Carl E. Tarpley, Jr.
Carl E. “Sonny” Tarpley, recently selected Mayor of the City of Salem, Virginia, is a 1960 graduate of Andrew Lewis High School in Salem. He was a 4 year member of the Andrew Lewis Choir which was named All State in 1959, the same year the school’s track team won the State Championship, with Tarpley’s record for the mile run standing in the record books for ten years. In football, he won the Outstanding Back Award his senior year, and that year he served as president of the Monogram club.
In 1064, Sonny graduated from Tennessee Wesleyan College where for two years he was class president, one year the vice president of the student body and his senior year was named “Outstanding Brother” of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. Tarpley is also a graduate of the University of Virginia school of Bank Management.
His banking career started as Trainee with First National Exchange Bank, where he became Branch Manager. Next he was assistant vice president of Security National Bank and in 1978 helped to organize Salem Bank and Trust where he holds the title Executive Vice President.
Joyce Eversole Tarpley is Sonny’s wife. Their children are Vickie Tarpley Thomasson and Liz Tarpley. And, of course, they live in Salem. Sonny is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Salem and has sung in its senior choir of 25 years.
Being a member of the Salem City Council for 22 years and serving as Vice Mayor and this year as Mayor has given Tarpley insight into the needs of the community and directed his support to those areas of concern. Early on, he supported the establishment of the Salem city Public School System, separate from the Roanoke County Public School System under which the Salem schools had operated for years. He supported the building of the Salem Football Stadium, Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium, and the Moyer Complex (four softball fields radiating out from one large field house.)
Tarpley supported the conversion of Broad Street School into City Administrative office, the sale of Conehurst School to National Business College, and improvements and expansion of West Salem and Carver elementary schools, Andrew Lewis Middle School, and Salem High. Sonny strongly advocated the establishment of the YMCA Recreation Center of the Elizabeth Campus of Roanoke College, as well as the developmental improvements to Longwood and Lake Spring parks.
In recognition of his outstanding career achievements, in 1996 Carl E. “Sonny” Tarpley was among the charter members inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association.
