‘Yom And
Firestone’
MAY
1974
GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
'f'tre^fone
Textiles Company
BENNETTSVILLE • SOUTH CAROLINA
BOWLING GREEN • KENTUCKY
☆ ☆ ☆
One Scholarship; Three Merit Awards
• • Requiremenls of lire plants
and other customers determine
production and type of fabric
at the three plants of Firestone
Textiles Company. Here is pro
duction of lire fabric in glass
fiber. Weaver: Gary Dean Pat
terson.
The three plants of Firestone Textiles Company pro
duce an average of a half-million pounds fabric in a typical
day’s operation. They supply 14 domestic tire plants of the
Firestone company, plus a considerable volume of outside
business to other tire and diversified manufacturers.
• Scheduled operations at Gas- gram which takes the company’s
tonia, Bennettsville and Bowling
Green depend on day-to-day
needs of these ‘consumer’ sourc
es.
• Firestone Textiles Company
belongs to the ‘larger picture’
of the company worldwide, as
part of diversified products.
Overall, the company has some
117,000 people employed, and
2,200 of these are with Firestone
Textiles Company.
These are among the many
facts and figures brought out
in “You and Firestone”, the pro
story to its people.
S. E. Crawford of the Gastonia
plant leads the program in the
domestic textiles division. Pre
sentations have been completed
at Bennettsville and are well in
progress at Gastonia and Bowl
ing Green.
The program emphasizes that
“we are in business only so
long as people want what we
make and can use the services
the company offers—and these
at a fair market price, enabling
More on page 4 •
Four high-school seniors from Firestone Textiles
Companv famil’ps won awards in the Firestone Com
pany s iy /4 Scholarship program.
• Robinette Elaine Cald
well won a full scholarship.
• David Lee Armstrong,
David Ronald Laws and
Gary Leonard Yelton re
ceive Certificates of Merit
and Firestone stock.
In the nationwide Scholarship
program, 44 outstanding high
school students this year won
college scholarships with a po
tential value of nearly $500,000,
it was announced by Raymond
C. Firestone, company chairman.
Winners are sons and daugh
ters of Firestone employees.
GRANTS the students receive
are worth up to $11,200 each to
ward tuition, fees, required
textbooks and room and board
expense during four years of
college. Winners may attend any
accredited college or university
in the United States and pursue
any desired course leading to a
degree.
Besides the 44 Scholarship
recipients, a Certificate of Merit
Scholar
ship
winner:
Robinette Caldwell
and 10 shcires of Firestone com
mon stock were awarded to each
of the 108 applicants, recogniz
ing their outstanding high school
records.
The 152 Scholarship and Merit
winners this year live in 25
states and were chosen from 415
applicants.
Of the 44 Scholarship winners,
30 are girls and 14 boys. The
108 Certificate of Merit winners
include 64 girls and 44 boys.
In the 22 years Firestone has
made awards in this program,
693 college scholarships have
been awarded. Purpose of the
Firestone program is to provide
financial assistance to worthy
sons and daughters of Firestone
employees who seek college edu
cations.
Robinette Caldwell is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lee
M. Hollifield of Gastonia. A
senior at Hunter Huss High
School, she plans to major in
journalism in college.
In school she is editor-in-chief
of the newspaper, president of
American Field Service, a mem
ber of student government asso
ciation, vice president of Beta
More on page 4 •
SCENE . . .
• On way from Bowling
Green, Ky., somewhere in East
Tennessee, sign on shop: HEN
RY'S ELEGANT JUNQUE.
• On menu in Gastonia cafe:
SYTRUSS IN SEASON (means
citrus.)
• Heard at shift-change lime,
Bennettsville. "It must be won
derful to be young enough to
know everything."
Five Retired At Gastonia
How’s this for a record: 67 years and 5 months of
company service? It belongs to two persons in one
family—Leon Dawkins and Mrs. (Edna) Dawkins
who both retired from TC Twisting at Gastonia
as of May 1. Leon had 36 years and 5 months;
Edna, 31 years.
But of all five who closed work careers at Gas
tonia as of May 1, Lois Bolding of Quality Control
had the most time on the job for an individual
record: 38 years and 5 months.
Next was James C. Barker of the Shop, with 35
years and 5 months.
Gladys B. McClure of TC Twisting had 31 years
and 5 months.
v-i
People at the Gastonia Firestone plant have been miss
ing a familiar but fading sight in recent years—since the old
employee dormitories were torn down. When the old struc
ture with its rambling layout was a landmark facing Frank
lin Boulevard, it afforded many a cloistered habitat for
flocks and flocks of pigeons.
From this refuge the birds would sometimes migrate to
the nearby Firestone factory windowsills and other loca
tions to nest and raise young.
Now, they’re all gone. It’s rare to see a pigeon anywhere
around Gastonia, even uptown around the Courthouse and
City Hall.
The pigeons in these Firestone News photos? They’re
on the State Capitol grounds in Raleigh. At left in first pic
ture: Jesse Broyles, peanut vendor and pigeon-feeder, be
longs to the Capitol Square scene. Some of the thousands of
pigeons (right) that make quick fly-ins for food and visits
with people who come and go any day.
Capitol
Square
Raleigh
Firestone News Photos