Profiles in Asphalt

A HISTORY OF S. L. WILLIAMSON CO., INC.
(well, Blair's version at least)

Stirling Williamson, Sr., a 1928 graduate of VMI and Valedictorian of his class, founded S. L. Williamson Co., Inc. in the summer of 1949.

After VMI, Stirling moved to Charlottesville to work with the City of Charlottesville and shortly thereafter became City Engineer. He was then lured away to run the Waynesboro division of Virginia Asphalt Paving Company - VAPC -(headquartered in Roanoke, VA). It wasn't long before he longed to have his own company and with a $10,000 loan and the backing of Jack Cunningham, President of VAPC, he ventured out on his own. Company records indicate the capital assets in the first year were a typewriter, a station wagon, a distributor and a dump truck with a tailgate spreader. I am not sure why, but somewhere along the way he earned the nickname "Sweet Potato."

As you might imagine, Sweet Potato, had a son, Stirling L. Williamson Jr. (my father), who was also a VMI graduate- Class of 1958 and Valedictorian of his class. Stirling, Jr., worked alongside his father and was dubbed "Little Sweet Potato," a moniker he was not particularly fond until the sudden death of his father in 1971. Dad ran the company on his own for a number of years until Shawn Mooney came on board.

Shawn started his-career at SLWCO paving during the summers while finishing his undergraduate degree at Randolph-Macon. In short order, it became clear-to Dad that Shawn would be a huge asset to SLWCO and offered him the job of Estimator. Shawn agreed with the condition that he could still pursue his Masters Degree in English at UVA at the same time. This must have been in the early 70's. After Shawn completed his Master's he accepted the position of Vice President. We have yet to come up with any good nicknames for Shawn, although he remains the best nickname-maker in the company. Shawn also has the uncanny ability to remember every job he has ever seen and the exact bid amounts for every VDOT bid for the past 30+ years.

Fast forward twenty years to 1992, and along I come (Blair Williamson -- daughter of Stirling Jr), a starving architect and VPI graduate - definitely not a Valedictorian. With absolutely no experience in the paving world and the desire to emulate my Dad (now referred to affectionately by all as Big Daddy). I finally got a job shoveling asphalt as that was all that I was qualified to do at the time. After many mistakes and some hard work, I became President of the company in 2003. I thought that 2003 was the year of the perfect storm: liquid asphalt prices went through the roof, it rained EVERY DAY and the harder I worked the more money we lost. It turned out, in hindsight, that I had just experienced my first bad year and was reassured by Big Daddy that they would not all be so bad. I was not totally convinced and thought that I had certainly sent the company spiraling downward.

I have since come to learn that not all years can be great, but we can always have fun doing it. And although my crystal ball is a little fuzzy, the future looks very bright. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to lead the company with Big Daddy in the background, allowing me to try new things and offering suggestions on ways not to re-invent that wheel. It is my hope that I can be half the leader that he is and that he will stay with us for many years to come.