OCTOBER
1976
T'tre^fone
Textiles Company
Gastonia Bennettmlle n t /
T.T 1 ^ T 1 ^ /• BowltfiQ irreen • K^entucky
rsortb L,aronna South Carolina
Changes at the Top
• * When Raymond C. Firestone retired Sept. 30, he had
devoted 43 years to the company his father founded. The
last of Harvey S. Firestone’s sons to be active in management
of the firm, he had been chairman since 1966. Mr. Firestone,
68, went beyond the general mandatory retirement age 65
through an exception made by the board of directors.
• The board elected Richard the company his father founded
TOWER OF
FIRESTONE
GASTONIA
TEXTILES
PLANT . . .
come down"
her.
"Before the leaves
beginning in Octo-
A. Riley the chairman, succeed
ing Mr. Firestone. Riley, 60, had
been president since 1972. He
continues as chief executive of
ficer, the position to which he
was first elected in 1973.
• Mario Di Federico, 55, who
has been executive vice presi
dent in charge of North Ameri
can tire operations since 1974,
was elected to replace Riley as
president. The changes were ef
fective Oct. 1.
Speaking of Mr. Firestone’s
retirement, Mr. Riley said:
"DEPARTURE of Raymond C.
Firestone from management of
Saying Yes To Helping People
THE
UNITED
WAY
marks the end of an era. The in
fluence he and his family have
had on the growth, development
and progress of the company
in the U.S. and throughout the
world has been immeasurable-
able and will be lasting.
“Mr. Firestone, his father and
his brothers have given this
company a unique and indelible
character which will continue to
affect its corporate destiny in
years to come. Those of us who
will be carrying on the Firestone
heritage will miss the link with
the company’s founding and
early history that has been rep
resented up to now by the Fire
stone family’s and Raymond C.
Firestone’s direct participation
(More on page 4)
MARIO DI FEDERICO (left),
president of The Firestone Tire
& Rubber Company: and RICH
ARD A. RILEY, chairman and
chief executive officer.
RAYMOND C.
FIRESTONE
Chairman
Retired
• In “this day and time, when even the
bargains are becoming more expensive,”
there’s still one bargain that’s worth a lot
more than it costs.
It’s the United Way of giving in our com
munities. At Firestone Textiles Company’s
three plants in the U.S. and the areas in
which these facilities are located, the United
Way is a system of community and personal
service year after year meeting a wide range
of needs of people—needs that cannot be
met in other ways.
One thing that makes the United Way
such a bargain is all the free help it receives
from the many volunteers in the many
agencies involved and in the funds-raising
campaigns each year. People not only give
through pledges to the UW, but contribute
Singing The
Firestone Theme
Since back in summer, John
Davidson’s nightclub act in Las
Vegas has included a familiar
tune—the theme song from Fire
stone’s radio-tv commercials.
The singer and his writers put
together a medley of 17 well-
known commercial songs, in
cluding the Firestone theme.
Davidson first sang the medley
on his NBC television special
last May, and in summer made
it a part of his nightclub act.
Months earlier, the Firestone
company gladly honored his re
quest to use the song. Davidson
said he liked the music very
much and thought his audience
would too.
Something To See
• Craftsman's Fair of South
ern Highlands, Knoxville, Tenn.,
October 19-23.
valuable time and effort to “make it work
for all of us.” In this community-humanity
service. Firestone people are involved.
Still another reason why the United Way
is such a bargain: Almost all the voluntary
effort goes directly into the people-helping
services in an annual effort that is more
efficient than funding drives made oftener
than once a year.
Over the past several years, Firestone peo
ple have responded to the United Way ap
peal with generosity in the every-fall money
campaigns and through volunteer service.
That good record continues during the 1976-
77 campaign now underway in the three
U.S. Firstone Textiles Company plants and
their communities; Gastonia, N. C.; Ben-
nettsville, S. C. and Bowling Green, Ky.
DF Group Met At Bennettsville
Nine technical people from
Firestone plants in the U.S. and
Canada were at the Bennetts
ville, S. C., plant Sept. 16 and
17 for the quarterly meeting of
Firestone’s Development Fabric
Group.
This group meets to exchange
technical information on pro
cessing of tire fabrics and the
manufacturing and performance
of tires into which the fabrics
are built.
Attending the meeting were
R. A. Martter, manager fabric
division, Akron, Ohio; R. G. Ar
thurs, manager adhesives de
partment, Akron; J. F. Neeteson,
technical service manager, Ham
ilton, Ont., Can.; H. O. Dynna,
technical manager, Woodstock,
Hamilton, Ont., Can.; W. H. Sch
neider, manager quality control
and Donna Jones, junior engi
neer treating unit. Bowling
Green, Ky.; S. L. Harlow, tech
nical manager, Memphis, Tenn.;
R. B. Hull, technical manager,
Gastonia, N. C.; and Michael S.
Flanigan, division chemist, Gas
tonia.
Gaston County, N. C. and Gaston, Oregon
Textiles—And Onions W^here The Lake Was
• Gaston County, N. C. is
in the center of the Carolinas
Piedmont, and known far
and wide for its major in
dustry: Textiles. It is loca
tion of Firestone Textiles
Company’s headquarters.
Gaston, of which Gastonia is
the county seat, was formed
from Lincoln County in 1846. Its
name is from Col. William Gas
ton who was an associate justice
of the supreme court of North
Carolina and an N.C. Congress
man in the U.S. House of Repre
sentatives.
Doing some research in con
nection with the Bicentennial
Year, Firestone News came
across another Gaston—this one
a community not a county.
THERE ARE TWO places
named Gaston. One is in Texas
where, without a postoffice, the
people receive their mail from
Crandall. The other is in Oregon,
and that’s the subject of this
story.
Information here on Gaston,
Oregon, comes from Robert B.
Roe, postmaster.
Gaston, Ore., like Gaston
County, N C. (and Gastonia, the
county seat), is named for a per
son. That’s not unlike multiplied
thousands of other places and
land areas across the country.
Although the area has some
of the first donation land claims
in the Oregon Territory, Gaston
was named after the man who
started the first railroad from
Portland to San Francisco.
Joseph Gaston lived in a log
cabin and had his warehouse on
the site of the town which today
has a population of around 500.
The place was named for him
in 1869 and Joe Gaston was post
master a while in 1877. Dating
back to 1873, the postoffice to
day serves more than 150 miles
of rural routes divided between
two fulltime and one parttime
1976
routes. There are some 40,000
patrons. With the talk nowadays
of closing a lot of rural and
smalltown postoffices. Postmast
er Roe says that Gaston, a sec
ond-class office, has been asked
to close on Saturdays (most
smaller POs have been doing
this already), and close during
lunchtime on other business
days.
"I'D GUESS that about 26,000
of the same 31,000 postoffices in
the nation are smaller than Gas
ton’s. But being in a metropoli
tan area now, anything can hap
pen as far as our staying in
business goes,” the postmaster
says.
Back to Joseph Gaston. Like
• more on page 3