Cofounder of Pamida Stores
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Also nicknamed Jim and Tex.
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Source: Obituary from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
WITHERSPOON - D. J., age 87 years. Preceded in death by first wife, Hillois and daughter, Lisa Diane.
Survived by wife, Marjorie; sons, David James, Hollywood, CA, Michael, Omaha, John Patrick, Omaha; grandchildren, Talia, Hope, Crystal and Jim Witherspoon; sister, Iris J . Norman; niece, Jani Sticka; great-niece, Shannon; step-daughters, Mary Green, Beaumont, TX, Kathleen Harty, Laguna Beach, CA, Colleen Warin, Omaha, Melanie Flannery, Glenview, IL, Maureen Fairchild, of Sun Valley, ID; sister-in-law, Marie Witherspoon, Tulsa, OK; nieces and nephews.
SERVICES Thurs. 10 am, Countryside Community Church, 87th & Pacific St. Interment Hillcrest Cemetery. Military Honors by VFW Post 2503. VISITATION Wed. 6 - 7:30 pm, Westside Chapel.
Source: Article from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Tuesday, January 11, 2000
Pamida Founder Dies at 87 - D. J. Witherspoon's chain of discount stores, based in Omaha, was one of the nation's most successful in the '70s
Author: JOHN TAYLOR, WORLD - HERALD STAFF WRITER
D. J. Witherspoon, who founded Pamida Inc., a regional discount-store chain based in Omaha, and saw it grow into one of the most successful in the nation in the 1970s, died Monday at Immanuel Medical Center.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Countryside Community Church, 87th and Pacific Streets. Burial will be at Hillcrest Cemetery, 57th and Center Streets.
Witherspoon, 87, who liked to describe himself as a "cotton picker from Texas" was the son of a West Texas migrant worker. His mother died when he was a small child, and his father married four times.
The family grew to include 16 children and put such a strain on living conditions that Witherspoon and a brother had to sleep in a hole dug beneath the house.
In later years, Witherspoon shrugged off suggestions of an impoverished childhood. "I was never poor," he once said. "I didn't have money, but I was never poor in my life. I have always been lucky enough to make my own living and have gone out and done what I wanted to do."
In 1970, as the number of Pamida stores - then operated under the Gibson Discount Center name - grew to more than 100, Witherspoon built what was then considered Omaha's most expensive house, a $3 million, 30-room mansion at 9909 Fieldcrest Drive in Regency.
Less than a year after the family moved into the 20,000-square-foot home, Witherspoon 's wife, Hillois, died of cancer. Six months earlier, the Witherspoons had given Joslyn Art Museum $1 million worth of Pamida stock, the largest gift since Sarah Joslyn's original endowment.
The initials in Witherspoon's name stood for Doris James. "My twin sister's name is Iris," he once said in explaining his unusual first name. "My first name was supposed to be Diris, but something happened in the records and my name became Doris. With a name like that you know what happened at recess."
In 1945, he was an Army Air Force captain in charge of a special weather reconnaissance squadron on Guam. One of the squadron's missions was to check the weather over Hiroshima shortly before the first atomic bomb was dropped on that city.
In later years, when he was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., he was known as "Tex" to friends that included President Gerald Ford and entertainer Bob Hope. He also numbered among his pals on fishing and hunting trips baseball great Ted Williams.
Witherspoon started Pamida in the 1960s - its first full year was 1964 - following a strategy of locating almost all of its stores in towns with populations averaging 8,700, away from other discount competitors.
In a field fast being populated with other discount stores, such as Wal-Mart, Pamida was one of the fastest-growing, its sales rising from $8.6 million the first year to about $105 million in 1972.
In 1972, Pamida's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange - switching from the American Stock Exchange - where it remained until 1981, at which time it was acquired in a leveraged transaction by a corporation owned by a company employee-stock-ownership plan.
Witherspoon retired as chairman.
In later years, Pamida - whose name is derived from the names of Witherspoon 's three sons - Patrick, Michael and David - has gone through other ownership changes, the latest occurring last year, when Shopko Stores of Green Bay, Wis., acquired the company for $110 million in cash and assumed $265 million in debt.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at John A. Gentlemen Westside Chapel, 1010 N. 72nd St.
Survivors include his second wife, Marjorie; sons, David James of Hollywood, Calif., and Michael and John Patrick, both of Omaha; four grandchildren; and a sister, Iris Norman.
