North Carolina Newspapers

me piEomamm NOVEMBER, 1961 PAQE TWO Piedmont Aviation, Inc. SMITH REYNOLDS AIRPORT WINSTON-SALEM, N. C. Editor: Cleta Marshall Correspondents This Issue Farrell Lee, DCA; Susan DeMarco, TRI; Keith Smith, ISO; Carl Simpson, TYS; Madge Lanier, CLT-C; Bob Steppe, CVG-F; Bob Wylie, ORF; Howard Hughes, SDF; Frank Reynolds, LYH; Charlotte Fuda, CRW; David Lyle, AVL; Bill Pearman, SHD; Jane Griffith, CVG-C; Bob Bennington, FAY. fMo/p/puf. Iii^thdcuf4. DECEMBER G. D. Cameron, AVL 1 P. C. Freeze, INT-M 1 T. E. Thompson, LYH 1 Jeanette Catlin, INT-FB 2 Leland Chandler, INT 2 D. L. Glenn, INT 2 B. C. Moody, Chf. Agt., TRI 2 Shirley Chisholm, INT-A 3 B. G. Minter, ROA 3 D. R. Stevens, INT 3 V. R. Everett, TYS 4 R. B. Steppe, CVG-F 4 R. B. Swartz, Capt., DCA 4 F. E. Grubb, INT-FB 5 S. E. Smith, INT-M 5 M. M. Browning, Capt., INT 6 E. E. Pickel, TRI 6 L. J. Sessler, Pilot, ORF-FB 6 S. A. Beamer, CLT 7 C. G. Bruton, ILM 7 Nancy Hartgrove, INT-P 7 A. W. Rowe, F/0, INT 7 J. H. Hughes, SDF 8 H. B. Altizer, F/0, TYS 9 W. C. Bowden, Capt., ILM 9 J. G. Darr, INT-A 9 R. S. Hall, CLT 9 L. C. Lumley, INT-M 9 W. S. Ryczek, Sta. Mgr., HTS—.9 Freda Zappia, INT-A 9 D. E. Martin, ROA 10 W. D. Doub, INT 11 Lottie McMahon, Ld. Agt., ROA 11 P. L. Ramsey, F.A., DCA 11 W. M. Reynolds, INT-FB 11 H. C. Davis, ORF-FB 12 W. J. Halsey, ORF 12 William Manos, Capt., ROA 12 O. B. Miller, INT-M 12 C. E. Miller, ECG 13 H. K. Vance, ROA 13 E. G. Booth, Capt., ROA 14 J. D. Jones, F/0, DCA 14 J. L. Thompson, RIC 14 P. D. Whitson, F.A., INT 14 Peggy Beshears, INT-C 15 Margaret Calhoun, ORF 15 L. E, Hartman, INT-M 15 R. L. Jackson, Chf. Agt., FAY..15 W. H. Cain, INT-M 16 L. J. Fowler, INT-M 16 G. C. Little, INT-M 16 C. H. Stoltz, INT-D 16 J. P. Anderson, DCA 17 A. D. Caudle, INT-F 17 Margaret Herman, INT-A 17 L. D. D’Armond, F/0, DCA 18 P. N. Lyons, INT-M 18 Sue Martin, Chf. Comm., INT-18 J. K. Pfaff, INT-FB 18 Charlene Seaver, CVG 18 J. A. Wilson, INT-M 18 S. K. Carter, Budget Superv., INT-A 19 V. W. Conary, Capt., ROA 19 D. W. Kimbrey, F.A., INT 19 W. G. Lynch, INT-M 19 R. L. Mann, F.A., INT 19 W. M. Whatley, F/O, ILM 19 P. W. Jones, INT-M 20 J. E. Pierce, Capt., DCA 20 L. E. Beach, SDF 21 W. L. Dearing, Mgr., JAMTO, FTB 21 W. A. Nurnberger, F/0, ILM..21 L. W. Salmon, INT-FB 21 B. E. Stover, DCA 21 Ray Ratledge, INT-FB 22 C. E. Wilson, INT-M 23 W. F. Work, Beech Sales Rep., INT-FB 23 J. R. Bullock, RDU 25 Jane Griffith, Ld. Agt., CVG-C 25 J. N. Harris, INT 25 D. C. McLeod, ROA 25 O. O. Bailey, DCA 26 Nancy Carter, INT-C 26 F. S. Curtis, INT-FB 26 G. F. Hendrix, Maint. Formn., INT-M 27 W. W. Smith, F.A., INT 27 V. P. Crisp, RDU 28 E. T. Jordan, INT 28 B. L. Shelton, INT-M 28 J. D. Arnold, ROA-M 29 Frances Dresser, Ld. Agt., LYH 29 J. W. Dean, AVL 29 J. K. Jordan, INT-M 29 J. F. Johnson, ILM 29 J. F. Johnson, INT-FB 29 P. W. Kelley, Chf. Agt., CRW..29 T. B. Major, DCA 29 O. E. Parker, ILM 29 C. H. Bodenheimer, INT-M 30 H. R. Lipscomb, Sta. Mgr., SHD 30 R. E. Rice, CLT 30 A. L. Shaver, ROA-M 30 T. E. Simmons, F.A., ORF 30 J. D. Michael, CVG-F 31 Laverne Rehder, INT-SC 31 Californio Boy "No. One Fon" by Cleta Marshall The Public Relations Office at Piedmont gets hundreds of let ters a year. They come from all over the world and ask for in formation on everything from “how to be a stewardess” to “what flights serve liquor.” They range in form from mimeographed letters which have probably been sent to every scheduled airline to hastily-writ ten post cards requesting decals R. H. Reed, Director-Cargo Services, donated his time to prepare decals and paint Piedmont markings on Richard's F-27 model. The young ster's thank you note termed Reed's handiwork “a beautiful job/' for the plastic model of the F-27. It’s a matter of routine to answer all the requests and sel dom does one have much