with his family from his native Netherlands to Canada, at the age of 10 he worked a paper route, earning around five dollars a week delivering the local paper The Hamilton Spectator. Later, in medical school, he found time to purchase, then renovate a house, rent it, and finally sell it at a profit. Throughout his life, Heersink has balanced this competitive, entrepreneurial drive with a desire to improve the lives of people.

Heersink played basketball for his high school and played center for the University of Western Ontario. He was invited to play for Canada in the 1972 Olympics and was inducted into the University of Western Ontario Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Burlington Sports Hall of Fame. “He was the best to ever play at Western,” said friend Col. Dr. Ron Foxcroft, longtime international referee and the inventor of the famous Fox Whistle. “He could have played in the NBA.”

But Heersink already had his sights set on medicine. When he was a boy of about sixteen, Heersink remembers his father sitting down with him to discover a career path. At that time, the young Heersink was unsure what he wanted to do, but soon, it became clear to his father that Heersink wanted a career focused on helping people. He credits that realization as the beginning of his interest in medicine.

After earning his bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and medical degrees at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and following a surgical internship in Montreal, Heersink completed an ophthalmology residency and an anterior segment surgery fellowship, both in Philadelphia, where he met his wife, Mary. In 1978, the Heersinks moved to Dothan, Alabama. “We had in our possession a used car, some clothes, and a lot of love and hope. And great educations,” he said in an interview.

Early on, Heersink remembers taking a risk and buying a 10,000 square foot office building in Dothan for his practice. Overwhelmed by the purchase, he suggested to his wife that they should live in the building and have his office downstairs. That idea was a non-starter. But from those humble beginnings, he would go on to cofound Eye Center South — which in the decades since has grown to 12 locations across Alabama, Georgia and Florida — and then open Health Center South, a 140,000-square-foot, state-ofthe-art medical tower complex for doctors of all specialties in Dothan. Heersink is also an owner or agent of many other companies, including real estate holdings and manufacturing entities in the United States and abroad.

He has taught and lectured internationally, participated in research studies, and is a fellow and member of multiple professional organizations including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, International College of Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Heersink is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Eye Surgery.

Committed philanthropists, the Heersinks have funded numerous scholarships and fellowships at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Troy Business School, and Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. They established the Wiregrass Pathway to Optometry scholarship. Heersink also founded the Eye Education Foundation, an educational nonprofit for eye care professionals, in 1984. Finally, Heersink has served or serves on numerous nonprofit boards. His commitment to philanthropic gift giving stems from and is inspired by a Native American saying: “We have all been warmed by fires that we did not light.”

Recently, the family made transformative gifts to two universities: the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which named its medical school the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, which resulted in the creation of the Marnix E. Heersink School of Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship. By supporting the two young universities, Heersink hopes to encourage entrepreneurial innovation and collaboration across national borders.

He holds an honorary doctorate from McMaster University.

Heersink and Mary live in Dothan, Alabama, and have six children and 11 grandchildren.

John H. Dove

  • October 25th, 2021

Both smiled when they spoke of him. When John H. “Red” Dove left this life in February 1994, what remained behind him was a legacy of love. John Hal “Red” Dove was born to John and Vera Stallings Dove on October 7, 1909, in the little sawmill town of Shubuta, Mississippi. The story of his rise to the top of the transportation business is one that began when he was a young man. In his own words, told Alabama Trucker magazine in 1983, “We would take all the logs too large to handle through my father’s sawmills to the railroad siding and ship them to bigger mills in bigger towns. That was the 1920s. At that time, I hauled forest products with teams of mules and oxen. Then in 1926-27, we started using Model T Ford trucks to haul the lumber and logs too big for our mills.”

In 1931, Red, 24, and his bride Sybil Bentley moved to California to seek relief from the Great Depression. When the automobile plant where he was working shut down, the Doves headed back South penniless – and with 6-month-old son Earl. By 1932 Red Dove’s father had settled in Dothan, Alabama, so Red moved his family there and began hauling pulpwood and produce, forming his own company, Dove Truck Lines. With the advent of motor carrier regulation in 1935, he hauled produce and other commodities until forced by ill-health to sell out. When his health returned, Red formed his second company, John H. Dove Transportation, which hauled livestock, produce, and other commodities between points in Alabama and Florida. He later merged this operation into D&D Transportation Company, Incorporated, which was based in Dothan. The company established branch offices in Atlanta, Andalusia, and Mobile, and specialized in less-than-truckload shipments.

