James Hallowell didn’t dream of financial success.
He just enjoyed the work.
For the better part of five decades, that was at Hallowell Chevrolet, the car dealership his father Dennis Hallowell opened in Clovis in 1944.
The dealership, and its iconic neon sign, became a landmark when it moved to six acres of land on the outskirts of Shaw Avenue in 1965. By the time Hallowell sold the company and retired in 2000, it could sell 2,000 cars in a good year and was generating more than $65 million in sales.
“I used to say that I would probably die here, but then I decided that probably wasn’t a very good idea,” Hallowell told The Fresno Bee at the time. “There are moments that I am elated, and there are times I am terrified. My wife keeps telling me there is life after Hallowell Chevrolet.”
And there was.
Hallowell died Jan. 31 at the age of 90.
An obligation to give
Hallowell was born in Brawley near San Diego in 1933, but moved to Clovis in the first year of his life.
The central San Joaquin Valley is where he stayed. He graduated from Clovis High School and then Fresno State, where he earned a degree in marketing before starting full-time at his father’s dealership.