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Sam Walton Birth
Sam Walton was born in March 29, 1918, in the town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He was the son of a banker by the name of Thomas Walton, and his wife, Nancy Lee. -
Early years
Early in his life, Walton was moved with his family to Missouri, where they raised him. He was a good student as well as a good athlete. He was also the quarterback for his highschool, and an eagle scout besides. At the time when he graduated, he was named by his classmates "most versatile boy." -
College education
He then went to college to the University of Missouri in Columbia. After four years, he graduated in 1940 with a degree in economics. -
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Sam Walton's first retail job.
Sam Walton scored his first retail job in DesMoines, working and learning at a management training program at a J.C Penney store, working their until he became an Army Captain in WW2 -
Drafted into the war.
Sam Walton was drafted into WW2, and he became a communicator officer for the Army Intelligence Corps, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. He was released from his service in 1945. -
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Marrige and Children
Sam Walton married in the midst of WW2, to his love, Helen. He and Helen had four children, by the names of S. Robson, John, James, and Alice. -
Sam's first store
Sam Walton came back to his private life in 1945, and with a wife and child to support, he needed to find work quickly. With a 20,000$ loan from his father, he bought his first store, a Ben Franklin store. -
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The Franchise multiplies
Over a period of less than 20 years, Sam worked with his younger brother, James, and made enough to purchase store after store, until they had fifteen stores in all. -
The first Walmart
Due to some disagreements Sam Walton had with the executives of the Ben Franklin stores, Sam decided to try to do business in an unprecedented way; he would try to discount all of his goods in small towns. He mortgaged his house, and made the first Wal-Mart in Bentonville. It was an instant success. -
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Walmart's expansion
As time went on, Wal-mart became more and more popular. in the 1990s, when economic downturn was not good, Walmart's profits increased by 40 percent. -
Sam Walton named the wealthiest man in the united states.
The Forbes magazine named Sam Walton the richest man in America. It irritated him, because he thought that it made his life more difficult to give him a net amount. -
The buck is passed.
Sam Walton, after 26 years of being the CEO of Walmart, gave the job over to an executive named David Glass. Sam, however, stayed chairman of Walmart. -
Sam's illnesses
Sam Walton was diagnosed with two types of cancer; he had hairy cell lukemia, and he also had bone marrow cancer. He was admitted into the University of Arkansas Hospital in 1992. -
Sam receives the medal of freedom.
President George Bush presented Sam the medal of Freedom, for his entrepreneurial spirit among other things. -
The death of a businessman
In the hospital, Sam Walton died of Bone Marrow cancer.
