In 1966, 47-year-old Ben Tomblinson purchased a business named R & D from two gentlemen named Richardson and Dixon. The shop on Dempsey Street in Madisonville sold and repaired water pumps, electric motors and kitchen appliances.
Ben Tomblinson kept the name R & D, and used it as a logo to represent his work philosophy — reliable and dependable. He phased out the water pump and motor portion of the business, and focused on the appliances as well as HVAC and electrical contracting.
When Ben’s son, Mike, graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1972 with a degree in industrial technology, he chose to join the family business.
“I came home to work during the summers,” Mike said. “I enjoyed working with my father. After graduation, I was offered work elsewhere, but I came home when my father offered the job.”
In 1980, the Tomblinsons moved R & D to its current location on Center Street. After Ben passed away, Mike continued the family tradition of providing high-quality electrical, HVAC and appliance service to Hopkins County customers.
Mike believes that for a community to support a business, that business must show its support for the community. R & D Electric is one of the oldest members of the Madisonville-Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce. Mike has served as a Chamber volunteer in various capacities, including a three-year term on the Chamber Board of Directors and as vice-president of community development. He served on the board of the Hopkins County YMCA for more than three decades, was a board member of Discover Downtown, was active in Madisonville’s Morning Kiwanis Club and volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America for many years.
Mike says that R & D strives to earn customers’ trust by providing timely service to help them solve their problems.
“The biggest compliment we can get is when we’ve served a customer, and then they call us back to fix something else,” he says. “It’s the return business that makes this job fulfilling.”
And more than 40 years after Ben Tomblinson purchased that shop on Dempsey Street, R & D’s customers keep returning, counting on the reliable and dependable service Mike Tomblinson and his highly-trained staff provide.