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Even though Bobby’s father was a Sergeant in the military,
he and his best friend John had a janitorial contract with
the military base and they ran that business on the side. “I
would go with my father,” said Bobby, “I don’t think I was
ever paid but I admired my father. I wanted to be around
him because he just had such a presence about him. In the
evening, the buildings had to be cleaned and he and John
would do the custodial business together.” That’s when Bobby’s father would give him “The Talk” about the importance
of owning his own business. That was his goal when he got
out of the military. “Nothing better than working for your
self,” his dad would always say to Bobby, “Stand apart. Don’t
look like everybody else.” Keenly aware that in the military
everyone had to fall in and look alike and that everything
was done with a cookie cutter approach, Bobby’s father
would regularly ask him, “How can you make that better?”
Although Bobby’s parents were polar opposites; his father
was an extrovert and his mother was an introvert, they still
complemented each other. Bobby acknowledged, “My father had a personality that shined on the world. It didn’t
matter who you were. Wherever you were, he met you
there. He also was very direct. From my mother, I learned
about the sensitive side in the delivery of things. She was
more reserved and believed that you could say anything to
anybody with the right delivery and spirit.” Bobby’s mother’s
also had a driving work ethic. She maintained a balanced
approach but when she was at work, she was at work. Even
Bobby’s dad couldn’t top her work ethic. “She worked both
my sister and me hard,” reflects Bobby. “That sticks with us
today; we are relentless. Our parents instilled in us the idea
of working smart and hard and that you’ll get there faster by
doing both simultaneously.”
Bobby was the first in his family to attend college. He first
went to Troy State University and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocational Rehabilitation/Counseling with a minor
in Psychology and Sociology. He then got a Master’s Degree
in Special Education. After moving to Houston, he got a second Master’s Degree, this time in Education Administration
at Prairie View A&M to become a Principal.
In 2001, Bobby was motivated to move to Houston because of the economics. “I had a wife and two young children. In Mobile, when we came back from college, there was
still a small town mentality. Mobile wasn’t able to hold us
culturally, economically, or recreationally. In addition, we
needed a new start because we were experiencing a recession in the transportation industry and I had been in the
trucking business since the late 1990s.”
When Bobby and his wife at the time were newlyweds,
they attended a family reunion at his wife’s uncle’s house
in Jonesboro, Georgia. “Her uncle, Vincent Williams, was
the epitome of what a successful gentleman represented,”
said Bobby. “Classy would not even define him; he was way
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