By Sherri Blevins
Rodney Williams, local entrepreneur and pharmacist, has been selected as Rainsville’s 2019 Person of the Year by the Rainsville Chamber of Commerce and will be recognized at their annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Thursday, January 17, 2019. He is the owner of Sylvania Pharmacy located in Sylvania, Alabama along with other pharmacies in Scottsboro and Ider.
Williams comes from a family of service-oriented businessmen, and he has continued that tradition. He is the son of Bobbye Williams and the late Hugh Don Williams. Williams’ father, along with his brothers G.R. and Dewey Williams and their wives, operated a family grocery store for over thirty years. It served the Chavies and Rainsville Communities.
Williams, along with his sister, Kelly Bryson, were daily fixtures in the store learning as many life skills at the business as they did at school. Williams not only witnessed his father and uncles treat customers with respect and dignity, but he continued that practice in each of his own businesses. Community members spoke of their experiences with Williams. Here are some of their statements.
“He does so much for the people in the area who are in need without revealing that he is the one doing this good deed, such as not charging for a prescription because he knows the family cannot afford it. He will tell the patient that insurance took care of it when in fact He took care of it.”
“Extremely caring and constantly giving back to the community, never expects or wants anything in return.”
“Goes out of his way to take care of those in need by delivering medicine after hours and on weekends, delivering directly to the patient’s home in many cases without payment.”
“Always donates and buys from local schools and children, whatever they are selling, supporting various causes.”
“Rodney is generous and truly the type person who would give the shirt off his back!”
Williams is a graduate of Plainview High School. After high school, he traded one color of blue for another enrolling in Auburn University where he earned his degree in pharmacy. He has been involved in the pharmaceutical field for the past thirty-seven years in some form or fashion ranging from pharmacy tech, staff pharmacist, and most recently, pharmacist and owner of several retail drug stores.
Mountain Valley News asked Williams why he chose pharmacy as his career path. He stated, “I always wanted to be in retail because of my experience growing-up and working at Dewey Williams Store. My family and friends were always pushing me to go into the medical field. I picked pharmacy because it combined the best of two worlds, medicine and retail.”
Williams started his first business in 1987 when he opened Williams Drug Store in Rainsville. The store was a local favorite not only because of the high quality of service offered by the friendly staff. The smart young pharmacist also carried a variety of gifts customers could purchase for all types of different occasions.
Many locals knew that if you needed to buy a present for someone, Rodney’s drugstore was the place to go. The store was truly missed when it closed.
His next adventure began in 1997 when he established a local institutional compounding pharmacy that supplied medicine to different institutions until closing in 2011.
Missing the retail side of the business. Williams then jumped back into the fire opening a pharmacy in Sylvania that he still operates today.
When asked about his feelings concerning receiving the award, he responded, “I didn’t deserve the award. I didn’t ever aspire to think I could receive such an award, and there are a lot more people out there more deserving of this award than me, but I do appreciate it greatly.”
The staff of Mountain Valley News would like to congratulate Williams on his achievement.