amarillo chamber of commerce - HPN Books

DOBBSCORPORATION,INC.Above: L. R. and Doris Dobbs.Right: L. R., Doris, and Debbie Dobbs.During the 1960s, a little girl tagged alongwith her dad as he went about his business.She rode along on sales calls, went to theshop with him, and hung back listening tohim talk with customers, farmers, and potentialdistributors. She grew up watching ahard-working, dedicated family man start abusiness from the ground up. She watchedhim personally see to it that every customerwas satisfied. Today, Debbie, that little girl,is now owner-operator of the companyher father, L. R. Dobbs, founded those manyyears ago. Debbie holds the memory of herfather and her mother, Doris Dobbs, close toher every day that she enters the offices atDobbs Corporation, Inc.The company was started byL. R. Dobbs in 1960 when as afarmer in the Muleshoe, Texas, area;he sought a solution to his irrigationproblems. Irrigating out of tailwaterpits and other surface watersources was problematic becausemost pumping equipment pulledmud and sludge from the bottom ofbodies of water. The foreign matterin irrigation water plugged pumpsand caused equipment malfunctions.He set out to correct theproblem and invented the DobbsFloating Pump. Since 1960, pumpingsurface water has been the business of theDobbs family. The early days were filled withhard work and sacrifice; Dobbs traveled allover the country selling his floating pumpsand looking for dealers to distribute them. Allthe while, Doris worked along side him, keepingthe home, working at the business, andkeeping the books. Sales were accomplishedthe old fashioned way; personal calls andtraveling many miles on roads all over thecountry built the business before the Internet.L. R. and Doris both have passed away, buttheir legacy lives on. Dobbs Floating Pumpsare sold all over the United States and in othercountries. The Dobbs family is amazed thatthe little company founded over fifty yearsago in the Texas Panhandle has grown into thesuccessful company of today. They are stillhands-on family operators; they want toensure that their customers receive the samelevel of service as they did from L. R. throughouthis lifetime. Because she appreciates herparents’ legacy, Debbie raised her children inthe business and they continue to work withher today. Debbie and her children, Tiffanyand Lance all started at the bottom with themost menial of jobs, worked their way up,and have achieved college degrees. In additionto family members, their key employeesare long-term and experienced, which ensurescontinuity in quality control. Other employeeshave been West Texas A&M studentsthrough the years; many Texas Panhandleprofessional residents with college degrees gottheir early employment experience workingpart-time at Dobbs Corporation.Today, Dobbs Corporation still primarilymanufactures and sells floating surface waterpumps. Although the marketing has beenmodernized, in many ways the companyremains the same as it did in the earlydays. Every pump is still hand-built in theirfacility west of Canyon, Texas. Every pump isAMARILLO - Faces, Places & Open Spaces288