AMCO NEWS
Vol. XX No. 9 Adams-Millis Corporation November, 1962
MEET YOUR SUPERVISOR
From its
beginning with 60
machines in 1954
to its present
complement of 587
machine s, the
ladies' seamless
Knitting Depart
ment of Plant #6
has been watched
over by W. Dewitt
Winfree, But,
Dewitt Winfree's Dewitt Winfree
experience in hosiery knitting opera
tions began long before Adams-Millis
had a ladies' seamless nylon hosiery
division.
Dewitt was born in Kernersville
on September 10, 1905, to George P.
(a former employee of Adams-Millis)
and Zona Dwiggins Winfree. When he
was five years old, his mother died
and he went to live with his Grand
mother Winfree. He attended Kern
ersville schools and while in his high
school years, worked at Adams-Millis'
Kernersville plant carrying water,
sweeping, getting up yarn--and learn
ing to knit. Upon becoming 16, he
left school and secured full-time em
ployment with Adams-Milli s. After
three or four years of knitting on
Scott and Williams KG machines, De
witt left Adams-Millis for employment
with Kernersville's Vance Knitting
Company where he worked for twenty-
five years, advancing from knitter to
supervisor, a position he held for
nineteen years. Upon liquidation of
Vance Knitting Company, he was em
ployed for a while by Crawford Knit
ting Company, also in Kernersville.
However, in June of 1953, Dewitt
returned to Adams-Millis in Kerners
ville to help start up sixty 370-needle
K machines which had been in stor
age for some time. Early the next
year, he was transferred to High
Point to start up sixty new 474-needle
KN machines. At that time, the ladies'
seamless division's personnel number
ed two: Dewitt Winfree, supervisor in
charge of all production, and one knit
ter working one shift. Today, the de
partment has nearly six hundred 400
and 474-needle KN and KN-2 machines,
running three shifts. And, at the pres
ent time, Dewitt is extremely busy as
his department is in the process of
moving from the old consolidated knit
ting room to the second floor of the
recently closed full fashioned knitting
division.
Since his return to Adams-Millis,
Dewitt has seen many changes in the
production methods of ladies' seam
less hosiery, two of the major ones
being the conversion from the looped
toe stocking to the GeTaZ gusset panel
loopless toe stocking; and, more re
cently, the production of the Perma-
Loc run^esistant stocking.
At the age of 17, Dewitt was mar
ried to Miss Martha Bull, also of
Kernersville, who for several years
was employed in the Looping Depart
ment of Plant #4. Three children
were born of their marriage: Zona,
who is presently a pairer at Plant #4;
and Berchel and Wilma, both of whom
are employed by Western Electric in
Winston-Salem. There are also three
grandchildren. All are residents of
Kernersville.
The Winfrees reside at 117 Fall
Street and attend First Baptist Church.
(Continued page 4 )