John Graves of Eastern States Serum Company
Star Profile
Story and Photo by John Temple Ligon

John Graves

What began in 1951 as a livestock supply center is now catering to cats and dogs. John Graves's father owned Eastern States Serum Company when Richland County had 29 dairies. Today, Richland County has none.

John Graves was born in Greenwood, but he spent his kindergarten time and his first two years of grammar school in Barnwell. After his parents moved to Columbia, Graves attended A.C. Moore Elementary, Rosewood Elementary, Hand Junior High School, and Brookland- Cayce High School through the tenth grade. For his last two years of high school, Graves attended Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Ga.

He has two younger sisters. One works for the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Md., and the other is married to a landscape architect in Columbia.

Graves went to Clemson College in 1961 with little serious intent. He left college to join the Air Force, where he stayed for four years, to include a Viet- Nam tour for six months in 1965.

Following the Air Force, Graves took courses at Gardner- Webb College and also worked in insurance reporting. For the Hooper Holmes Bureau, Graves thoroughly investigated what exactly the customer was insuring.

While he was in the insurance business, Graves met his wife, who at the time was an office worker at Oxford Manufacturing on Bluff Road. Over a 13- year period, they had four children

After his stint in the insurance business, Graves took longer time with the mobile home industry, work- ing his way through management levels to the top. Soon after he had taken charge of a mobile home sales operation, he began his own Charlotte- based company in the field, eventually owning six lots.

In the late summer of 1975, Graves returned to Columbia to work with his father at Eastern States Serum Company. His father died before the end of the year, and Graves took ownership of the business.

Eastern States had considerable mail- order catalog business, as it was still then mostly a livestock supply operation. While Graves moved more drugs and hormones for livestock - and eventually human - consumption, he worried about the impact on personal health. As he slowly shifted Eastern States out of the livestock supply business and into the pet products field, he moved himself out of meat consumption and into vegetarianism.

As a kid, Graves ate meat three times a day. Now, he eats none.

Situated on Harden Street between Barron's Outfitters and Seastrunk Electric, Eastern States Serum Company has an additional sign painted on the front facade: Dog and Cat Supply.

Waiting on dog and cat owners is somehow far more pleasant for Graves than handling the livestock trade. His pet- owning customers have problems to share, and Graves generally offers solutions through pet nutrition. And for what he doesn't think he can help improve, he has his favorite vets in the area to recommend.

Graves is proud of his top- of- the- line labels in premium pet food. And for both financial and personal reasons, he enjoys seeing his customers return. Even though it began mostly as a livestock supply store, as Graves's father had his master's degree in animal nutrition, Easter States Serum Company always sold pet supplies. Graves waits sometimes on third- generation customers.