PAGE 4
Tir«$fon«
JULY, 1958
‘Gardening, Fishing: They’re What I Like’
Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Pate look over a lamp, the base of which is
laminated wood in different grain patterns. He turned it on a
lathe which he built. Walking stick is fashioned from a discarded
picker stick. It was made by C. B. Hipps, inspector overseer in
Quality Control.
This Slasher Room Foreman
Didn’t Retire From Life
Samuel C. Tate ended his em
ployment here in 1952, but when
he went home to 315 South Wel
don street, he didn’t retire from
life. He came to work here in
1937 and al the lime of liis re
tirement was foreman of the
slasher room.
Faced with the “freedom of
time’' of his own, he began cast
ing about for something to keep
him busy. It must be creative, he
reckoned. So, in his backyard
utility shed he set up a wood
working shop, equipped it—in
part—with machines he himself
put together with odds-and-ends.
Besides his pastime of work
ing in wood, the retiree has made
a collection of books, all in his
desire to keep up with what
goes on around him.
Racing Trophy
—From page 1
accident insurance to race driv
ers affiliated with the United
States Auto Club. The special
merit trophy award is made each
year to the supplier who, in the
opinion of the insurance firm,
has made the greatest contribu
tion to the safety of racing in
the past year.
DURING the 1957 racing sea
son, Firestone engineered and
produced racing tires in 23 tread
patterns, 30 constructions and 92
sizes—each designed for maxi
mum performance and safety for
the specific event. The company
racing division also provided on-
the-spot service for more than
200 major races in this country
and five foreign countries.
It is significant that new speed
records were established in
every major racing event in
1957, including the famed 500-
mile classics at Indianapolis and
in Monza, Italy—all on Firestone
tires.
The Company also has an im
pressive history as the primary
supplier of racing tires for more
“I guess you’d say traveling
has been our main hobby in re
cent years,” he concludes. Mr.
and Mrs. Tate especially liked
their trip to the Rio Grande Val-
itry oI Tca-ciS, and their jaunt
across from Mission into Old
Mexico. On a trip not long ago,
they went to Maryland to visit a
daughter, then on to Delaware.
When the Tates celebrated
their Golden Wedding Anni
versary in June, relatives and
others from far and near came
to pay tribute, turning the oc
casion into an old-time family
reunion.
Of late, the state of Mr. Tate’s
health has prevented his spend
ing as much time as he’d like in
the woodwork shop.
“He promised to build for me
a chair,” said Mrs. Tate, “and
he’ll get around to it one of these
days. Come to think of it, we
don’t need it, for we have 28
chairs around the place already
—and that’s a great temptation
to do too much sitting around.”
than 50 years. Both American
and European tire companies
were represented at Indianapolis
until the mid-1920s.
When average speeds reached
the 100-miles-per-hour bracket,
other company interests dis
appeared.
Firestone has continually
utilized the severity of major
races everywhere ^as a develop
ment laboratory and as an acid
test of advanced tire materials
and construction in its never-
ending search for product im
provement.
Its major contribution to the
safety of automobile racing has
won the gratitude of race driv
ers and fans around the world.
The product has kept pace with
ever-increasing race speeds and
has been selected for use on
America’s fastest race cars at
speeds in excess of 175 miles per
hour.
John Gilreath learned to love
The Good Earth when he was a
barefoot boy growing up around
Blairsville in the hills of North
Georgia. Although his job in
textile mills has kept him quite
busy for the past 35 years, he
has managed all the while to
live close to the land.
Every summer for years he
has raised a garden that is the
envy of his neighbors.
This year Mr. Gilreath’s gar
den plot on his two-acre Forbes
road “place” had vegetables
ripening in the sun as early as
mid-June. Tree tomatoes and
zucchini squash were at maturi
ty, and corn stood higher than
your head. Beans, potatoes.,
beets, cabbage and okra were
doing well, too, despite the late
planting occasioned by heavy
spring i-ains.
NOT ONLY is this employee
a good gardener — he is right
handy at making-do projects. A
good example is a push-plow
fashioned from a discarded bi
cycle wheel and some pieces of
scrap iron.
A utility man for the past 14
years, he came to Gastonia in
1922.
“Out of the Georgia hills I
The American flag which in
spired the name “Old Glory’'’ is
preserved in the United States
National Museum. Because of its
badly-worn condition, it cannot
be exhibited, but is carefully
kept in a mothproof steel locker.
came looking for greener pas
tures”, he muses. Settled in Gas
tonia, his first job was with a
labor crew building a textile
mill. Then he worked inside an
other one until he came to Fire
stone in 1935. For the first nine
years, he replaced tape drive
belts on spinning frames.
Mrs. Gilreath, also a long-time
employee here, is a tie-in-hand
in Rayon Weaving. A daughter,
Mrs. Floyd Whitaker, also works
in that department.
Mr. and Mrs. Gilreath go down
to North Georgia every summer
to visit kinfolks in and around
Blairsville. And in the cool
mountain streams he catches up
on his fishing for rainbow trout.
John Gilreath and grandson Johnnie Gilreath: Friends
of The Good Earth.
P
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to.
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Supply Supervisor
Bags Alligator
For a moment, Robert Spen
cer, supply room supervisor,
thought of the Okefinokee
Swamps and the Everglades. But
it was Crowders Creek, and the
farm of his father, W. M. Spen
cer of Davis Park road.
The six-foot bull alligator
which Robert has just dispatch
ed witll a sl'iOLg'Uii Wa’S 'Wliat lc--
minded him of the swamp coun
try further South.
The reptile lived in a marshy,
heavily-vined section near All-
American Park. Audie Bum-
gardner saw the critter reposing
in the sun in mid-June, and told
the Spencers. Robert, with his
father, went to the spot and
mortally wounded the animal
with buckshot.
Where did he come from? The
Spencers theorized he swaixi up
from South Fork River. Or may
be somebody brought him from
Florida years ago and turned
him loose to splash and wallow
in Crowders Creek.
New homes are being built in
the United States at the rate of
1,200,000 per year. The figure
is expected to double by 1975.
This means new jobs, new oppor
tunities in a growing America.
Ronnie
Roger
Employee’s Sons Earn
Good School Records
Ronnie and Roger, sons of Mr. and Mrs. John
Ross of Kings Mountain, earned records of dis
tinction at school during the past year.
Ronnie, age 15, completed a grade average of
straight “A” for the past 9 years at Central
School at Kings Mountain. Roger, age 9, was
the 1957-58 winner of the History Award in
his class of reading at East School, Kings
Mountain. The boys’ mother is a winder tender
at Firestone.
FIRESTONE TEXTILES
P. O. BOX 551
GASTONIA. N. C.
SEC. 34.66 P. L. & R.
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
GASTONIA. N. C.
PERMIT NO. 29
Form 3547 Requested