On June 25, 2023, Glenn Roberts, a founder and longtime owner of Dalton Marine, passed away. Almost one full year later, Roberts’ daughter Michelle Puryear, his grandson Price Puryear and his wife of 68 years Phyllis Roberts are continuing to keep the family business going.
“It was real important to my dad and it was really important for him to pass it on,” Michelle Puryear said.
Puryear now manages the store, which has remained family-owned and operated for more than 50 years.
“My son loves our business and we just want to keep it going and healthy,” Puryear said. “And Dalton has been a big part of that because without our customers we wouldn’t be here.”
In operation since 1968, Dalton Marine sells a wide selection of boating products, including pontoon boats, bass boats and marine parts and accessories. It also operates as a full service shop, which services boats, motors and trailers.
“And we’re one of the oldest Ranger Boats dealers in the United States,” Puryear said.
Building off a passion
The business began when Glenn Roberts came together with a group of friends and fellow avid fishermen, including Grady Garrison, Bill Stone, Garmon Baggett and Joe Manis. The business-savvy group had wanted to open a store in town that carried fishing and hunting supplies.
Previously, Roberts had worked as an automotive mechanic and owned a business alongside Bob Babb on South Hamilton Street.
“But he loved fishing and hunting,” Puryear said. “That was his passion, so he and a few friends decided to open this up.”
When Roberts and his business partners first tested the waters of their new venture, Puryear said it was “more of a sporting goods store.”
“They sold Browning guns and a lot of different sporting goods,” she said. “They also sold Suzuki motorcycles. So, it was a little bit of everything. But eventually, it evolved into just the boats and motors. We’re strictly marine now.”
Four years after the opening, a 17-year-old Wally Wilkins joined the fold in 1972. Fifty-two years later, Wilkins still serves as a lead technician at the store.
“When I joined, that’s when the bass boat industry was just getting going,” Wilkins said. “Nobody really knew what a bass boat was at that time, so I’ve kind of been in it from the beginning.”
“I graduated (high) school when I was 17 and I went to Dalton Junior College at that time,” he said. “I went for two years over there and then worked with Glenn. I had told some folks it was supposed to have been part time and I worked about 40 hours a week. That was part time back then.”
Changes over the years
During the last half-century, Wilkins said he’s been able to observe the progression of the boating industry.
“There’s an enormous difference in product and reliability from the older days up until now, really in every aspect,” Wilkins said.
One of the larger changes includes electronic innovations, including the evolution of equipment such as personal locator beacon devices.
“Back then, they used to be full-on locators and now they’re just something to locate depth,” he said. “Now, it’s like everything else. They have a GPS and forward- and down-looking sonar. It’s really incredible, the difference in it. People used to fish, now it’s like they’re watching like a video game. They can fish and watch the bait underwater and never look up, really.”
Wilkins said after the first four or five years, Roberts bought most of his business partners’ pieces of the company, eventually taking the reins by himself.
“In 1975, we moved into the building that we’re in now (at 1117 E. Morris St.),” Wilkins said. “We were originally down the road at 403 E. Morris St.”
He said it was “always an adventure” working alongside Roberts.
“There was always something exciting going on,” Wilkins said. “We had a little bit of everything, including the motorcycles and the handguns and long guns. Glenn wasn’t as interested in the motorcycle end of it as he was with the sporting goods and fishing, so around 1979, he sold the Suzuki dealership to Ray Ridley’s Harley-Davidson (shop). At that time, it was up on Glenwood (Avenue) where the Kawasaki shop is now.”
Puryear, who has worked at Dalton Marine for the last 36 years, began not long before a second location was opened in Acworth in 1990.
“My dad ran that store,” she said. “He drove to the outskirts of Atlanta every day for probably 30 years until he couldn’t anymore, and that’s when he closed the store down in 2019 and came back here.”
She said he worked in Dalton before retiring in 2022 due to his health.
“It has been hard not having him here to sound off and make decisions,” Puryear said. “He had this business for a long time and he was very well-liked. He even started one of the oldest first bass clubs in the state of Georgia called the Conasauga Bassmasters. It’s still going today.”
Wilkins said he learned an enormous amount from Roberts, both “business-wise and mechanical-wise.”
“He was very instrumental in everything,” Wilkins said. “He hung around with us for as long as he could until the last year or so. His health was declining, so he couldn’t come around very much.”
Sailing toward the future
“We’re taking on a new bass boat line and trying to grow the business in a slowed economy,” Puryear said. “It was very important to him; this was his life. He really enjoyed working. He loved his customers and they loved him.”
She said having Wilkins remain an integral part of the team is “a blessing.”
“As a technician, he’s just very blessed with knowledge; he’s knowledgeable about anything in the marine industry,” she said. “He’s like part of our family.”
Wilkins said a key to keeping the business running for so long is consistency.
“We’ve managed probably one of the longest, consistent marine (shops) anywhere around the Southeast that I know of,” he said. “Glenn was a big part of that and we’re doing what we can to try and keep that going.”
Puryear said she wants Dalton Marine to be more visible in the local community. She said a large percentage of customers come from out of town.
“I have people come in all the time saying ‘I didn’t know you were here,'” she said. “It just amazes me that we’ve been here this long and there’s so many people that don’t know that we’re here. I believe people think they have to go to Chattanooga or Atlanta to buy a boat and they don’t realize that we carry the most legendary and expensive bass boat there is (Ranger) and have a very nice pontoon line. They can really find what they need right here.”