For almost 40 years Vance Porter has been a staple of the Ardmore community.

Residents may recognize him from a number of places and in a number of different capacities. You may know him from his volunteer activities or his work with the Chamber of Commerce. You may know him from his time at Lowes or Staples. But now you’re just as likely to see him at the very place that first brought him to town, Walmart.

Porter and his family moved to Ardmore in 1988 when Porter was given the position of manager of the Ardmore Walmart (which was located where Harbor Freight is today). He shared his first memory of pulling up to his store.

“When we got here, the first thing I remember was pulling up to the store and seeing shopping carts all over the place,” Porter said. “I was thinking about what we were going to do about that.

“Just so happened a lady from Sunshine Industries came up and said she wanted to talk to me about a new program they were starting up in Ardmore. So she started talking to me about employing the disabled, and after a few sentences I asked when they could start.”

The store ended up hiring one man for the carts, and he worked out so well the store hired more.

He then told about how Ardmore got its first Easter Egg hunt in 1989.

“There was one in Lone Grove but nothing here,” Porter said. “So I visited with the radio station, KYNZ, and talked to them about partnering together for starting an Easter Egg hunt for Ardmore. They agreed so we started getting stuff together. We did plastic eggs, and did real eggs too at first but that was a mistake.”

That was the beginning of The Great Easter Egg Hunt. The first year there were 5,000 eggs which grew to 7,500 the second year. It continued to grow up to 25,000 eggs at its peak, but they have taken that number down to 10,000 eggs after the City of Ardmore and the Elks Lodge began their hunts.

Porter then told about how Ardmore’s current Walmart came into being.

“I remember my first Christmas that I was here, the entire parking lot was full and people were parking where Aldi is now and walking across Commerce to come to the store. People were parking six blocks away and walking,” he said. “It was absolutely insane.

“I called my regional vice president up and asked them when I was going to be getting a new store. He said he was trying to get us a 118,000 square foot prototype. He told me I could get you an 86,000 square foot next week but corporate is telling me Ardmore isn’t big enough to support such a big store. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him let’s fight for it. I want the big one.”

The next thing Porter knew, he was driving Sam Walton’s son around Ardmore looking at various locations. Porter said he personally chose the location it is at because it’s on some of the highest ground in town.

“I had already decided I wanted it to be where it was at because I wanted it to be at the highest point in town because that old building would flood,” he said. “I remember once a person’s car almost floated away one time and the only thing that stopped it was it got stuck on one end by a fire hydrant and on the other end by a semi parked at the store.”

The new Walmart proved to be incredibly successful, and Porter stayed manager for a number of years until his retirement. But if you know Porter at all, he’s not the kind of person to “retire.”

He stayed busy and worked for a number of businesses after his retirement. But last year, he got a text message from Walmart’s current general manager, Summer Willis.

“Summer Willis came here last April and one day she talked to Chauvin Aaron,” Porter said. “I got a text message from her, and she said that he told here I was the person to talk to about community involvement. Then she told me, ‘I hear you’re the Walmart legend.’”

Vance met with Willis last July, and they walked through the store where Porter could see the improvements taking place.

“She told me that she’d like to pick my brain, and I said why don’t you just hire me,” Porter said. “I can tell you that the previous manager had been trying to hire me for five years. I liked him, and he was a good friend, but I wouldn’t work for him. But I really liked what Summer was doing.”

Porter said he’s enjoyed his time back at the store.

“I try to go through the store at least once a day to just visit and talk to customers,” he said. “It’s amazing the number of customers I’ve seen that have told me they’re so happy to see that I’m back.”

But he said everything at Walmart is a team effort.

“It’s a team effort along with many dedicated associates striving to help our community and the various non profits achieve some of their goals,” Porter said. “Our goal is to also make Walmart a pillar of the community.”