Barksdale “Dale” Fowler Halton

August 20, 1937 – March 21, 2023

Dale’s grandfather Henry Barksdale Fowler opened Charlotte’s first, as well as the very first Pepsi franchise in 1905. Pepsi was invented 7 years prior by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist who created the drink and sold it at his soda fountain as “Brad’s drink”. It was so popular he mass produced it and he needed bottling franchises in order to make it available to rural customers. Fowler mixed the syrup in a blacksmith shop and sold the Pepsi from two horse drawn carts. He then bought the first chain driven truck, which was the country’s first soda truck. His business survived the bankruptcy proceedings of the Great Depression and since 1939 the company was located on South Boulevard.

Dale Halton’s father Henry Dick married Henry Fowler’s older daughter Elizabeth Fowler. They had one daughter, Barksdale, who was raised in Charlotte. Called Dale, she attended Myers Park High School. Dale had dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, however she did not pursue it as a career and instead attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. There she met and married her first husband Tucker Johnston and they had three children. They returned to Charlotte from Atlanta in 1970. Tucker became president of Pepsi Co Charlotte and Dale served as the Treasurer. Dale and Tucker later divorced and Dale took over the Charlotte Pepsi’s Bottling Company operations. She then married Phil Halton in 1981. After Phil’s death Dale married Fred Wagner.

Halton supervised 270 employees and she grew the family business into a business leader in Charlotte and in the country. In her first seven years her company’s sales increased 60 percent and profits jumped 600 percent. When she eventually sold the company, she generously gave each Pepsi employee $1,000 for each year of service. She received the award for Charlotte Businesswoman of the year in 1987. Dale ran the company for 20 years and Pepsi Co Charlotte became the 9th largest Pepsi bottler in the U.S. It provided a full range of Pepsi products in all or a portion of eight NC counties. Pepsi Bottling Group had sales of 11 billion in 2004, and in 2005 they purchased Dale’s Charlotte Pepsi Bottling Company as part of their strategy to acquire regional bottlers. At the time it was Charlotte’s largest female owned company.