Our Story
Where did the “Happy” name come from? It first began back in 1914 with just one man, Mr. Howard David Happy. Single handedly, he traveled the regions of western Kentucky from his home in Mayfield, one of the larger towns in Graves county. Either by train or by “Model T Ford”, he pioneered the entire region by daily calling on business offices, educational facilities, government offices & manufacturing plants selling typewriters, adding machines & office supply items. Through sheer determination, his entreprenerial skills & hard work paid off in the years that followed. He set up "shop" in a prominent downtown storefront. Today almost 103 years later, the Mayfield dealership continues to thrive & is located just off the I-69 corridor, in a "state-of-the-art" facility. They are one of the largest full line office equipment dealerships in the state of Kentucky.
Happy's of Madisonville's story begins. In the early 1960's, Mr. C.B. Utley, Jr., of Madisonville, Ky. was an employee of Mr. Happy for several years, selling & servicing customers in Hopkins, Muhlenburg, Caldwell & Christian counties. After several years of success & with Mr. Happy's blessing, Mr. Utley opened his own downtown storefront dealership in Madisonville in 1962. In 1964, Barry Vaughn & Ronnie Vaughn (no relation), started working part-time with the company, after school & on Saturdays. As the high school & college years passed, Barry began teaching school. However, after a short time, he decided to go back to work at Happy's full-time, becoming store manager. After a few years had past, Ronnie left Happy's & began a 7 year Gospel music ministry career. However with the rigors of a 275+ day a year traveling schedule, it began wearing on him. He too decided to return "home" to Happy's.
The years past & in 1994, Mr. Utley decided to retire & sold the Madisonville dealership to Barry & Ronnie. From then til now, Happy's of Madisonville, Inc. has been greatly blessed with much success. We are very proud of our organization's heritage & truly honored to be celebrating the 55th. year anniversary of our Madisonville dealership's service to the business offices, manufacturing plants, churches, government agencies, schools, colleges & universities in western & central Kentucky. Both Barry & Ronnie will still say, they are "living the dream" that started long ago!
Our motto continues to be quite simple: 1) we treat our customers the way we'd like to be treated. 2) Customer service is our highest calling, we say what we'll do & then we do what we say!
Our People
Barry Vaughn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Barry is a “people person extraoridinare”! No one loves our customers more or works harder doing things the right way! Barry is a graduate of Murray State University. He resides in the beautiful countryside, just outside Madisonville. He is active in his church, is active in his community & is a past President of the "Noon" Kiwanis Club & past lieutenant governor of Kentucky / Tennesse District 17 of Kiwanis International. He loves to spend time with his family & loves nature & spending time in the great outdoors.
Barry started with the “Happy” organization, back in 1964 as a part time stock boy / delivery guy. He has done every job imaginable over the years, from stock boy to “partner / owner” since 1993. Barry's is celebrating his 53rd. year at Happy's.
Ronnie Vaughn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Ronnie is the other “partner/owner” of Happy’s of Madisonville. He and his new wife, Brenda reside in the county, just outside Hanson, Ky. They have two sons & three daughters, plus 9 grandchildren. They too are active in their church & are active in the community. He is also a past president of the "Morning" Kiwanis Club & past Lieutenant Governor of District 17 of Kiwanis International.
He too began his career at Happy's in 1964, then after a few years he left for a career in Gospel music, traveling full-time all over the U.S. & Canada. After seven years of constant traveling & being away from home & family, he finally returned to the profession & business he loved. He is now in his 49th. year with the company.
Terri Crowell (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Terri has been with Happy's for 29 years. She is our "go to" person & definitely makes our dealership run smoothly on a daily basis. In the course of a day, she'll wear many hats fulfilling her daily duties. All you need do is ask her & she'll get the job done. Terri & her husband Cody, a Baptist pastor, reside in Muhlenberg County. Obviously, both are deeply involved in their church activities & hard at work in service to their entire community. They'll be the first to say their three lovely daughters are their pride & joy. Get to know her, you'll love Terri!
Matt Vaughn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Matt is a guy that everybody likes! He’s what you would call an all-around “good guy”! He has that “witty charm” that our customers love and enjoy. Matt and his wife Julie reside in Madisonville. Both are active in the community and their church.
Being the son of Barry, he has been around our store since was a a small child. He has become a master furniture technician, excelling with modular panel systems & modular furniture. He serves as crew leader & lead man on all our furniture installations, large & small.
He has learned the business from the "bottom up" & has been actively employed with the company for almost 20 years. If it seems like a task that's impossible to do, step back & give Matt a little time, he won't give up on it, he’ll do his best to make it happen!
Lita Whitehair (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Lita is the newest member of the "Happy" family, joining us in the fall of 2016. She is the first smile you see when you walk in the door & that friendly voice you hear on the phone. She is always eager to help you find what you're looking for & if we don't have it, she'll do her best to find it! She & her husband Troy live in Nortonville, Ky. They have 4 children - 3 daughters & 1 son, plus 6 grandchildren. Both are active in their church & the community. In her "fun" time, she enjoys baking delicious treats for those beautiful grandchildren & spending as much time with them as she can.
Why Choose Happy's
Happy's of Madisonville, Inc. is a full-line "single source" office furniture & equipment dealership serving cental & western Kentucky. We represent scores of quality office furniture manufacturers, featuring modular office panel systems, desking solutions, office seating & filing systems. We offer all non-profit organizations, churches, schools, colleges, universities & government agencies (including federal, state, county & city municipalities), competitive GSA, Commonwealth of Kentucky or U.S. Communites pricing contracts from most of our office furniture manufacturers.
Happy's serves the central & western regions of Kentucky, from Paducah to Elizabethtown. When your office demands highly functional, beautiful, "commercially-built" office furniture, built to last, call on us. We offer quality office furniture manufactured in the USA by some of the most respected names in the business - Knoll, Invincible, LaZBoy Contract, Indiana Furniture, SitOnIt Seating, JSI / Community, Versteel, KI, Lowenstein, Stance Healthcare & many more. We offer in-house office design / space planning & office layout services, plus factory certified installation by our own staff of experienced installers.
Happy's offers our 50,000 item office supply catalog featuring every office supply item you could imagine. You receive competitive pricing on every office supply item we sell, "every day"! Happy's exclusive "price guarantee" means we will meet or beat any competitor's pricing on any office supply item, depending upon whether or not we can obtain that product.
We're not the "new kids on the lock", our staff of professionals offer you a combined 153 years of sales & service experience in the office furniture & office supply industry. If there’s ever a problem with our products or services, we’re here to "fix" any issues & do our best to make it right! We still do business the “old fashioned way, "we say what we’ll do, then we’ll do what we say!
Customer service is still our highest calling!