FIRESTONE TV PROGRAMS
Eyewitness’ Reported History
Retired—But
No Lazy Life
In His Plans
Carpenter John W. Holland
hammered his last nail for Fire
stone in early December, after
almost 17 years on the job at
the Gastonia plant. But at home,
he has no intention of allowing
rust to eat at the carpenter tools
which have been his helpers
over almost a half century.
The plant’s December re
tiree spent all his years here on
the carpenter crew. For around
seven years his assignment was
with the maintenance staff of
the company’s village houses—
more than 600 of them in those
days.
When the houses were sold to
employees, Mr. Holland was as
signed to the carpenter depart
ment for routine repair, main
tenance and construction on the
plant property.
On spare time in recent years,
he and Mrs. Holland have over
hauled their house at 812 West
Second avenue. Working as a
team, they have completely re
done the interior. They plan to
finish up on the outside “after
the winter is over.”
CARPENTRY came naturally
to this retiree. It was a case of
PIONEERS—Long before Ihe
do-ii-yourself fad gained its cur
rent popularity, Mr. and Mrs.
Holland were getting experience
in home improvement crafts
manship. without "outside" pro
fessional help. Here, in their 812
West Second avenue house they
enjoy the remodeled kitchen
which features built-in cabinets
of their own making. Mrs. Hol
land worked in Weaving (cot
ton) here in the mid-1940s.
☆ ☆ ☆
making-do, when he was a
farmer in the Long Creek sec
tion near Bessemer City, and
there were a lot of things that
needed to be “fixed”.
Now that he is “on his own”
Mr. Holland outlines his days to
include the every-summer vege
table garden, mowing the lawn
and tending a few flowers and
shrubs.
An 1 those carpenter tools will
be put to use on small jobs
during the warm seasons of the
year, “If I continue to feel good,
and strong,” he adds. If there’s
any time left for leisure, he will
renew his interest in fishing
and hunting—sports he enjoyed
many years ago.
On his last day of work here
December 7, fellow workers in
the Shop presented him a gift
certificate for a suit of clothes.
“It’s the best one I’ve ever
owned,” he confided.
Do What’s Right—
Guard Your Sight
Your eyesight is a most preci
ous possession. Don’t take
chances with it. This is a re
minder from the public health
service of the U.S. Department
of Health, Education, and Wel
fare.
Moreover, half of all blindness
is preventable. A checkup by
your eye doctor will lead to
early discovery of any defect
that you may not have been
aware of.
The Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare lists
these facts on blindness and its
prevention;
• Glaucoma is caused by in
creased pressure inside the eye.
An eye examination can dis
cover it. Early diagnosis and
treatment can prevent loss of
sight.
• Cataracts cause the lenses
of the eye to cloud up, thus im
pairing vision. Surgery can
usually cure the condition, if
the operation is not too late.
• Diabetes can lead to blind
ness. But loss of sight can be
prevented if the disease is found
in time, through blood tests and
medical examination.
• People over 40 years of age
—especially those 60 or older—•
are more likely to have a
chronic disease affecting eye
sight.
Your family physician can
recommend an eye doctor, if you
have never been to one.
Since last summer, millions
of American television viewers
have been watching history in
the making, through a series of
programs over CBS, under spon
sorship of the Firestone com
pany.
Calgary Production
To Begin This Year
The multi-million-dollar tire
manufacturing plant for The
Firestone Tire & Rubber Com
pany of Canada Ltd., at Calgary,
Alberta, is planned to begin
meeting production options by
late 1960. This addition to the
company’s chain of domestic and
foreign factories can be expect
ed to boost demand for fabric
such as the Gastonia plant pro
duces.
The plant, first tire-building
facility in Western Canada, is
part of Firestone of Canada’s ex
pansion program which also in-
Th3 project, marking an epoch
in global communications, is be
ing presented under the general
title “Eyewitness to History”.
The series began last August
when President Eisenhower ar
rived in Bonn, West Germany
cn a tour of visiting with heads
of allied governments.
The first 11 programs of the
series included coverage of
Soviet Premier Khrushchev’s
visit to the United States last
fall; and more recently, of
President Eisenhower’s historic
gcod-will pilgrimage of Euro
pean, Asian and African coun
tries near the end of 1959.
MOST RECENT of these pro
grams included coverage of the
President’s meeting with Pope
John XXIII and the president
and the prime minister of Italy;
the President’s visits to Turkey,
Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan
eludes modernization of its tire
plant at Hamilton, Ontario.
and India, with the Shah of
Iran and King Paul of Athens;
and highlights of the Western
Big Four sessions in Paris in
late December, and a review of
world happenings during 1959.
