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Wiseman looks back on 50 years in lumber business and ahead to Saturdays off
T.M.Deal Lumber Company of Nevada is closing its doors. Manager J. C. Wiseman has decided that after 50 years working, he is going to cut back his hours.
"I'm looking forward to having Saturdays off." And well he should. Since he was 12 years old, he has worked Saturdays and most evenings. "My Dad told me if I wanted a car at 16, I'd have to work and earn the money for it, and I started early cause I wanted that car," Wiseman said. He worked after school in a radio repair shop, as a newspaper boy, soda jerk in a drug store, and popped pop corn for the local theater. On Saturdays he worked at the Meeks Lumber Company in Lockwood, where his father was manager.
He joined the Air Force, where he met his wife at a basketball game. Shortly after their marriage he was transferred to England. They were there for three years. Their daughter, Keela Jean was born there. "We had a real problem with the birth certificate," Wiseman said with a laugh. "In England you can't use just initials on a birth certificate. I don't have a first or middle name, just the initials J.C. They had to get my commanding officer to verify that." Barbara Jean, his wife, added, "He was named for his two grandfathers, Jay and Clyde; but his name is actually just J.C." An Oklahoma native, Barbara has always worked side by side with J.C. as a bookkeeper and interior decorator for their home building business and also for the lumber companies they have managed. "J.C. and I have had a good working relationship that has worked over the years," she said. Raised with the philosophy of "if you don't work you don't eat," she started working early in her parents grocery store after school and on Saturdays.
After being in the Navy, Wiseman's first day on the job working at Community Lumber Company involved unloading a freight car of cement by hand. "I thought that would kill me that day," he said, grinning. But he soon got used to the hard work of a lumber yard again. "I still have my first paycheck stub," Wiseman added. "It was $15 and I got out with $11.95. We paid for our first new car with those pay checks." He worked with Community Lumber Company first in Lamar, then Butler. Barbara joined the company as bookkeeper after their son Steven Jay was born. They finally settled in Nevada when Community Lumber opened a new yard there. They couldn't find a house, so they built one. They've built several over the years and lived in most of them.
"I build them and Barbara does all the picking the paint and interior decorating part," Wiseman explained about their home building experiences. Since living in Nevada, they have designed, built and decorated the Deer Run housing development, and several local and regional business buildings and properties.
Community Lumber Company sold out to T.M. Deal in 1986 and the couple stayed on with J. C. as manager and Barbara as interior decorator and bookkeeper.
This month, T. M. Deal has sold the local yard to the Nevada Discount Lumber Company which will soon take over the empty building.
"Community and T. M. Deal were both family owned businesses," Wiseman explained. "They both faced the same situation when the youngest generation decided they didn't want to continue in the business, and both decided to sell out. T. M. Deal has been in business for 104 years, but they decided to sell all of their lumber yards. It has nothing to do with anything other than a family decision." They have no intentions of leaving the Nevada area. They are both looking forward to getting more involved with their church, their hobbies, adding more to their Christmas decorating agenda and community activities.
Through the years, J.C. has also been president of the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs and served 18 years as president of the Nevada Regional Medical Center board.
They both agree that "the lumber business has been good to us and we are very grateful to our customers for their loyalty over the years." With Barbara working more than 44 years, and J. C. having worked up to 60 hour weeks for more than 50 years, they are eager to change their lifestyles.
"I'll want to work some," Wiseman admitted, "maybe 20 hours a week. But I'm really looking forward to weekends off!"