Posted June 23, 2016

 

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Longtime Southern Textile Association member Tommy Ariail was presented the group’s Steve Epps Lifetime Service Award during its 108th Annual Meeting here Monday.

 

The award, named after STA president Steve Epps, honors members who have been a member of the STA for 20 years or more, are retiring or have retired and served the association in many capacities of leadership and service during their years of membership. Recipients are selected by vote of the board of governors.

 

“To say ‘thank you’ would be a gross understatement,” Ariail said in accepting the award. “I do appreciate it very much. Steve Epps was a man everybody has a story about him and I’m honored to have called him a friend.”

 

In 1961, Ariail attended his first STA meeting in Clinton, S.C., and has spent the last 55 years supporting the organization and the industry. He worked his way through the leadership ranks, was president in 1988 and served as chairman of the board the following year. In 1998, he received The David Clark Award for leadership and service and in 2008, he celebrated the STA’s 100-year milestone, where his daughter Lisa Siggins became the 100th president.

 

Ariail is a native of Sevierville, Tenn., and a 1961 graduate of Clemson University, where he earned a B.S. degree in textile engineering. Working at Mayfair Mills in his early career, he later spent time with Spartan Mills and retired from Beal Manufacturing. Following retirement, he began teaching at Tri-County Technical College as an adjunct professor, a role he still enjoys today.

 

Ariail is active in the Fairforest Ruritan Club, serving in 1972 as president. He served on the school board in the Spartanburg County School System District Six for 20 years. Continuing his passion for education, he is currently chairman of the board for the ARCH after-school program for challenged first graders.