Kelly Buckwalter’s tenacious communication skills set the stage for him as a successful new appointee
Kelly Buckwalter is a lifelong resident of St. Charles Parish and has always possessed a silver tongue and a gift for gab. Buckwalter’s tenacity for conversation gave rise to an opportunity for him to join the Port of South Louisiana Board of Commissioners.
The dialogue began when Louisiana State Senator Gary Smith first approached Buckwalter with the idea. Soon, new Parish President Larry Cochran also encouraged Buckwalter – considered a recognizable and loquacious business owner in town – to seriously contemplate accepting the position. Eventually, Buckwalter agreed, and on March 7, the Parish Council officially announced his appointment to the seven-member board.
“I thought about it long and hard and eventually came to the conclusion that this is something worthwhile and that I wanted to do it,” Buckwalter says. “At the end of the day, I’m a people person who was born and raised in the River Parishes and have been here my entire life. And being here, I’ve known for years the role the Port plays in the lives of all of us, whether directly or indirectly. So it was an opportunity that wasn’t hard to accept.”
Buckwalter’s entrepreneurial spirit flourished at a young age, equipping him with more than two decades of business experience today. Like most boys growing up in the early 1970s in Norco, Buckwalter was deeply entrenched in sports, but also enjoyed profitable ventures. His first unofficial capitalistic success consisted of breathing new life into old, unloved bikes – slapping fresh paint on and fixing broken spokes – and flipping them at a higher price.
After graduating from nearby Riverside Academy, Buckwalter dabbled in antiques and other sales-driven jobs before establishing his own Allstate Insurance branch. Today, he owns more than half-dozen businesses in the River Parishes, including three Allstate offices, along with a few food and beverage establishments and a storage facility.
“This has always been home and always will be,” Buckwalter says. “I never wanted to leave because there’s just no place like this place. The people here are real and approachable. They care about you – when they say it, they mean it. They look out for each other. They’ve made it easy for me to be a salesman because you can talk to them, you can have a conversation, you can relate to them.”
Though Buckwalter’s businesses certainly keep him busy, he somehow manages time to involve himself in the community. The father of four was a mainstay at nearly every staple youth activity as his kids were growing up, participating in various fundraisers, many of which involved preparing massive amounts of food. Just a few days before this article’s interview, Buckwalter helped boiled several hundred pounds of crawfish for a Destrehan High School event.
Buckwalter’s civic presence has led to organic relationships with neighbors also making their living at companies in the Port District. It’s with these personal relationships that Buckwalter exemplifies his ability to make decisions to serve both the Port’s as well as the community’s best interest.
“I’ve been self-employed for some time now, but there was a time when I was younger where I worked at a grain elevator, and I have the utmost respect for those hard workers who make their living and take care of their families on the river,” Buckwalter says. “But as I think back, you really don’t grasp the importance of the Port at that age. Only as I’ve got older have I realized the presence of the Port and the numbers involved in the businesses in the Port. So it’s really an honor and a privilege to be a part of all this.”
By William Kalec