per sonal contact with those who have written. Last June, how ever, a Los Angeles youngster began a series of letters to Pied mont and me which have re sulted in my nomination of him as Piedmont’s Number One Fan anywhere. Richard Mend’s first letter ar rived with a large “Fly Pied mont” written across the front of the envelope. The note inside requested F-27 booklets and post cards, and concluded with, “I know that my class is going to love the things you send me al most as much as I do. Thank you again. I love your airline very much.” Last summer he was a student at the Devereux School in Go- leta, Calif. The school is main tained by the Devereux Founda tion which also has branches in Pennsylvania and Texas. It helps students having special school or social problems resolve their difficulties and develop their full potential. This fall Richard entered pub lic school and is busy studying the regular course with its his tory, spelling and arithmetic. But back to his letters. Here are excerpts from the thank you note he sent after receiving the Piedmont material: “Dear Wonderful Piedmont Airlines, “ . . . I want to thank you for the very, very, very nice letter. Some of the kids here are trying to tell me that a Piedmont F-27 crashed. Please write back and say it is not true. I like Piedmont Airlines very much and it would break my heart to hear that Piedmont broke their wonderful record. I’m just praying that it is not true.” After being assured that all was well with Piedmont, Rich ard wrote: “Thank you very, very, very much for telling me that your F-27 has never crashed. I showed your letter to my friends, and they got red in the face. . . . My Richard Mend mother said I can go to flying school when I am 15 and then maybe I can join Piedmont.” Piedmont has regularly re ceived one and sometimes two letters a month from Richard since he began writing the corti- pany. He is intensely interested in aviation and his big ambition is to be a Piedmont pilot some day. The topper to this tale came a few weeks ago as I was prepar ing material for this issue. My telephone rang, and after the preliminaries with the operator, a young voice said, “Miss Mar shall? This is Richard Mend.” Very much surprised, I asked, “Where are you, Richard?” “In Los Angeles,” he said. I saved up enough money from my paper route to call you. Next sumrner I hope to have enough money to fly to North Carolina on vacation and fly on all of Piedmont’s routes!” Now I ask you — is he Pied mont’s Number One Fan — or isn’t he? THE PIEDMONT POSTMAN i^entemLer' Wk en SEVEN YEARS AGO IN THE PIEDMONITOR Bids were opened for the con struction of the new office build ing and hangar at INT . . . L. A. Watson was profiled as the Exec utive of the Month . . . Roy Pruitt, Print Shop Supervisor, won Honorable Mention in the Gilbert Paper Company’s Letter head of the Month contest from 40,000 entries . . . R. S. Northing- ton and Joe Culler won the Wings Field Regatta race in Pennsylvania. FIVE YEARS AGO Vize Dotson was promoted to Station Manager, LOZ . . . Sheri Folger was shifted to traffic and sales and transferred to DCA ... Jim Bradley left LEX for the home office after graduating from the University of Kentucky. ONE YEAR OGO Oral argument was held on the Knoxville -Norfolk route . . . Piedmont was host to the annual Industry Customer Relations Conference . . . Frankfort, Ky. was authorized to be served as a separate point . . . the Relay Center, Space Control, Flight Control, and Operations Control moved into new quarters at the INT terminal . . . The Intercon nect Teletype System between Piedmont and Eastern went into effect. One trouble with this country is the number of people trying to get something for nothing. Another trouble is the high per centage of those who succeed. Dear Sir: I have just