CHARLES ODELL LOVETTE

Charles Odell Lovette was born July 20, 1900 in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He married Ila Ruth Bumgarner in 1924 and they had seven children. He bought a T-Model Ford truck and went into the produce buying and selling business which included chickens and eggs, operating as C. O. Lovette Produce Company. 

In 1926, he built one of the first broiler houses in the area with a capacity of 300 chickens. This was the beginning of the commercial broiler business in the Wilkes area with C. O. Lovette as one of the innovators.

Mr. Lovette trained all seven of his children in the poultry business and they are all employees of Holly Farms Poultry Industries, Inc., which had its real beginning with Charles Odell Lovette in 1926.

Mr. Lovette realized the great economic potential of poultry to Wilkes County and to the State of North Carolina. He was a real prime mover and innovator in starting the poultry industry in northwest North Carolina. From the humble beginning of a 300 bird broiler house, he provided the inspiration leading to the development of Holly Farms Poultry Industries, one of America’s largest broiler producers.

C. O. Lovette was a true pioneer in the North Carolina poultry industry and the North Carolina is pleased to honor him as a member of the North Carolina Poultry Hall of Fame.