Woodfill & Wegman was founded in 1924 by Oliver B. Woodfill and John Wegman and was run by its founding partners until the late 1930s. It was at this time that Woodfill bought out Wegman and changed the company name to Woodfill, Inc. After Oliver Woodfill’s death in 1956, his nephew John, and Clarence Deckman assumed command of the distributorship under the name of Genesee Valley Petroleum.
Deckman bought out John Woodfill’s estate in 1960 and ran Genesee Valley Petroleum until his death in December 1962. Throughout Clarence’s tenure with the company his sons Buzz and Bernie helped out around the shop. From mopping floors to driving delivery trucks, Buzz and Bernie learned the business from the ground up. After his father died, Buzz Deckman left St. John Fisher College where he was a senior majoring in accounting to run what had become the family business.