Service gastonia
Milestones
• David Loyd Hager of TC
Weaving worked his first
day at Firestone (Gastonia)
January 11, 1945. So, last
month he marked his 30th
anniversary of employment.
And joining him with service
records of the same length
were James E, Gaultney of
TC Weaving and Ira Neil
Broadway of TC Twisting.
While these were beginning
their 31st year on the job, 11
others at Gastonia “passed mile
stones” of 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5
years. They are:
Twenty-
Five Years • Wilburn E. Sum-
mey, TC Twisting; and William
C. Shull, Chafer Weaving.
Twenty
Years • Larry Zane Thomas and
Lee R. Palmer, TC Twisting.
Fifteen
Years • Glen Marshall Walker,
Geraldine Beaver, TC Weaving;
Cornelia W. Carringer, Sched
uling.
Ten
Years o James W. Hallbrook,
TC Twisting.
Five
Years • Julice C. Cope, Edward
E. Seagle, Lindsey J. Atchley,
all of the Shop.
HOMETOWN
United Fund
Kings Mountain (N.C.)
United Fund campaign for
1975 began in January,
reaching for a total budget
of $35,100. A number of Fire
stone (Gastonia) employees
live in Kings Mountain and
Cleveland County.
This United Fund is an ex
ample of programs which have
separate funding drives to which
Firestone people contribute in
addition to their giving to the
Gaston County United Way
drive at the Gastonia plant each
year.
The Kings Mountain United
Fund money goes into 13 separ
ate budgets: Ministerial Helping
Hand, Piedmont Council Boy
Scouts, Pioneer Council Girl
Scouts, American Red Cross,
Kings Mountain High Band,
Kings Mountain Rescue Squad,
Kings Mountain High Chorus,
The Salvation Army, Cleveland
County Association for Retarded
Children, Cleveland County
Community Organization for
Drug Abuse, N.C. Community
Services, Emergency Fund, and
KMUF Administrative Costs.
Some other Firestone (Gas
tonia) employee hometowns
with separate United Way pro
grams are Clover and York, S C.;
Shelby, Belmont, Lincolnton and
Bessemer City, N.C.
Reclaming
• • Elene L. Dodgins (left)
and Flora Jean Michaels are
beam knotters in TC Twist
ing at Gastonia. Sometimes
they work as reclaimers.
In the operation here, they
“at least partly undo what went
wrong” with plied cord at the
spool-wound stage of tire-fabric
production. In this case it was
improper winding.
Reclaiming is a way to keep
what material can be salvaged—
in this case either as cord to be
spliced and used in the weaving
stage, or in the form of waste.
Depending on the material in
volved, some waste is worth sav
ing for secondary uses. An ex
ample is leader material to
thread up ends of fabric going
through the treating units.
OTHER WASTE such as
tangled masses of cord, some
times can be sold to outside cus
tomers for use in (for example)
February 23:
Restore Daylight-
Saving Time
MEMORIES
OF
Old Abernethy
‘Now Have Yourself A Treat’
• • Something mighty good? Heavens Yes! From the
Coastal Plains and Low Country of South Carolina come a
favorite way to fix fish; and another of hen stew—pretty
universal in the Lower South.
The recipes are contributed by
Frances Fletcher, senior payroll
clerk and Firestone News re
porter at the Bennettsville
plant.
reprocessed materials and for
filler in certain kinds of filters.
But at best, reclaiming is an
attempt to recover a portion of
the loss in “bad work.” With the
reclaiming in all phases of fab
ric production at the Gastonia
plant, a recent month’s loss
through “material gone wrong”
amounted to $95,000.
Factory manager Philip R.
Williams pointed out that “if
we make 20 profit on a pound
of finished shippable fabric, it
would take us 16 days to pro
duce 5,000,000 pounds of materi
al in order to recover this $95,-
000.
“Think of it. Make less waste
. . . keep our product clean and
in good shape to go out. . .”