He sold his interest in D&D in 1950. In 1955, he purchased two small Alabama trucking companies and combined them to form AAA Motor Lines, Incorporated, based in Dothan. In 1969, the rapidly growing company bought the Brewton-based firm of Cooper to Transfer, Incorporated. AAA Cooper Transportation was formed to operate both companies. When sons Earl and Mack came home from college with degrees in transportation, as the story goes, Red calculated that they probably knew more about how to take the family business into the future than he did, so he sold his interest in the company to the two young men.

That is the chronological history. It is the man who lived it that makes the story unique. Red Dove is considered a pioneer in motor freight transportation in the state of Alabama. When he began his career, the highways of the South were mostly mud or sand. In fact, he helped pave U.S. Highway 80 between Selma, Alabama, and Meridian, Mississippi. Bridges in those days were rare to non-existent – even over the Mississippi River. In the 1930s and early ’40s, trucking meant long, hard hours and small, under­ powered equipment on primitive, poorly­ marked roads. As late as 1945, the 200-mile haul from Birmingham to Dothan took eight hours, driving through the center of each of the cities and towns en route. Again, Red’s own words from 1983: “There’s no way for anybody to start like I did in ’31. It’s just too complicated with computers and everything else. You didn’t have anything then but a shoebox. You put what money you collected into it, and you paid for everything out of that box. Whenever the box was empty, you were broke.”

Red put in long hours on the road during the week and built flatbed trailers in his backyard on weekends. But he always took time for and enjoyed his growing family: wife Sybil, boys Earl and Mack, and daughter Faye.

Remembering Red, Alabama Trucking Association Director Jim Ritchie points to the H. Chester Webb Distinguished Service Award the man received from that organization, of which he was past president and chairman of the board. The Award, the highest presented by the body, recognizes distinguished service by an individual associated with the trucking industry in Alabama for his or her outstanding record of service to the industry, the Association, and to his community. Inscribed on the Award are the words of Sophocles: “This is man’s highest end/ To other’s service/ All his powers to bend.”

Alabama Senator Richard Shelby recognized that life of service in a tribute he paid to the late Red Dove on the floor of the United States Senate Tuesday, March 1, 1994. Entered into the Congressional Record, the testimony said: “He was a man of faith and family who exemplified the best of the American character in both enterprise and community service … he truly exemplified the American spirit of commerce, thrift, and hard work.”

Along with other members of the Alabama Trucking Association, Red was a charter sponsor of a Chair of Transportation in that organization’s name at The University of Alabama and was also honored in 1984 with the naming of The John H. Dove Chair of Transportation at the University of Tennessee. He served as a member of the Board of Directors and as Alabama vice president for American Trucking Associations, Incorporated, and was an active member of his home community of Dothan, serving as chairman of the board of the Salvation Army, as a member of the First Baptist Church of Dothan, the Dothan­ Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Masonic Lodge, and the Exchange Club.

John Hal “Red” Dove died February 7, 1994, survived by his wife, three children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. There is a building on the grounds of AAA Cooper dedicated to the memory of its founder, inscribed: “As we carry on, may we continue with the vision and vigor that he represented.”

But it is, perhaps, the letter son Mack, now president and chief executive officer of what was once his father’s company, wrote to firm employees a month after Red’s death that best captures the essence of the life of the man.

“At the funeral, the preacher, who had known Pop a long time, said Pop brought ‘color and music’ to the life situations of those who knew him. He observed that Pop fit in and was an influence on all types and classes of people. To him, everyone was an individual and he had great respect for each individual. The calls and letters I have received certainly verify this observation.

“He was remembered by those who knew him a long time ago. A driver who worked with Pop at D&D Transportation in 1948 brought in a tattered picture of him and Pop taken in front of his truck. Mrs. Andrews, a former customer who ran a food warehouse in Dothan in the ’40s and ’50s, came to show her respect.

“Both smiled when they spoke of him.”

For family, friends, and the business community of the state of Alabama, memories of Red Dove – and the good times, as Mack put it so well – will surely last forever.

Alfred J. Saliba

  • October 11th, 2021

Alfred Saliba’s favorite quote in large measure describes the life he has led. The quote is from Leo C. Rosten, the Polish-born American humorist-sociologist:

I cannot believe that the pur­pose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter; to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

No wonder, then, that Alfred Saliba, businessman, builder, and former Mayor of Dothan, has spent his life being useful, responsible, hon­orable and compassionate, making sure that he stands for something, that his actions mat­ter, that he has made a difference to those around him and to his community.

