PAGE TWO
MARCH 5, 1953
What’s Your Hobby. ... 7
LEONARD K. FIRESTONE (right), President of the Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company of California, accepts the gavel as the new
President of the Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of
America from Justice W. Turney Fox, retiring President, at the
Council’s 38th annual meeting.
Leonard K. Firestone Accepts Scout
Council Presidency in Los Angeles
LEONARD K. FIRESTONE,
President of the Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company of California, is
the new President of the Los An
geles Council of the Boy Scouts of
America.
He was installed by Justice W.
Turney Fox, outgoing President,
at the 38th annual Council dinner
meeting in the Hotel Statler, at
tended by more than 700 Council
members and guests.
In his new post, Mr. Firestone, a
volunteer in Los Angeles Scouting
since 1944, heads the Council which
will carry the heaviest responsi
bility for the National Jamboree
of the Boy Scouts in California in
July of this year.
The Council serves as host to the
National Meeting of the Boy Scouts
of America in Los Angeles July 16
and 12, to be followed immediately
by the National Jamboree at
Irvine Ranch near Santa Ana.
Fifty thousand Scouts from all
over the country will attend the
Jamboree.
MR. FIRESTONE became a
member of the Sales Department
of the Company in 1931 following
his graduation from Princeton
University. He served as a sales
executive in various capacities for
the next 10 years and in 1932 was
elected Vice-President of the Fire
stone Tire & Rubber Company of
California. In 1935 he moved to
Akron to become trade sales
manager of the parent company, a
position he held until 1941, when
he was chosen President of the
newly organized subsidiary, the
Firestone Aviation Products Com
pany.
He enlisted in the Navy in Jan
uary of 1942 and was commissioned
a lieutenant. He was placed on in
active duty in July, 1943, to become
President and General Manager
of the Firestone Company of Cali
fornia, the facilities of which were
devoted to war production. He has
since made his home at Beverly
Hills, California.
FIRESTONE NEWS
Volume II, No. 5, March 5, 1953
Published at Gastonia, North Carolina
By Firestone Textiles
A Division of
The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company
Department of Industrial Relations
R. H. HOOD, Editor
Department Reporters
Carding—Guinn Briggs, Gertrude Sanders, Jessie Westmoreland.
Spinning—Lois Bolding, Evie Thomas, Janet Hartgrove, Mary
Turner, Fannie Bruce.
Spooling—Nell Bolick, Helen Reel, Rosalee Burger.
Twisting—Nevie Dalton, Mable Hanna, Hazel Clark, Lassie
Crawford, Corrie Johnson, Dean Haun, Ellease
Austin.
Weaving—Mary Johnson, Lucille Davis, Inez Rhyne, Irene
Burroughs, Vivian Bumgardner, Nina Milton.
Cloth Room—Margie Waldrop.
Quality Control—Dealva Jacobs, Irene Burroughs, Leila Rape,
Catherine Isham.
Winding—Dorcas Atkinson, Mayzelle Lewis, Kathleen Hovis.
Shop—Cramer Little.
Warehouse—Bobby Smith, George Harper, Albert Meeks.
Main Office—Mozelle Brockman.
Superintendent’s Office—Sue Van Dyke.
Personnel Office—Flora Pence.
Refreshment Department—Deuel Redding.
Spinner Bertie Conrad Has Miniature Shoe Collection
Mrs. Bertie Conrad has an over
supply of shoes at her house—if
you count shoes of all kinds. In
addition to the normal supply of
footwear most people possess, Mrs.
Conrad, a spinner, has 150 pairs of
miniature shoes made of. wood,
china, leather, and bronze. She
says its a fascinating hobby that
takes her on imaginary trips to
distant places as tiny shoes from
points all over the world are ad
mired and studied.
In Mrs. Conrad’s case, there are
shoes from such foreign countries
as Germany, Japan, Argentina, and
Mexico, plus souvenir shoes from
most of the 48 states in this coun
try. She’s been collecting them for
four years with the help of relatives
and friends who, for the most part,
are members of the Armed Ser
vices.
“The sentimental value of a
miniature shoe,” says Mrs. Con
rad, “is greater to me—or any
other real collector—than any
value you could place on the shoe
in terms of money. I value my
shoes in terms of where they came
from, who got them for me, etc.”
