New airport terminal to be named for Wham

Sammy Wham

The new Laurens County Airport Terminal soon to be built with funds from the 2020 Capital Project Sales Tax (CPST) will be named after former long-time airport commissioner Sammy Wham.

Groundbreaking on the new terminal building and other airport improvements are to begin later this year.

Wham helped spearhead the $500,000 CPST airport project, which includes a new 3,000 square-foot terminal building that will replace the smaller terminal that has been in service since 1981.

“Welcome centers are important, and the airport is also a welcome station for pilots and passengers coming into the county,” Wham said in support of the project in 2020.

The Laurens County Council approved naming the terminal in honor of Wham at its March 28 meeting.

“The airport wouldn’t look like it does if it wasn’t for (Wham),” said Laurens County Council Chairman Brown Patterson. “He put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that place.”

Ernie Segars, secretary of the airport commission, agreed that Wham, a Mountville native and Clinton resident, has been the airport’s biggest advocate over the years.

“We wouldn’t have a building out there without him,” Segars said.