Justin Price

PAF 9199

Professor Hoffman

Commemorative Speech

Commemorative/Introduction Speech

Born a sharecropper’s daughter, working with nine siblings on a farm near Blackville, S.C., Lessie Price could not then have even dreamed that she would hold political office or work for a global Fortune 500 Company. Her family moved to Aiken 50 years ago because her parents were seeking a better life for themselves and their children. After that move, she found opportunities at church and school and her drive for excellence and personal growth began to shape a life and career that produced an unlikely member of that glittering Legacy of Aiken, taking her place beside scholars, industrialists and great community leaders and developing relationships with leaders on local, state, national and international stages.

Lessie Price has been a vital link in what she sees as The Legacy of Aiken – a continuum of service and excellence within the city, its leaders and its citizens. This historical Legacy, dating back to the 1830s, positions Aiken for a prosperous and healthy future. Lessie is a political pioneer, becoming the first woman elected to Aiken City Council in 1987 – then an at-large position and a seat she has held for 28 years. During that tenure, she served a term as mayor pro tempore.

Lessie has worked in partnership with visionary leaders, including Mayors H. Odell Weeks and Fred Cavanaugh, City Managers Roland Windham and Roger LeDuc and so many former Council Members whose service was a great gift to the people of Aiken – each of them doing their part to sustain our precious Legacy of Aiken.

Throughout her seven-plus terms on Council, Lessie has continued to serve in leadership capacities on dozens of community, state and national organizations. She tirelessly champions and fosters Aiken’s proven strategy of forming public/private partnerships, the model that has been the foundation of so many iconic success symbols of Aiken.

A natural leader, Lessie has helped shape all of the major decisions of the past three decades in Aiken, including the establishment of Citizens Park, the Aiken Downtown Development Association, The Aiken Corporation, URS Community Theater, The Newberry Street Festival Site, City of Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum, in addition to the Aiken Center for African American History, Art and Culture. Revitalizing Aiken’s Downtown Area and Establishing a Safe Community Program through Aiken Public Safety. She was also part of the team that helped to get Aiken designated as an “All America City”. The Municipal Association of SC has awarded Aiken with 12 consecutive Municipal Achievement Awards

She has worked to create affordable housing for Aiken families, a labor of conscience that has led to several partnerships with private business, faith communities and city government. Together, these public/private partnerships have built approximately 300 affordable homes, transforming several Aiken neighborhoods. Other collaborative partnerships have created opportunities that have supported scholarships, internships, and job placement for students and families.

In recognition of her many accomplishments and contributions to Aiken, Lessie has been recognized with: The Award of Excellence by Washington Savannah River Company, Woman of the Year and the Outstanding Leadership Award by the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce, The 2007 Woman of Excellence Girl Scouts Award, The Aiken Branch of the American Association of University Women, Named Gift Honoree, the Pickens-Salley Award by USC Aiken, The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Justice, Schools-to-Work award, The Allen University-Richard Allen Award and The Paine College Award for outstanding support and 26 Women to Watch through News 26 to name a few.

Lessie is currently the Manager of Government Affairs and Community Relations at AECOM, the leader of the liquid waste consortium at the Savannah River Site. Lessie was instrumental in bringing The AECOM SRS national headquarters, then Westinghouse Savannah River Company, to Newberry Street in downtown Aiken and continues to be an important part of keeping this prestigious corporation in our community. The SRS employs over 10,000 people, most of them engineers and other highly paid professionals. Each day, AECOM’s presence brings dozens of business executives from across the country and the world to downtown Aiken. Worldwide, AECOM employs nearly 100,000 people in over 150 countries.

Working at Savannah River Site for more than 30 years, Lessie has always been a faithful and dedicated champion of its missions. She was an instrumental part of the recruitment and workforce training team, critical to staffing the site’s more than 25,000 employees. Traveling throughout South Carolina, Lessie visited the state’s universities and technical colleges, ensuring the establishment and funding for training programs that addressed the needs of the site for recruitment. This important foundation of workforce training and development fuels other innovative programs that continue to benefit the site.

Throughout her tenure on Council, Aiken acquired a burnished reputation across South Carolina as a fountain of civic innovation, cooperative spirit and pride. In 1995, Lessie was elected by her peers to become the State President of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, representing 270 cities in the State of South Carolina.

Lessie is involved in various community, state and religious enterprises and has received numerous awards and honors for her professional and civic involvement. Throughout her career, she has volunteered her time and served on more than 50 boards and committees addressing local, state and national-level issues that pertain to health care, education, juvenile justice, lending institutions, the arts and culture, municipal government concerns, trade and industrial education and environmental concerns and tourism.

She is a current or recent member of the board of directors of: The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board, appointed twice by the Secretary of Energy, The S.C. Commission on Higher Education Foundation Board, The S.C. State Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee Board, Former Aiken Regional Medical Centers Board Chairman and during her tenure open heart surgery was awarded to Aiken Regional largely through the efforts of the late Will Cole and a visionary board, Dollars for Scholars (former Chair), The Junior Invitational PGA, Aiken Family Y, Georgia Carolina Council of Boy Scouts of America-Executive Board and The National Environmental Justice Board among many others.

In 2014, Lessie spearheaded an international exchange program for students with partners in the United States and the United Kingdom that included University of South Carolina-Aiken Campus, Sellafield, Aiken Technical College, Hampton University, and the U. S. Department of Energy-NNSA Office. She has also served on the Judicial Merit Selection Committee for the State of S. C. invited to Clemson University Strom Thurmond Institute to serve as a speaker for Senator Harris Page Smith Memorial Lecturer “Property Tax Relief-Municipal Government in SC Today on Unfunded Mandates over the years. She currently serves as a member of Claflin University Board of Trustees and Board of Visitors.

Today, Lessie is a trusted leader and beloved resident of Aiken. She was educated in the public schools of Aiken County, Allen University and the University of South Carolina Aiken. She and her husband, William ( an Aiken native and educator) are the proud parents of five sons: Tony, Kevin, Jason, Justin and Dexter, who span the ages of 25 to 47. The Price family are members of the Friendship Baptist Church in Aiken.

Ladies and Gentlemen I’d like to introduce to our future Mayor and our beloved, hero of Aiken, my Mother Lessie Booker Price.