CALWOOD - Farming is the lifeblood of this county, and the 115th Settler's Award recipient is a transplant who helps keep it flowing.
Kenny Twillman is the owner of Twillman Feed Service, a Calwood-based full-service feed mill and supply store. He and his brother, Ray Twillman, purchased Wright Brothers Feed, as it was known at the time, on April 1, 1979, and while Ray has since moved on, Kenny has stuck with the family business for 40 years.
"We buy grain and sell grain and manufacture all kinds of livestock feeds," he explained Friday. "We retail the ones we can't manufacture, like dog feeds."
The Settlers Award is presented each year at the supper to someone who has contributed to the Callaway County community but was not born in the county.
Twillman lived in St. Charles County, where his father worked as a construction contractor, until he was about 12.
"My father decided he'd had enough of the construction world - he was looking at farm land and decided to make a career change," he said.
Twillman's father purchased a plot of farmland in Calwood and the family made the move. It wasn't love at first sight for Twillman.
"At first, when I came to visit, I thought we'd truly found the end of the earth," Twillman said. "We were living on Route Z, so we'd found the end of the alphabet, too."
Twillman joined FFA at North Callaway High School and found a love for farming. But it was the people who ultimately helped him feel like Callaway County could be home.
"As a young person, one of the first things I noticed is that when I met people on the road, they always waved to me," he said. "Back in St. Charles County, we didn't always wave even to people we knew."
Twillman worked odd jobs on the farm until he graduated from high school - he purchased his first pickup truck with money he earned raising hogs - and then took a part-time job at Wright Brothers Feed.
"My father gave me lots of jobs on the farm, but none of them paid very well," he said. "It was instilled in me as a young person to secure my life's path with financial stability."
At the time, the Wrights owned both the feed mill and the still-open Wright Brothers Store across the street. When Twillman learned Terry Wright planned to sell the mill, he partnered up with his older brother to purchase it. At age 20, he began running it himself, his brother serving as a silent partner in the business.
And that's where he's been ever since, though the business has since expanded to include the office and retail space, more storage bins and a Mexico location.
"What I enjoy, mostly, is the people," Twillman said. "I'm so fortunate to have such an outstanding customer base and employees."
He's involved with 4-H, FFA and the Callaway Chamber of Commerce and is a regular donor to charitable causes.
"The consensus was that here was a deserving person who really, himself, had not gotten the recognition he deserved as a Callawegian," said Joe Holt, co-chair of the Settler's Award committee along with Rich Custard. "He's very active with the Youth Expo in Auxvasse in the summer for the kids. He's also been a great help, I'm told, to youngsters - the FFA and 4-H-ers - who are trying to start an animal herd and understand what farming's about. He's been working with them, supporting them, giving them guidance and help."
Twillman and his wife, Lori, have a blended family of five children. Bryan Twillman manages the Calwood location; stepson Dustin Vandeloecht the Mexico location; Greg Twillman works in concrete construction; stepdaughter Tia Neal directs the T-Bird Learning Center; and stepdaughter Nola Dodge works for the State of Missouri.
This supper event was first held Jan. 18, 1906, at the Palace Hotel in Fulton as the Business Men's Banquet. The first gathering was restricted to male owners of Fulton businesses, but in 1918, it expanded to include all males in the county, with the president being from Fulton one year and a county resident on alternating years.
In 1919, it was renamed "Kingdom of Callaway Supper." At the gathering, Judge David H. Harris launched a movement to erect a new county courthouse, replacing the original that was built in 1826.
Women were included in the early 1920s, and a decision was made to honor a native Callaway resident who left the Kingdom and successfully conducted a career in his chosen field.
Recent past recipients include David Shively, LeRoy Benton, Charles James, Jim Zerr and Bob Sterner.
William Woods University will host the supper March 3 starting with a reception 5-6:30 p.m. at the Gladys Woods Kemper Art Center, dinner at Tucker Dining Hall from 7-7:45 p.m. and the program at Dulany Auditorium from 8-9:15 p.m. As is traditional, dinner will include ham, turkey, sides and a dessert.
Tickets are $15 and are available at kingdomofcallawaysupper.com, the Callaway Chamber of Commerce, Callaway Bank, Central Bank and United Security Bank.