LEXINGTON, Ky. - An overachieving central Kentucky construction developer is now facing the challenge of his life - walking again.
Doug Wilburn, 45, president of Lexington-based D.W. Wilburn Inc., was left a Paraplegic after a November accident in which his motorcycle was hit by a pickup. His girlfriend, Melissa "Missy" New, the mother of his 20-month-old son, Jacob, was killed.
Dr. Susan McDowell, who treats Wilburn, said she has never seen anyone who's suffered an injury like his walk again.
Wilburn is determined to prove her wrong.
"I intend to walk again. I expect to and I intend to," said Wilburn.
He's used to overcoming tough odds. A Pulaski County farm boy with only a high-school education, he now oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in building projects at any given time.
His current undertakings include Lexington's new Bryan Station High School and the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville.
Some would say that what Wilburn has done is remarkable. In fact, he is surprised by it himself.
"It's amazing to me," he says.
At age 17, Wilburn was married, had a baby, and was living with his parents. He usually had only a few dollars in his pocket, he said.
He was a self-proclaimed "mediocre" student at Pulaski County High School, where he played basketball. After high school, Wilburn went to work for Austin Harp Masonry in Lexington.
Wilburn and his brother Tony, who has a degree in accounting from Cumberland College, eventually started a lawn-care company. They later went into the masonry business, establishing D.L. Wilburn Masonry of Somerset. The general contracting company was established in 1986.
The construction company started out doing small commercial projects and worked its way up to larger ones. The company built the first Wal-Marts in Louisville and in Ohio.
The brothers plowed their profits back into their businesses and eventually bought Cumberland Security Bank of Somerset, which had given them the loans. Tony Wilburn is president of the bank.
In addition to their other ventures, the Wilburn brothers are part-owners of Fiberglass Concepts in Somerset, which supplies specialty items to houseboat factories in Somerset, Monticello, Indiana and the western United States.