Born February 22, 1930, to Joseph Elias Saliba and Marie Violet Accawie in Dothan, Alabama, Alfred Joseph Saliba comes from roots that reach deep into Dothan history. Lebanese immigrant Elias Thomas Saliba began a one-mule trade business while visiting friends in nearby Ozark. Hotel owner and Dothan Mayor Buck Baker struck up a friendship with the young man and loaned him a building rent-free. After building his own wholesale grocery and tobacco business, Saliba sent for his younger brothers, Mike, Mose, and Abe, and set them up in business, selling groceries and running restaurants. The family patriarch returned home to Lebanon to visit, and while detained by World War I, he was elected mayor of his hometown. He was assassinated and the family returned to Dothan, where decades later his grandson would be elected mayor.

As a youth growing up in the Wiregrass, Alfred Saliba demonstrated quiet intelligence, high ethic caliber, and fair-minded commitment to justice, and a sincere understanding of people that combine to create fine leaders.

His organizational skills and inspirational leadership became apparent while in grade school. They were raised to the level of fine art at Dothan High School and became legendary at The University of Alabama, where he earned a degree in civil engineering/construction. His willingness to work hard and his ability to improvise were tested when he was misinformed about qualifying dates and missed placing his name on the ballot for the presidency of the College of Engineering at UA. He immediately sent hand­written notes to every engineering student, including the other candidate, explaining the error, assuring them of his desire for the position, and seeking their support. He won as a write-in.

In 1953, Alfred Saliba entered the U.S. Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant, having been a member of the Arnold Air Society, the Pershing Rifles Honor Guard, and both a Distinguished Military Student and Distinguished Military Graduate at the University. He was released as a First Lieutenant after service in Japan and Korea and earning the UN Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal. He achieved the rank of Captain in the Air Force Retired Reserve.

Alfred Saliba is renowned for his tendency toward careful thought, consideration, discussion, and contemplation. No quick decisions. Except when it comes to matters of the heart.

When he returned home after his duty in Asia, he planned a visit to his younger sister at the University. It was April 1955, the annual A-Day event, and sister Norma scrambled to find her brother a date. Most people already had plans, so she begged her roommate, Henrietta Carpenter, to go out with Alfred as a favor. He proposed the next month and the couple was married on August 20, with sister Norma as a bridesmaid. The union produced three children, Annamarie Saliba Martin, Alfred Joseph Saliba Jr., and James Mark Saliba.

In 1955, Alfred Saliba set about earning a living in Dothan. He established his own home building, land development, and residential/commercial real estate firm. His professional standards and personal integrity provided a solid foundation for the business and, as founder and president, his hard work ensured the success of the Alfred Saliba Corporation. In addition, he is a shareholder or on the board of directors of Houston Properties, Inc., Wasco Properties, Southeastern Apparel, SMK (Ethan Allen, Dothan, and Birmingham), SMW (The Playground), Dothan Inn, Inc., PENTA, Inc., and Regions Bank-Dothan.

Saliba has been instrumental in boosting the growing business community and economy of the Wiregrass area. He was a founding partner in Aladan which quickly became the largest U.S. manufacturer of latex products and Columbia Yeast Company which became the largest American producer of yeast. He also helped engender Behavioral Health Systems, one of the Southeast’s leading providers of corporate mental health management care.

As diverse and impressive as his business career is, his community and civic service may eclipse it. He has been president of the JayCees, Rotary Club of Dothan, Dothan Chamber of Commerce, and the Hawk-Houston Boys Club. He has been active in the Republican Party, serving as Chairman of the Houston County Republican Executive Committee and as a member of the State Executive Committee. Through service as an elder at Evergreen Presbyterian Church, he helped establish the area’s first senior citizen hot lunch and day program and the city’s first church-sponsored kindergarten/daycare.

He has served on the board of directors of the Salvation Army, Wiregrass United Way, Wiregrass Habitat for Humanity, Community Foundation of Southeast Alabama, and the Industrial Development Board.

His community service has brought him numerous honors: JayCee Boss of the Year, Builder of the Year, NASW Public Citizen of the Year, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, the Arthritis Humanitarian Award, and the Troy State University Dothan Community Service Award. He was tapped for Leadership Alabama, and former Gov. Fob James proclaimed November 21, 1997, as” Alfred Saliba Day.”

