T'tresfone
Textiles Company
Gastonia
North Carolina
MAY. 1975
Bennettsmlle n t ^ i
p ^ /• liOwlinQ Kjrreen • K.cntiick\
South Laroltna
For Safety Performance: 28th Award
Twenty-eight times in 28 years, Firestone Textiles Com
pany’s Gastonia plant has been honored by the Gastonia
Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Department
of Labor for noteworthy achievement in industrial safety.
Most recent of the awards Slate Labor Department began
came April 15 at the annual
Chamber of Commerce Safety
Awards dinner meeting in Ash-
brook High School cafeteria.
Firestone was first on the list
of 123 awards for having been
honored the most times in the
county since 1947, when the
the safety-recognition program.
Billy Creel, NC Commissioner
of Labor, presented the award
to Raymond Mack, plant safety
supervisor—“really for all the
people of the Gastonia plant,
who worked safely to earn it.”
THE 1975 awards to indus-
N i n e Firestone Textiles
Company employees pur-
J- ^ llltv chased a new automobile un-
der the company’s recent
^month-long incentive plan to
1 1C TV V-4C1.J. O stimulate the economy
through auto sales.
Firestone paid an incentive $100 per purchase addi
tional to whatever rebate or promotional allowance
the auto manufacturer offered at time of sale.
The later purchases to qualify under the plan were
from the Bowling Green plant—
• Marvin P. Ellison, Weaving Department, Chevro
let Impala;
• Harry H. McDaniel, Quality Control, Plymouth
Duster.
These were accounted for after the 7 purchases
listed in Firestone News for April. They are (Ben-
nettsville): Iris Summerford, Splicing, Oldsmobile
98; and (Gastonia); Claude Britton, Nylon Treating,
Oldsmobile Starfire; Sarah Derryberry, TC Weav
ing, Pontiac Catalina; James W. Beaver, TC Twist
ing, Chevrolet Bel Air; Bobby Neal, TC Twisting,
Chevrolet Monte Carlo; Myriel Horton, Chafer Weav
ing, Chevrolet Monza; J. L. Patterson, Shop, Ford
LTD.
Firestone headquarters in Akron reported more
than 850 cars bought nationwide under the incentive
plan.
tries, businesses and institutions
in Gaston county were made on
the basis of having a record of
no injuries during 1974, a 40
per cent improvement the pre
ceding (1973) year’s experience,
or for 1974 a frequency rate 50
per cent below the state average
rate in a given industry or other
category.
The 1974 safety record quali
fied Firestone on the “better
than 50 per cent of the record
in the whole of North Carolina’s
textile industry” basis.
The Firestone honors through
out the years have been sym
bolized by plaques generally at
5-year intervals and inscribed
bars for in-between years. But
there are separate plaques rep
resenting the awards for 1974
and 1975.
It’s Named
For Firestone
Parkway, boulevard, avenue,
street, road. Some are named
for the Firestone company. Ak
ron, Ohio (headquarters city)
has Firestone Parkway. Other
plant locations around the coun
try also honor the name in this
way. One is Gastonia, N. C.,
headquarters of Firestone Tex
tiles Company.
Firestone Boulevard begins at
the plant main entrance on West
Second Avenue and runs North
to West Airline. From there to
the point where it terminates at
Mauney Avenue, it is Firestone
Street. Originally Loray, the
A Scholarship; Merit Honors
• • When Joanne Ruth Hull was in 7th grade her class
visited Davidson College. She then made up her mind she’d
go back as a student, though at that time the college was not
co-ed. Joanne ‘kept faith’ and this fall she’ll begin her 4 years
at Davidson—on a Firestone Scholarship.
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Weaving; and Mrs. Waylon Ben-
Robert Hull, Joanne is a senior
at Ashbrook High School, Gas
tonia. In college she will study
pre-law and economics.
Her father is manager of tech
nical services, Firestone Textiles
Company.
At Ashbrook she is a member
of the National Honor Society,
French Club, Ecology club, is on
the executive committee of the
writer’s guild and is a member
of the girls’ softball team.
