Laveda Brown enjoyed the owner of the Dairy Palace, her first job, but did not take a liking to her immediate boss’ hard-driving style.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

Who

Laveda Brown, 55, president and CEO of the Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce. Brown also owns Beautiful Reflections Photography. She served several years as a consultant and procurement specialist for McLennan Community College’s Small Business Development Center.

1st summer job

Worked as a cashier and cook at the new Dairy Palace in Madisonville, a small community halfway between Dallas and Houston on Interstate 45. The arrival of a new eating place created a stir there, and Brown was excited to become one of its first employees. It served hamburgers, and Brown learned to prepare white gravy. She continued to work there part time when school started. She later attended Abilene Christian University.

Age

Brown was 16 years old and had her driver’s license when she worked at Dairy Palace. She shared a car with her mother and brother, and they sometimes gave her a lift.

“My parents did not pressure me to go to work. I wanted to work because I wanted my own money and clothes,” Brown said.

She and a girlfriend would ride the bus to Dallas to shop on weekends.

“I wanted to make sure I had the best wardrobe,” she said.

Pay

“Probably the minimum wage,” which was $1.60 an hour in 1972.

Loved

Interaction with the owner, James Otis Carter, who would talk with employees about his hopes of opening other locations.

Hated

“I did not like our boss,” Brown said. “He had been a sheriff at one time, and he was tough — tough and demanding. Most of the staff was teenagers, and this was our first job, and we wanted to goof off and play and, well, be teenagers. But he wouldn’t have that. We didn’t goof off much.”

Lessons learned

“I learned the value of setting goals, having a vision and living into that vision,” Brown said. “The owner was always talking about making his place a chain, and that impressed me thoroughly.”

Dairy Palace, which later became Texas Burger, did grow to include other locations.

Advice on summer jobs

“Set goals and dress for the position,” she said. “Learn everything you can. Be a learner. Learn more than they ask you to know and do more than they ask you to do. Go the extra mile and take pride in what you do."

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