Don Heimark Oral History
Don Heimark recounts the origins of his family's desert beer-distribution business and its connection to the soldiers training at the Desert Training Center.
Don Heimark, son of Rudy Heimark, relates the family story preserved in this oral-history recording.
The Heimark Connection
Rudy Heimark entered the beer-distribution business in 1937 after helping complete a delivery stranded in the desert heat. By the early 1940s, he was distributing Schlitz beer as General George S. Patton's Desert Training Center brought thousands of soldiers into the region.
Heimark's familiarity with the Coachella Valley and surrounding desert helped his operation supply remote military camps. Family oral history preserves the story of those deliveries and the business that later became Triangle Distributing Company.
Don Heimark
Don joined his father Rudy and Jim Fleming in the Triangle Distributing partnership in 1957 after returning from service in the Air Force. His recollections connect a regional family enterprise with the daily experience of soldiers training for combat in North Africa.
Read the Heimark history and supporting material on the DTC History page.