Horton’s Plumbing, owned by Billy and Betty Horton, is celebrating their 50th year of providing plumbing service to Newton and the surrounding area. It’s a celebration that owes a lot to Horton’s God-given talent for the trade, support from family and friends, and a soiled washcloth.
Horton’s career in plumbing started in he and his wife’s apartment at Amis Apartments in 1972. “We had a plumber come in and in doing a job, he used one of our washcloths to wipe off grime,” Horton recalled. “Betty was not pleased with that or the fact the job wasn’t completed, so I decided to give it a try.” With no training whatsoever, Horton found that he had a talent for it. Soon afterwards, he started fixing plumbing issues for Amis Apartments.
At that time, Horton worked for his father-in-law, Ernest Bounds, and Howard Bounds at Newton Auto repair, leaving very little time for his side jobs. More and more plumbing jobs started lining up until one day, Horton had to make a decision: the security of working for an established business or the unpredictability of going into business for himself.
After mulling it over with his wife and some encouragement from Ed May, who owned White’s Auto Store in Newton, Horton’s decision was made. “Ed May was adamant that I need to go into business for myself,” Horton said. “He was looking to sell his plumbing equipment, so I bought them, and I jumped into plumbing full time.”
Over the years, Horton started diving deeper and deeper into the vast number of jobs that comes with the plumbing business. And with that comes more equipment. Horton had one rule of thumb when it came with buying more equipment. “As I purchased a piece of equipment for a job, I made sure to pay for that equipment after receiving payment for that job,” Horton said.
To this day, Horton is plugging along with his plumbing business and there’s no plans to stop. And he’s quick to give thanks to all those who’ve made it all possible. “I thank God for giving me the health and ability to do this. I thank my wife for being my partner in this since the beginning. I thank Sammy Donald for his dependable and trustworthy help in the 24 years he’s been with us,” Horton continues, “And I thank all our loyal customers who have supported us for 50 years. They have been the key to our success.”
