Moorefield
Creating a legacy for their community—and their family.
Change comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s a mural, bringing color and light to those who view it. Other times, it’s a business that provides new opportunities and hopeful growth. Or maybe it’s something as seemingly simple as finding ways to include others. Our 2024 Possibilitarians are all about growth and helping their communities—and our state—reach their full potential through a variety of methods and means. Because they see them—the possibilities. And those possibilities are endless, just like their ideas, drive, and passion.
Kelly and Sam Williams are a dynamic duo with a strong work ethic, a commitment to family, and a shared belief that anything is possible. In fact, the South Branch Valley in Moorefield is forever changed and substantially better because of them and the Williams family.
Kelly, a native Texan, met Sam, originally from Old Fields, at Purdue University, where each was completing a master’s program. After graduation and a marriage proposal, they returned to the historic family farm where Sam’s family had been working the land for eight generations—Sam is the ninth.
Although the South Branch Valley presented a new physical address for Kelly, it felt like home from her first visit there. It turned out there was a good reason. “Genealogical research revealed ancestral ties to Hardy County. My grandmother grew up on another farm not far from here, but she never really talked about it. Learning that solidified my love for the area,” she says. “And Sam’s family’s roots run deep, fostering a profound connection to the land and a loyalty to the community.”
At the time, the farm was run by Sam’s father, Renick Williams, a well-respected and hardworking Hardy County businessman. Renick shared his strong entrepreneurial spirit with the young couple as well as his love of local history, antique collecting, and restoring their Colonial farmhouse. Sam’s mother, Betty, nurtured service to family and the church.
Sam joined his father in the family farm operation and collaborated with Kelly to develop business plans for their family ventures. And as their family grew, the couple also immersed themselves in service—to community organizations, church, and youth sports. A family transformation was occurring as the younger generation began taking over to expand and test new ideas.
Currently, the Williamses own a portfolio of businesses in Hardy and Hampshire counties that includes two inns, two restaurants and a pub, a country store, an ice cream shop, and a family-entertainment center that houses a movie theater, a bowling alley, and an arcade. They also own South Branch Cattle & Meat Company that sells farm-fresh beef and pork. The couple continued Renick’s vision of adding businesses to the community that were needed for the area to continue to grow without destroying the beauty that draws visitors to the area. It hasn’t always been easy. “Faith in God is what makes everything possible,” Kelly says. “Our family and extended family has a strong faith, and that is how we get through the tough times.”
Despite their obvious business acumen, Kelly considers their major accomplishments to be personal ones, like raising four children who turned into “exemplary young adults” and building a “beautiful life” in the South Branch Valley.
There is still plenty the couple wants to accomplish before they turn it all over to the next generation. “We are always looking for ways to provide better services or products to our customers, so it never feels like we are done with any part of any business that we own,” Kelly says. “Not only do we have lots of ideas, but our staff and customers are always coming to us with ideas, too, and we love that.”
The Williamses are also motivated to provide employment in the area and to give back to the community at every turn. “Each of our businesses contributes to the community,” says Sam, “and that’s a big part of our family legacy—to create an environment that welcomes the next generation.”
Leaving a legacy and creating real, impactful change is important to the couple. “What motivates me is my children’s future and the future of what we are building in our community so that, long after we are gone, we would have made a positive impact that our children and their friends can be proud to come home to,” Kelly says. “For this area to grow, there need to be jobs that allow folks to come back to the South Branch Valley and work and raise a family. We are so lucky to live and work in such a beautiful area of the state.”
And Sam says, even with a life full of hard work and overcoming obstacles, happiness should always be center stage. “We have tried to instill the same work ethic that was instilled in us, but we also added to it the idea that being happy is a huge part of your success. It is up to our children how they choose to work together to continue the family legacy and to add their unique vision to it.”
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