Duke (Larkin) Dunkle started working for the company on December 30, 1991, which was then Wampler Longacre Chicken (a subsidiary of Wampler Longacre, Inc.) He began his 34-year career with the company, after graduating from West Virginia University, at the Broadway, VA plant in Live Production as a Service Technician. After a year in Broadway, he decided to transfer to Moorefield to fill a position as a Broiler Service Technician. The plant was going through the expansion and it was a good opportunity to get closer to home. Duke continued to work as a Broiler Technician for over 20 years until he was offered and accepted the Building Coordinator position. He is currently the Assistant Broiler Manager and is still working to add more broiler houses in the area.
I asked Duke how much has changed since he started working for the company, and he said that almost everything has changed. A lot of the equipment in the houses are now computerized instead of having to do everything manually. There are more people now and many reports that need to be completed for various data such as bird weights, operational and environmental factors, just to name a few.
Duke and I talked about the supervisors and managers he has worked for during his years with the company. He said he has had several good managers over the years.
When I asked Duke about the most memorable event he remembers since he started working, he said it was during the flood of 1996. There were several of them who spent a lot of time cleaning up after the flood and there were many losses.
When Duke isn’t working, he likes spending his time with his family and working on his small farm. He has four children and seven grandchildren with one on the way!
What does the future hold for Duke? He still has a few years until retirement, but would like to continue working with us until he can retire. When he does retire, he wants to keep up his small farm and spend time with family.
Thank you, Duke, for your dedication, hard work and loyalty to our Company!
About Pilgrim’s
Pilgrim’s employs more than 56,000 people and operates protein processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K. and continental Europe. The Company’s primary distribution is through retailers and foodservice distributors. For more information, please visit www.pilgrims.com.
