Frank Wilson

Frank Wilson founded Wilson Brothers Lumber in 1982, along with his brothers Grady and Jewel, and grew it into an industry giant over the next four decades.

Wilson started planting trees before he was 10 years old with his dad in Cleveland County. He cut pulpwood with a bow saw as a teen before earning a McCullough Chainsaw scholarship he used to complete a forestry degree in 1966 at Arkansas A&M (now UA-Monticello). Wilson worked for a wood dealer to International Paper and joined Weyerhaeuser before building a weekend sawmill business in 1972 at Rison. A decade later, the Wilson Brothers Lumber Company became a full-time family operation offering rural Cleveland County much-needed jobs over the past 40 years.

Wilson’s entrepreneurial spirit created Tri-W Logging in 1985 and then A&W Logging, River Ridge Equipment, Cleveland County Auto Parts and 5-Star Machine Shop. Wilson Brothers Lumber constructed a new sawmill in 2017, increasing its annual production to 20 million board feet of hardwood railroad ties and lumber. Wilson also owns individually, and as a partner with Frank & Grady, LLLP, more than 17,000 acres of timberland in south Arkansas.

He developed a software accounting program called “Timber Tract” in 1999 to assist producers in multiple states, and later the “Land Tract” and “Equipment Tract” programs to aid landowners with forest management and financial records.

The Cleveland County Hospital, the Rural Water Users Association and the Bank of Rison benefited from Wilson’s leadership on their boards.

His Log-A-Load for Kids effort, coordinated by the Arkansas Forestry Association, has raised $11 million for Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Also, what began as a Christmas meal for employees in the 1980s, has turned into an annual community event that draws more than a thousand people annually for the Wilson Family BBQ.