Blake Lovette, former president of Holly Farms, former NCC chairman and a community leader in Wilkes County, North Carolina, died Tuesday morning September 29, 2020 with his family present at Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem, according to his obituary.
Blake Lovette during his NCC chairmanship, 1984-86
“Not only was Blake committed to the businesses he ran, he was committed to the poultry industry, having served multiple terms as NCC chairman, from 1984-1986,” said NCC President Mike Brown. “In fact, he was the last chairman to serve more than one term. Blake was a true leader, in the poultry business and the community, a forward thinker and a pioneer of the modern chicken industry. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, colleagues and all who were privileged to know him and to work with him.”
Lovette, one of the seven children of C.O. and Ruth Bumgarner Lovette, was born on Dec. 19, 1942. He was raised on the family farm and sometimes spoke of the work ethic he learned from his parents and from working with his siblings.
Lovette graduated from West Wilkes High School in 1961. After graduating from North Carolina State University in 1965, he went to work in quality control for Wilkesboro-based Holly Farms. His older brother, the late Fred Lovette, was the primary founder of Holly Farms.
Two years later, Lovette became a Holly Farms plant manager in Temperenceville, Va.
In 1976, he returned to Wilkes when he was named Holly’s executive vice president. In 1978, Lovette left Holly and moved to Russellville, to be executive vice president of Valmac Industries Inc. He was named chief executive officer a year later. Lovette developed a line of prepared products for Valmac during his six years with the poultry company.
He left Valmac to work for Perdue Farms in 1985, where he served as president of Perdue’s Shenandoah Products Corp. Lovette returned to Holly Farms in 1988 as Holly’s president and chief operating officer.
Lovette held this top Holly position through the period in which Tyson Foods acquired Holly. He left Tyson in the fall of 1990 when he bought Lovette Egg Co. from Wilkes native Terry Bumgarner.
Lovette renamed the company, which his father started, the Lovette Co. He owned and operated the wholesale meat and poultry distributor until he sold it to Omaha, Neb., based ConAgra Poultry Co. in 1998. Lovette was president of ConAgra Poultry from 1998 until he retired in 2003, the same year Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride became the nation’s second largest poultry producer when it acquired ConAgra Poultry.
Lovette served on the boards of Pilgrim’s Pride and Morris & Associates Inc., which makes refrigeration equipment used in the poultry and other industries. He also worked as a consultant in the poultry industry.
Source: Reins – Sturdivant Funeral Home
In addition to NCC, he also was on the boards of numerous industry-related organizations including, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, N.C. Poultry Federation and Arkansas Poultry Federation.
Lovette was inducted into the N.C. Poultry Federation Hall of Fame in 2010.
He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of North Wilkesboro and was a strong supporter of Wilkes Community College, Rainbow Center of Wilkes, Health Foundation, Yadkin River Greenway, Old Wilkes Inc. and other local organizations.
Lovette married his high school sweetheart, Julia Wooten Lovette of Millers Creek, on June 30, 1963. Mrs. Lovette died in December of 2008.
He was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers, Billy Wade Lovette, Rex Lovette, Fred Lovette and Gene Allen Lovette, also a sister, Bonnie Rhodes Lovette.
He is survived by three daughters, Sena Lovette-Crafton and husband Hal of Conway, Angela Lovette Ware and husband David of Winston Salem and Amy Lovette Lankford and husband Ted of Cary; six grandchildren, Laura Brown Wetzel and husband Will, Catherine Brown Clark and husband Tyler, Blake Ware, Avery Ware, Julia Ruth Lankford and Gus Hall Lankford; great-grandson, John William Wetzel; brother, Pete Lovette and wife Wilma of Wilkesboro; brothers-in-law, Frank Rhoades of Wilkesboro and Charles Richard Wooten and wife Jo Ann of North Wilkesboro; and sisters-in-law, Carol Lovette and Betsy Lovette
A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday October 3, 2020 at Scenic Memorial Gardens with Rev. Matt Farabow officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Inurnment will be in the columbarium of First United Methodist Church of North Wilkesboro at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Julia and Blake Lovette Scholarship Fund Study for the Sciences 3737 Glenwood Avenue Suite 460 Raleigh, NC 27612.
Online condolences may be made at www.reinssturdivant.com
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Blake, please visit the funeral home’s flower store.
