STORE SPOTLIGHT BY C O R E Y E S P Y
Wayne Gilliam Reaches 50 Year Milestone
As of February 2020, Wayne Gilliam reached the milestone of 50 years of service to Tuscaloosa Farmers Cooperative. During those 50 years, Wayne has seen many changes in the Cooperative system. Wayne has worked with many different employees and two store locations. This is a momentous achievement of a career by any stretch. Wayne was raised in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, area on his family’s farm by his mother, father, two sisters and two brothers. Wayne went to Northside High School, which is just outside of Tuscaloosa in Northport, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball. Around this time, there were 250,000 young men called up to the military for the Vietnam War and Wayne was one of those men. During his stint in the military, Wayne spent time at Fort Polk in Louisiana for basic training and Advanced Individual Training. He then moved to Fort Benning,
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Cooperative Farming News
Georgia, for NCO School and infantry training. After his training at Fort Polk and Fort Benning, he served one year in Vietnam with time spent in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. Once he returned, Wayne extended his service for one more year because of the lack of jobs in his area. During his post-tour service, Wayne taught recon for the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky, which included time teaching soldiers from Tuscaloosa. He left the army in January 1971 and went to work for Tuscaloosa Farmers Cooperative. When Wayne originally came to work for Tuscaloosa Farmers Co-op, the store was located in downtown Tuscaloosa on Fourth Street where the Co-op leased a building. When Wayne started, he worked in the warehouse, made deliveries and worked the counter under Bud Taylor who was the general manager at the time. As time went on and Wayne learned the Co-op, he began running the store on days when Bud was away.
