Newspapers / Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1977, edition 1 / Page 2
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Water Boy To Foreman “From the back gate to the top of the mill, and to the back gate again.” A. C. (Freddie) Kessell was de scribing his journey through a string of jobs across 37 years and 8 months of em ployment at the Gastonia plant. Kessell took early retirement at the close of 1976, ‘going out’ to devote much more time to his varied hobbies and other in terests which, for all these years, have wanted for more attention. Freddie is well known as an authority and collector/trader of coins and stamps; and as an artist at woodworking and sev eral handicrafts. OF THE work at Firestone, he recalls his earliest job: Carrying water for mixing mortar of the many walks and walls around the mill and village. Freddie’s father. Nelson, had brought the family from New Bedford, Mass., to Gastonia a few months before Firestone started operating the mill in 1935. The elder Kessell, who was plant general superintendent, re tired in 1960 with 36 years and 6 months service. He and Mrs. Kessell live in Gastonia. After water boy dating to 1939, Freddie moved along in such jobs as strobotac operator, waste-control man, section su pervisor in Twisting, inspector in Quality Control, shift fore man in Carding, and different assignments in Weaving and Spinning. He retired as a shift foreman in Fabric Treating. AT HOME now on Jenny Street in Gastonia, he’s fully in- i EXTRA SAVINGS Tire-Purchase Refund A Second Term Joe Johnson was elected to the NC House of Representa tives for a second 2-year term from Wake County, in the No vember election. A Raleigh attorney, he is son- in-law of Rosie Francum (Mrs. John) Fletcher, Shop clerk at Firestone, Gastonia. Rep. Johnson is a graduate of NC State University and Wake Salute To Textiles comprehensive survey of textiles through displays of antique and contemporary processing ma chines, art, sound and light, items of materials and goods, and historical records. A six-projector programmed montage, a synthesis of narrative soundtrack, musical background and color slides, helped to tell the story of textiles in the U.S. Exhibit elements were placed in such a way as to show the old Firestone people actively employed and those retired: Remember, you can have the extra savings provided through the Firestone Tire Purchase Refund Program. It works this way: • When you’ve decided on the tires you need from your Fire stone Store or dealer, pay the usual employee discount price. Then take a copy of Form S- 7430 “Employee Tire Purchase Refund Request” (available at Stores and dealers and at plant personnel-industrial relations of fices). • Fill out the form. If you’re actively employed, take form to the personnel or industrial re lations office at your plant and have it approved. The office will take top part of form and mail to company headquarters, leav ing you a portion for your record. After the form is pro cessed in Akron, the refund amount in check is mailed to you. A retired person need only mail the completed form and sales ticket to address printed on the form. No approval need ed. This refund program affords employees and retirees an extra refund in addition to the normal employee discount on the pur chase of new tires from Com pany Stores and dealers. Re funds range from $1 to $5 per tire, depending on type pur chased. Help To Quit Overheard a man retired from Firestone, Gastonia, talking with a neighbor at Frog's Lunch Stand: "I smoke—smoke a lot . . . know it ain't good for me. But if I want to kill myself, I figure it's my own business. . ." Unless that attitude changes, he'll never be helped by the Smokers Withdrawal Clinic coming the week of January 24, Monday-Friday, 7 p.m. The clinic at 623-B East Second Ave., Gastonia, is sponsored by Gaston Unit, American Cancer Society, Gaston County Heart As sociation and Catawba Valley Lung Association. Object: To help you kick the harmful habit. • A. C. Kessell shows a key- holder and noteclip—one of the many woodcraft items he makes in his home workshop. volved with his interests and thinking of adding some new ones. Also, starting as early as Spring, he and Mrs. Kessell will begin catching up on long-way travel Priority places are in California, Oklahoma and Mass achusetts, where they have rela tives. Youngest of the Kessell sons, Robert, is at home and works for a picture-framing service. The eldest, Frederick, is a banker in Atlanta. The other, David, is a teacher at Southwest Junior High in Gastonia, and works for City Recreation. Forest School of Law. His wife, Jane Francum Johnson, received a Merit Award in the Firestone Company Scholarship program when she was a high-school sen ior in Gastonia. Jane has a de gree from UNC-Greensboro. A substitute teacher in the Wake County public school system, she is doing graduate work at NC State U. The Johnsons have three daughters—Elizabeth, 11; Ivey, 7; and Briles, 5. Reminders of Earlier Days • Four of the 20 antique textile machines on public exhibit at Greenville Museum of Art in late 1976. Above, left: Richard Arkwright's roller spinning frame, built in England in 1805 after original patent specifications from Arkwright's 1796 revolution ary invention. This original ancester of the mod ern spinning frame was the first to be power- driven (horse power and later water power.) Along with James Hargreaves' spinning jenny of 1764, the Arkwright frame was one of the first machines that enabled production of more than one thread at a time. Original Hargreaves' Jenny was hand-powered. Right: Gin spinner (Smithsonian Institution re fers to it as a "spin ginner") of 1840. Used pri marily in the Southern U.S., the machine incor porates seeding, carding and spinning elements. The hand-cranked spinner produced a coarse yarn, probably used for household needs. • Greenville County (SC) Museum of Art presented a major exhibition to salute textiles as America’s oldest and largest industry. “Textiles: Past and Prologue”—late October through December 1976—was designed to recognize the tex tile industry and to acknowledge its economic and social role. Exhibit materials presented a along with the new, the natural and synthetic, the handcrafted and machine-produced. Left: Great spinning wheel or walking wheel, this one made in Maine around 1815. Mostly for hand-spinning wool, although it could be used for cotton. Right: Wooden hand loom, typical weaving equipment of the cot tage industry before mechaniza tion of textiles. Volume XXIII Number 1 January, 1977 Page 2 • GASTONIA Claude C. Callaway, Editor Plant Offices Warehouses REPORTERS Monthly publication of the GaAlonia, N. C., plan! of FirMton* TexiilM Conpany, a division of The Firestone Tire 3c Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio. DiTision Headquarters, Gastonia, N. C. 28052. James B. Call, presideni. Mem ber Carolines Association of Business Communicators, Formerly South Atlantic Council of Industrial Editors. Industrial Relalloni—Bobbie Baldwin Main Office—Freida Price Mechanical Dept.—Rosie Fletcher Twisting Tire Cord—Elease Cole, Katie Elkins Warp Preparation— Nell Bolick Warehouse—Harold Robinson Chafer Weaving—Ruth Veitch BENNETTSVILLE PLANT Frances Fletcher, Redona David, Mar garet McCaskill, Jimmy McCaskill BOWLING GREEN Clifton O. Logsdon Time flies, suns rise and shadows fall. Let time go by. LOVE is forever I over alL Sundial Inscription
Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.)
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