Posted June 18, 2015
This week’s 107th Annual Meeting of the Southern Textile Association (STA) at Hilton Head Island, S.C., was the most touching and emotional I’ve covered – and this was my 18th straight. Since its last Annual Meeting a year ago, the esteemed association lost one of its most popular and active members in Steve Brown and almost lost a much-loved past president in Doyle Kidd.
During the year, the STA Board of Governors did something extraordinary to honor both of these association legends – and I think any longtime member of the group would agree with that description – along with a true American hero who served as president of the organization years ago and remained active until his passing in 2010. They created two awards that were handed out Monday morning during the group’s annual Business Session.
The presentations elicited a range of emotions, from tears to laughter.
At the well-attended session, Scott Malcolm, president of Itema America, announced the inaugural Steve Brown Memorial Endowed Scholarship, to go to a deserving student to Gaston College in North Carolina. The college overseas the Textile Technology Center (TTC), which has supported the U.S. textile industry through testing, training, sampling, problem solving, etc. since its inception in 1941. Brown died in December after many years of service to the association.
Malcolm said he first came to know Brown very well in the 1980s when they both worked for Springs Industries before going their separate ways. Then last summer, Malcolm hired Brown at ITEMA America after a career that took him to just about every weaving machine manufacturer out there.
“Throughout his life, he impacted many, many people,” Malcolm said. “I was privileged and honored that, during the late stages of his career, he came to work for Itema America. We were back together again after 30 years.”
Past President Randy Blackston, vice president at Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, then offered more thoughts on the jovial Brown – including the fact that he gave everyone a nickname … or two. Blackston’s, he said, was “Hammer” and “Little Brother.” But Brown was best known for his commitment to serving others, Blackston said.
“Steve gave great service to the textile industry and this association, but let’s also remember the service that he gave outside of our industry,” Blackston said. “Steve reached out to many youth. There are literally hundreds of young men and women who spent time in Steve’s Sunday School class or were coached or mentored by him. Steve had a serving way of life and he served others in a wonderful way.”
Blackston then presented a copy of the scholarship to Brown’s widow Nancy Brown and daughter Stephanie Jackson in one of STA’s most moving moments in recent history.
STA's moments
to remember
This page proudly sponsored by Frankl & Thomas, Inc.
Meanwhile, Greenwood Mills’ President Jay Self, also a past STA president, announced the inaugural Steve Epps Lifetime Service Award in honor of the WWII veteran who parachuted onto the coast of Normandy during the allied invasion. Epps served as president of STA in 1985-86 and remained an active member of the association until his death in 2010.
Before presenting the award to Kidd, retired vice president of purchasing for Greenwood Mills, Self shared a few stories about his longtime employee, who he called a “doer.” Whatever needed to be done, “Doyle always got it done.” Kidd suffered a major stroke last year that forced him to retire from his longtime position with Greenwood.
“That day, September 28, after (Kidd’s wife) Rebecca called to tell me what had happened, was one of those times when you hang up the phone and cry,” Self said. "And that’s what I did.”
Kidd is still recovering but was on hand to receive the award. Though he still struggles to find his words as a result of the stroke, Kidd said how thankful he was to the association and to Self and Greenwood Mills. Then, he showed attendees he had not lost that Doyle Kidd sense of humor.
“Even though my speech isn’t back yet, I was just told there are three people in this room who I can talk better than already – and that’s George Abbott (of Inman Mills), Steve Adams (of Seydel-Woolley) and Eddie Gaither (of Greenwood Mills),” Kidd said.
Raucous laughter.
It was a moment in time that will be indelibly etched in the memories of STA members forever.
Fittingly, the meeting took place at the same location, the Marriott Resort & Spa, that the group met for its Annual Meeting when Kidd was president in 1998. That meeting also was memorable to me and many others. That’s when the STA announced a “mystery speaker” in its pre-meeting packages – a speaker I had tried to pull out of Kidd in advance. “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you,” he said with that vintage Doyle Kidd grin. The speaker turned out to be a Bill Clinton impersonator who could pass for the then-president. At the time, Clinton was embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, so the impersonator had plenty of humorous fodder that day after being introduced as President Clinton and entering the room to “Hail to the Chief.”
This week’s meeting was one for the memory bank, too – big time. I’d like to thank the Southern Textile Association for their support and for having me document and record these many unforgettable moments and memories for nearly two decades. Thanks for making a difference to so many of our industry professionals, and to our industry. And thanks for the memories.