A FAMILY TRADITION

Story By JOHN RIDDLE

PROFILES

GILLIS BROTHERS

Photography By ALLEN ALLNOCH

AHA! PHOTOGRAPHY

A FAMILY TRADITION 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.

Conway 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.

GILLIS BROTHERS, INC.

Conway Gillis on the porch of the house where his grandparent’s lived. He grew up in a house across a fi eld that was mostly destroyed by fi re.

Conway and his brother, Dougal, incorporated in 1965 as Gillis Brothers, Inc., a full-service farm supply business. When Dougal retired in 1992, Conway and his son, James Jr., bought Dougal’s interests. In 2020, James’ oldest son, Jared, moved home to work with them. More recently his youngest son, Dalton, also joined them making the fourth generation of Gillis' to work in the family business. Even James’ wife, Loretta, is involved daily as the administrator.

Today, Gillis Brothers, Inc., has locations in Millwood and Blackshear. Both are full-service farm supply centers selling fertilizer, seed, and crop protection chemicals to producers. Millwood is also where the farming operation is located which includes 700 acres of row crops and 140 acres of blueberries, as well as, a forestry division that fertilizes and sprays pine trees. Other aspects of the business include a trucking operation operated "out of necessity" to haul the grain and fertilizer. Combined, both locations employ up to 30 people.

They face the same challenges other farmers who can do “everything right” and still experience failure due to the unpredictable nature of the weather and commodity prices. And, during planting and harvesting seasons, from March through October, it's a six-day workweek from sunup to sundown most days.

“I LOOK FORWARD TO GOING TO WORK EVERY DAY.

There is great satisfaction in planting seed and nurturing a crop through the season to harvest. I feel like I’m making a di erence by helping provide food and fi ber to the world.”

JAMES GILLIS

For the Gillis', they are also constantly buying and selling fertilizer, seed, chemicals, and grain along with dispatching trucks while managing a farm.

“Much of our work has changed from labor-intensive to high tech mechanization and requires much more knowledge of computers and sophisticated equipment. While not always physically exhausting, we fi nish many days mentally exhausted," said James. But they agree that harvesting a successful crop is extremely satisfying after a season of long hours and hard work. They take pride in their work and the fact that they are having a positive impact on their community and the world.

“I look forward to going to work every day. There is great satisfaction in planting seed and nurturing a crop through the season to harvest. I feel like I’m making a di erence by helping provide food and fi ber to the world,” said James.

The fact that they are continuing a family tradition of working in agriculture and forestry that dates back to when the Gillis family settled in the northwest corner of Ware County in the late 1800s is not lost on them either. “It is an honor to join our family business. I feel a personal responsibility to my family members, our ancestors, and future generations to expand on the work that was laid long before my time,” Jared explained. “Considering our family heritage, I am grateful to be able to continue the family legacy and for the opportunity to contribute to the success of our family business.”

Dalton agrees, “Being a part of this business is a great opportunity for me. I enjoy working with my family on the farm where I grew up. I consider it an honor to work in the family business that has lasted for over fi fty years,” referring to Gillis Brothers, which started in 1965. “I joined the business to help carry it forward to future generations.”

James summed it up by saying, “We are very thankful for our forefathers who have gone before us and taught us Christian values and a good work ethic.”

While they feel very blessed to be able to carry on their family’s heritage and fi nd their work very rewarding, perhaps their greatest satisfaction comes from the people they work with daily – both their customers and their own family.

“I cannot imagine another profession that would allow me the opportunity to work with and serve such great people and being blessed to be able to work with my family every day,” James explained. “Farmers and their families are some of the fi nest people on the planet and I consider them friends more than customers,” James said. “They are just good Christian people who get up every day and try to do what’s right.”

The business has changed drastically since Conway helped his father with that turpentine still and since he and his brother started Gillis Brothers, Inc., in the mid-1960s. “In 1965, I did not think about how long the business would last. I was only trying to make an honest living. I am very happy to have my son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons involved in the business,” Conway said.

A lot has changed in the world since then too. “Today, most people have no idea how food is produced. They just expect it to be on the grocery shelves each time they walk in,” James said. “I heard recently that, ‘never before have so few people fed so many for so little’.”

As much as things have changed it’s good to know that some things stay the same. While the Gillis family has adapted through the years, they’ll never change how they feel about the importance of farming, hard work, respect for the land and their fellow man, and their belief in God.

Like Neal McCoy’s country song, the Gillis’, along with other farming families, are the “Last of a Dying Breed.” OL