First Financial Bank, N.A., will be presenting this year’s 2016 Athena award to Elaine Meyers during a breakfast held in her honor at the Brown Estate on Thursday May 12^th at 7:30am. She is best known in the area as the owner of The Horseman Store, a western wear retail fixture in Orange since 1969. In 1992 she expanded her retail presence to three stores by opening stores in Slidell and Gonzalez, La. In 1997, Elaine started Safety Wear Ltd and began marketing custom fit safety boots in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi from a fleet of mobile units as well as two Houston locations and one in Port Arthur. The company has enjoyed incredible success and now boasts over 600 accounts including customers like Exxon, Motiva, Shell and International Paper. In addition to surviving and thriving through many economic cycles, she is also a mom, grandmother, industry leader and two time cancer survivor.

Over the last 47 years Ms Meyers has hired and trained hundreds of high school and college students where she proudly instilled the work ethic taught to her by her mom on a small farm in Louisiana. Taking great pride in mentoring these young students, she has also developed a scholarship program granting four scholarships annually. She is an active member of Trinity Baptist Church, serving on the finance, building and personnel committees. She was first diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 1989 and after successfully defeating the disease she was informed in the past year cancer had returned. After a grueling surgery and several rounds of aggressive chemotherapy we are pleased to announce she has once again been declared cancer free. Most recently, Ms Meyers finds herself recovering from tragedy once again as both her businesses suffered severe damage from Sabine River flooding. Unfazed by the adversity, she is now open and operating from a temporary location at the Northway Shopping Center.

Stephen Lee, CEO and President of First Financial Bank-SE Texas Region commented “It is with great pride and pleasure we will be presenting the 2016 Athena Award to Elaine Meyers. Once again our committee of former Athena Award recipients has done an outstanding job of selecting our recipient. She has an incredible reputation as a local entrepreneur and more importantly embodies the qualities of courage and perseverance that are paramount to success.” Lee added, “It is our hope that by recognizing female leadership in our community we also broadly promote the development and retention of future leaders for Orange County.”

The ATHENA Award was first presented in 1982 in Lansing, Michigan and has grown to include presentations to more than 5,000 individuals in hundreds of cities in the United States as well as in Canada, China, Russia and the United Kingdom. The award takes the form of a handcast bronze sculpture symbolizing the strength, courage and wisdom of the recipient.

First Financial Bank, N.A. is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Financial Bankshares, Inc. Headquartered in Abilene, Texas, First Financial Bankshares is a financial holding company that operates 11 banking regions with 69 locations in Texas including Abilene, Acton, Albany, Aledo, Alvarado, Beaumont, Boyd, Bridgeport, Brock, Burleson, Cisco, Cleburne, Clyde, Decatur, Eastland, Fort Worth, Glen Rose, Granbury, Grapevine, Hereford, Huntsville, Keller, Mauriceville, Merkel, Midlothian, Mineral Wells, Moran, Newton, New Waverly, Odessa, Orange, Port Arthur, Ranger, Rising Star, Roby, San Angelo, Southlake, Stephenville, Sweetwater, Trent, Trophy Club, Vidor, Waxahachie, Weatherford and Willow Park. The Company also operates First Financial Trust & Asset Management Company, N.A., with eight locations and First Technology Services, Inc., a technology operating company.

The Company is listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol FFIN. For more information about First Financial Bankshares, please visit our website at http://www.ffin.com.