James Eaton

Over the course of James Eaton’s career, he’s been a meat cutter, a concrete worker and a ranch hand. “A great source of inspiration for me is to learn and try new things,” Eaton said. “The more stuff you know, the better off you are.”

Eaton graduated from Dublin High School in 1997, and went on to Texas State Technical College to study computer networking.

He was working part time at David’s (now Brookshire Brothers) supermarket at the time to pay for school, and after a few months his job started getting in the way of his classes. He decided to leave school to work full time, and stayed at David’s for another year before taking a job at the meat market at the Stephenville Walmart.

“I had to go through and learn the trade, how to do different cuts and not chop off my finger, and do it in a speedy manner,” he said. “There was so much you had to turn out in a day to put out on the counter.”

The meat would arrive at the store as half an animal, so Eaton had to learn the anatomy and figure out what cuts to make to get different types of meat.

After nearly six years at Walmart, Eaton’s career took a different direction when he began to pursue his electrician’s license at Schubert Electric in Dublin. However, the business shut down before he could complete his apprenticeship.

Next he took a job at Higginbothams, where he worked for a few years and met his late wife, Kayla Bamber. They married in 2009.

Eaton balanced his job at Higginbothams by working with his father-in-law on some construction jobs. That’s how he met James “Bo” Rice, then the owner of Faux Bois Concrete in Dublin.

Rice offered him a job with the concrete company, and Eaton worked there for years, working with different clients in the community on projects from homes to signs for the Dr Pepper plant. “I enjoyed working with [Rice] and meeting the people,” Eaton said.

When James Rice retired to his ranch in 2019, Eaton continued to work with him as a ranch hand. “I’ve been doing that for two years now,” he said. On a typical day, Eaton and Rice will start on ranch work — from taking care of livestock to patching fences, etc. — at around 7:30 am, and work until it’s too hot.

Eaton is still not done learning — for his next venture, he hopes to attend culinary school in Arlington and pursue a career as a chef.

For now though, he’s enjoying his job at the ranch, and spends much of his free time caring for his mother, Kay Eaton, who lives in Dublin. Eaton’s father, Jimmy Eaton, lives in Comanche.

When he has free time, Eaton enjoys relaxing and playing video games.

Since his wife Kayla passed away in 2018, Eaton has had a hard time dealing with the grief. “Getting over my depression after losing her has been the biggest obstacle to get where I’m at right now,” he said.

He plans to stay in Dublin in the future, because he likes the community and the calm surroundings. “I like that it’s quiet, and there’s no drama,” he said.

Eaton has fond memories of attending school in town, especially of taking ag classes with Danny Prater and science with Jim Easterling. His advice to Dublin students is to “graduate, go to college,” he said. “For a career, pick something that you’re going to like.”

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.