MILL WHISTLE
Vol. XIII
Spray, N. C., September 27, 1954
Number 6
E. W. MEDBERY
. . . Production
WALTER GUINAN
. . . Rug Sales
FRED HOIT
. Domestics Sales
Medbery, Guinan And Hoit Named
Vice Presidents Of Fielderest Mills
Election of E. W. Medbery of Spray Walter R Guinan and ^
ric W. Hoit of New York as vice presidents of FieMcrest Mills, Inc.
has been announced by Harold W. Whitcomb, president.
25-Year Club Has
Membership Of 811
Everything was in readiness tor the
12th annual picnic of the 25-Year Club
9s the Mill Whistle went to press Fri
day. A total of 811 men and women
^ith 25 or more years of continuous
service with the Company were invited
it was expected that a high percent-
^§6 of these would be on hand at the
Saturday event. Of this number 93
and women are new members of
the 25-Year Club.
Beginning in 1943, the club was or-
Sanized at a banquet given for long-
service employees on December 7, two
y®ars to the day after the Japanese at
tack on Pearl Harbor, as it was recalled
at the time.
A total of 106 employees were eligible
membership in the club and 87 per-
sons^76 men and 11 women—attended
the organization meeting. By the time
the second banquet in November,
the membership had increased to
(See ipages four and five for roster
2^ 25-Year Club Members).
137—comprised of 120 men and 17 wo-
At the third banquet in November,
1^45, there were 291 members of which
49 were women. A modification of
the eligibility requiremnts that existed
1943 and 1944 brought in many new
®iernbers.
The club continued to grow and when
the sixth annual meeting was held at the
*~lub Martinique in Martinsville, Va.,
October 19, 1948 there were 452 mem
bers.
By 1949 the group was so large that
Outdoor meetings became more feasible
and the event was held at Tri-City
baseball park with barbecue served by
*-apt. E. Q. “Red” Sewell and members
the Greensboro police department,
brunswick stew served by the same
Sroup was held at the baseball park in
1950. The outing was again in the form
a barbecue in 1951 when the club
had a membership of 619.
Beginning with the outing in Sep
tember 1952 at Tri-City baseball park,
the meeting has been in the form of a
Sumptuous picnic served by the ladies
the Matrimony Grange of Stoneville.
The Grange ladies served the picnic
?§ain in the fall of 1953 when the out-
was held in Morehead Stadium.
They also arranged for the 1954 picnic
September 25 at the stadium.
Heads Junior Council
Clinton Rodgers, of the Electric Blan
ket Mill (center) who was elected pres
ident of the Junior Carolina Council at
the group’s meeting at Central Y.M.C.A.
September 14, is shown with Clifton
Beckwith, Raleigh atto-ney, who ad
dressed the Junior Council and Martha
Brame, Council program chairman.
Mr. Medbery continues as production
manager of the Company’s mills in
North Carolina and Virginia and Mr.
Guinan continues in charge of sales for
the Karastan rug division of Fielderest.
Mr. Hoit, who will join the organization
October 1, will be in charge of domes
tics sales, replacing G. Lawson Ivie,
general sales manager, who announced
his retirement some time ago.
Mr. Medbery joined Marshall Field
and Company in 1936 as an industrial
engineer and served in other production
posts. Army service interrupted in 1942.
He was discharged a lieutenant colonel
in the Signal Corps in 1946, when he
rejoined Field’s and became manager of
their curtain operations at Zion, 111.
In 1950 he was appointed production
manager of all the mills, with head
quarters in Spray and continued in that
position when Marshall Field sold the
company to its present ownership on
October 1, 1953.
In the rug and carpet field for 27
years, Mr. Guinan rejoined Karastan
last May, having previously served the
company as director of sales and mer
chandising in 1952 and 1953. Before
joining Fielderest, he was with the
Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company, Inc.
in styling and sales capacities.
Mr. Hoit comes to Fielderest from
Lenox, Inc. of Trenton, N. J., where
(Continued on page three)