MAROA, Ill. — After deciding to leave the Colfax area, Charles Hamilton could have moved elsewhere in 1955 when he started working for Maroa Lumber Co.
However, Hamilton found an opportunity for a job he liked in Maroa and, at the same time, a place to call home and raise a family.
"I happened to find a business to buy," Hamilton said. "I could have gone several other places. It's harder to move when you have more tying you down, so I stuck with the location."
Looking back, the business has survived while similar ones in size have been swallowed up as larger retailers take over. Hamilton says he is hard-headed.
"We've had a lot a lot of competition, more than we did 50 years ago," Hamilton said. "They haven't run us out yet."
Now, Hamilton's granddaughter, Jennifer Wood, is developing a similar attraction to staying in Maroa as she works at the store.
Wood grew up, along with her brother Andrew Hamilton and sister Liz Hamilton, with the store a major part of their family life. Wood has watched as the town has changed around it, and other businesses have come and gone.
"Maroa was where it was at," Wood said. "Nothing looks the same from when I was a kid."
From a young age, Wood never thought she would end up going far as she pictured herself working at the lumber business, a gas station, McDonald's or Kmart.
"That's what we did and where we went on Saturdays when I was 4," Wood said. "This is all we ever knew."
The lumber company started off in one of the oldest buildings in Maroa, which is across the street from where the business is now at 229 E. Main St. The business moved to its current location in the early 1980s.
In addition to a hardware store in front, lumber, roofing supplies and other materials fill warehouse space for about a block behind it.
"When I was younger, it was a cool place to be as a kid," Wood said. "With so many places to hide, we could spend forever playing hide-and-seek."
For those who watched them as children, Wood knows it's probably hard to imagine any of them sitting behind a desk working for the business.
Unlike her younger siblings who have grown up and moved to jobs in the Chicago area, Wood is married and has for the past 7-plus years contently worked full time for the family business alongside her father, Dennis, and grandfather. She considers herself lucky to learn the business from two men so close to her who know it so well.
Working with them is a different relationship than most people have with their employer but one she enjoys. Conversations can quickly change from discussing the business to talking about something personal, whether it's at the store or on a weekend gathering at someplace such as an Illini game.
Unlike most others in the community who travel to jobs elsewhere, both of Wood's parents live and work in Maroa. Her mother is a middle school teacher.
"It's fun every single day to get to see my dad and grandpa," Wood said. "I wouldn't change it. I decided I liked being here."
Each of the trio brings something different to the business to get all the work done. Dennis Hamilton enjoys finding something to do outside of the store and making deliveries to contractors.
Interacting with customers and not being stuck behind a desk all the time is part of what led him to stay working in the family business.
"This is what I grew up with," said Dennis Hamilton, who started working there in 1974. "I could do a little bit of everything."
Growing up with the store a close part of her life, Wood has seen how it has had to change to stick around for so long. While helping with almost anything, she is now able to handle much of the paperwork that needs to get completed.
"Now we're competing with all the big box places," Wood said. "We've had to change the way we do business."
Charles Hamilton admits he still won't touch a computer but realizes they are necessary tools in today's marketplace. The products the store sells can be found online, making it easy for customers to search, whereas paper and microfilm catalogs are outdated.
"Computers have brought a lot of changes to us," Charles Hamilton said. "They've left me behind, though."
The intercom, however, is still old-fashioned with Wood sometimes yelling down from a second-floor office space to her father at the service counter below.
The store continues to provide personalized customer service and convenience for residents in the Maroa area, which has helped it survive all the ups and downs including the recent economic turmoil.
About a year ago, it added a tool rental department to make it easier for customers to finish projects around their homes. It will soon be adding a computerized 3-D deck design program.
Much of what Maroa Lumber is able to help customers with and sell to them are customized orders.
With the help of his family and technology, it has all led Charles Hamilton to enjoy a semi-retirement at the age of 85. He still stops in the store almost every day, but without feeling like it is necessary to be there by 7:30 a.m. anymore.
Much of the time Charles Hamilton can be found down the street talking with those at the nearby grain elevator.
Information from: Herald & Review, http://www.herald-review.com