Wastewater Plant Superintendent Bill Fulmer retired last week after serving more than 45 years of service to Conway Corp and the Conway community.
Bill joined the company as a plant operator in January 1979. After 15 years of dedicated service, he was promoted to chief plant operator in October 1994. He was promoted to superintendent in February 1997.
In his role, Bill managed the comprehensive operations and maintenance of stationary mechanical equipment at the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Plant, as well as overseeing the plant’s employees and schedules. He ensured the efficient functioning of water pumping stations to ensure successful treatment. Bill also worked closely with farmers and residents on biosolid application sites and conducted soil sampling, to provide essential utility services to Conway residents and businesses.
Throughout his time with the company, he saw many changes.
“When I started, the wastewater plant was very small. There were just a few pumps and small clarifiers. When they began building Stone Dam, we saw all of the electronic stuff and were a little nervous learning a new system. But we learned the new technology and with automation, now we can turn pumps on and off at our stations, slow them down or speed them up all over the plant. We used to have to do all of this manually.”
After serving his company and community for many years, Fulmer’s work ethic and dedication will be missed.
“Bill has been a great asset to the city of Conway and Conway Corp during his 45-year career helping ensure that the wastewater treatment plant produced a high-quality effluent,” Water Systems Manager Lee Tedford said. “He has helped me along the way learning the many different factors that make up the treatment process. I hope Bill enjoys retirement to the fullest.
“In the years I’ve worked for Bill, I’ve always respected his dedication to the wastewater plant and the people working it,” Chief Plant Operator Kody Miller said. “He’s called in to alert and prepare operators when storms or heavy rain have been heading our way. He would call late at night when tornado warnings popped up to make sure we were taking cover and staying safe. I cannot think of a time when I’ve tried calling him and didn’t at the very least get a call back fairly quickly. He’s always held our plant’s reliability and our people’s safety as a top priority.”
Bill describes his retirement as “bittersweet,” but is looking forward to his plans for the future which include fishing and doing some work on his land. He also looks forward to spending more time with Tammy, his wife of 44 years and his three grandchildren Gracie, Riker and Maverick.
Bill bragged on not only his co-workers, but the leadership team as well.
“I’m really going to miss the people. There have always been good people here, from the leadership down. During my time, I’ve seen four CEO’s. We helped each other across departments. There were times we went to the water plant to go to work when they needed us when we were younger. Now we didn’t know exactly what was going to happen day to day working in the sewer plant, but the work wasn’t bad because we carried each other’s weight.”
Bill started at the company at 19 years old. After a successful career that spanned more than 45 years, he leaves us with this advice:
“Think about the benefits and try to help your co-workers. Conway Corp has good people.”
Congrats, Bill!
