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He already has earned an associates degree with high honors in applied science and computer engineering machining and is now pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. And he’s considering a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology.

“This scholarship means a lot to me,” he said. “It’s my second scholarship, but this one means more personally because I’ve really learned a lot about the person this one was named for. It sounds like he was a great man. And he was in manufacturing, which is big to me. That means he was a hard worker and had to bust his hump to get to where he was, and that’s the same thing I’m doing.”

Nancy Brown similarly was impressed with the first person to receive the scholarship named for her late husband.

“It means a great deal to come here tonight, especially to meet Raphael and learn the type of person he is,” she said. “I was very impressed with him. He seems like a gentleman and someone who has ambitions. He wants to go further in life and I’m glad the scholarship can help him do that.”

That the scholarship is going to a Gaston College student also has meaning, she added.

“If Steve hadn’t gone to college at the Textile Technology Center, he would’ve never had the career that he had, would’ve never met all the people that he met and never would have been influenced and influenced other people the way he did,” Nancy Brown said.

Steve Brown did influence many, particularly young people, as I documented in a blog the day of his funeral. I also pointed out that he was a “jolly jokester,” a “nickname generator” and an overall good person.

I’m sure “Wonder Boy” is looking down with pride, knowing his name will endure and have a lasting effect on others, and feeling a deep sense of gratitude to the Southern Textile Association.

Posted November 17, 2016

I had the honor last week of attending the Gaston College Foundation’s Legacy Scholarship Dinner, where donors and recipients were honored. There, the first recipient of the Steve Brown Memorial Endowed Scholarship was announced. Brown, as you may know, was a longtime member of the Southern Textile Association’s (STA’s) Board of Governors. He died two years ago at age 63.

About seven months after his passing, the STA announced that a scholarship would be endowed in his name, given his many contributions to the association and the industry. Appropriately, the scholarship would be awarded a student at Gaston College, of which the Textile Technology Center (TTC) in Belmont, N.C., is affiliated. Brown graduated from the TTC in 1979 and spent a fabulous career in the industry, where he held positions at Ruti Corporation, Springs Mills, Cannon Mills, Picanol of America and Itema America. Most remember Brown from his 24-year career at Picanol in Greenville, S.C.

I attended the scholarship dinner at the request of Brown’s wife Nancy and daughter Stephanie. There, they were able to meet and break bread with the scholarship recipient, Raphael Tehandon – as did I. And Tehandon was able to hear stories about the man affectionately known as “Wonder Boy” among friends.

We learned that Tehandon is a driven young man who aspires to spend his career in manufacturing – as Brown did. Already, he works full time as a tool and die maker and CAM programmer for grocery cart manufacturer Technibilt in Newton, N.C. – this while attending Gaston College and, oh, while taking care of a wife and two young children.

Steve Brown's legacy endures