"The Thrill of the Chase" - Connie Smith enjoys running lumber mill in a male-dominated industry - by Elizabeth Doran

When Seymour Smith was diagnosed with cancer, doctors told his wife, Connie, he had only a few months to live. But Smith, who ran his own lumber-mill business, was determined to beat his illness and carry on as usual. "He was very independent, practical and strong," recalls Connie Smith, who now runs Twin Mills Lumber Co. in Central Square. "He just wasn't leaving," she said. "Unfortunately, the cancer had other ideas. He lasted for 19 months, and although we hadn't talked about it, I just knew I had to keep the business going."

Seymour Smith, who died at 47, also didn't believe in life insurance, so Connie had an added incentive to slide into the driver's seat. "I had taken care of the books, and I was Seymour's right arm," Smith said. "It's altogether different, however, when all of a sudden you're the boss. I knew I had to make a living." Connie Smith struggled at first with the pressures of keeping the business rolling, while learning all its aspects.

But in the 13 years since Smith took over, she's become a proficient small-business owner at ease with directing all the operations of a lumber mill. Today, Smith also is involved in the lumber industry, and in 1998 she became secretary/treasurer of the Empire State Forest Products Association. And she continues to run the business on her own, handling all the purchasing, finances, equipment problems, employees and more. "I just enjoy the challenge of the business," she said, "and the challenge of just trying to stay in business. I like the thrill of the chase."

Twin Mills, at 1379 County Route 4 in Central Square, is a sawmill which processes hardwood logs for the furniture industry. Twin Mills gets its native hardwoods from landowners and loggers within a 100-mile radius of the mill, and then sells the hardwood wholesale and direct to furniture manufacturers. Some of its customers include AMF in Lowville, which makes bowling pins using lumber processed by Twin Mills. Other customers include Rex Lumber in Acton, Mass., and Chaplain Hardwoods in Essex Junction, Vt. Twin Mills has a core customer base of about 50 companies in the Northeast and Canada, Smith said. Most customers order a tractor-trailer load, which contains about 8,000 board feet, Smith said.

Sales at the lumber mill are steady, but Smith said profit margins are a lot slimmer than in the past. That's primarily because raw materials are so difficult to secure. "Competition is very fierce right now for raw materials, because there's so much demand," Smith said. "Sales aren't a problem for us at all. We have many excellent customers who would take more lumber for us if we could produce it." The recent surge in diesel fuel prices has sliced profit margins even thinner, Smith said. In fact, Twin Mills is keeping its trucking down to a minimum, and is contracting with outside truckers to haul its wood when possible. Along with selling logs, Twin Mills sells its wood chips, or leftover trim pieces, to paper companies such as Norboard in Deposit.