How it Started

Alford Wayne Gray Sr., was raised on a farm in Robeson County and was no stranger to hard work. One smoldering July afternoon in 1963 after a long day of plowing the fields, Wayne, along with his mule, took refuge under a large oak tree for a much deserved rest and reprieve from the heat. He could see his family sitting on the porch of the little farm house up in the distance. They would often sit outside to keep watch and if they were lucky, catch a breeze as there was no air conditioning in those days. It was not his house, but like many others, he was a tenant and a sharecropper. He loved working the land and watching the plow as it worked the earth and tilled neat rows opening up in preparation for new growth. It was during this rest, that he came to a decision. It would be a pivotal decision that would change not only his life, what his hard work would build would leave a legacy for all of us who were and are blessed to call him son, husband, dad, Papa, our family.

That very afternoon, he tied up his mule and ran up to the house to kiss his wife goodbye and set off into a neighboring town to provide a better life for his growing family. As fate would have it, he not only found a job, but made lifelong friends and mentors. Wayne Sr. as he would later be affectionally called, had an entrepreneur spirit. While he was working and learning the lot clearing business, he was also saving and planning. In the spring of 1970, he purchased a two ton dump truck and WG Landscaping was born. His sons and grandsons continue the family legacy that He has left for them. And in 2020 we commemorated our 50th year of being in business.