~
Also nicknamed Jim and Tex.
~
Source: Obituary from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
WITHERSPOON - D. J., age 87 years. Preceded in death by first wife, Hillois and daughter, Lisa Diane.
Survived by wife, Marjorie; sons, David James, Hollywood, CA, Michael, Omaha, John Patrick, Omaha; grandchildren, Talia, Hope, Crystal and Jim Witherspoon; sister, Iris J . Norman; niece, Jani Sticka; great-niece, Shannon; step-daughters, Mary Green, Beaumont, TX, Kathleen Harty, Laguna Beach, CA, Colleen Warin, Omaha, Melanie Flannery, Glenview, IL, Maureen Fairchild, of Sun Valley, ID; sister-in-law, Marie Witherspoon, Tulsa, OK; nieces and nephews.
SERVICES Thurs. 10 am, Countryside Community Church, 87th & Pacific St. Interment Hillcrest Cemetery. Military Honors by VFW Post 2503. VISITATION Wed. 6 - 7:30 pm, Westside Chapel.
Source: Article from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Tuesday, January 11, 2000
Pamida Founder Dies at 87 - D. J. Witherspoon's chain of discount stores, based in Omaha, was one of the nation's most successful in the '70s
Author: JOHN TAYLOR, WORLD - HERALD STAFF WRITER
D. J. Witherspoon, who founded Pamida Inc., a regional discount-store chain based in Omaha, and saw it grow into one of the most successful in the nation in the 1970s, died Monday at Immanuel Medical Center.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Countryside Community Church, 87th and Pacific Streets. Burial will be at Hillcrest Cemetery, 57th and Center Streets.
Witherspoon, 87, who liked to describe himself as a "cotton picker from Texas" was the son of a West Texas migrant worker. His mother died when he was a small child, and his father married four times.
The family grew to include 16 children and put such a strain on living conditions that Witherspoon and a brother had to sleep in a hole dug beneath the house.
In later years, Witherspoon shrugged off suggestions of an impoverished childhood. "I was never poor," he once said. "I didn't have money, but I was never poor in my life. I have always been lucky enough to make my own living and have gone out and done what I wanted to do."
In 1970, as the number of Pamida stores - then operated under the Gibson Discount Center name - grew to more than 100, Witherspoon built what was then considered Omaha's most expensive house, a $3 million, 30-room mansion at 9909 Fieldcrest Drive in Regency.
Less than a year after the family moved into the 20,000-square-foot home, Witherspoon 's wife, Hillois, died of cancer. Six months earlier, the Witherspoons had given Joslyn Art Museum $1 million worth of Pamida stock, the largest gift since Sarah Joslyn's original endowment.
The initials in Witherspoon's name stood for Doris James. "My twin sister's name is Iris," he once said in explaining his unusual first name. "My first name was supposed to be Diris, but something happened in the records and my name became Doris. With a name like that you know what happened at recess."
In 1945, he was an Army Air Force captain in charge of a special weather reconnaissance squadron on Guam. One of the squadron's missions was to check the weather over Hiroshima shortly before the first atomic bomb was dropped on that city.
In later years, when he was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., he was known as "Tex" to friends that included President Gerald Ford and entertainer Bob Hope. He also numbered among his pals on fishing and hunting trips baseball great Ted Williams.
Witherspoon started Pamida in the 1960s - its first full year was 1964 - following a strategy of locating almost all of its stores in towns with populations averaging 8,700, away from other discount competitors.
In a field fast being populated with other discount stores, such as Wal-Mart, Pamida was one of the fastest-growing, its sales rising from $8.6 million the first year to about $105 million in 1972.
In 1972, Pamida's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange - switching from the American Stock Exchange - where it remained until 1981, at which time it was acquired in a leveraged transaction by a corporation owned by a company employee-stock-ownership plan.
Witherspoon retired as chairman.
In later years, Pamida - whose name is derived from the names of Witherspoon 's three sons - Patrick, Michael and David - has gone through other ownership changes, the latest occurring last year, when Shopko Stores of Green Bay, Wis., acquired the company for $110 million in cash and assumed $265 million in debt.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at John A. Gentlemen Westside Chapel, 1010 N. 72nd St.
Survivors include his second wife, Marjorie; sons, David James of Hollywood, Calif., and Michael and John Patrick, both of Omaha; four grandchildren; and a sister, Iris Norman.
