A half-century of work dedication

In an era where national job turnover happens every few years, Wade Hightower has built a half-century legacy on stability, hard work, and a preference for the open air.

Hightower first stepped onto the site of what is now the Acme Brick plant in Holly Springs around 1971. Fifty-five years later, he is still clocking in, now operating a forklift and serving as the plant’s unofficial historian and elder statesman.

His journey began on the back end of the facility’s grinder, physically pulling raw bricks off a conveyor belt by hand. Over the decades, Hightower moved through various physical roles, including pushing production cars down to the rail lines and loading boxcars.

For Hightower, staying with the company for over five decades was never about a grand master plan, but rather a simple preference for the environment and a strong work ethic.

“I like working on the outside. I don’t like inside,” Hightower said, recalling a brief two-year night stint at a factory, which he left because of the indoor heat. “It’s too hot in the factory to me. I like cold weather. Out there in the sun, I can work all day out in the sun, and I do it now. It doesn’t bother me.”

Though he stepped away briefly early in his career to explore other jobs, the company continually sought him out to return.

“They call me back,” Hightower said with a smile. “Like I said, they come get me. I didn’t come get them.”

The facility itself has undergone dramatic transformations during Hightower’s tenure. From Holly Springs Brick and Tile to operating under U.S. Brick and later Hanson Brick, the facility officially transitioned to Acme Brick in the early 2000s. Brick manufacturing at the Holly Springs site ceased in 2008 with the downturn in the housing market, and that shifted the plant’s focus strictly to logistics, receiving, and shipping masonry supplies by truck across the region.

Through every corporate redesign, machinery upgrade, and operational shift, Hightower remained a steady fixture on the yard.

Plant supervisor Tony Glover, who has spent nearly 37 years with the company and five and a half years at the Holly Springs location, called Hightower’s 55-year career a rarity in modern industry.

“It’s just not only a piece of history, but it’s a rare milestone that a person rarely hits in their lifetime,” Glover said. “For the short amount of time that I’ve been here, he has been a big asset to the company. For the people coming behind us, basically, I look at it as something they can learn from.”

Glover noted that Hightower’s decades of hands-on experience offer valuable context for younger employees operating in an increasingly automated industry.

When asked how he guides the younger generation on the yard, Hightower kept his philosophy straightforward.

“If they are doing something wrong, I tell them that ain’t the right way,” Hightower said. “They ain’t hard-headed. They take my word.”

Off the clock, the Holly Springs resident keeps his personal life intentional and uncluttered. Unmarried by choice—joking that he avoids the setup so he doesn’t have “no headache”—he devotes his free time to his faith as an active member of Hopewell No. 2 Missionary Baptist Church.

As for retirement, Hightower has no immediate plans to walk away from the forklift steering wheel just yet, content to keep working as long as his health and the company allow.

“It’s God’s work, and I go along with whatever He gives me,” Hightower said.