PAGE 6
KJSWi
JANUARY, 1959
FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Carding overseer S. L. Owens, retired, restores a chair in his
basement workshop. Beside him is a self-supporting swing which
he fashioned for his latest granddaughter, Lynda Cheryl Owens.
Her father, John Owens, is employed in the Shop. At one time or
another, all the retiree's children have worked at Firestone. A
son, Lee, works in Carding. A daughter, Mrs. Carl James, is in
Main Office.
For Him, Retiring Meant
Just A Change Of Jobs
On December 1 of the year
just ended, S. L. Owens put the
finishing touches on his duties
as overseer in Carding. When
he walked out of the mill that
day, he closed the book on an
experience of almost 40 years
in textile manufacturing in the
Carolinas. Upon his retirement
here, Mr. Owens had marked up
35 years at the plant, 23 of which
were spent with Firestone.
Mr. Owens came to Gastonia
frorx'i Greenwood, S. C., in 1G23.
There he had been a second
hand in the carding room of a
cotton mill. He recalls that his
very first job, at about the age
of 13, was in the spinning room
of a mill in his home town of
Liberty, S. C. Soon thereafter,
he was introduced to the art of
weaving.
“Back then, I worked a many
of a shift for 20 cents a day—
and 10 hours at that,” he remi
nisces.
ACROSS the years, Mr.
Owens has been an ardent stu
dent of his job. In Greenwood
he attended night school. He was
enrolled in adult education class
es for several years after coming
to Gastonia.
Mr. Owens was first in the
Weaving department here. Years
later, when synthetics were in
troduced, he was on the super
visory staff in Twisting (rayon).
From there, he went to Carding,
where he was promoted to over
seer in 1942.
Upon his retirement, people in
Carding feted him at a party at
Five Points, S. C., where their
Suggestions
—From page 1
The total number of suggestions
submitted was 10,269, of which
26.5 per cent were adopted.
The Wyandotte, Mich., and
Bennettsville, S. C., plants had
the highest rates of participa
tion. Wyandotte had 758 sug
gestions per 1,000 employees,
while Bennettsville had 669.
Akron Xylos and plants in Bom
bay, India, and Brentford, Eng
land, showed sizeable increases.
HIGHEST rate of adoptions,
according to Mr, Alger, also was
reported by the Wyandotte
plant, where 276 adoptions per
Company Aids Highway Safety Program
gift for him was a topcoat. Ear
lier the same day they had de
livered to his house a lounge
chair. There was a supervisory
testimonial dinner in his honor
at the Recreation Center. His
friends in the plant offices pre
sented him with a gift of money.
A charter member of the Fire
stone Recreation Council, Mr.
Owens was honored in Decem
ber with a lifetime membership
in that organization. He is a
past president of the Council.
Throughout his stay at the plant,
he was a leader in the sports-
recreation program.
THAT lounge chair which
Carding department people gave
him upon retirement, is going to
last a long time—if Mr. Owens
has his way. For at his house
at 107 South Millon street you’ll
find him up and doing most of
the time. If you chance by, he’ll
likely greet you from his base
ment woodworking shop, and
there’ll be shavings and sawdust
in his hair. Years ago, he dis
covered the value of a good
hobby, through which he could
go on expressing his creative
abilities.
The retiree finds time for de
voting himself to leadership
projects at L o r a y Baptist
Church, where he is president
of the Men’s Bible Class.
For a long string of summers,
he has included traveling on his
vacation schedule. Now that he’s
retired, he’ll have more time for
the open road. Florida is at the
top of his travel list for the near
future.
1,000 employees established an
all-time company record.
Nine plants, both in the Unit
ed States and abroad, showed
notable increases in the number
of cash awards presented. They
are Plant 2, Steel Products and
Xylos in Akron; and the plants
in Pottstown; Noblesville;
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada;
Bombay; Brentford; and New
Zealand.
Employees of the Akron plants
submitted 1,846 suggestions, of
which 27.5 per cent were adopt
ed. These ideas amounted to
cash rewards totaling nearly
$21,000. Office and sales person
nel received a total of $5,890.
