What started as Betty Ingram's hobby more than 30 years ago has turned into a charming little family business. But Betty's Rock Shop is no "mom-and-pop" store. In fact, it's run by three generations of women in the family. This Mother's Day, Betty plans to celebrate motherhood with her co-workers: her daughters, Betty and Cecilia, and her granddaughter, Dawn.
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Betty Ingram, Betty Allen, Dawn Allen and Cecilia Taylor stand inside Betty's Rock Shop. Each family member plays a special role in helping this family business flourish.
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Betty Ingram, Betty Allen and Cecilia Taylor look at some of the first rocks the family ever purchased, including a citrine river rock from Brazil.
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Cecilia Taylor looks over some of the rock pieces she uses to create her jewelry.
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The early years
"Years and years ago my husband, Cecil, worked as a general contractor in Longview," Betty Ingram said. "He was fixing sidewalks when he came across some petrified wood ... it was pretty and jewelry-quality. He became interested and so did I."
So interested, in fact, that their love for all things "rock" drove them to get a store license in 1976.
"It was technically our business, but Cecil continued working in the concrete business, where he kept finding more petrified wood," Betty said. "I joked with him saying he could do all the work and I'll name the store and keep the cash."
Daughter Betty Allen recalls the early years of the business when she and her siblings were children. Her parents' interest in rock forms was contagious.
"I grew up collecting rocks from the side of the road," she said. "We'd go on vacation to Alice, Tx, which was an 8-hour drive, so of course we'd have to stop for a few breaks. We'd be on the side of the road stretching our legs and picking up rocks. When I was young, I had an automatic interest."
Cecilia agreed enthusiastically.
"Daddy was always able to make something semi-ugly become really pretty," she said. "Most people would look at a stone and say, 'oh that's not pretty ... that's just a brown rock!' But Daddy would say 'no no, let me show you!' He'd polish it and make it look really beautiful. I was hooked as a child."
Coming together
As years passed, Betty decided she wanted to do more than sell pretty jewelry and rock formations. She and husband Cecil established a precast business, where they manufactured and sold ornamental precast concrete products. By this time the kids were grown and gone. Daughter Betty had moved away and was working as a secretary while her daughter, Dawn, worked with medical records. Cecilia had stayed with the family business, in a sense, making jewelry in Pflugerville and bringing it back home for her parents to sell.
"If you ever wanted to come visit Mom and Dad you had to be out with them working on the concrete," Betty Allen said. "So, that's how we'd spend time together."
A great tragedy finally brought all the women back together in 2005. Cecil passed away, leaving the women clinging to each other for strength and support.
"Granddad was such a great man, and they were such a beautiful couple. That's really how and why we ended up together at the Rock Shop," Dawn said. "Grandad passed away, and Grandma needed us. We're family ... that's what family's all about."
Today
Since then, Betty's Rock Shop has turned out decorative stepping stones, ornate birdbaths and lots of other landscape artwork.
"We each have our own roles and wear different hats," Betty Allen said. "I'm the store manager and work mostly in the precast area, Mom's the money person, Dawn's our resident artist who does all our painting and Cecilia makes jewelry in Pflugerville and brings the pieces back home for us to sell."
Cecilia can't wait to piece together new jewelry so that she can come visit her family in Longview.
"I have trunk shows around the Austin area, but for the most part I sell my jewelry through the Rock Shop," Cecilia said. "That's my excuse to come and see Mother – if she's running low on jewelry, she'll call me in enough time to have it ready and made to take to her. I always look forward to those phone calls."
The women enjoy working together and couldn't imagine having a better job.
"I've realized that family really is the most important thing in life. I'm closer to Grandma than I ever thought I'd be, and I'm grateful for that," Dawn said. "If one of us is having a bad day, we help each other out. We love each other so much. Sometimes my mom asks me to paint another piece, and I'm sick of painting at the time, but I do it. It's never really a choice if I want to or not. I'm doing this for my mom and my grandma. It's Grandma's business, and we all love her, so we love what we do."
