FEBRUARY, 1976
Gastonia BennettsviUe Bowling Green
North Carolina South Carolina Kentucky
T'tresfone
T^iles Company
MAKE
SCHOLARSHIP
APPLICATIONS BY
March 1
Completed application forms and all required materials
for the 1976 Firestone College Scholarship awards are due
in the company’s Akron headquarters by March 1. Winners
will be announced by early May.
High school seniors of em- is $1,833 per month with over-
ployee famihes who have plan
ned to try for the awards will
have taken the Scholastic Apti
tude Test as of the last test day,
January 24. The Firestone
Scholarship code number 0080
must be used when requesting
SAT scores reported to Fire
stone.
Application forms and book
lets explaining the details of the
1976 Scholarship program have
been available since early
December, at plants and other
company locations.
ELIGIBLE for the Scholar
ships are Firestone sons and
daughters who are seniors and
in the upper third of his or her
class scholastically. Parents must
be fulltime active employees or
may be retired or deceased, and
must have at least five years
continuous company service as
of January 1 this year. Earning
ceihng for an employee parent
time.
A student is not eligible if a
brother or sister has received a
Firestone Scholarship.
Scholarship winners are chos
en on the basis of high-school
grades, subjects taken, rank in
class, scores on SAT and other
quahfications.
THE AWARDS go to students
in various sections of the coun
try on the basis of proportionate
Firestone employment in these
areas. In addition to the Schol
arship winners each year, de
serving applicants are selected
to receive the Award of Merit
and 10 shares of Firestone com
mon stock.
From employee families of
Firestone Textiles Company, last
year’s Scholarship winner was
Jo Anne Ruth Hull of Gastonia,
in her first year at Davidson
College.
More on Page 2
C of C Symposium
On Enterprise
Philip R. Williams and three
other panehsts from the business
community led in a high school-
business symposium at the Gas
tonia Holiday Inn, January 22.
The Gastonia Firestone fac
tory manager, with the other
panelists and eight seniors from
each of the high schools in Gas
ton county explored the topics
of Business and Government,
Business and Competition, How
Our Business System Operates,
and Small Business Operation.
The symposium, sponsored by
the Gaston Chamber of Com
merce, was planned “to bring
about in our young citizens a
better understanding of the free-
enterprise system and an ap
preciation for the benefits that
all of us enjoy through it,” said
David Lindquist, chairman of
the education committee of the
C of C.
Kevlar Patterns
• • William Ted Hallbrook
checks an end of Kevlar yarn
being plied from a beam in
TC Twisting at Gastonia.
Hallbrook, a twister machine
operator, has sons James and
Dannie in TC Twisting; and
daughter Cathy McAteer in
TC Weaving (Splicing).
Kevlar, better known as
Fiber B and one of the newer
synthetic materials, is pro
duced by DuPont. It is an
aramid fiber, called this be
cause of the nature of its
chemical structure. An ara
mid is a classification of syn
thetic filament yarn, as are
(for example) polyester, ny
lon and fiberglass.
Among major ‘plus’ quali
ties of Kevlar are its high
melting point, great resist
ance to aging, and very high
tensile strength. It tests five
times stronger than steel on
a pound-for-pound basis.
The Gastonia plant twists,
weaves and dip-treats a limit
ed volume of Kevlar which
goes mostly to Akron (O.)
and Albany (Ga.) Firestone
plants for special uses in tire
building. Kevlar fabric pro
duction at Gastonia is cur
rently limited by the initial
cost of the material itself—
three times that of nylon per
pound.
UW Award Of Excellence
Of Sandra
& Her Family ...
Sandra Fewell is a teletpye
operator at Firestone, Gastonia.
When not on the teletype, she
does office work — typing re
ports, correspondence, records,
invoices.
After graduation from high
school, Sandra attended Char
lotte Business College and be
fore coming to Firestone four
years ago, took the MDTA pro
gram at Gaston College.
Sandra’s family was the sub
ject of a feature in a recent Sun
day edition of The Gastonia Ga
zette. The story told of Sandra’s
father, Mose, 54; Mrs. Fewell
(Beulah) and their seven chil
dren.
IT TOLD of Mr. and Mrs.
Fewell’s devotion to “making a
good home and sending the chil
dren for an education.” They
moved from a farm near Dallas,
N.C. to Cramerton 31 years ago.
He worked at driving a truck
for a textile miU; and did con
struction (was once buried alive
in a cave-in but rescued with
no ill effects).
After that, he has been in
production jobs at two different
textile mills and carried on
part-time jobs after hours. Over
the past 31 years he has worked
16 hours a day six days a week,
and never absent from work ex
cept two weeks on account of
sickness.
Sandra and four of the other
children went to college. All
finished high school. Wayne, the
youngest, is a sophomore on a
football scholarship at Virginia
State College. Three are mar
ried: Pamela Ann Hooks, Dur
ham; Mary Butler, Charlotte;
Bertie Sephus, Dallas, Texas.
Carolyn is in Durham and Bar
bara Jean in Baltimore, Md.
United Way of Gaston
County presented an Award
of Excellence to Firestone
Textiles Company for its.
people’s participation and
contribution to the UW pro
gram during 1975.
Among other awards at the
January 29 meeting, Albert A.
Davis received the Harold Mer
cer Award, the presentation
made by Ralph King, general
factory manager of Firestone
Textiles Company,
This recognition goes each
year to the outgoing United Way
president, taking note of leader
ship and contribution to the or
ganization. It is sponsored by
Firestone Textiles Company in
memory of the late plant gen
eral manager and textile di
vision president.
MR. MERCER was associated
with Firestone in Gastonia for
more than 35 years. In the early
1950s he helped to pioneer the
Community Chest-United Way
type of people-services in Gas
ton County, and was a leader
in the ongoing program until his
death in 1969. His widow, Mrs.
Lucia Mercer, was at the awards
meeting.
At the meeting, new officers
were elected. Alvin V. Riley,
Firestone divisional personnel
manager, served on the nomi
nating committee for the 1976-77
officers. Firestone plant comp
troller Harry Laver worked on
the budget committee, allocating
funds for UW agencies during
1976.
CONTINUING on the UW
board of directors is Firestone
factory manager Philip R. Wil
liams. Firestone Textiles Com
pany president James B. Call
is a past member of the execu
tive committee and board of
directors.
In the 1975 Fall, UW in-plant
campaign. Firestone employees
pledged $41,098 toward the
county goal of $742,000, for
funding help to 32 participating
services during 1976.
BG Basketball
The 1975-76 Firestone,
Bowling Green, basketball
season was well underway
in January, with a com
pany-sponsored team in
the Industrial Basketball
League.
Firestone's team was
scheduled to play 14 games
and then take part in a
league tournament. The
league is sponsored by the
Warren County Parks &
Recreation Department.