Lawhead returns home to head Empire Disposal

It started as a 10-year learning plan with his mother and father to take over the family business.

It lasted two years, until Frank Lawhead was killed in an accident on the job Nov. 12, 2002.

Aaron Lawhead, his then 26-year-old son, was thrust into taking over Empire Disposal, based in Colfax.

The upheaval was part of a journey that included the sale of the business, Lawhead’s return to Arizona where he went to college, and his later second return to Colfax with a wife and two children.

He moved back to Colfax in August to run Empire Disposal for the long term.

“To have my kids grow up in the...