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In the spring of 1934, nineteen persons associated with the paint industry met at the Tutwiler Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss common problems of a non-proprietary nature. Due to the success of the first meeting, attendees decided to reconvene the following year and to expand the program to a two-day format. The organization resulting from these early meetings became known as the "Southern States Federation Associates." Mr. E. B. Corden of the Magic City Paint and Varnish company of Birmingham served as chairman for both the 1934 and 1935 meetings. The membership quickly grew to include delegates from Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia. Dallas area members formed their own society in 1937, and the Houston area members followed suit in 1943. In 1952, sectional meetings on a monthly basis were initiated in Atlanta. Shortly thereafter, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, and the High Point Greensboro area sections followed suit wishing to increase member interaction and to decrease their travel requirements. In 1959, the group meeting in the High Point Greensboro area broke away from the Southern Society to form the Piedmont Society. Currently, the Southern Society has sections in Atlanta, Central Florida, the Gulf Coast, Memphis, Nashville, and South Florida.

A member of the original Birmingham group, Edwin L. Gott, later took a national leadership role when he became President of the Federation (now FSCT) in 1944-1945. Other FSCT presidents from the Southern Society to date include: Raymond C. Adams 1950-1960, James E. Geiger 1988-1989, and the first female president, Darlene R. Brezinski 1995-1996.

Historically, the main goal of the Southern Society has been to provide technical assistance and educational activities for its members. A major technical effort of the Southern Society was the development of exterior primers for southern yellow pine lumber, which was considered "unpaintable wood" by many paint manufacturers. This effort was conducted during the years from 1941 to 1953 at Georgia Tech. In the early 1950's the society sponsored coatings courses at the University of Florida and the University of Alabama. The Southern Society also participated in the FSCT's pure compounds project. This research was conducted at the University of Chattanooga. More recently, the Society has contributed considerable financial support for equipment and scholarships in the Department of Polymer Science at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

In 1974, the Southern Society hosted the FSCT Annual meeting and Paint Show in Atlanta, the first such meeting held in the South.

Materials for this article were compiled and provided by Thad Broome, historian for many years for the Southern Society. As a result of Broome's efforts, the University of Southern Mississippi Archives has established a Southern Society for Coatings Technology Historical Records Collection. Persons contributing materials or using this Collection for research should contact the USM archivist.

SSCT Past Presidents





1934		E. B. Cordon



1935		R. A. Perry



1936		E. L. Gott



1937		A. P. Mills



1938		E. M. Fairborther



1939		Hugh Allen



1940		P. C. Kollie



1941		W. T. Hallman



1942-1943	C. C. Meadars



1944-1945	I. J. Dyson



1946		D. E. Dick



1947		R. C. Adams



1948		J. J. Hughes, Jr.



1949		W. E. Hood



1950		W. A. Smith



1951		A. E. Vebyla



1952		J. Robert English



1953		F. W. Frew



1954		M. J. Catena



1955		D. D. Wyatt



1956		Parker W. Layman



1957		Ross S. McKenzie



1958		C. B. Thomas



1959		R. B. McGoogan, Jr.



1960		Clyde P. Schlesinger



1961		Herman Fritz



1962		P. S. Tully



1963		C. H. Jocoy



1964		W. S. Houck



1965		Hugh W. Lowrey



1966		H. E. Owens



1967		Calvin Chunn



1968		Billie Williams



1969		C. Dean Wagner



1970		Harold Goslen



1971		Robert F. Hall



1972		George T. Erwin



1973		J. Tommy Robertson



1974		John F. Kenney



1975		Bobby D. Moore



1976		Thomas E. Marek



1977		Berger G. Justen



1978		A. Roy Neal



1979		A. L. Hendry



1980		Thad T. Broome



1981		Frank D. Rector



1982		Dan M. Dixon



1983		William G. Early




1984		James E. Geiger



1985		Salvatore G. Sanfilippo



1986		Ronald R. Brown



1987		C. Lewis Davis



1988		R. Scott McKenzie, Jr.



1989		Ken W. Espeut



1990		James Donnelly



1991		Vernon Sauls



1992		Billy Lee



1993		Mary A. Finnegan



1994		Jeff Shubert



1995		Robert Wayne West



1996		Walter Naughton



1997		Eve V. Irvine



1998		Greg Scharfetter



1999		Dale KenKnight



2000		Harry Davidson



2001		Steve Halliday



2002		Steve Halliday



2003		Pat Goodhew



2004		Jeff Smythe



2005		Mike Kellogg



2006		Randy Shubert



2007		Stephen Cooper



2008		David Roth



2009		Lloyd Beale



2010		Randy Waldman



2011		Terry Barrett



2012		Ursula Thomas



2013		Kip Sharp



2014		Eric Robbins



2015		Rick Diener



2016		Mark Staack



2017		Yvette Box



2018		Keith Limardo



2019		Rebecca Daley



2020		Ben York



2021		Jana Sykes



2022		Jeremy Laubershimer

 


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