These programs constituted
the final phase of the first “Eye
witness” series of public service
programming, which is a part of
Firestone’s continuing coverage
of major national and interna
tional events.
At the time the series began
last summer, the company plan
ned to include coverage of
President Eisenhower’s trip to
Russia, which had been set for
late 1959, but was postponed
until the spring of 1980.
Nine out of ten traffic acci
dents involve no deliberate law
violation, and happen to driv
ers with excellent past records,
members of the first annual
Southeastern Symposium and
Workshop on Traffic Safety
learned in Atlanta recently.
"These accidents are caused by
faulty habits and reaction to the
everyday traffic picture," one
speaker said.
EMPLOYEE IS LEADER
Thein Are Busy Hands
Reaching Out To Help
Through the extension department of Temple
Baptist Church, 44 persons this past Christmas
received a special package of cheer, tied with a
ribbon of encouragement. Those honored were
persons who might have been forgotten: The
sick, crippled, aged, and those who have to
work at essential jobs on Sunday.
Baskets of fruit were supplied by the church,
the Hope Training class gave the wrappings, and
members of the extension department prepared
the packages and delivered them on the Sunday
before Christmas.
Superintendent of the Temple Baptist ex
tension work is Mrs. Mamie Stevens of Twisting
(synthetics). The Firestone employee supervised
the project which was the first of its kind in her
church. But this was just one of many activities
that Mrs. Stevens’ group sponsors throughout the
year, as an outreach of her church.
EXTENSION work is mainly intended to take
the Sunday school and church to those who are
unable to attend regular services and partici
pate in church activities.
Primary aim of the project is to teach the
Bible, present the claims of the Christian faith
and to offer spiritual help to those of the ex
tension enrollment. Several of this number are
not members of the Temple Baptist Church.
The people served are divided into areas ac
cording to where they live, so Mrs. Stevens and
her seven helpers can labor efficiently. In taking
the church to the home or the shop, workers
supply people with copies of Home Life, a
monthly periodical; a study manual especially
prepared for extension work, Bible lesson helps,
suggestions on daily Scripture reading, and other
devotional aids.
Reports on each individual of the extension
membership are made in such areas as Bible
reading, lesson preparation, and progress in
family worship.
This extension program has been in operation
at Temple Baptist for several years. Mrs. Stevens
points out that a similar project is carried out
in many Southern Baptist Churches, as well as
in other denominations.
“But in my experience, the idea has only re
cently had serious promotion,” she says.
PROMOTION of the extension work at Temple
Baptist includes publicity in the weekly church
bulletin, posters, and an interest center display,
where a rotating-theme plan is developed
throughout the year.
There are extra-special days, like the one
planned for next June, when members of the
extension department will be conveyed to
church. The program will be planned for them.
In order to effectively accomplish the task
of the extension department, volunteer workers
at Temple join people of other congregations for
regular training classes on the county level in
Southern Baptist Churches.
“I only wish that churches everywhere could
become fully aware of the tremendous oppor
tunities of the extension department work,” says
Mrs. Stevens.
BUNDLES OF CHEER—Mrs. Stanley Huff-
stetler (left), whose husband works in Weaving/
and Mrs. Mamie Stevens of Twisting (synthetics)
joined other extension workers to package fruit
for those who were unable to come to church.
When Men Are Free...
Since Ihe coming of modern manufacturing
methods—which have brought increased produc
tivity—millions of Americans have found a new
and better way of life. Increased productivity re
sults in more earnings and more "extras." This is
the very essence of the American success story.
We have more because we produce more. Man
works best and prospers most when he is free.
January. 1960
Volume IX Number 1
☆ ☆ ☆
Published by The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company,
Firestone Textiles Division,
Gastonia, North Carolina.
Claude Callaway, Editor
Charles A. Clark, Photographer
PLANT REPORTERS
Carding—Edna Harris, Jessie
Ammons
Cloth Room—Margie Waldrep
Industrial Relation s—Flora
Pence
Main Office—Doris Corella
Quality Control—Sallie Craw
ford, Louella Queen, Leila
Rape
Spinning—L illie A. Brown,
Maude Peeler, Mary Turner
Spooling—Nell Bolick, Rosalie
Burger. Ophelia Wallace
Mechanical Department—Rosie
Francum
Twisting—Vera Carswell. Elease
Cole. Annie Cosey, Katie El
kins. Catherine Fletcher
Twisting (Sales)—Elmina Brad
shaw
Warehouse—M a r j o r i e FallS/
George Harper. Albert MeekS/
Rosevelt Rainey
Weaving (cotton)—Ruth Veitch
Weaving (synthetics)—Mary £■•
Johnson, Irene Odell
Winding—Ruth Cloninger, May'
zelle Lewis