Given his record of business success and public service and his personal connection to Dothan’s history, it seemed natural that Alfred Joseph Saliba should follow the example of his grandfather, Elias Thomas Saliba, who had been elected mayor of his hometown long ago in Lebanon. At the urging of several friends, and without a shred of experience as a political candidate, Alfred Saliba ran for mayor of Dothan and won.

Through two, four-year terms he used the wisdom of a lifetime of business acumen to bring foresight, managerial expertise, diplomacy, and fiscal responsibility to the office.

He developed a long-range plan for revitalizing the infrastructure of a growing Dothan and initiated a comprehensive plan for funding needed capital improvements. For three consecutive years of his second term, Dothan was selected by Money magazine as the best place in Alabama to live, ranking as high as 39th in the nation for quality of life.

In 1993, Mayor Saliba formed a task force to assess community needs, seeking an alternative to welfare for Dothan’s struggling families. The task force reported gaps in community services, lack of adult education in living/working skills, and fragmented delivery of services, which often resulted in multigenerational dependence on welfare. Emboldened by Saliba’s vision, the task forces brought together health and service organizations to co-exist and cooperate in one central location.

The result, which bears the name Alfred J. Saliba Family Services Center, was a prototype in the state. Its complement of agencies and innovative programs has aided and uplifted hundreds of impoverished families and has been declared a model for welfare to work, inspiring 15 other Southern cities to follow suit.

Newspapers are not usually given to applauding politicians. Yet The Dothan Eagle, in an editorial praising the oratorical prowess of Mayor Saliba, said: “We still remember the brief talk he gave before a group of veterans in the Civic Center on Memorial Day morning. Anybody in that audience who did not feel chills along his spine or who left not feeling proud to be an American was listening to another drummer.”

In an article in that same newspaper, Mayor Saliba, writing in a guest column, referred to his grandfather. ” … His vision and love for this small corner of the New World inspire me even today.” And, in a life of achievement, service, leadership, and compassion, Alfred Saliba shares his own vision and love for Dothan, inspiring present and future generations.

Wallace D. Malone, Jr.

  • October 6th, 2021

Wallace D. Malone Jr. was born into the banking business. And he has made the most of it. Malone basically built SouthTrust Corporation, which he has essentially run since 1972. He served as president until 1981 when he was elected chairman and chief executive officer. Over the past 29 years, SouthTrust has grown into one of the nation’s premier financial organizations.

His family entered banking over 100 years ago in one office in the heart of Dothan, Ala. The family bank, the First National Bank of Dothan, was chartered in 1900 by Malone’s grandfather with $50,000 in capital and $75,000 in deposits. That same bank is one of two forerunners of SouthTrust, now a $64 billion bank holding company – the largest financial organization in Alabama with the largest market value of any Alabama corporation.

Malone was born August 3, 1936, in Dothan, the son of Wallace D. Malone Sr. and Alice Mae Dee Malone. After graduating from high school in 1954, he enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University). After one year, Malone transferred to The University of Alabama where he received his bachelor’s degree in business in 1957. Upon graduation, he worked for a small bank in Enterprise, Ala., for about a year. His first duty was to post the bank’s general ledger with pen and ink and to get the ledger in balance with a hand-crank adding machine. In 1958 he left Enterprise to pursue an M.B.A. degree at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and he earned that degree a year later. In June of 1959, he returned to Alabama and joined his father in the family bank. When his father died in 1968, Wallace D. Malone Jr. was named chairman and chief executive officer of the First National Bank of Dothan.

In 1996, The Birmingham News named Malone “CEO of the Year” and described him as “relentless, shrewd and fiercely competitive.” Those attributes have served him well in a lot of bank and industry battles over the past 40-plus years.

The last three decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the banking industry, and Malone has been in the middle of those changes. In 1972, the first holding company was introduced into Alabama, which Malone and several banks opposed. One of Malone’s allies was Guy H. Caffey Jr., president of Birmingham Trust National Bank. When the Federal Reserve Board approved the formation of holding companies in Alabama that year, Malone told Caffey, “Since we can’t fight ’em, we’d better join ’em and we’d better be quick about it.”

Malone and Caffey then decided to organize SouthTrust. By the end of 1972, South Trust had acquired a bank in Mobile and a bank in Huntsville. SouthTrust had less than $600 million in assets at that time. In January of 1981, Guy Caffey retired, and Malone was named chairman and CEO. SouthTrust’s total assets by then were $1.8 billion.

Malone has been recognized repeatedly for his strong leadership of SouthTrust. His intellect, his ability to laugh at himself, his compassion, and his ability to focus on the job at hand has been documented many times.

