1 i AMCO NEWS Vol. XXX No. 2 Adams-Millis Corporation April-May, 1974 J. H. MILLIS WRITES OPEN To All Members Of The Adams-Millis Family - - Dear Friends: LETTER TO EMPLOYEES At my request on ^ay7, the Adams-Millis Doard of Directors warned Bill Mewborne, Jf., President and Chief Operating Officer. 1 ■'^ill remain Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Mewborne is well quali fied to direct the opera tions of the company and 'vill continue to report J-H, Millis 'iirectly to me. His promotion is significant in that for the first time in the 70-year history of Adams-Millis, there will be neither a Millis nor a-n Adams as its President! As such, I thought A timely to write to you and to trace the history of your company--and to express to you some Personal feelings. The corporation had its beginning in 1904 as anadjunct to an overall manufacturing plant oper ated by John Hampton Adams andmy grandfather, fames Henry Millis. The two founders, associates in the overall Pfant, decided to start a small hosiery mill near- oy and erected a two-story brick building on nglish Street. The firm started as the High ointHosieryMills, Inc. , and installed 40 knit ting machines at a cost of $5,000. Only one ®tyle of hosiery, all black, was produced. The ^verage out-put for the first year amounted to OO dozen pairs daily. During the first year, the ^i^erage employment was around 125. J. H. Lillis became President and J. H. Adams was 'darned Secretary-Treasurer and General Mana- Ser. Fourteen citizens became interested finan cially in the venture and 6 of those were elected directors. J. H. Millis died in 1913 and J. H. Adams became President and active head of the Associated industries. The mill prospered; and, a few years later, Adams, Mr. Millis and associates organized file Piedmont Hosiery Mill, erected a large new W.B. MEWBORNE, JR. APPOINTED CORPORATE PRESIDENT Executive Vice President William B. Mewborne, Jr. was elected President and named Chief Operating Officer of Adams-Millis Corporation at the Board of Directors meeting, following the annual meeting of stockholders on May 7. He succeeds James H. Millis as President; Millis re- W.B. Mewborne, Jr. mains Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Mewborne is a Director of Adams- Millis and has been Executive Vice President since joining the company in 1970, A native of Durham, President Mewborne graduated from Roxboro High School in 1954 and from Duke University in 1958, after which he served as an officer in the U. S. Navy, Upon his release from the Navy in 1900, he returned to Roxboro as an associate partner in the family business, the Roxboro Lumber Company. In 1965, he joined Wachovia Bank and Trust Com pany in Winston-Salem and later became a Vice President of the Wachovia Corporation and a Vice President of Wachovia Bank and Trust Com pany. He is currently a director of Universal Reliance, Incorporated, in Louisville, Rentucky, President Mewborne resides with his wife, the former Elizabeth Leigh Jordan, and their three childrenat 1312 Westminster Drive in High Point. They are active members of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church. building, installing modern machines. Mr. Adams was elected President of the new company. Still later, other mills were organized--Kerners- ville Knitting Company, Kerner sville, N. C. , and Pointer Hosiery Company, High Point, N. C. In 1928, Mr. Adams and his associates arranged for a merger of all the hosiery interests under one charter, resulting in Adams-Millis Corporation. Mr. Adams became President and (continued on page 4)