Cofounder of Pamida Stores
~
Also nicknamed Jim and Tex.
~
Source: Obituary from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
WITHERSPOON - D. J., age 87 years. Preceded in death by first wife, Hillois and daughter, Lisa Diane.
Survived by wife, Marjorie; sons, David James, Hollywood, CA, Michael, Omaha, John Patrick, Omaha; grandchildren, Talia, Hope, Crystal and Jim Witherspoon; sister, Iris J . Norman; niece, Jani Sticka; great-niece, Shannon; step-daughters, Mary Green, Beaumont, TX, Kathleen Harty, Laguna Beach, CA, Colleen Warin, Omaha, Melanie Flannery, Glenview, IL, Maureen Fairchild, of Sun Valley, ID; sister-in-law, Marie Witherspoon, Tulsa, OK; nieces and nephews.
SERVICES Thurs. 10 am, Countryside Community Church, 87th & Pacific St. Interment Hillcrest Cemetery. Military Honors by VFW Post 2503. VISITATION Wed. 6 - 7:30 pm, Westside Chapel.
Source: Article from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Tuesday, January 11, 2000
Pamida Founder Dies at 87 - D. J. Witherspoon's chain of discount stores, based in Omaha, was one of the nation's most successful in the '70s
Author: JOHN TAYLOR, WORLD - HERALD STAFF WRITER
D. J. Witherspoon, who founded Pamida Inc., a regional discount-store chain based in Omaha, and saw it grow into one of the most successful in the nation in the 1970s, died Monday at Immanuel Medical Center.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Countryside Community Church, 87th and Pacific Streets. Burial will be at Hillcrest Cemetery, 57th and Center Streets.
Witherspoon, 87, who liked to describe himself as a "cotton picker from Texas" was the son of a West Texas migrant worker. His mother died when he was a small child, and his father married four times.
The family grew to include 16 children and put such a strain on living conditions that Witherspoon and a brother had to sleep in a hole dug beneath the house.
In later years, Witherspoon shrugged off suggestions of an impoverished childhood. "I was never poor," he once said. "I didn't have money, but I was never poor in my life. I have always been lucky enough to make my own living and have gone out and done what I wanted to do."
In 1970, as the number of Pamida stores - then operated under the Gibson Discount Center name - grew to more than 100, Witherspoon built what was then considered Omaha's most expensive house, a $3 million, 30-room mansion at 9909 Fieldcrest Drive in Regency.
Less than a year after the family moved into the 20,000-square-foot home, Witherspoon 's wife, Hillois, died of cancer. Six months earlier, the Witherspoons had given Joslyn Art Museum $1 million worth of Pamida stock, the largest gift since Sarah Joslyn's original endowment.
The initials in Witherspoon's name stood for Doris James. "My twin sister's name is Iris," he once said in explaining his unusual first name. "My first name was supposed to be Diris, but something happened in the records and my name became Doris. With a name like that you know what happened at recess."
In 1945, he was an Army Air Force captain in charge of a special weather reconnaissance squadron on Guam. One of the squadron's missions was to check the weather over Hiroshima shortly before the first atomic bomb was dropped on that city.
In later years, when he was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., he was known as "Tex" to friends that included President Gerald Ford and entertainer Bob Hope. He also numbered among his pals on fishing and hunting trips baseball great Ted Williams.
Witherspoon started Pamida in the 1960s - its first full year was 1964 - following a strategy of locating almost all of its stores in towns with populations averaging 8,700, away from other discount competitors.
In a field fast being populated with other discount stores, such as Wal-Mart, Pamida was one of the fastest-growing, its sales rising from $8.6 million the first year to about $105 million in 1972.
In 1972, Pamida's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange - switching from the American Stock Exchange - where it remained until 1981, at which time it was acquired in a leveraged transaction by a corporation owned by a company employee-stock-ownership plan.
Witherspoon retired as chairman.
In later years, Pamida - whose name is derived from the names of Witherspoon 's three sons - Patrick, Michael and David - has gone through other ownership changes, the latest occurring last year, when Shopko Stores of Green Bay, Wis., acquired the company for $110 million in cash and assumed $265 million in debt.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at John A. Gentlemen Westside Chapel, 1010 N. 72nd St.
Survivors include his second wife, Marjorie; sons, David James of Hollywood, Calif., and Michael and John Patrick, both of Omaha; four grandchildren; and a sister, Iris Norman.
