ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2010 – Homer Skelton, Owner of Homer Skelton Ford, a Ford dealership in Olive Branch, Miss., was named the TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year from Mississippi.
Skelton was chosen to represent the Mississippi Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.
“Single mothers and children are my heart,” says Skelton, “If I can change even one life of a child, it makes all I do worthwhile—our youth are our future, and I feel it is of utmost importance to invest in their lives.”
After graduating from Alamo (TN) High School in 1950, Skelton launched his nearly six decade career in the automotive industry at Oakley Ford, in 1955, before moving on to Hoehn Chevrolet in 1958. Shelton then decided to go into business for himself, and, in 1964, he opened Homer Skelton Auto Sales, Inc., in Memphis, doubling business in the first month.
Over the next four decades, Skelton purchased and grew numerous dealerships across Tennessee and Mississippi. In 1971, he bought Whitehaven Toyota and changed it to Airport Toyota. Ten years later, he acquired Covington Pike Toyota, and it soon became the #1 Toyota dealership in its region and a President’s Award winner in its last seven consecutive years of ownership. In 1986, Skelton became Toyota’s Chairman of the Board of Governors. Three years later, he bought three more dealerships (Mazda and Hyundai in Memphis and Ford in Olive Branch, MS). In 1993, his daughter, Michelle Skelton Chapman, assumed an active dealer role at Homer Skelton Ford. The business continued to evolve, and in 1997, when Skelton moved to North Mississippi, he sold the Memphis division of Homer Skelton Enterprises. In 2006, he completed a new facility for the Olive Branch Ford dealership, and it became the #1 Ford dealership in region.
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