the ballfields around Charlotte before
he and his brothers started a small com-
mercial paving business,” according to
Mike Lee, the eldest of B.R. and Nelda
Lee’s four children and still a LeeBoy
employee.
Using shovels and lutes to spread
truckloads of hot mix was backbreak-
ing, dirty work that paid little. A drag
box paver would have been a huge help
but was financially out of reach for the
Lee boys. (Yes, that’s how the company
eventually got its name.) So B.R. did
what came naturally, he built his own.
“Momma and Daddy’s first house was
modest. He built a garage on the side
of it and that’s where he built his first
pull-box paver,” said Mike. But to say
he built those early machines entirely
by himself wouldn’t be accurate. Often-
times his wife Nelda served as his right
hand, literally.
“She would hold the steel in place
while he welded,” Mike explained. “Ev-
ery time he’d finish a couple of pavers,
he’d load them up on a trailer hitched to
his 1959 Cadillac and hit the road. He
Left to right: Tommy (son-in-law), Keith (son),
Mike (son) and Eric (son). All work in LeeBoy
Research & Development.
wouldn’t come home until he sold them
all.”
The exposure within the local paving
community was enough to create inter-
est. Most importantly, their interest re-
affirmed what B.R. intuitively knew: an
affordably priced, self-propelled com-
mercial paver could be a game-changer
for many small paving companies who
were struggling.
Lesson 2: Take care of your people and let
them pay it forward
Through the 1960s, LeeBoy was little
more than a feel-good story about a suc-
cessful start-up. Even with a successful
first year under their belt, there was no
guarantee B.R. and Nelda would make
it to the second year.
What separates those who survive
from those who don’t? For one thing,
survivors are able to build a strong team
of individuals who are committed to the
founder’s vision and can instill it in oth-
ers who come on board. In BR’s case,
the management team consisted of his
family.
“I started working in the business
when I was 12. My job was to paint
everything he made. I’d go to school
during the day then come home and
start painting and work into the night,”
said Mike. His younger siblings, Eric,
Keith and Sissy have similar stories.
The work ethic B.R. and Nelda in-
stilled in their children was passed
along to the third generation. Brandon
Weese, the oldest of B.R and Nelda’s
eight grandkids, remembers, “My par-
ents were in the shop six days a week.
Continued on page 32
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[31]
April 2019