GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
APRIL • 1970
Radio Programs
On Textiles
Both local and national
news of the textile indus
try is presented five days
a week on four Carolina
radio stations which serve
wide areas of the Mid-
South.
The daily news features,
presented by editor-com-
mentator Ed Smith of
Kings Mountain, spotlight
textile plant progress, per
sonnel changes, labor-
tnanagement relations, con-
tract awards, government
activities, new products
and methods in the indus
try. Time and station
schedule:
7:45 A.M. — Monday
through Friday, W B T,
Charlotte; 1110 KC
7:40 AM— Monday
through Friday, WBIG,
Greensboro; 1470 KC
5:45 PM — M o n d a y
through Friday# WFBC,
Greenville; 1330 KC
10:30 PM — M o n d a y
through Friday, WFBC,
(AM & FM); FM 88.1 MC.
w
Wew Freedom Shares’
mm
INTO
HISTORY
U.S. Savings Notes, popularly known as “Freedom
Shares,” will be removed from sale effective June 30 this
year. The Savings Notes, yielding 5 per cent interest, have
been sold in combination with Series E U.S. Savings Bonds
since May of 1967.
Mrs. Eula B. Wilson, Fire
stone plant payroll supervisor,
announces that the supply of
Freedom Shares will be discon
tinued in the Gastonia area
around June 1.
“So, employees who have
been purchasing these Savings
Notes should be aware that
David
Neal
Lewis
MANAGER NAMED
Process-Product Development
David Neal Lewis has been appointed manager of process
and product development for Firestone Textiles Company,
With headquarters at Gastonia.
James B. Call, division president, said that Lewis heads a
newly-created department in process-product development for all
three facilities of the division: Gastonia, Bennettsville, S.C., and
Bowling Green, Ky.
Lewis, from Detroit, Mich.,
transferred to Gastonia from
Firestone Synthetic Fibers Com
pany headquarters at Hopewell,
Va.
FOLLOWING graduation
from high school, Lewis joined
the Navy and trained as an
aerial photographer, spending
half of is two years of service in
Japan.
Home from the Navy, he en
tered Michigan State University
at East Lansing, where he re
ceived the Bachelor of Science
degree in chemical engineering
in 1959. Later that year he
joined the college training pro
gram of The Firestone Tire &
I^ubber Company at Akron,
Ohio.
His first assignment was in
tire development. During the
five years he was in Akron, he
advanced to an assignment in
^he textiles-adhesives develop
ment department.
Transferred to Hopewell five
years ago, he began work there
ih the development department.
Later he was in process engi
neering but returned to the de
velopment department as man
ager of the Hopewell pilot
Plants. From that assignment
transferred to Gastonia in
^arch.
their sale will be stopped after
June,” reminds Mrs. Wilson.
“Firestone people buying Free
dom Shares through the pay-
roll-deduction plan will need to
see the payroll department to
change their deduction programs
to regular Savings Bonds.”
THE U.S. TREASURY De
partment announced discon
tinuance of Freedom Shares in
late 1969, at the time it revealed
the most recent increase in in
terest rate on two common
series of U.S. Savings Bonds.
The new 5 per cent rate be
came effective the past Dec. 1.
This rate applies to all out
standing Series E and H Bonds
sold on or after June 1, 1969,
if held to maturity. The higher
rate also applies to older Bonds.
Beginning with the first semi
annual interest period starting
on or after June 1, 1969, rates
on outstanding E and H Bonds
were increased to yield 5 per
cent, when held to maturity or
extended maturity.
The original maturity of the
Series E Bond has been
shortened from 7 years to 5
years and 10 months. H Bonds
continue to mature in 10 years.
THEY PLAYED
BALI- Y Membership Drive
Fourteen Gastonia Firestone
people helped Gaston County
“play ball” for the annual
YMCA membership drive in
March. The men, representing
several main plant departments
and division management, be
came “owner, manager, coach.
Lewis is a member of the
American Institute of Chemical
Engineers.
His wife is the former Gloria
Perry of Wyandotte, Mich.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have three
daughters: Anne, 11; Jill, 9;
Neal, 5; and a son, Rhys, 3.
The Lewis family lives at
1260H Carriage Lane in Gas
tonia.
trainer, captain, scorer and
team members” to help along
the Y effort which sought 2,000
new or renewed memberships.
Intead of playing actual base
ball, the Firestone men were
organized within the ball-team
idea to “score” for the county-
wide effort. It was one of many
teams in business, industrial
and other organizations.
On the team and its man
agement-training staff: Ralph
Johnson, A. V. Riley, Freddie
Elkins, Thomas A. Grant, M. J.
Nichols, Raymond Morgan, Carl
Rape, E. D. Bagwell, Harold
Robinson, T. E. Gibson, J. G.
Tino Jr., W. D. Teague, Ray
mond Hoots, D. Ray Thomas.
Weave Look
David Britton (left), Gastonia
plant production scheduler, dis
cussed weaving principles with
R. M. Simpson who visited
here last month. Simpson is
safety engineer at Firestone's
Wyandotte, Mich., steel pro
ducts plant. He came to the
Gastonia plant to conduct a
session on lift-truck operating
safety. Attending the meeting
were 32 truck operators and
others whose work deals in
safety and materials-handling.
Gastonia t ^
Plant sjuth
When the late Harvey S. Firestone, company founder, pur
chased the Gastonia plant and other properties in April of
1935, it was The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company’s first
manufacturing venture into the Southland.
The plant, which under two other corporate names had
dated to the early 1900s, through the years has maintained
its leadership as a major producer of textiles—principally
tire-cord fabrics.
Across the past 35 years, the facility has moved from pro
duction of a variety of materials for the general textile
trade and tire fabrics to tire fabrics exclusively.
Beginning in the age when cotton was still "king" in the tex
tiles field, the plant has progressed to production predominantly
in materials of an ever-widening family of scientifically-produced
fibers.
Some sample highlights of the years since 1935 indicate
that Firestone in Gastonia “has come a long way.” It has
won many a safety award and recognition for community
service. It has made progress in many areas, including
quality of product, better employee relations, reorgani
zation and creation of new departments for efficiency of
operation.
The plant pioneered sales of its village homes to em
ployees; made major additions such as the three fabric-
treating units, a new water-storage and pumping facility;
additional warehouses, parking-loading space, and a host of
other improvements in machinery and equipment, and con
veniences for employees.
Changes for progress span the years from the "cotton days" of
the mid-1930s to the age of the computer, with the recent instal
lation of electronically-programmed communications equipment in
main office.
When the company purchased the plant, it was first called
Firestone Cotton Mills. A while later, it became Firestone
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