64
then signed up for the Armstrong newspaper. When I got
back to Texas, Armstrong sent me my diploma.
I told Armstrong that I wanted to sell flooring. That is
when they told me I would have to have a showroom.
So I took an old travel trailer and painted it blue, took a
piece of plywood and painted a sign reading ‘Waller’s
Floor Covering Day 817-594-3447,’” he said.
That travel trailer was the start of five decades in the
flooring business. But why a career in flooring?
“I liked flooring,” He said. “It wasn’t a job for me,
I just liked it. It doesn’t seem like 50 years. I liked it as
soon as I got in it. I like laying floors. It was always some-
thing for me to do. I worked too many hours. I could not
have done it without my wife and
a lot of prayers.”
Sandra has always been a driv-
ing force behind Jerry’s success
as well as the prosperity of the
business.
By the time he married Sandra,
Jerry had moved his carpet busi-
ness to a storefront, but it was
Sandra’s idea to permanently
move from a travel trailer to their
shop on Church Street.
“I first opened my own store
at 110 York Ave.” Jerry said. “But,
I wasn’t there long. In 1971, I
moved to 113 North Main Street
and featured Columbus and
Sequoyah Carpet, along with a complete s election of
Armstrong Linoleum and Tile. In 1974, my wife and I
opened on the town square at 111 W. Church Street.”
It was at that location that the Wallers expanded
into carpet cleaning, changing their name to “Town and
County Carpet Cleaning,” with Sandra painting the 4x16
sign to accompany it. It was Sandra who kept the busi-
ness afloat during that time. She was and is, as they say,
“the neck,” of the business.
“If it hadn’t been for her, we could have never pulled
it off,” Jerry said. “We stayed there for 19 or 20 years.
That’s when we were able to expand our product line of
Armstrong carpet called, ‘Anything Goes.’ While I would
go on measuring jobs, cleaning carpet jobs, and carpet
laying jobs, my wife would stay in the store. We couldn’t
have stayed in business as long as we have without a
tremendous amount of prayers, seeking God, and having
a loving family. I love and appreciate everything my wife
has done all these years, keeping our faith. She keeps the
books and pays all the bills on time. I will always stand
with her all of my life.”
It was also around that time that Town and County
Flooring turned into a family business. The Wallers now
have seven children, but it is Wallers’ now grown-up
daughter, Sonya, that was the best at helping customers at
a young age. Today, Sonya works in communications for
the Parker County Sheriff’s Office. In her spare time, she
still comes and helps out at the family business, smiling
and speaking to customers as they come into the store.
She has fond memories of her childhood in the carpet
business.
“I grew up in this world. I can tell you everything you
would want to know about carpet. How it’s made, what
it’s made of, everything,” Sonya said.
“She would talk to the customers when they came in
and help them. It was the cutest thing ever,” Jerry said.
Jerry also has fond memories of when his shop was at
111 W. Church St.
“As years went by, all the businesses on the south side
of the square became close,” he said. “Texas Butane, TV
repair store, and others. They all had children, approxi-
mately 11 in all. We called them the ‘kids on the square.’
They would gather after school, play by the trees, in each
parents’ stores and by 5 o’clock would return where they
came from. Good, respectable kids.”
Hot Wheels Lady
In 1989, the Wallers bought their current location, the
Mason building, along with a connecting lot on South
Main Street. A hot commodity in historic downtown
Weatherford, the Waller’s building is the only building
with a parking lot and 5,000-square-feet under roof. In
2000, Sandra went from being in the ceramic business
that she loved to the Hot Wheels business.
“My love was ceramics [and I] went to Duncan’s
school to be a teacher of ceramics, but had to stay in the
carpet shop while Jerry laid floors and did estimates,”
Sandra said. “When Jerry and I needed relaxing time
from the carpet shop, we went antique shopping. Jerry
shopped for marbles and I liked Hot Wheels, and it grew
from there.”
When one walks into the displayed Hot Wheels
collection, it’s hard to not stand and stare at the massive
collection, wondering how many there are.
“I absolutely do not know. I think they multiply every
night. I keep up with them by kind, by the years and what
came out that year from 2000 to 2017. We have slowed
down in 2018, because I’m slowing down,” Sandra said.
Sandra said her favorites are the 1955s to 1957 makes
and models, sometimes made from real cars.
“All these little cars have their own uniqueness,
colors, and the names are very cool. I carry one in my
purse at all times just to give away, to make someone else