In introducing Malone at a Newcomen Society meeting some years ago, former president and chief operating officer for SouthTrust, Roy Gilbert, told the following story:

“Every great leader that I have ever read about has demonstrated compassion. There is a lady who goes to my church who has cerebral palsy, but she still works and drives an automobile, although with some difficulty. She works in the SouthTrust Tower. One morning, Wallace followed her into the parking deck and noticed how difficult it was for her to get her card into the access box to open the gate. When he got to his office, he called me and asked me to arrange for her to have an automatic access opener for her car; and he said he would personally pay for it. I don’t think she ever knew where it came from.”

Malone’s compassion is equaled by his business acumen. He has built SouthTrust into a Fortune 500 company, with more than 680 banking offices in nine Southern states. With more than $47 billion in assets, SouthTrust is ranked among the top 20 banks in the country. The company has more than 12,500 employees, of whom a considerable number are shareholders.

A key strategy that initially set SouthTrust apart was the decision to enter only high-growth markets, in the belief that internal growth, not continuous acquisitions, was the best way to produce long-term, top-notch performance. Malone has been careful not to acquire banks that cannot match the company’s growth rate. And he has been careful not to acquire banks that dilute stockholder value. As for the concept that big is always better, cheaper, and more efficient, Malone has often said, “being big does not necessarily make you smart, and being small does not necessarily make you dumb.”

Malone has seen SouthTrust’s loan business significantly increase. In the beginning, the bank had slightly more than $200 million in total loans, of which only $40 million were commercial loans. SouthTrust now has more than $32 billion in loans, with more than $22 billion in commercial loans. Today, SouthTrust makes loans to a single customer equal to twice the amount of the entire commercial loan portfolio in 1972. Up until the economic slowdown that began in the middle of last year, SouthTrust’s loan portfolio was growing at $2.5 billion or more a year.

Stockholders have also done enormously well at SouthTrust. Stockholder equity, in the beginning, was less than $30 million, compared with $3.8 billion today. The bank’s net income was around $5 million in 1972, and it has compounded at an average rate of 19 percent per year in the 29 years since then. Today SouthTrust is earning at the rate of more than $500 million annually. Net income in 2001 will exceed the total assets of the initial organization.

Malone is a strong believer in the “SouthTrust culture” and in taking care of employees. Under his guidance, the company has developed one of the industry’s premier profit-sharing plans. “Take care of the employees and they will take care of you,” Malone says.

Malone’s management philosophy was outlined in a recent article: “You have to hire good, conscientious, intelligent people. You must give those people the benefit of receiving extremely good training. You must pay them well, you must keep them motivated and use pay incentives everywhere possible to reward performance. People, particularly those at all levels of management, need to feel that they have the possibility of upward mobility. Good people always want to improve themselves. Management must be perceived as fair with everyone. Sometimes you can be a rather strict manager if you are perceived as absolutely fair. You must do things when they ought to be done. You don’t do on Thursday what you should have done on Monday. You must understand that the customer is king. If you don’t take good care of your customers, you will wake up one day with no customers and no business.”

SouthTrust employees make 95-plus percent of the customer decisions at the market level Malone wants all customers to be called by name when they visit the offices and have a positive experience. He has often said, “All money is green, and you can get just about the same type checking account, CD, or loan at most banks. What really sets a bank apart from its competitors is its people. With nearly all types of businesses, the company with the best people almost always wins.”

Malone either serves or has served on a number of boards over the years, including Troy State University, Samford University, Baptist Health System of Birmingham, the Eye Foundation Hospital, the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, UAB Health System, Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Healthcare Council, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Salvation Army Advisory Board, Public Affairs Research Council, Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the Alabama-Florida Boy Scout Council, the Greater Alabama Boy Scout Coun­cil, the Federal Reserve Branch of Birmingham, and United Way. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, the President’s Cabinet of The University of Alabama, the Culverhouse College of Business Board of Visitors, the Newcomen Society of North America, the Birmingham Business Leadership Group, and the Quarterback Club of Birmingham.

Malone is married to the former Ocllo Boykin Smith and they have six children and eleven grandchildren. He and his wife have traveled extensively, and he has skied and hunted on three continents.

Malone has been involved in many diverse, non-business activities that include tennis, golf, hunting, fishing, water and snow skiing, scuba diving, skeet shooting, flying (he earned his pilot’s license in 1955), archery, building cars, chess, and bridge. He truly is a man for all seasons.

