A Tribute To Bill Coward
To The Editor:
In last Thursday’s Dillon Herald, I read with great interest an article written by one of my fellow writers, Bishop Michael Goings. Mr. Goings did a fantastic piece on a man I considered to be one of my heroes in life, the late Bill Coward. I first met Bill Coward at the age of fifteen when he gave me a job on Saturdays working in one of two fish markets he operated on Main Street in Dillon. Bill was twenty three at the time and some years before he became the “Hot Dog Man”. Bill was a man with a limited education who came from a poor family. His first job was a delivery boy for Jay Bee Drug Co. He made deliveries on a bicycle and made six dollars a week. During this time, he bought his first house. Later, he worked for Luther Lee who ran a fish market in the location where Scott’s plumbing was located for many years. There were three small buildings there at that time. Bill went down the street and opened his own market. Sometime later he bought Mr. Lee’s Market. A little later, Bill and the late Paul McKenzie opened C&M Grocery where the Dillon Church of God parking lot is today. In time, Bill built a building on a piece of property he owned on First Ave. That is where he got into the Hot Dog Business and still remains in his family today. At one time Bill Coward was one of the leading sellers of Pepsi-Cola per capita in the United States. Bill Coward became a successful business man and a large property owner.
I learned a lot from watching the life of Bill Coward, he proved you do not have to hold a degree or be a marketing genius to make it in life. He proved that all you have to do is meet people from all walks of life with a big smile, sell them a good product and maybe develop a little niche like “Come back my friend”. Bill left this world much too soon from a senseless act. I think of him often. Thanks, Brother Goings for the memory.
Carley Wiggins,
Little Rock, S.C.
