like father, like son I feature story
Ricky, Billy, & Will
McLEOD
three generations of determination
(and growing)
92
June 2014
As told to Lauren Miller Photographed by Jonathan Boatwright
Pictured left to right: Ricky, Billy and Will
(with baby William)
B
illy McLeod did not enter the
grocery store business by
choice. When his father became too ill
to work, Billy was forced to leave the
Air force and return home. Billy’s father
passed away in 1954, leaving him and his
mother to take care of the Piggly Wiggly.
Sixty years and sixteen busy stores later,
there’s no place he’d rather be. The same
goes for his son, Ricky, and his grandson,
Will. With three generations of McLeod
boys running the stores together, they
can be sure to always do the right thing—
but only after they discuss it first.
Discussions, or mild arguments, are
a big part of these McLeod men’s relationship. They often do not agree at first,
but Billy assures that this can be a good
thing. Although there are some disagreements, they work through them. It is a
fact that these three men are very close.
“We’re together all the time,” Ricky says.
“We talk four or five times every day, and
we live close to each other. That allows
us to spend time with each other outside
of work.” Family is obviously a priority
to the McLeods—little William McLeod,
Will’s six-month-old son, accompanied
them to this interview.
“The business is important,” stresses
Will as he bounces William on his knee,
“but family is my number one priority.”
Both Billy and Ricky admit to having
worked a little too much when their children were growing up. This is one of the
reasons they tried to steer Will away from
the grocery store business. “It’s hard,
and at times you never get a break,” explains Ricky. “We work when nobody else
works – holidays and weekends. The grocery business is twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week.” At the age of eightythree, Billy still goes to work every day.
“In this business, you put your life into
it,” he says. Despite his dad’s and grandfather’s efforts to steer him away, Will
joined the family business in 2006 when
he graduated from Clemson. “I always
knew I would carry on the tradition,” says
Will. “It’s what we do.”
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