Whatever the value—real or
sentimental—of Mrs. Conrad’s col
lection, the judges at the annual
Hobby Show have for the past two
years thought enough of it to a-
ward it first and second place
ribbons for those years respective
ly.
“As for my favorite shoe,” she
reached for a small wrinkled
bronzed one, “this is it. It is the
first shoe worn by Roland, Jr.” She
was referring to her older son. The
rest of the family consists of
Michael, the other son, and her
husband, Roland, Sr., a loom fixer
and employee at Firestone since
1936. The Conrads live at 101
North Ransom Street.
Mrs. Bertie Conrad and Shoe Collection.
Visitors From Buenos Aires
Freedoms Award For
Newspapers Continued
From Page 1
the Firestone News, Pottstown,
Pennsylvania; the Firestone News,
Fall River, Massachusetts; the
Firestone News, Gastonia, North
Carolina, and the Ravenna Arsenal
News, Ravenna, Ohio.
The award was won on the basis
of the Company’s outline of the
purposes of the extensive publica
tions program which has been de
veloped to reach employees, since
great expansion of Company opera
tions prevents the personalized
contact between Management and
Employees.
“The program has two important
functions”, the Company said.
“First, it provides a means of in
forming employees about the
Company, its products, policies and
events. Second, and most vital in
these times of world unrest, is the
function of providing a medium of
education in the American Way of
Life, so that employees will be
reminded of their political and
economic rights, their freedoms,
what their part should be in pro
tecting these rights and freedoms
and what their loss would mean.”
The presentation ceremonies at
Valley Forge were carried on CBS
and NBC radio networks later in
the evening.
H! * *
THE award recipients were
chosen by a distinguished Awards
Jury composed of thirty State Su
preme Court jurists and executive
officers of national patriotic and
military organizations and service
clubs. '
AFTER a 3-year absence Mr. and Mrs. William F. Gates renew
old acquaintances here. Mr. Gates was assigned here from 1939 until
he was moved to Argentina to become Manager of Firestone’s tire
fabric plant there in 1949. Mrs, Gates, who formerly served as
secretary for General Manager Mercer, and her husband are above
admiring an unusual letter opener being displayed by Mr. Mercer.
Argentinian Plant Manager & Family
Visit Gastonia After 3-Year Absence
WILLIAM F. GATES, Manager
of Firestone de la Argentina (Fire
stone’s tire fabric plant in Buenos
Aires, Argentina), and his wife,
the former Miss Dorothy Moore of
Gastonia, were recent visitors here.
This was their first visit home for
the Gates since Mr. Gates was
made manager of the South Ameri
can plant three years ago.
Mr. Gates became associated
with Firestone in 1939, at which
time he moved from his home town
of Anderson, S. C., to Gastonia to
begin his work at Firestone Tex
tiles. Except for time out for war
service in the Army, he served at
the Gastonia plant until being
moved to Argentina in 1949.
Mrs. Gates is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Moore of
523 West Fourth Avenue. She is a
former Firestone employee, having-
served at one time as secretary for
General Manager Harold Mercer.
Mr. and Mrs. Gates have two
children: William III, age six, and
Charles Moore, age two. The
younger son was born in Argentina
and is legally a citizen of both the
United States and Argentina.
The Gates family will have
thoroughly mixed up the seasons
by the time of their return
Buenos Aires. They left there
November for the trip hoin^^'
Summer was just beginning
Argentina at the time. As soon
they crossed into the Northei'*^
Hemisphere winter was upon theni-
Now they are back in Argentina
for the last weeks of summer,
be followed soon by the Argentii'^^
fall, which of course, is our spi'^’^^'
The Firestone tire fabric
in Buenos Aires manufactui®^
essentially the same products
plant produces. Production
ployees—numbering several
dred—are all Spanish speaking
natives.
Americans in Argentina,
ing to Mr. Gates, have access
many of the things they would
joy in the United States. Americ^^
children, for example,
schools supported and operated
Americans. American cars,
vision sets, etc., are available
Argentina at prices several
higher than they would
America. A low-priced
car, says Mr. Gates, costs
neighborhood of $6,000. Iw
trast the price of native
steaks is 35-40 cents a pound.