For Immediate Release: December 22, 2010 Contact: Eddie Owens, APR, Director of Corporate Communications
(office: 806.788.4863; cell: 806.928.0462)
Rick Peters to Pilot Last Flight
Tomorrow for United Supermarkets
LUBBOCK (special) –Rick Peters was in attendance at the 2008 United Supermarkets Leadership Meeting wondering who the awards presenter was talking about. The speaker was making a special presentation recognizing years of service from a team member who had graduated from Texas A&M.
“Kerry (Peters’ wife) and I looked and each other, and I began looking around the room to see if there was someone there that I knew from Texas A&M,” he recalled with a laugh. “The more he kept talking, the more it sounded like someone we knew. As it turned out, I was shocked at the Leadership Meeting.”
That’s because Peters was the honoree that night, and he remains humble about the recognition as well as the role he played as United’s director of aviation the previous 14 years.
Rick retired from the aviation director’s job, but he stayed with the company to serve as its “third pilot,” filling in the past two years when one of the other two pilots was not available because of illness or vacation.
Even that role is about to be history, as Peters takes his final flight for the company tomorrow (Thursday). Fellow pilot Jack Mills has arranged for the fire department at Lubbock International Airport to form a water archway with its pumper trucks as Peters taxis away from Lubbock Aero for the final time around 3 p.m.
“I’ve flown the team members from every level of this organization,” Peters said. “I can say without a doubt I have not had one single problem passenger. Everyone has just been tremendous. You hear horror stories from pilots in the corporate world who have those kinds of problems, but it never happened here.”
Peters has enjoyed a distinguished 44-year career in aviation, serving as a military pilot before retiring from the Air Force in 1989. He joined United five years later after a chance encounter with the father-in-law of former United Supermarkets CEO Dan Sanders.
“I was building a golf club repair business and looking for a storefront to open that business in,” Peters remembered. “I was trying to get a guy’s clubhead rechromed, and I found Mr. Renfrow’s place out on the Tahoka Highway. As we talked, I noticed he had pictures of his plane on the wall, so we talked about aviation.
“After learning of my background, he told me I should talk to United because they were looking for a chief pilot. I called Dan, told him his father-in-law had mentioned they might have a position, and Dan asked me to come in. I interviewed, met company executives and Robert Snell (now chairman of the company’s Board of Advisors), and they offered me the job.”
Peters’ military background, love for aviation and genuine approach to life made an immediate impression.
“Dan and I hit it off immediately, in part because of the commonality of our Air Force experience,” Rick said. “After they offered the job, I had a conversation with myself about whether I wanted to start a business that had a 50 percent chance of failure, or be paid to fly. That conversation lasted about three and a half seconds.
“Once you get involved with the people at United Supermarkets, you cannot leave them. This is a purpose-driven company.”
Peters estimates that during his career he has logged about 10,000 hours of flying time. In addition to flying, he was responsible for numerous administrative duties and aircraft maintenance and upkeep. He recalled with fondness examples of how the job touched him through his United career.
“There was a period of time that covered about a year of Christy Bumstead’s illness,” he said, “and we did a lot of flying in support of her. That was meaningful to me because she was such a wonderful, warm, caring person. When we lost her (in the fall of 2004), it affected me deeply.” Also, Peters said other passengers he enjoyed having on the plane included former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, former Alabama and Texas A&M head football coach Gene Stallings and former Texas Tech basketball coaches Marsha Sharp and Bob Knight.
“One of the nicest people I’ve ever flown with was (the late) Arnold Maeker,” Rick said of the former architect and engineer who play a key role in helping Lubbock recover from the 1970 tornado. “We became very close to the point where he was a surrogate father to me. He stands as one of my all-time favorite passengers.”
Peters looks forward to slowing down, spending more time with Kerry, who has been a tremendous support through the years, and taking on new challenges that might lie somewhere besides the wild blue yonder.
“I want to thank the family from Robert Snell, (co-presidents) Matt and Gantt Bumstead, on down through every member for becoming my family,” he said. “That’s a cliché, but used in this context it is absolutely true.
“They gave me that award at the Leadership Meeting, and that was great, but they had already rewarded me by keeping me around. The award was just icing on the cake.”