Honeycutt sworn in, fills Autryville vacancy

Dec. 21—AUTRYVILLE — At long last, the ongoing vacant Board of Commissioners position has finally been filled for the town, thanks to Tommy Honeycutt.

There was lots of excitement going on in Autryville during their recent board meeting held last Tuesday, Dec. 13. On top of awarding one of their members with the Order of Long Leaf Pine, Honeycutt was also sworn in as the board's final member.

"We are beyond excited to have Tommy as a commissioner," Autryville Mayor, Grayson Spell said. "He is a shining example of someone who goes above and beyond in his community."

Now in his new role Honeycutt shared these words about being able to serve on the board.

"Well, I just considered it an honor to be able to help serve small town USA,"

He'd also share his reasoning for answering the call to serve and what he desires to accomplish now that he's member of the board.

"It simple, Sampson County will always be home in my heart and I want to help see it prosper and that's pretty much everything."

"As for what I would like to see accomplished, I'd like to see more businesses come to Autryville," he said. "I'd like to see a good restaurants come into our little town, a family restaurant, and some retail business to generate more revenue and make it easier for our folks to shop locally."

For any that don't know Honeycutt he was a well known figure in the 1970s where he was very active in the Clement area. He'd move to Cumberland, his residents for the last three decades, but a desire to return and serve his hometown of Sampson brought him back.

"If you look back in the 70s I was known real well in Sampson County," he said. I was strong in the FFA, basketball and baseball at Clement. I was raised in the Clement community and I was called into the ministry in 1990. I moved over to Cumberland County where I've resided for the last 30 years and I wanted to come home."

If Honeycutt's name sounds familiar, that isn't a surprise either as he's been at the cornerstone of plumbing industry basically his whole life. He joined his uncle at Hubbard Pipe right after graduating high school and was there for 22 years. These days he is now the President of the prominent business Tolar Supply, Inc. in Fayetteville where he's been the past 25 years.

"I have been in the plumbing supply business since 1975," he said. "Upon graduation, I went to work with my uncle in the supply business before I went away to college. "I came home then married my high school sweetheart and we raised two children and that's pretty much it."

"I mean I could sit down and write a story or a book about my life but following God's lead I've come home to spend my final years making Sampson an even better place to live."

"I just want to make the folks in Autryville to feel proud to have me serving them to make it an even better place to live, that's it, that's my closing comment," he said with laughingly."

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.