Ebby Halliday (born Vera Lucille Koch; March 9, 1911 – September 8, 2015) was an American
realtor and businesswoman who founded ''
Ebby Halliday Realtors''.
She was one of the first successful female
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
s in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
and is recognized as the "First Lady of Real Estate". John S. Baen, a professor of real estate at the University of North Texas in Denton comments,
''she was the first woman to enter what was a chauvinistic profession in a macho state'' and that ''she beat those ol' boys at their own game.''
Halliday was born in
Leslie, Arkansas, and graduated from high school in
Abilene, Kansas, in 1929. She got a $10-a-week job selling women's hats at
The Jones Store
The Jones Store Company was an American chain of department stores located in the Kansas City area formerly operated by Mercantile Stores Company and the St. Louis, Missouri-based May Co.
History
The Jones Store Company was founded in 1887 as an ...
in
Kansas City. In less than a year, she was the top salesperson. In 1938, she was asked to take over the millinery department at Dallas' W.A. Green Store. Soon she had her own Dallas boutique, Ebby's Hats. She founded her real estate company in 1945.
Halliday married former
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
agent Maurice Acers in 1965. Maurice Acers died in 1993. She
celebrated her 100th birthday on March 9, 2011. She died at the age of 104 on September 8, 2015 in her sleep, with her friends and family by her side.
Halliday received the
Horatio Alger Award
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphas ...
in 2005.
See also
*
List of centenarians (businesspeople)
The following is a list of centenarians – specifically, people who became famous as businesspeople – known for reasons other than their longevity. For more lists, see lists of centenarians.
References
{{Longevity
Businesspeople
A ...
References
External links
Ebby Halliday, 98, visits client, 97– The Dallas Morning News
Official siteTop 280 Companies ranked by 2003 sales volume
&ndash
realtor.orgFebruary 2006 Newsletter
– Farmers Branch Chamber of Commerce
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Ebby
1911 births
2015 deaths
People from Abilene, Kansas
People from Dallas
American real estate businesspeople
American centenarians
People from Searcy County, Arkansas
Women centenarians