G. Mack Dove

  • October 5th, 2021

Mack Dove, by his own admission, as a young boy loved to say, “vvvrrooommmmm!”

That same noise might well be used to describe the sound of the family business, AAA Cooper Transportation, of Dothan, Alabama.

Today AAA Cooper Transportation is one of the largest transportation companies in the nation, with 74 terminals that serve more than 15,000 cities and communities in 15 states. AAA Cooper owns and operates a fleet of more than 1,900 tractors and 4,300 trailers and employs nearly 5,000 people. Over the past 40 years, the firm’s revenues have increased at an 18 percent compounded growth rate.

Mack Dove was born in 1936 in Dothan, the second son of John Hal “Red” Dove and Sybil Bentley Dove. Red Dove grew up in Mississippi hauling timber with mule teams and oxen before moving to Model T Ford trucks in the 1920s. Red Dove moved to California for a short while, then returned to the South and settled in Dothan, where he began hauling whatever needed to be hauled.

Mack Dove attended Dothan’s public schools and began his working life bagging groceries at the Piggly Wiggly on weekends. His father’s business gradually expanded as Dove Truck Lines until 194 2 when it was sold, and Red Dove bought another truck line and named it J.H. Dove Transportation Company. Two years later the firm merged with D and D Transportation Company in Atlanta, extending its reach down to the Florida Panhandle. That company was sold in 1951 and in 1954 he bought a small trucking company and changed its name to AAA Motor Lines.

Meanwhile, Mack and his older brother Earl were earning degrees in transportation from the University of Tennessee and both became active in the family business. Mack was active in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and after a stint of active duty in the U.S. Army, served seven and a half years in the reserve, where he attained the rank of captain. The ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s were a period of tight regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Dove family decided the best way to expand the company would be through buying operating routes or companies that were not operating their routes to the greatest potential. A turning point in company history came when AAA Motor Lines bought Cooper Transfer of Brewton, Alabama, in 1969, to be operated as a wholly-owned and independent subsidiary of AAA. Mack became president of Cooper and moved the firm to Dothan. Earl took over as president of AAA. The two sons, in 1973, merged the two companies and bought all of the stock in the resulting company from their father. The company then became AAA Cooper.

In the early ’70s, it began to become obvious that the trucking industry was in for

a big change in the form of industry deregulation. Congress deregulated the telephone and airline industries before turning its attention to trucking in the late ’70s. Deregulation meant that services and rates that had formerly been tightly regulated were thrust open. Truckers, telephone companies, and airlines were set free to devise services and set prices as they saw fit. Massive industry consolidation was the result in each industry as companies expanded services to include areas formerly reserved and protected for other carriers. AAA Cooper expanded its service area beyond Alabama, Georgia, and Florida to Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Virginia. Growth was explosive as new routes were added.

In 1989 Earl retired from the business. The company continued its ambitious expansion plan, purchasing nine terminals from Bowman Transportation Company, and moving outside the Southeast to Chicago, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, then to Texas, and eventually began “truck-to-ship-to-truck” service to and from Puerto Rico. The expansion has not come at the expense of the company’s customers in its home territory. As deregulation became reality, a number of AAA Cooper’s competitors immediately began looking to the bigger markets in the North and West.

“So when they went to Chicago, we went to Charlotte,” Dove said in an interview with Southern Motor Cargo. “When they went to Los Angeles, we went to Dallas. Our strategy was to continue to be an LTL carrier, and when their attention got diverted to other, more exciting areas, we concentrated on where they were and were fortunate enough to get their business.” Dove has always had an interest in education, especially when it involved AAA Cooper employees. Employees are offered reimbursement of tuition for all academic and job-related technical courses, providing they maintain an acceptable grade average.

Under Dove’s leadership, AAA Cooper has established itself as a leader in safety in an industry that is fraught with danger, from hauling hazardous materials to making sure a vehicle is properly chocked. In addition to his degree in transportation from the University of Tennessee, Mack Dove also received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1982. He completed the advanced studies program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business and has been named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. The award was created in memory of the founder of Rotary as a way of showing appreciation for those who contributed to the foundation’s humanitarian and educational programs.

Dove has served his community and state as faithfully as he has the trucking industry. He is a past chairman of the Alabama Trucking Association, was a member of the policy and finance committee of the American Trucking Association, is currently on the executive committee and the board of directors of the American Trucking Association, and is chairman of the Litigation Center, American Trucking Association.

John H. Watson

  • October 5th, 2021

John Holman Watson knows a good investment when he sees one. He’s built his life and career around an uncanny ability to recognize good deals early on and make them happen. And he does it so everyone involved benefits from the venture.