Merit Awards
Besides Joanne’s full scholar
ship, 4 other outstanding high-
school seniors from Firestone
Textiles families were each
awarded a Certificate of Merit
and 10 shares of Firestone com
mon stock.
• Patricia Lynn Hinson, Hunt
er Huss High School, Gastonia,
is the daughter of Henry G.
Hinson, loom creeler in TC
son.
• Danita Christine McAllister,
Cherryville High School, daugh
ter of Mrs. Rubye G. McAllister,
a burler in Cloth Room.
• Dale Monroe Smith, Hunter
Huss, son of Mr, and Mrs. James
M. Smith Jr. His mother Wilma
is a respooler in TC Twisting.
• Deborah Berniece Red-
dnarah, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Luther Reddnarah. She is
Joanne
Ruth
THEGASTOCH.4PTE1!
INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
TO
Ieona Hameron
AS THE
OUTSTAKDISG FEMALE
i INDUSTRY
1\' A??HEC!.^T;CM
FOR HEH
• MANY OrSJASDSS
I A-3 gfS'NESS CCMMuNIi':
AP3'.La.t975
She’s Outstanding
IN
INDUSTRY
For efficiency and exceptional abilities as a supervisor
and contributions to the business community, Leona Damer-
on has been honored as “Outstanding Female in Industry”
by the International Management Council.
The IMC, an affiliate program lab technician; was advanced to
a senior at Barren County High
School, Glasgow, Ky. Her father
is a supervisor in TC Weaving
at the Bowling Green plant.
NATIONWIDE in this year’s
Scholarship Program, Firestone
awarded 44 Scholarships and 105
More on page 2 •
of YMCA, Gaston Chapter made
the award April 21.
Miss Dameron, with Firestone
Textiles Company nearly 39
years, has been supervisor of
Quality Control Laboratory since
late 1963. She began working as
a lab clerk in August, 1936. In
late 1950 she was assigned as a
name was changed to Firestone
when the company bought the
plant in 1935.
Newest to be named for the
company is at Wilson, N. C. A
recently - completed road be
tween Highways 42 and 301 near
the company’s tire plant, this
Spring was officially designated
“Firestone Parkway.”
B-B-Q & Auction
Barbecue plates sold to the
public and hundreds of items
nonated from Marlboro county
(S.C.) business and industry
were auctioned at the annual
Bennettsville Rotary Club Bar
becue & Auction in April.
E. E. Fuller, Bennettsville
Firestone plant manager and
member of Rotary, participated
in the barbecue-auction.
supervisor 12 years ago.
A high-school graduate with
business-school training, Miss
Dameron is known by her asso
ciates as “one who gets things
done.” She lives in Bessemer
City where she is an active
member of First Presbyterian
Church.
HER SELECTION for the IMC
award was made from nominees
placed by the council chapter’s
member companies. The IMC
made the choice on the basis of
efficiency and exceptional abili
ties as a supervisor.
Firestone Textiles Company
personnel manager Alvin V.
Riley, said:
“Miss Dameron is knowledge
able, efficient, thorough and
punctual. She attends to detail,
is thoughtful of others, adapts
well, and performs admirably
under all conditions. She keeps
abreast of changes in her field
and continues to grow with her
job, because she considers the
work challenging.”
This year’s money will help
purchase special equipment for
the intensive coronary-care unit
of Marlboro General Hospital.
When People Buy...
PRODUCTS
& JOBS
Dale M.
Smith
Deborah
Reddnarah
5
Patricia
Lynn Hinson
Danita
McAllister
I would like to ask your
help. . . Talk to your friends
and neighbors and your fam
ilies about buying Firestone
products. Visit our stores and
make your purchases when
possible.
No matter how well we
produce quality-wise and
cost-wise, we must have
SALES. People have to buy
our products to keep us in
business.
Let’s set an example and
show loyalty to our com
pany’s products. We plan to
talk more about this in the
months to come. So please
help. If someone you know
is in need of tires, a TV set,
radio, refrigerator, washer,
dryer, etc., suggest our com
pany store.
When people buy our prod
ucts, that helps assure our
jobs.
PHILIP R. WILLIAMS
Factory Manager, Gastonia