This history is proudly presented by Jeff & Kim Meyer and each of our valued associates at Meyer Moulding & Millwork, Inc.
How It Began….. 
After yet another cold Oklahoma winter, Raymond Boyd Oakley (R.B.), headed for the warmer climates of Southern California. Almost immediately, R.B. found work at Acme Moulding of Los Angeles as a setup man and moulder operator. In December of 1940, Ray Lloyd Oakley (Ray) followed his twin brother to California at which time he also started to work at Acme Moulding as a rip saw operator. In mid 1941, when the union tried to organize at Acme Moulding, owner’s Bill Ingals and Bill Smith shut Acme down and went their separate ways. Mr. Ingals went to the Shasta Pacific Lumber Company in Inglewood, California where R.B. also followed as a knife grinder and moulder setup man. Ray followed Mr. Smith to the Roan Lumber Company of Los Angeles, where he continued to run a rip saw and manage the yard.
Around September of 1941, Ray left Roan Lumber Company and moved over to Shasta Pacific with R.B. At that time Mr. Ernie Proctor was running a sash and door operation in Inglewood, California called Proctor Sash & Door. Proctor wanted to set up a mill to run his own sash stock. Ray, R.B. and Mr. Ingals all went to work for Proctor in November of 1941. Shortly after that, the company changed it 
s name to Proctor-Delaney. Ray and R.B. worked with Ernie Proctor to set up the moulding plant during the day while at night they each worked the graveyard shift at the local shipyards in Long Beach, California.
Soon came World War II and both Oakley brothers enlisted in the Army. Both fought in and survived the Battle of the Bulge along with many other adversities of the war and were honorably discharged as decorated soldiers. After the war, they returned to California where they spent nearly two years in the trucking business, hauling hay and other commodities into Northern California and Arizona.
n 1947, they re-entered the moulding industry, finding employment again with Bill Ingals at California Millwork in Inglewood, California. For nearly six years, they worked and saved with the ambitious goal of someday starting their own moulding plant.
In the spring of 1953, the Oakley brothers made their move. With $7,000 between them, they went into business on a 65’ x 90’ lot located on Main Street in Gardena, California. On July 2, 1953 they made their first sale - a $1 deal for some old redwood slats to a guy building a fence and Oakley’s Custom Mill was in business.
, the Well, as is the case with many startup companies, financing was hard to come by. However, Ball Lumber Company gave the Oakley’s an open account along with Tarter, Webster & Johnson, Bell Redwood of San Fernando Valley and Placerville Lumber. These companies extended credit for one unit of lumber at a time, but that’s all the Oakley’s needed. Their first machine was an old XL sticker that they purchased for $250. R.B equipped the XL with a Plymouth transmission for feedworks, built jointers for it, and ran the machine at 200 feet per minute. Dust collection was primitive in the early years. A fan pulled the shavings away from each machine and then blew it into the air just beyond the lean-to coverings and down wind from the machines. At the end of each day, Norma and Anna would head for home to prepare supper while Ray and R.B. stayed to rake up the shavings and then haul them to the dump where they had to pay for disposal. In 1955, the Oakley’s brought the first Paulson moulder into Southern California. Later on in the winter of 1959, R.B. flew to Chicago where he purchased their first two Mattison high-speed moulders. Most of their machines were used, but R.B. was able to repair and refurbish each machine to like-new operating condition. He was a sharp, ingenuitive mechanic. As they struggled through the first fifteen years, the Oakley’s began to gain an upper hand on business and market share in the fast growing Southern California market. In October of 1959, the Oakley’s relocated to 17724 S. Figueroa Street in Gardena, California. They subsequently acquired adjacent parcels until they had acquired a total of nearly 10 acres. The boom years between 1969 and 1980 propelled the Oakley’s into a feverish pace of growth and expansion. They were adding new machinery each year. The company entered the finger-joint market and introduced hardwood mouldings in ash, birch, mahogany and oak. During this time the company formed many strong relationships with many fine distributors of wood moulding and building materials in the Southern California market. These relationships have continued throughout the years. In 1982, Ray bought out his brother’s interest in Oakley’s Lumber Mill & Moulding Inc. R.B. and Anna then moved to Porterville, California to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. We’re thankful for the many years of sacrifice and perseverance that Ray, R.B. and their respective families dedicated to Oakley’s Lumber Mill and Moulding, Inc. We hope and trust that we can maintain, with the same fervor, the intensity for quality and service that they demonstrated. That’s our desire and to that end we pledge ourselves. 
Employees would have been a luxury for the Oakley’s when they first started. Instead, they managed all aspects of the entire operation themselves. Each brother ran his respective machine, Ray on the ripsaw and R.B. on the moulder. Their wives, Norma and Anna each tailed off behind their husband’s machine. With odds against their success and with many local community members expecting the business to close within 90 days, the Oakley's persevered. Defying the odds
operation ran smoothly in this manner for nearly 18 months. The brothers and their wives worked together to achieve early success. 
The terms were minimal and the wood was green, but this is what they had and they made the most of it. Ray used to say, "…the redwood was so green, the squirrels were still running around in it." 
Ray continued with the mill until 1990, at which time he sold some machinery and inventory to his daughter and son-in-law, Kim & Jeff Meyer. The beginnings of Meyer Moulding and Millwork were taking form. Today, Meyer Moulding and Millwork, Inc. carries on the rich tradition of integrity, hard work, determination and commitment that Oakley’s established back in 1953.