Keith King says he still enjoys coming to work at J.D. Lanham Supply Co. after 46 years there.
King, who co-owns Lanham’s with Henry Nunley, says the Greenwood appliance business has adapted over time to many changes, including environmental laws and consumer tastes — and “some problems come up sometimes, but we can handle them.”
Overall, “it’s been a good job,” he said.
King, 65, was born in Greenwood and graduated from Greenwood High School in 1975. He said the city was a good place to grow up, and he had a sense then that he would remain in the area for the long term.
After graduating, he started working at Lanham’s, where he was trained to repair appliances.
He did that for about five years before shifting over to sales. The business was changing with the introduction of new items such as VCRs, camcorders and microwave ovens, and some people were uncertain how to sell them. But he found he had a knack for communicating with customers.
“That could’ve come from the service end of it,” he said. “You’re close to them, and you’re working on their products; it came, I think, naturally.”
He said he had good mentors, including Cliff Burrell and Ray Roberts, who taught him a lot. For example, he said, “you make sure that you sell the customer what they want, not what you want to sell.”
He always had a sense of the history of the store, which J.D. Lanham started as a plumbing and electrical business in 1904 and left to his adopted son, Robert Howell. Howell left the store to its employees after his death in 1980.
King moved up in the business over the years, holding various positions before becoming the top manager about 20 years ago when Roberts retired.
He felt he was well prepared for the job, having gained experience in every aspect of the operation.
“It’s good that you have known all about the business from service to delivering to ordering to selling,” he said. “It’s good that you can say that you’ve been there when an employee has a problem.”
He became an owner about three years ago. Nunley also has a lot of experience, having worked there 30 years. That kind of longevity makes a difference, King said.
“That means a lot in an attitude of a person,” he said. “It also means a lot when you have employees who see that you’ve been here that long; it must be a good place to be.”
The coronavirus pandemic has required some adjustments, because it affects businesses’ ability to get product in, but they’re managing, he said.
“You’ve got to use your imagination on how and where you’re going to get that product so you’ll have something to sell,” he said.
King lives in Carrollton with his wife, Marilyn, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons — Kris, who lives in Starkville, and Brian, who lives in Pascagoula — and six grandchildren. He is a member of Old Union Church of Christ in Carroll County.
He said his health is good, and he plans to stay on the job a few more years, “as long as the health permits.” He is getting close to reaching a goal he set years ago of surpassing Burrell’s tenure of 47 years at Lanham’s.
In his spare time, King enjoys fishing, hunting, and flower and vegetable gardening. A member of the Delta chapter of the Mississippi Archaeological Association, he also likes to hunt for arrowheads and other historical artifacts in cultivated farm fields and creeks, mostly in Leflore and Carroll counties.
“I’ve always enjoyed history,” he said. “I think if I had not gotten into this, my goal would have been probably to be an archaeologist in an earlier life — a history teacher or an archaeologist.”
- Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
