Celebrating 50 years of Old Trails

Three generations celebrate the family-run business in Williams

Fifty years is a long time for a business.

It's a sure sign that the business in question has made it past the bumps and growing pains and is there for the long haul. After 50 years, it could even be argued that the long haul has already been passed by. For one local Williams business, Old Trails True Value, that long haul has been a family affair for over three generations of the Cureton family. Shawn Cureton currently manages the business for the family. His father, Roxen Cureton, has worked, on and off, since he was 14-years-old. Roxen's father Carl Cureton began Old Trails in Williams in 1957.

"In August of 1957 my dad bought an old, run down lumber yard," said Roxen Cureton. "It was owned by Les Perkins. He had a hardware store where the Masonic Lodge is. Part of it was the Mill Café and the rest of it was Perkins Hardware. Les Perkins and my dad were friends all the way from kids to adulthood."

Carl Cureton, father of six (four of whom worked in the business at one time or another) worked as a school teacher for over 24 years prior to buying the lumber mill and continued to do so after purchasing the new business, according to his son. It eventually got to be too much, Roxen added, so his father soon left teaching behind in order to focus his

attention wholly on the lumber yard.