Watson was born to Absolom and Mary Outlaw Watson on February 12, 1938, in the small rural community of Skipperville in Dale County.

With the success he has made for himself over the course of his 66 years, you’d think Watson would be beaming with pride. But friends and those that know him say the exact opposite, that even though he may facilitate a business deal and all credit for its succeeding should go to him, Watson would rather others get the praise for his work.

Watson worked a variety of jobs coming up, from delivering ice to carpentry to roof work. When he graduated a year early from Newton High School in 1955 he had a desire to play college football and become an engineer. He had promise as a running back but turned down a scholarship at The University of Alabama for Auburn University’s then superior engineering program. He also figured he could land a position on the football team as a walk-on.

He failed to make the team and was disappointed greatly, even more so when the Tigers won their only national championship that year. But, as he had learned early in life, when something doesn’t go right you have to move on to something else.

The first person in his family to attend college, Watson was a co-op student, working at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and The Corps of Engineers at Ft. Rucker, and became involved in the advanced ROTC program at the University. Upon graduating from Auburn in 1960 with a degree in mechanical engineering, Watson married Gail Pearson of Ozark and entered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a second lieutenant.

After serving on active duty in 1961 and 1962 during the Berlin Crisis, Watson and his wife moved back to Dothan where he took a job as an engineer for Smith’s Inc., the largest mechanical contracting firm in the area.

Watson worked 100 hours a week, and in 1966 he and two other employees bought 47 percent interest in the company from James M. Smith. Four years later they purchased the rest of the firm, a transaction made possible by Mr. Smith providing the financing.

Watson considered growing Smith’s Inc. into a regional or national firm but decided it would be better to diversify in other types of business because of ups and downs in the economy and it would enable him to be near home and be able to spend more time with his family. His dealings with Smith and the two partners that helped him buy out the business influenced Watson to want to continue to go into business ventures with friends and partners that he liked, respected and that could add value.

Watson has had his hands in a number of businesses, including Engineered Systems, Inc., a general contracting and design firm performing only negotiated projects. The company specializes in design/build projects on shopping centers, office buildings, warehouses, and industrial buildings. In 1998 the company worked with Auburn University and designed and built the Auburn Indoor Football Practice Facility; Higgins Electric Inc, an industrial contracting, engineering, and electrical supply business; Aladan, Inc., which became the largest latex glove producer in the U.S. and the largest condom manufacturing company in the world; USA Yeast, Inc. a baker’s yeast company built in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which is the “state of the art” baker’s yeast plant in the world. The plant will produce 1/7  of the total U.S. fresh yeast demand and is the only American-owned baker’s yeast plant in America. (Smith’s, Higgins Electric and Engineered Systems designed and built the two plants); South Alabama Brick Company, which has offices in Alabama and Florida; Southeastern Commercial Financial, LLC, a company specializing in making asset-based loans to businesses and also now has offices in Nashville, TN and Atlanta, GA; and Twitchwell, Inc., a Dothan company with manufacturing facilities in China, specializing in the manufacturer of fabric for the casual furniture market.

Watson’s greatest asset has always been his ability to foresee a business opportunity, weigh rewards against risks, and, if he believes he can make it work, bringing in as many friends and their expertise as he can, spreading good fortune amongst those he likes and respects. He has been described as selfless, soft-spoken, and concerned for others.

Watson has served as a trustee and elder in the Evergreen Presbyterian Church. He has served on the board of Houston Academy, the Dothan Boys Club, the Alabama Research Institute, and the Alabama Industrial Relations.

He was named the 1996 Presidents Council Volunteer of the Year for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind and serves on the institute’s board. He was the 1988 chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and a graduate of Leadership Alabama. In 1998, he received the Community Service Award from Troy State University Dothan.

He is a past member and Chairman of the Alabama Ethics Commission and currently on the board of directors of Regions Financial Corporation.

He and his wife, Gail Pearson Watson, have a daughter, Abby Jo Watson Down, and a son, John Ronney Watson, and six grandchildren.

Paul R. Flowers, Sr.

  • October 4th, 2021

When the late Dr. Paul Flowers opened his hospital in Dothan in 1950, he was not only the administrator but also served as a surgeon, bookkeeper, anesthetist, and backup cook.

Today, that 12-bed facility, originally named the Woman’s Hospital, is Flowers Hospital, a regional medical referral center for 450,000 people living within a 50-mile, 16-county radius. The hospital has 235 acute-care beds, four intensive care units (medical, surgical, cardiac care, and cardiovascular), and 38 outpatient surgery beds.

