END OF AN ERA

WALNE FAMILY SELLS HERB’S TO CALIBER COLLISION

ALAN WALNE POINTS to the life-sized photo of his father, Herb, at his Humble Oil Filling station at the southwest corner of Northwest Highway and Easton Road.

“That’s where it all started,” he says. “I’m the little towhead with no shirt and no shoes, and that’s my brother, Andy. Dad is polishing the vehicle.”

And here is where it all ends. The Walnes sold Herb’s Paint & Body to Lewisville-based Caliber Collision this summer after 63 years as a family-owned business.

Herb’s started in 1956 with a service station, a twobay garage and a car wash, and over the years, it grew to eight locations.

“Dad chose that site because it had room for a garage. Then he built the 10-bay garage shortly after that,” Walne says. “Besides the car wash, he later built the collision-repair and body shop.”

Herb Walne opened his first stand-alone body shop at LBJ and Garland Road in 1968.

Alan Walne opened the Richardson store at Arapaho Road and Central Expressway after he graduated from

Texas Tech with a degree in finance.

“I didn’t really plan to,” he says. “But I didn’t have anything else I was hot to do.”

Herb Walne died of lung cancer in 1986. Alan’s son, Robert Walne, joined the company when he graduated from Baylor in 2004. Shops in Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen and a drop-off location near Love Field were soon added.

“We had a lot of really good years, and Robert’s done a great job expanding this thing,” Alan says.

While the demand is there, it’s difficult to find enough skilled employees to fill all of the jobs, says Robert Walne, who is now Caliber’s national director of standard of quality.

“In high schools, the trades aren’t being pushed,” he says. “There used to be a time when things like plumbing and electrical trade skills were offered, but today it’s all about college readiness. Many of our techs don’t go to college. They go into the workforce.”

Alan Walne says he’s proud that the company has

Story by CAROL TOLER

given to community causes over the years, including more than $700,000 to the Down Syndrome Guild through their charity golf tournament.

Herb’s gave to countless Lake Highlands causes; most recently the Northlake Elementary outdoor learning center and the Lake Highlands Elementary walking path.

Alan’s wife, Joan, has served as president of the Lake Highlands Women’s League and president of the Dallas Park Board. Alan led the Exchange Club and served on the Dallas City Council, to name a few of the power couple’s leadership roles. Robert Walne is currently on the Exchange Club board and his wife, Stephani, serves with his sister, Sarah Hefton, in the women’s league. The Walnes also fund an Exchange Club scholarship named for Frances and Herb Walne.

Caliber, a $3.5-billion company, has 1,100 locations in 38 states, and their giving focus is national.

“They’re active with groups that rebuild vehicles and give them to folks, and they support the military, retraining veterans to get jobs in our industry,” Alan Walne says.

The Walnes retained ownership of the land where Herb’s shops sit, and their existing management company, Bottom Line, shifted its focus to real estate.

Breaking the news to longtime employees was emotional, Alan says, but most will keep their jobs under Caliber.

“It’s been an honor to be in the community all these years,” Alan says.

Read the full story online at lakehighlands. advocatemag.com.