PAN-FRIED FISH
“Throw ’Em in the hot grease
and pop on the lid.”
Take cleaned fish. Scatter
some salt into cornmeal. Put in
paper bag with fish and shake.
Don’t let ‘nobody’ sell you on
dipping the fish in eggs, milk,
crumps and all that mess. Just
salt and commeal. Heat enough
grease in skillet so as not to
“swim” amount of fish it will
accommodate. Cover skillet,
check so when fish are browned
on bottom side, turn it over and
don’t replace the lid.
Both sides golden brown,
drain on paper. Have yourself a
treat!
CHICKEN HEN STEW
“With the high cost of gro
ceries these days, try this stew.”
Choose a nice plump hen, pre
ferably a dominecker (Domini
que) weighing around four
pounds. Dress thoroughly, mak
ing sure all pinfeathers are re
moved from wings. Singeing
over open flame will take care
of this.
Rub dressed hen with baking
soda, wash under running water,
then cut up into eatin’ size piec
es.
Toss her in a pot and cover
with salted cold water. Bring
to a boil, put on the pot lid. Re
duce heat and simmer until hen
is tender (test with a fork).
Chop fine an onion the size
of a goose egg. Chop three stalks
of celery and throw that into
pot too. Add a dash of black
pepper, a little crushed sage, 3
or 4 tablespoons of condensed
milk. Thicken the “whole busi
ness” with a dash of plain flour,
simmer a little longer.
Then she is ready to be “took
up.”
Sign on truck passing by Fire
stone, Gastonia • REJOICE! and
EAT CHITLINS.
• • The passing of Old Abernethy Elementary School, a
part of the Gastonia Firestone village scene for more than
a half-century, ‘replays’ many a memory.
, Examples: The goat ‘mascot’ outside the schoolyard
fence, a third-grader’s artwork and a composition salvaged
from days when the old school was in its glory.
Abernethy, built in 1918, was closed in 1970, and now
remains of the old structure are being cleared away. A sign
among the debris reads; “Antique Brick For Sale.”
January 16, 1966
Back in Summer I had a experience. I went to Asheville.
After we got there, my Papa took us to the Craftsmans Fair.
We saw lots of interesting things. There was a lady at the
Fair who was giving away rolling pins she had made. My
little sister Laura, and I got a rolling pin.
Then we watched her weave a chair seat. Her name is
Pauline Keith. We saw other things also.
I got a seashell on a chain. My brother Taylor got a
clear rock, and my little sister got two polished rocks.
My Papa bought Mama a basket-handbag to carry. It
was made by a Cherokee Indian lady named Dora Bigmeat.
Mama hasn’t carried the handbag yet. She still has it at
home.
• Harriett
Volume XXII February, 1975
Number 2 Page 2
• GASTONIA
Claude C. Callaway, Editor
Plant
Offices REPORTERS
Warehouses
Industrial Relations—Belly Summitt
Main Office—Bea McCarter
Mechanical Dept.—Rosie Fletcher
Quality Control—Louella Queen, Lelia
Rape
Twisting Tire Cord—Elease Cole, Katie
Elkins
Warp Preparation—Elmina Bradshaw,
Nell Bolick
Warehouse—Harold Robinson
Chafer Weaving—Ruth Veitch
BENNETTSVILLE PLANT
Frances Fletcher, Redona David, Mar
garet McCasklll, Jimmy McCaskill
BOWLING GREEN
T. J. Slack
• Fifty years ago—1925—the
Firestone company began build
ing tires by the flat-band proc
ess. This was a method of ap
plying cord fabric to a drum in
Continuous bands.
• Forty-two years ago—1933—
Firestone first used rayon cord
in tire construction.
Monthly publication ot the Gastonia, N. C., plant oi Firestone Textiles
Company, a division of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio.
Division headquarters, Gastonia, N. C. 28052. James B. Call, president. Mem
ber South Atlantic Council of Industrial Editors.