After a Career of 53 Years, Oeding is Retiring from Balcones Minerals
Gene Oeding sits behind his nameplate at his desk at Balcones Minerals, with samples of two of the business’ popular products, Absorb-N-Dry and Sani-Sorb, to his left and right. Photo By Melanie Berger A portion of the company’s facilities as it appears today. Presently, Balcones Minerals produces industrial absorbent products, cat litter and soil amendments. The facility is located at 233 Balcones Lane in Flatonia. Current Balcones Minerals Corporation employees gathered on Tuesday morning, June 16 to take a photograph with Gene Oeding, who is retiring after 53 years. Those present included (left side, from left) Filimon Grifaldo, Emilio Romero, Emanuel Summerling, Leonardo Trejo, Kenyon Guyton, Kobe Burton, Becca Heinrich, Marcelina Cruz, Rodney Muras, Gene Oeding, (right side, from left) Benny Miller Jr., Gerardo Juarez, Santiago Ibarra, Lecharles Henderson, Regulo Correa, Romaldo Juarez, Tavier Evans, Colt Freytag, Francisco Manzano, Alvaro Rodriguez and Juan Hernandez. Not shown are Alejo Rodriguez, Antonio Salas, Delbert Zoch and Lisa Muras. Photo By Melanie Berger Photo By Melanie Berger
After 53 years, Gene Oeding is retiring from Balcones Minerals Corporation at the end of June. His career at Balcones Minerals will be celebrated at a retirement party, being held on Tuesday, June 30 from 3-6 p.m. at Robert’s Steakhouse. The public is invited to attend and wish Oeding well in his retirement.
Oeding’s career at Balcones Minerals started in February 1973.
Gene was born Oct. 25, 1945 in La Grange to Elmer and Ira Oeding at the hospital which existed in La Grange at the time. The doctor at that time was from Moulton, and had converted a large house into a hospital.
Gene graduated from La Grange High School in 1964. He went to Blinn College at first, and then transferred to Southwest Texas State Teachers College. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, management and marketing in 1969.
He worked in Houston for a few years as a state auditor, and during this time married his wife, Anna Schovajsa of La Grange, on April 24, 1971.
After marriage, Anna and Gene lived in the Houston area initially. Anna taught mathematics as a school teacher in the Houston area, commuting to the League City area, then transitioning to Clear Lake, and eventually to Spring Branch.
“Then I got a call from the president of Balcones Minerals, that we needed some help here in Flatonia,” Gene Oeding said.
Gene’s father-in-law, Henry Schovajsa, was the president of Balcones Minerals.
“The company was kind of a fledgling company,” Oeding said. “The company needed to start upgrading, and with my business degree, I could do that for him. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll give it a shot.’” When Oeding became involved in the company in 1973, there were about eight employees. Today, Balcones Minerals employs 28 full-time and part-time.
“In February 1973, I moved to this job, really to revamp the sales and the organizational operation here,” Oeding said. “We had one plant manager, and the secretary/office manager happened to be Adrienne Brunner – a sweet gal that she is – she stayed with me for 50 years before she retired. She was the mainstay in the office area.”
Business kept growing, and machinery and employees were added to handle the output. After a few years, Oeding was in sales and general operations.
Balcones Minerals does everything in house – mining the clay, hauling clay over to the processing area, processing it, running it through the warehouse mill and packaging.
“We’ve really enjoyed the luxury of not having to truck in our own material,” Oeding said. “Our main [location] of mining area for clay is across Highway 90 from Balcones Minerals, a half-mile, give or take. We do have some other areas. They’re close, but we don’t actively mine them like we do over here.”
Balcones Minerals Corporation was opened by J.F. Chupick and his son-in-law Ballard Bennett. They were joined by Henry Schovajsa, who was an attorney from La Grange and served as Fayette County Judge from 1951 to 1966. Initially, Chupick was president of the company and Bennett was vice president. In 1964, Schovajsa became president and guided the company until 1992, when Oeding became president and then served in that capacity until 2018. Rodney Muras, hired on April 2, 2012, became president of the company in 2018, and is still in that capacity today. Muras is also the plant manager of Balcones Minerals. Rodney’s wife, Lisa, succeeded Adrienne Brunner in 2015 as the office manager of Balcones Minerals. Today, Rodney and Lisa run the company.
“We’ve always tried to be proactive,” Oeding said. “There’s so many companies that linger around and some of the people with the know-how in the hierarchy die, and don’t have a plan. We have always tried to be proactive and it’s common sense to have people, after they’ve been trained, to lead the company.”
Most of the Balcones Minerals employees have been at the company for over 20 years, with a few being there for over 30 and a couple for over 40 years.
“It’s been due to good leadership for 53 years,” Rodney Muras said.
“Everything was done very manually back when Gene and Adrienne started,” Lisa Muras said. “Now, we have been able to change that over the years. Today, we have a robot out there that is stacking the bags, and then we use pallets and forklifts to pack up the truck.”
Although Oeding is retiring from Balcones Minerals, he is remaining on the board of the corporation, where he currently is vice president.
“I’m not retiring and going away; I’m still here for consultation if needed, for whatever,” Oeding said. “Two heads are better than one. I’m going to be basically consulting.”
In retirement, Gene said that coming to work every day will be a hard habit to get rid of.
“I’m still healthy and mobile, and I’m blessed with decent health,” Oeding (age 80) said. “I’m looking at doing volunteer work with First Presbyterian Church of La Grange, AMEN, Second Chance, and plan to volunteer at the hospital if they ever open again.”
Gene said his wife Anna is very active in some of the volunteer programs at the First Presbyterian Church in La Grange. They have nieces, nephews, and god-children.
Oeding said that he also has some farms that need attention. But he plans to still be present in Flatonia and come to Balcones Minerals as needed.
“You have to stay active. If nothing else, to keep the mind sharp,” Oeding said.