returned from a trip to Cincinnati during which time I had the occasion to use the services of your airline -and I want to congratulate you on the personnel employed by your company. I was aboard Flight 39, from Newport News, and I would like to express to you the outstand ing work of Steward Jerry Tate, who in my estimation was an outstanding person and certainly did everything to make my trip comfortable and pleasant. As I do considerable air travel, this type of service does not go unnoticed and this young man is a credit to your organization. . . .You can rest assured that at every opportunity I will fly Piedmont. My sincere apprecia tion to your organization. Sincerely, P.P. Newport News * * * Dear Sir: I recently, on October 18, in returning from a plane trip to Chicago . . . was changed to your line in Cincinnati for the flight east to Charleston. I had had difficulty with my confirma tion all the way up to Chicago. It was absolutely necessary that I return to Charleston . . . Due to the splendid service ren dered by your employee at Cin cinnati, a Mr. R. A. Morelock, I was enabled to come on to Charleston. Having dealt with the public for 30 years, I know that most of your mail with reference to your employees concerns com plaints, but to the contrary be cause of the outstanding efficien cy of your employee, Mr. More lock, it is my pleasure as a dis interested person to give you my opinion of this employee. I feel that I am qualified to be some judge of this because I have been an employer for 30 years and also have been in close touch with flying since 1942 (I spent several years in China with the Flying Tigers). Sincerely, P.R.S. Charleston Dear Sir: On Friday, October 20, due to heavy fog and low ceiling, I had the misfortune of being carried past Huntington and on to Roan oke. While this was an inconven ience, the courtesy and thought fulness of your agent, Mr. L. A. Anders, at Roanoke made the inconvenience a pleasure. I had ample time to observe Mr. Anders’ handling of a diffi cult and embarrassing situation. His assurance and cheerful man ner soothed ruffled feelings and put everyone in a good humor. It was remarkable the way he handled the customers, and I am sure he made friends for your airline. Your young lady in Hunting ton has helped me with routings several times and I thought she was exceptional. Now I find your agent in Roanoke is exceptional ly proficient also. You are indeed well favored to have such people on your staff. They can do more to es tablish good will than all the ad vertising in the world. Sincerely, R.B.M. Huntington Following are excerpts from in flight letters: As a former Army pilot, I feel I can more fully appreciate your services. I personally am ac quainted with several of your fine organization. Congratula tions on your F-27 addition to the line. May I say thank you for all and wish your organiza tion continued success. M.S.B. Roanoke CRW AGENT . . . (Continued from Page One) been working closely with the group, donating his time and ex perience. Hanson and the other airline representatives will now take a 20-hour course in first-aid and fire entry, and will train other station employees in fire-fight ing methods. The truck used in the fire drills was purchased as war sur plus by Kanawha County and is under the supervision of the county Civil Defense. The air port group is on call for county- wide Civil Defense emergencies as well as those arising at the airport. The Safety Committee is re sponsible not only for firerfight- ing procedures but for general airport safety as well. They re port to the over-all Airport Com mittee made up of airline sta tion managers. Representing Piedmont on the Airport Com mittee is Manager R. L. Hill. Vacation is a period during which people find out where to stay away from next year.