Retiring Again
Leaf Got Him,
Land Kept Him
by KAY De HART
Tobacco brought W. G. Bullock to Valdosta
from Raleigh N.C., in 1926 and the real estate business has kept him
here for 42 years.
Now, at 75 years of age, Bullock is reluctantly
retiring from the real estate business and moving to Decatur.
He has retired from his work before, once
when he reached Social Security age of 65. At 72 he went back into business
and retired again a year later.
"For the past two years I haven't done
any business," said Bullock, sitting in a swivel chair in his office
at his residence at 207 E. Gordon St. "I'm resigning now because I just
can't run the office anymore."
Though Bullock and his wife are moving
to Decatur to be near two of their six children, the long-time real
estate man may not be moving away from his work.
"Possibly I'll be able to get into the
real estate business up there," said Bullock, who has been in poor health
for the past few years. "It all depends on if I improve. I never did
want to get out of the business. And I don't want to get out now."
When Bullock moved here in 1926 he was
in the tobacco planting business. He went into real estate in 1930 when
the tobacco business went bad, he said.
* * *
At that time, he was one of three legitimate real
estate men in town. But there were a lot of street walkers in real estate.
Bullock said street walkers were men dealing in real estate who did
not have an office and would "go around and pick up what they could."
During the depression, said Bullock, "I
sold more real estate than I've sold lately. There were plenty of people
in Valdosta that had money and were looking for bargains. Land was cheap
then. " [sic] I could advertise a house in the morning and sell it before
the paper came out."
It was not until the 40s that the real
estate business here started growing and bringing in opposition, said
Bullock. In 1943 he and the late Paul Lilly Sr. started trying to organize
some sort of control board for the real estate business here.
Five years later, in August of 1948, Lilly
and Bullock and seven other real estate men formed the Valdosta Real
Estate Board. Bullock was its first president and served two more terms
as president.
"We felt the need for it," he said of
the board. "It's just like any other organization. It's better to work
together instead of pulling against each other." Today the board has
19 members, he said.
Monday, members of the Valdosta Real Estate
Board honored Bullock at their meeting . Paul Lilly, Jr. son of the
original co-founder of the board, presented him with a plaque citing
his 20 years of service to the board and a life-time membership on the
board.
The president of the Georgia Association
of Real Estate Boards, Walter Scott of Decatur, presented Bullock with
a life membership plaque in the state association.
His retirements "didn't make me mad,"
said Bullock, "because I can fish most of the time.
"I'm
crazy about it. I never fished before my first retirement."
Though he doesn't really want to leave
Valdosta, he doesn't mind moving to Decatur. "They have got some of
the finest fishing there in the world," he said.
[Source: Original newspaper clipping, [Valdosta] Times
with photo, not dated but likely 1968; courtesy of M. Griner.]
Transcript of a speech given in honor of William G. Bullock
Mr. Chairman, Guests, and fellow members of the Valdosta Real Estate
Board, this is a very special day for us. We are here to honor one of
our oldest and most valued members, W. G. Bullock.
As we look back over
the past 20 years, Valdosta has experienced many wonderful changes.
Population of our city has greatly increased, new industries, new payrolls
and new people have come to our community. Urban renewal, new highways,
new schools, a new hospital, and an enlarged 4 year college, just to
mention a few of the improvements which have taken place, are now a
part of the new Valdosta. We, as Realtors, are proud of these improvements
and are proud to have had an active part in many of them. Even more
recently, our board made an extensive study of taxation in our county
which led to our recommendation to the city and county for a revaluation
program which we felt was needed in order to equalize the burden of
advalorum taxation.
Throughout the years, our objective has been a better
and more progressive Valdosta. We are proud of our city and county and
state and pledge to you today that we will continue to work for the
good things for Valdosta. This attitude and spirit had its beginning
approximately 25 years ago and then as now, Mr. Bullock played a prominent
role in these affairs.
In 1943, while World War II was raging, a smaller
but intensive battle was begun in Valdosta. A drive to unite the Real
Estate Brokers of Valdosta into an effective Board of Realtors was begun
by W. G. Bullock and Paul Lilly, Sr. It was an uphill battle, to convince
the few Brokers in the business at that time that membership in the
National Association of Realtors would be worth all the effort and expense
involved. Twenty five years ago, Real Estate Brokers were slow to see
the benefits of organization and teamwork; they could not understand
how much MORE it meant to be a Realtor than a Broker, and their cooperation
was not always 100%. (Aren't we glad they are much different today?)
We all know that Mr. Bullock has all the earmarks of a fighter. It took
five years of campaigning, maneuvering, and persuasion, for Mr. Bullock
to fight off all the arguments and objections of his fellow Brokers,
and finally, in August 1948, the Valdosta Real Estate Board was organized.
The Charter was received in November 1948, which means in two months
we will officially be twenty years old.
There were nine Charter members;
Emory Bass, W. G. Bullock, Henry Hicks, Nelse Holcombe, Paul Lilly,
Sr., O. M. McGregor, Henry Rhodes, Grover Stewart and Henry Tillman.
Mr. Bullock was elected President and served in 1948 and 1949. He has
been President on three different occasions, was elected Secretary and
Treasurer several times (from which position he is now retiring). He
has been a Director off an on throughout the lifetime of our Board,
and has been active on State Association Committees a number of times.
Probably no member of our Board has been more loyal and faithful to
the local, State and National Organization than W. G. Bullock. He attended
every State Convention, except when he was out of the state, until 1962,
when declining health forced him into semi-retirement. Mr. Bullock was
a regular attendant at many of the quarterly Directors meetings (2 of
which have been in Valdosta), and he has always brought back to the
Board enthusiastic reports gleaned from contacts with successful Realtors
throughout the state.
The Valdosta Real Estate Board will miss Mr. Bullock.
He doesn't always agree with everything that goes on in our meetings,
and he'll let you know it when he doesn't! He is forthright in his beliefs
and statements, scrupulously honest in everything he does, and has always
taken an active stand for ethics, morality and fair dealings. He has
managed somehow to keep us afloat when our finances ran low, and has
bolstered our enthusiasm in his strict adherences [sic] to the rules
of our Board and the State and National Associations.
Our Board commends
Mr. Bullock for his long and untiring service. We appreciate him for
his high principals [sic] and beliefs and express our gratitude to him
and Mrs. Bullock and wish for them all of the good things in life as
he leaves us.
[Source: Typewritten (2 1/4-page, double-spaced) copy
of speech, presenter unknown, date estimated to be September, 1968;
courtesy of M. Griner] 