Bob Hendrix holds up a shadow box that displays a shirt Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim literally took off his back to give Hendrix once at a dinner meeting during a funeral service honoring Pilgrim at First Baptist Church in Pittsburg, Texas, on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Pilgrim founded Pilgrim's Pride, a corporation that achieved a national reputation for chicken, turkey and egg products. (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

1. Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim of Pilgrim’s Pride dead at 89
2. Witness Park: Pittsburg’s Bo Pilgrim a believer in faith, family

PITTSBURG – Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim, 89, built a chicken empire recognized around the world but believed it was the simple things – faith, family and friends – that made his life complete.

Hundreds packed the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Pittsburg, on Wednesday to honor a man who lived to share his Christian faith with others and make a difference in his community.

His memorial service also was broadcast live to satellite locations, allowing at least 1,000 others to hear the tributes, officials said.

Those who knew Pilgrim best described him as a humble, honest, hard-working man, who made daily prayer and hard work the cornerstones of his business interests – Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Pilgrim Bank, hospitals and ministries to name a few.

Affectionately known as “Daddy Bo,” to his family, Pilgrim delighted in being a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

He died Friday on what would have been his 61st wedding anniversary with his wife and soul mate, Patty.

“He leaves a void,” said Bro. Steve Packer, his pastor of 22 years. “He was a passionate man, passionate about his faith … we must pick up Bo’s legacy and carry on.”

 

EAST TEXAS PROUD

Pilgrim was a product of the tiny community of Pine, located a few miles outside Pittsburg.

He chose the latter community to help start a family business selling feed and baby chickens, growing it into a Fortune 500 company with more than 45,000 employees, according to information released by his family.

Pilgrim may be best recognized as the protagonist in Pilgrim’s Pride chicken commercials, a grandfatherly figure in a pilgrim hat that won over naysayers by cooking a good bird.

At the memorial service, longtime employee and friend Bob Hendrix said Pilgrim was an enthusiastic leader and industry partner who enjoyed using humor to make a point.

Holding up a shadow box that contained a striped shirt and tie, Hendrix recalled a management meeting in which Pilgrim pegged him for a new award, called “Shirt off My Back.”

“He started stripping off his shirt and tie,” he said, prompting ripples of laughter.

“There was Bo, standing there in his britches and shoes … it was a mind boggling thing.”

Employee Neil O’Quinn said Pilgrim worked long, hard hours throughout his career, and seemed willing to tackle almost anything.

“One Christmas Eve, they were delivering feed,” O’Quinn said. “It was raining and then it turned into freezing rain.”

The truck carrying about 40,000 pounds of feed ran off the road a short distance from the delivery point, requiring every available hand to help offload in the muck and haul it the rest of the way.

Pilgrim showed up and worked into the evening to help resolve the situation, he said.

 

A GODLY, LOYAL MAN

In spite of his successes, one of Pilgrim’s greatest legacies is the creation of Marketplace Ministries, a workplace outreach program intended to support and lead employees to Christ, his family said.

The efforts led about 9,500 employees to faith and created connections with more than 12,000 area churches, according to information compiled by his family.

Pilgrim taught Sunday school for years and is known around East Texas for tireless giving – bicycles, food, money, scholarships, classroom mentorship.

He gave away thousands of pocket-sized black books, entitled, “Good News for Modern Man.” The books featured scriptures and Pilgrim enjoyed hiding $20 and $100 bills in them to brighten the spirits of the recipients, friends said.

Pilgrim routinely teased that one of his greatest feats in life was compelling his wife Patty to marry him.

They met in the mid-1950s, at a friend’s wedding.

Sparks apparently flew as they walked down the aisle in the wedding party and they were married a short time later.

Pilgrim grew his family in Pittsburg and never left the comfortable familiarity of East Texas.

He liked living in a small town because it allows people to get to know each other, longtime friend Brenner said, adding, “Bo said, ‘When you see people from the back, you know who they are.'”

His family created a written tribute for Pilgrim and shared it at his memorial service. In it, they recalled him as a loveable, gritty man who faced life’s challenges head-on, with humor, grace and steadfast belief.

“He was more than a man in a pilgrim hat or on a commercial,” the statement read. “He was the man that led us through difficult valleys and gave to our community with a heart few of us understood.”

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