BUY AND USE CHRISTMAS
SEALS!
NEWS
GASTONIA
Quality production doesn’t just
happen. It is planned and executed
with care and determination. See
how Firestone Textiles’ Quality
Control Department guards the
quality of every pound of pro
duction, page four.
VOLUME I
GASTONIA, N. C., DECEMBER 5, 1952
NO. 14
New Second Shift Parking Lot
Fir
The Millon Sti'eet parking lot was opened November 24 to
estone Textiles second shift employees. The lot is divided into
® Sections, as shown above, and will accommodate 91 cars. The
^Ppermost picture shows a portion of the North Section in which
40 c{
floor
can be parked. The lower picture—taken from the fourth
of the plant—shows the South Section at closer range, detailing
direction arrows and parking lines which employees are
observe closely.
Serviceman - Former Creeler - Writes
^®tter Of Appreciation From Korea
o
■ • • • Keeping You Posted
'Z-j;
at jp- best known faces
Textiles is that of
is Neely, or “Britt” as he
^iig commonly identified.
job is the pickup
^ y of mail within the
ti'ipg ‘ addition he makes
Sevgj. ? Gastonia Post Office
a day. Over the
estatii k “Britt” has
i}K himself as a unique
^ ^^ble personality as well
^^Pendable plant mail
THE plant newspaper recently
received a letter from a former
creeler in the Weaving Department
who is now serving with the
United States Navy in Korean
Waters. Believing that his com
ments will be of interest to all
employees we are publishing his
entire letter as follows:
“This is just a letter of praise
and appreciation of your local
paper, Firestone News. I believe it
is a real boost to a serviceman’s
morale to hear from his home
town, especially his place of em
ployment before entering the ser
vice.
“Firestone is well known
aboard this carrier and in our
Fighter Squadron. I am in a
Fighter Squadron of F2H-2
Banshees, which are single
place, high performance, twin
engine jet propelled fighters.
They use Westinghouse J 34-WE
turbo jet engines, which must be
packed for rough treatment dur
ing shipment. When an engine
is changed, the first thing you
notice is the packing container in
which it was shipped. FIRE
STONE is painted across the top
of each container in big yellow
letters. I don’t know what plant
does this but it is still a Fire
stone product. To start these
planes, we have a mobile power
(Continued On Page 2)
Christmas Parties Forerun Busy Yuletide;
Santa Claus To See ‘‘Kiddies” In Person
THE annual Christmas parties
for children of Firestone Textiles
employees will be a big event of
December 20 at the Webb and
Palace Theaters. The distinguished
gentlemen from the frozen north
will appear first at the Webb
Theater at 9:00 a. m. His next
stop will be at the Palace Theater
at 10:30 a. m., at which time he
will greet all the children of
colored employees. Finally he will
return to the Webb at 11:00 a. m,
for a second party since there are
more employee children than can
be seated in the Webb Theater at
one time.
Entrance to these parties is by
ticket only. All employees will be
given tickets for each of their
children under 14 years of age.
These tickets must be presented
upon entering either theater.
Santa Claus To Visit
Girls’ Club
1
Santa Claus will visit the Girls’
Club in person on December 9, 11,
16, and 18, from 3:30 to 4:30 p. m.
At these times he will be available
to all the little folk of Firestone
Community. Santa will be glad to
receive letters from the kiddies
during these visits and he has
promised to answer each one if
they contain a name and address.
Turkeys To Be Grand
Prizes At Bingo
The grand prizes for the De
cember 11 bingo parties will be
turkeys. Two large roaster-sized
birds will be awarded that day—
one at the 10:00 a. m. party; one
at the 7:00 p. m. party.
Assistance Available For
Christmas Parties
Recreation Director Ralph John
son says he will be glad to assist
any of the departments in the plan
ning of their Christmas Parties.
Christmas Party Schedules
At Girls’ Club
Friday, December 12, Women of
the Firestone Wesleyan Methodist
Church (Mrs. Dodgin in charge).
Saturday, December 18, Third
Shift Cord Weaving Dinner, 7:00
p. m.
Monday, December 15, Quality
Control Party.
Tuesday, December 16, First
Shift Ply Twisting Dinner, 7:00
p. m.
Wednesday, December 17, Recre
ation Council Banquet, 7:00 p. m.
Thursday, December 18, Second
Hands’ Christmas Banquet.
Friday, December 19, Main Of
fice Party, 7:00 p. m.
Saturday, December 20, Super
visors’ Party.
Monday, December 22, Shop
Party.
Tuesday, December 23, Indus
trial Relations Party, 7:00 p. m.
WHAT boy or girl is there who wouldn’t be satisfied to have
one or two toys like these for Christmas ? This is the Firestone
Stores show case in the West end of the plant. These and other
Christmas toys may be purchased at the Firestone Store, Marietta
and Franklin Streets. Gastonia.
Reporters Hear Editor Gillespie Talk
On "ABC's" and "Gremlins" At Party
APPROXIMATELY 40 report
ers and guests attended the Re
porters Party, Tuesday, November
25 at the Girls’ Club. They were
feasted to turkey amid table set
tings that struck a perfect Thanks
giving note. Dinner music was
furnished by the Melody Makers
Orchestra.
Following dinner the group
listened attentively to the Gaston
Citizen’s Editor David Gillespie as
he pointed out the “ABC’s” of
newspapering. These, said Mr.
Gillespie, are accuracy, brevity,
and clarity. In a more humorous
vein he regaled his audience with
examples of typographical errors he
has collected from leading news
papers. “These are the ‘gremlins’,”
said Mr. Gillespie, “that sneak in
to plague the life of every news
paperman.”
As an illustration of the im
portance of names the visiting
speaker named the reporters on
the Firestone News staff from
memory. He noted that people like
to hear or see their names and he
used this method to emphasize the
axiom that “names make the
news.”
After Mr. Gillespie’s talk, Gen
eral Manager Harold Mercer and
Industrial Relations T. B. Ipock,
Jr., opened an informal question
and answer period with their com
ments on the progress being made
by the plant publication.
REPORTERS and guests to the first annual Firestone News
Reporters’ Party pose informally above. Among the guests were
General Manager Harold Mercer, seated at the head table left;
General Superintendent Nelson Kessell, third from left at head table-
and Industi ial Relations Director T. B. Ipock, seated fourth from left.
The speaker, Mr. Gillespie, had to leave before this picture was taken.