Careless, hazardous drivers of
motor vehicles may soon find
their dangerous behavior record
ed on film—not by police, but
by local high school students
working on traffic safety pro
grams.
In their clubs and through
other activities, students will
analyze their findings and em
bark on a number of activities
to correct unsafe-driving situa
tions.
This is one of several student
projects expected to be de
veloped under the new student
traffic safety program an
nounced by Norman Key, secre
tary of the National Commis
sion on Safety Education of the
National Education Association.
Aim of the program is to help
high school students attack the
problem of traffic accidents
which have taken more lives in
their age group than any other.
The program is expected to
influence traffic safety among
all citizens of the country.
A SERVICE of the NEA’s
Commission on Safety Educa
tion, the program is supported
by a grant from the Firestone
Company. Collaborating are the
National Association of Second
ary School Principals, driver and
safety education leaders, and
other groups.
While driver education is ef
fective for safety among those
who are privileged to take it,
more widespread involvement of
youth over a much longer span
of their high school career is
urgently needed, Mr. Key points
out.
He noted that in 1957, the
motor vehicle death rate among
people 15 to 24 years of age was
over three times that for the
5 to 14 age group. A sharp rise
in the accident rate of students
now occurs at the age when they
advance from elementary school
into high school.
The national safety program
will be guided by an advisory
committee of educators and busi
ness - industry representatives.
Choice of projects will be left up
to students in individual schools.
Consultation by safety education
specialists will be available to
state advisory committees and
other leading groups.
TO ENCOURAGE taking part
in the program, materials out
lining productive ideas and pro
cedures are available. A hand
book includes suggestions on
forming traffic safety commit
tees, ideas on obtaining school
and community-wide participa
tion, ways of evaluating projects,
and planning activities.
Need for such a program—
with adult guidance—was ex
pressed by Ed Williamson, con
sultant in driver education in
the Florida State Department
of Education: “It has been my
experience that youth groups
have lacked a place to turn to
for adult leadership in this field.
Students have made many con
scientious efforts to develop
safety education activities, but
they have been limited by the
absence of a really professional
source of guidance to make them
effective. A student project
needs something to lend it dig
nity and bring it continuity. The
student traffic safety program
will provide this element.”
☆
☆ ☆
Raymond C. Firestone, com
pany president said: "It is our
sincere hope that this will be the
beginning of a movement in
safety that will reach millions
of our young people, and will not
only teach them better and safer/
driving principles and practices
but also educate them in all
other phases of traffic safety."
Red Shield Boys
Visit Plant
Sixty-two Red Shield Mid
get football players from Gas
tonia and Dallas, Texas got an
inside look at Firestone, when
they made a tour of the mill
here near the close of 1958. After
their visit here one afternoon.
Midgets from Dallas and Gas
tonia clashed the same evening
in the fifth annual Pumpkin
Bowl at Ashley High School
stadium. The Midgets from Dal
las won a 6-0 victory in the con
test.
You’ve reached maturity when
you hide your old high school
annual where the children can’t
find it.—Pat Buttram
Variety Garden Club
Had Hospital Project
☆
☆
☆
Members of the Firestone Variety Garden
Club helped to make the spirit of Christmas
linger into the New Year for nurses and patients
at Gaston Memorial Hospital. Women of the
plant garden club rounded out their 1958 projects
by preparing 149 Yule decorations for distribu
tion at the hospital. Nurses were presented 19,
and the patients 130, arrangements of the handi
work. Here, Mrs. E. J. Mechem (left), wife of
the plant comptroller, looks over three of the
decorative pieces with Mrs. W. A. Burroughs,
acting director of nurses at the hospital. Mrs.
Mechem is a member of the dispatchers service of
Gaston Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.
FIRESTONE TEXTILES
P. O. BOX 551
GASTONIA, N. C.
POSTAL MANUAL
SECTION 134.1
U. S. POSTAGE PAID
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PERMIT NO. 29
THE LIBRARY OF UNC
CHAPSL HILL, N. C.
Form 3547 Requested