Question about Roger Bedford & Darby family

I had heard that the Darby man invented the storm doors and had a factory here and the unions tried to come in and Mr. Darby said he would close the factory and go to Mexico before he would allow a union to come in. I haven't been in Alabama but 20 years but this is what was told to me when I moved here. The Darby's were also owners of the airport in Muscle Shoals and WVNA but no longer owners of WVNA. I don't know about the airport. The Darby's are loaded with money. I'm not sure about the Bedford's. Roger is a bluedog democrat, not a democrat that supports the working middleclass or poor people of Alabama.

Bluedog Democrat = Pile of Crap

Bedford's wife's family did in fact own or at least run WVNA radio at one time. I know several people who worked for that family. I'll just say with confidence that all of them would live homeless in cardboard boxes under an overpass before working for those people again.

And personally I'd write in "tree" or some other inanimate object before punching Bedford's name on the ballot - if it comes to that - and I sincerely hope it does not.

quote:

Originally posted by samn7282:
I read in Shoalanda's column about Roger Bedford running for governor. It said he is married to the late Elton Darby Sr.'s daughter. It said Sports Illustrated called him a multi-zillionaire. So I assume I should know who Mr. Darby was. But I have no idea and am curious. Can somebody fill me in. Was he from this area? How did he make his fortune etc.?

The original story was that Mr. Darby had an idea about storm windows, saving energy cost and protecting the wooden frames.
He borrowed a couple of thousand dollars, had some windows made up to his design, and took them up north in the winter time.
People liked the idea, and he shopped out the manufacture and started building a fortune.
He owned what used to bethe largest lumber/building supply business in this area, Southern Sash, which had multiple locations.
The advent of mega-supply home improvement stores slowly brought about the end of Southern Sash, but the Darbys had already made a fortune and branched out into other businesses.
One of the original Southern Sash stores was at the corner of Florence Blvd and Wilson Dam road (now Cox Creek Pkwy)where Kmart Plaza now is.
I believe one of the Darby girls married a football player, Todd or something.

quote:

Originally posted by hooverite:
Bedford's wife's family did in fact own or at least run WVNA radio at one time. I know several people who worked for that family. I'll just say with confidence that all of them would live homeless in cardboard boxes under an overpass before working for those people again.

And personally I'd write in "tree" or some other inanimate object before punching Bedford's name on the ballot - if it comes to that - and I sincerely hope it does not.

hooverite, I also know folks who worked for cheap wages for them and no benefits to speak of. WVNA, the lowest paying radio stations around and the storm door factory was low wages and no benefits. This is why the workers wanted to get a union and get better pay and benefits. The only one that benefited were the Darby's.

Yes, Richard Todd, a former New York Jets quarterback, married Maudie's sister Lulu Belle. That's why Darby was mentioned in Sports Illustrated.

Elton also owned Darby Aviation.

You should get earthmomma to tell you about his properties in Sheffield.