Just Folks

Tom Hamilton of the Blackgum community said he never realized that one day he would retire from his job after his children grew up, move to Oklahoma and have his own business making cabinets.

Hamilton, who grew up in California, said he came to Sequoyah County eight years ago to help his friend, Mike Friend, who owned a cabinet business in Gore called “Country Cabinets.”

“I came here to help him run his cabinet business. My wife, Michelle, and I moved to Blackgum after deciding this is where we wanted to make our home,” he said.

“With so many places to fish and property you can afford here, not to mention the people here are so neighborly, we sold our property in California and decided to come here. After I began working with Mike, I learned a lot and realized it was something I really enjoy doing,” he said.

Hamilton said he and his family, which includes three daughters, lived in an area north of Los Angeles. “It’s a mountain on top of a mountain, and the area where we lived was near the San Andreas fault line and near Elizabeth Lake. We enjoyed living there. We weren’t very far from the Rose Bowl. Anytime the Rose Bowl was held or there was the Rose Bowl parade, I would close up the graphics/print shop I owned and use the property around it for parking,” he said.

Since the print and graphics market began declining in California, according to Hamilton, and his daughters had grown and moved away, the only thing keeping him and his wife in California was taking care of his mother.

“But after she passed, we decided it was a good time to make a change. We felt it was a good time to come to Oklahoma, and we just love it,” he said.

“I never realized, with the price of lumber and everything else that has gone up, I could afford to have my own property and now a business, at my age. I’m just very happy with how things have gone. I love this area, and owning a business is nearly impossible in California unless you have a lot of money. I’m just glad at the way things have turned out,” he said.

“In some ways, where we lived in California and this area are similar. I mean, the population there was about 1,000, which is not much for California, and we were located next to the water. It’s what we like around here, there’s lots of water here and it’s just small in comparison to the big cities,” he said.

Hamilton said he has been working on contracts involving several houses to install cabinets, which keeps him busy through the week.

“We were working from my friend’s property, but since I’ve taken over the business, I moved it to my property where I have a shop and just finished a paint shop, which I’ll be using just to paint the cabinets,” he said.

When he is not tending to his business, one of his favorite pastimes is spending time with his family and on his boat on Lake Tenkiller.

“I enjoy fishing and just about anything else that goes with that. But I do love taking the boat out when the weather is nice,” he said.

In addition to his friends he’s made since moving to Sequoyah County, Hamilton said he also has a few other ties to the area since his father was originally from Arkansas.

“It’s funny, but at one time, I thought I was an Indian (Native American). My dad always told me he was Indian,” he said.

“I thought if I moved to Oklahoma, I could trace my roots and learn about my ancestry. Come to find out, I’m not an Indian,” he said, laughing.

“My dad grew up in Hartford, Ark., and Fort Smith is not very far from Hartford, so I do have a few family who live in Arkansas. I also found out one of my family members had a museum named after him in Hartford, the J.W. Hamilton Museum.

“I had no idea we had a family museum in Arkansas,” he said. “Found out I wasn’t Indian, but we do have a museum.”

Just Folks. Just Folks is Your TIMES way of honoring the regular people of Sequoyah County, recognizing their unique talents, personalities, jobs, abilities, etc. Your TIMES appreciates the cooperation of each Just Folks and the public’s nominations for this feature. If you know of someone you think might be a good story, contact Amie or Lynn at 918-775-4433.