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Volume 19
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Number 3
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MARCH 2017
Wilson carries on
Taking heroic action
Brandon Wilson and his late father, Les Wilson, shared a bond in and out of the office, and today, Brandon continues Les’ legacy at Alamo Waterproofing.
Bill Thompson founded his own company last year, MWT Construction and Remodeling, which bears the initials of his son, Matthew.
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n 1969, Les Wilson and his wife, Landis Wilson, founded Alamo Waterproofing, and today, their son, Brandon Wilson, is continuing their legacy in honor of their memories. “My father, mother and I worked together for nearly 18 years, each day growing closer and closer, which I thought was a blessing for the three of us,” reflects Brandon, who bought his parents out about five years ago. “All three of us worked, breathed and dreamed about waterproofing every day and now that my two best friends have passed on to a better place I plan to continue my father’s legacy by continuing the family business.” Landis passed away Jan. 23, 2016 and Les passed away Jan. 11 of this year.
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“Les missed Landis enormously but he was a fighter and wanted to survive for his children,” he says. “The Les Wilson I know would never give up for any reason! It was cancer that took both of them.” Brandon describes Les as one of the hardest working men he has ever known, saying, “Les was an excellent decision maker and businessman, always negotiating and making things happen. Les was one of a kind all the way from crash landing a single engine plane near Austin while looking over a job to being in business with Leo Joeris back in the day before he started Alamo Waterproofing. “He was a self-made man, and I’m extremely proud to be his only son! Even continued on Page 24
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s a Christian man, Bill Thompson, owner of MWT Construction & Remodeling, thinks of himself as being very blessed, but he doesn’t think of himself a hero. Most likely, the driver he helped rescue from burning alive after an accident might disagree. On Jan. 27, Thompson and his helper were on their way to pick up some sheet rock for a repair job when a crash occurred directly beside his truck. By Military and I-37, traffic was slowed and being diverted due to an existing accident when his truck was shaken by a charter bus blowing by him and crashing into a truck in the next lane over. He describes a big ball of fire going up in the air as well as the truck.
“It was just like a little toy up there, being thrown, and went over into the guardrail,” recalls Thompson. “I saw that and I just put my truck in park, turned it off, turned the hazards on, got out and ran over there. It just wasn’t really a thought as to whether or not I want to get involved in it.” The fire was spreading, and Thompson burned his hand as he and another Good Samaritan pulled the driver, who was also on fire, out of the truck to safety. When a doctor ran over, Thompson offered any help he could. Last he heard, the driver was in the ICU at SAMMC but was stable. “It would be a very hard thing to do continued on Page 24
Delivering a grocery pick-up facility
ith HEB rolling out its Curbside service, making it easier to get your grocery shopping done, Central Builders Inc. (CBI) recently completed the San Antonio-based grocer’s third Curbside location in the San Antonio area. Construction ran from early September to late December, and this Curbside opened at the beginning of January. CBI has been building Curbside facilities for HEB in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin and Waco, and there are many more to come. With HEB doing all of the shopping for its Curbside customers, all the customer needs to do is come pick it up at the designated time and park in the designated space to receive the order. The Curbside facility houses all of these orders until they are picked up. The third location in the Alamo City to feature Curbside service is the HEB at 281 and Evans Road, SA 45. Greg Lawson,
Central Builders Inc. built one of HEB’s new Curbside facilities at SA 45, which is the store located at 281 and Evans Road.
project manager for CBI, says that some Curbside facilities are converted from existing portions of buildings or lease space, but in this case, like some others, CBI did an actual expansion of the building. “We took a portion of the Texas Backyard – where they have all their plants and lawn equipment – and they took about half of that and used that area to convert for the expansion of the Curbside facility,” explains Lawson. The addition was 1,500 sf, and required an 8,000-sf drive and parking area. There was an existing road that runs alongside the building, and CBI cut the drive-through so that customers can drive up to the facility, park to pick up their order, and go out the other side. De La Garza Fencing took down about 250 linear-feet of wrought iron fencing to make room for the new drivecontinued on Page 24