The hospital has been a catalyst for change in the Wiregrass area. The growth of Flowers Hospital has established health care as a major local industry. With more than 1200 employees, Flowers Hospital is the second largest employer in Houston County and a major supporter of the tax base.

Dr. Flowers was born in 1915 in Houston County, the son of John Jefferson Flowers, Sr., and Ila McDavid. He lived in Dothan all his life. He graduated from Dothan High School in 1933 and attended Emory University, where he later graduated from medical school. In 1941, he married Grace Dejarnette Tazewell, and the couple had seven children: Paul R. Flowers, Jr., wife Barbara; Grace F. Kiker (deceased), husband Frank; J. McDavid Flowers, wife Jeanie; Robert E. Flowers, wife Carol; Cordelia F. Boone, husband Tom; William T. Flowers, wife Carroll; and George D. Flowers, wife Laura.

He and his wife returned to Dothan in 1943 and he began his obstetrical and gynecological practice. In 1950, he converted a house on West Main Street into a small 12-bed hospital. He used his office as the emergency room and a table in the kitchen as the hospital dining quarters, with his wife, Grace, preparing many of the meals.

The hospital gradually grew, and by 1962, patient needs had exceeded the capacity of the original structure. An addition to the hospital was opened in 1963 which included a new 60-bed unit, two operating rooms, and two delivery rooms. In 1969, a three-story addition was built, adding 60 more beds.

By the summer of 1975, 40 doctors served the hospital, including two cardiologists, marking the first time physicians specifically trained in cardiology were available to the community. After more than five decades, the atmosphere of care that has long permeated the hospital is still in evidence; health care continues to be viewed as a very personal service provided to patients who are treated like family and neighbors. The same spirit that guided its tiny forbearer still fuels the heart of Flowers Hospital.

In committing to establish a cardiology program, Dr. Flowers agreed the hospital should be equipped to meet the physical needs such an undertaking would require. This meant an extensive outlay of capital in order to purchase equipment and supplies for the first cardiac catheterization laboratory in Dothan, to improve existing intensive-care facilities and monitoring capabilities; and to seek out and train qualified registered nurses and technical personnel.

In 1978, the hospital opened an 80-bed, three-story addition and signed a contract with Hospital Corporation of America to oversee the hospital’s operation, management, and planning. As the community grew, more patients were brought in, creating a need for still more doctors to care for them. By 1979, it became apparent the hospital not only needed to position itself to take advantage of this growth but also to try and stay ahead of it. The building on West Main Street had grown as much as possible. Following the advice of hospital management, Dr. Flowers decided to construct a new hospital on the western side of Dothan, in the 0direction of the city’s growth pattern.

In 1992, the Flowers family sold the hospital to Quorum Health Group, the company that had been managing it for many years. Although the ownership changed, the hospital remained a private facility. In October 2000, Quorum Health Group, Inc., signed an agreement withTriad Hospitals, Inc., for Triad to acquire Quorum.

Shortly before he died, Dr. Flowers was asked to reflect on the growth of the hospital. He replied: “I am humbly appreciative of all the many good people who have made all of this possible by the loving service they have given.” That sentiment was surely mutual.

Wallace Davis Malone Sr.

  • September 9th, 2021

Wallace Davis Malone, Sr. built First National Bank into one of the largest financial institutions in the southeast.

Malone, a graduate of Dothan High School in 1912, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915 from The University of Alabama. He then entered the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration but left prematurely to serve in World War I. After serving in France, he was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant. Malone returned to Dothan to become manager of the Dothan Guano Company, a large fertilizer manufacturing company. He eventually bought the company’s outstanding stock and controlled the company until selling it in 1955. In 1934, Malone married Alice Mae Dee. When his father died in 1939, Malone became president and chairman of the board of First National Bank. During his tenure with the bank, it became one of the largest financial institutions in the southeast. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Malone to the National Council of Consultants of the Small Business Administration. Malone also served in several political capacities across the state. He served on the Dothan City Council and the Alabama House of Representatives. Malone was active in the community as a founder of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce and The Haven, a rescue home for alcoholics in Dothan. During World War II, Malone became a dedicated conservationist. Under Malone’s guidance, the Alabama Bankers Association promoted soil conservation. When Malone resigned in 1954, he began to travel. His ventures took him across America, Africa, South America, and Vietnam.

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