~
Also nicknamed Jim and Tex.
~
Source: Obituary from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
WITHERSPOON - D. J., age 87 years. Preceded in death by first wife, Hillois and daughter, Lisa Diane.
Survived by wife, Marjorie; sons, David James, Hollywood, CA, Michael, Omaha, John Patrick, Omaha; grandchildren, Talia, Hope, Crystal and Jim Witherspoon; sister, Iris J . Norman; niece, Jani Sticka; great-niece, Shannon; step-daughters, Mary Green, Beaumont, TX, Kathleen Harty, Laguna Beach, CA, Colleen Warin, Omaha, Melanie Flannery, Glenview, IL, Maureen Fairchild, of Sun Valley, ID; sister-in-law, Marie Witherspoon, Tulsa, OK; nieces and nephews.
SERVICES Thurs. 10 am, Countryside Community Church, 87th & Pacific St. Interment Hillcrest Cemetery. Military Honors by VFW Post 2503. VISITATION Wed. 6 - 7:30 pm, Westside Chapel.
Source: Article from The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA
Tuesday, January 11, 2000
Pamida Founder Dies at 87 - D. J. Witherspoon's chain of discount stores, based in Omaha, was one of the nation's most successful in the '70s
Author: JOHN TAYLOR, WORLD - HERALD STAFF WRITER
D. J. Witherspoon, who founded Pamida Inc., a regional discount-store chain based in Omaha, and saw it grow into one of the most successful in the nation in the 1970s, died Monday at Immanuel Medical Center.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Countryside Community Church, 87th and Pacific Streets. Burial will be at Hillcrest Cemetery, 57th and Center Streets.
Witherspoon, 87, who liked to describe himself as a "cotton picker from Texas" was the son of a West Texas migrant worker. His mother died when he was a small child, and his father married four times.
The family grew to include 16 children and put such a strain on living conditions that Witherspoon and a brother had to sleep in a hole dug beneath the house.
In later years, Witherspoon shrugged off suggestions of an impoverished childhood. "I was never poor," he once said. "I didn't have money, but I was never poor in my life. I have always been lucky enough to make my own living and have gone out and done what I wanted to do."
In 1970, as the number of Pamida stores - then operated under the Gibson Discount Center name - grew to more than 100, Witherspoon built what was then considered Omaha's most expensive house, a $3 million, 30-room mansion at 9909 Fieldcrest Drive in Regency.
Less than a year after the family moved into the 20,000-square-foot home, Witherspoon 's wife, Hillois, died of cancer. Six months earlier, the Witherspoons had given Joslyn Art Museum $1 million worth of Pamida stock, the largest gift since Sarah Joslyn's original endowment.
The initials in Witherspoon's name stood for Doris James. "My twin sister's name is Iris," he once said in explaining his unusual first name. "My first name was supposed to be Diris, but something happened in the records and my name became Doris. With a name like that you know what happened at recess."
In 1945, he was an Army Air Force captain in charge of a special weather reconnaissance squadron on Guam. One of the squadron's missions was to check the weather over Hiroshima shortly before the first atomic bomb was dropped on that city.
In later years, when he was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., he was known as "Tex" to friends that included President Gerald Ford and entertainer Bob Hope. He also numbered among his pals on fishing and hunting trips baseball great Ted Williams.
Witherspoon started Pamida in the 1960s - its first full year was 1964 - following a strategy of locating almost all of its stores in towns with populations averaging 8,700, away from other discount competitors.
In a field fast being populated with other discount stores, such as Wal-Mart, Pamida was one of the fastest-growing, its sales rising from $8.6 million the first year to about $105 million in 1972.
In 1972, Pamida's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange - switching from the American Stock Exchange - where it remained until 1981, at which time it was acquired in a leveraged transaction by a corporation owned by a company employee-stock-ownership plan.
Witherspoon retired as chairman.
In later years, Pamida - whose name is derived from the names of Witherspoon 's three sons - Patrick, Michael and David - has gone through other ownership changes, the latest occurring last year, when Shopko Stores of Green Bay, Wis., acquired the company for $110 million in cash and assumed $265 million in debt.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at John A. Gentlemen Westside Chapel, 1010 N. 72nd St.
Survivors include his second wife, Marjorie; sons, David James of Hollywood, Calif., and Michael and John Patrick, both of Omaha; four grandchildren; and a sister, Iris Norman.
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