PROFILES GILLIS BROTHERS
Story By JOHN RIDDLE
Photography By ALLEN ALLNOCH AHA! PHOTOGRAPHY
A F A M I LY T R A D I T I O N
Gillis Brothers, Inc.
Dalton, Loretta, Conway, James, and Jared Gillis
The Gillis Family is proud to be carrying on the family tradition of hard work, serving others, and counting their blessings.
C
onway Gillis never imagined that when he was helping his father in his turpentine business in 1945 that he would be working alongside his son and grandsons in the family business seventy-seven years later. The business began as N.L. Gillis and Sons after Tot Gillis, Conway’s father, built a turpentine still in 1945 which produced spirits of turpentine and rosin. “We hauled the rosin to Savannah, Georgia, for exportation to Europe and brought back the fertilizer and sold it to our neighbors and other farmers in the area,” Conway explained. That was their foray into the fertilizer business. As the turpentine business decreased, the farm supply side of the business grew.
SHOWCASING THE REGION’S PERSONALITY
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