Life has been good for Lucy and Jace Gay for the last three years.

First, they got married. Then, they delivered a baby boy. Now, they are entrepreneurs.

The Gays own a landscape company called L&J Earthmoving in Middletown, which specializes in lakes, waterways, terraces, drain management, brush clearing and building sites. The business, which serves Montgomery and Audrain counties, will celebrate its 1-year anniversary in August.

“We received a lot of love from the community, not just Middletown itself, but Vandalia, Wellsville, Montgomery City and all of those surrounding places,” Jace said. “It’s been going very well.”

Lucy, whose maiden name is Schnitker, graduated from Wellsville-Middletown High School in 2020. She had an outstanding FFA career that included receiving an American FFA degree in 2021. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree in agricultural education.

Lucy works as a bookkeeper for the company. She said she enjoys being a business owner just a year after graduating from college.

“For me, I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” Lucy said. “So I think if you have your own business, it’s a different feeling. There’s more responsibility. But it’s also very exciting.”

Jace graduated from Van-Far High School in 2017. Four years later, he met Lucy while working for her father.

“I started working for Poindexter Earthmoving in Martinsburg right out of high school,” Jace said. “I worked for them for about four years. I left them and I went to do some traveling stuff. After about three or four months of that, I came back home and I started hauling grain for Lucy’s dad. We met and got married. Long after that, we felt there was a big demand for earthmoving services in our area. We decided that there is no better time than the present, so her dad bought a trackhoe and we bought a bulldozer and it kind of took off from there.”

Lucy said her husband does an outstanding job as the company’s operator.

“Jace is a very conscientious operator,” Lucy said. “I feel like your obligation is really important to him. He does a good job of (not only) asking the customers what the needs are, but also working within a budget.”

Jace and Lucy got married in September 2022. Five months later, they gave birth to a baby boy named Jet.

Six months after that, they decided to start their business.

“Well, we got a little baby, so we might as well jump right in and do it all,” Lucy said.

The company created a Facebook page earlier this month. Jace said one of the goals for the company is to provide great customer service.

“We want to build and grow our customer base, really sit down with really good roots and make this where we can pass it on to our own kids and have a very healthy business for all of us to come back to so we can hand it off and keep generations going,” Jace said.

For more information about L&J Earthmoving, call 573-721-1703. The business is located at 12597 Audrain Road.