OCTOBER, 1962
THE PIEDMONITOR
PAGE THREE
Station Spotlight
All Its Citizens
Work Together
In Goldsboro
Ready for passengers, Hollis Cook (left) and Don Townsend wait behind
the ticket counter, a portion of which Piedmont personnel helped to
build. The passenger lobby can be seen in the background.
To the casual visitor Golds
boro appears a small, quiet, Sou
thern city, populated with friend
ly people who like their town
and enjoy living there.
According to those who know,
Goldsboro is all that but much
more too. Underneath the calm
facade there’s a constant push
forward to attract more industry,
more people, and improve the
area in every respect.
Piedmont started serving the
city through Seymour Johnson
Air Force Base last June. One
of the eight new points author
ized for service in the Piedmont
Area Case, traffic from the sta
tion has averaged from 300 to
320 passengers a month. For
August Goldsboro ranked 26 out
of 47 stations in ticket sales.
Militai*y Traffic
Although the area residents
make use of their air service.
Station Manager Parker Haley
estimates 75 per cent of the GSB
traffic is drawn from the ranks
of military personnel at Seymour
Johnson. International ticketing
is particularly heavy due to Air
Force dependents leaving to join
husbands and fathers stationed
in every portion of the globe.
The base commercial transpor
tation office is a busy place,
handling travel arrangements for
everything from air express to
moving whole families plus furn
iture across the country or
around the world.
Traffic Manager Jim Behan (a
civil servant, not a military
man) is the transportation of
fice’s second-in-command. The of
fice staff includes 37 to handle
paper work, with motorpool and
maintenance personnel bringing
the total to 205 people in the de
partment.
RDU Passengers
“Before Piedmont started serv
ice,” said Behan, “we sent all
our passengers to the Raleigh-
Durham Airport. Now we send
100 per cent of our commercial
air passengers to the Goldsboro
station.
“Actually it’s much simpler
to route them from, for instance,
here to Washington on Piedmont
and have them make connections
there, than it is to constantly
arrange ground transportation
to and from Raleigh-Durham.”
Piedmont is using Seymour
Johnson facilities under tempo
rary arrangements. A converted
house trailer now serves as a
terminal, and though small, it’s
attractive and comfortable in
side. Credit for the inside ap
pearance is due in large part to
the efforts of the Piedmont sta
tion crew, who with sweat and
ingenuity equipped the bare in
terior.
Federal Funds
Steps cannot be taken by
Goldsboro toward a permanent
air field and terminal until fed
eral funds — presently held up
due to a Civil Aeronautics Board
investigation into a proposed re
gional airport for the area (op
posed by Goldsboro) — are re
leased.
Piedmont nevertheless re
ceives vigorous support from the
city and its businessmen. In its
“Program of Work,” the GSB
Chamber of Commerce Air Serv
ice Committee lists as its objec
tives to:
1. Provide and maintain
terminal facilities for
Piedmont Airlines.
2. Assist in inauguration of
air service.
3. Promote use of commer
cial air service.
4. Work for completion of
municipal airport.
When application for air serv
ice was made, the Committee
in toto was appointed the City
Airport Commission.
It was, and is, headed by John
D. Lewis, described by Chamber
Manager Doug Guthrie as “like
a bulldog — once he gets his
teeth into something, he never
lets go.”
Lewis has had a lifetime in
terest in aviation, and it was
Goldsboro's main thoroughfare can
be seen above. The strip in the cen
ter of the street used to be the bed
for railroad tracks, but in 1924 a
group of determined merchants was
responsible for their removal (see
story). The city has been termed
the shopping center for Eastern
North Carolina, or as one wit put
it, “the golden buckle on the to
bacco belt."
largely through his efforts that
the Department of Defense
granted permission to use the
Seymour Johnson base runway
for commercial air service.
''Air Future
He was asked what he thought
of the present air service situa
tion and what its future in Golds
boro might be.
“The future for air service in
this area is good,” he replied.
“The Chamber is campaigning
with local businesses to let their
customers know that air mail,
freight, express, and passenger
service is here. We think the
more people know about the
service, the more it will be used.
“As for the present, there is
excellent cooperation between
military and civilian air interests
here. I talked with the Base
Commander just a short while
ago and he had nothing but
praise for Piedmont’s operation.”
Seymour Johnson
Mr. Lewis also supplied the
answer to another question —
who was Seymour Johnson?
It seems he was a local boy,
the son of a Goldsboro doctor.
He joined the service and was
killed on a test flight in the
1930’s. When the air base was
built it was decided to honor his
memory by naming it after him.
There’s an unusual twist to the
story, for according to Lewis,
it’s the only instance in which
an Air Force base has been
named after a Naval pilot.
Every community, city or town
has its own “personality,” re
flecting the character and tem
perament of the people who in
habit it. Goldsboro is no excep
tion, and according to Doug
Guthrie, Executive Manager of
the Chamber of Commerce, peo
ple in GSB are inclined to take
direct action against a problem
in preference to just talking
about it.
New Street
Should you need any confir
mation of this opinion, just ask
the Atlantic Coast Railroad. In
1924 their tracks ran straight
through the middle of Golds
boro’s main street. Repeated
pleas to move the tracks went
unheeded. The railroad wouldn’t
budge, the townspeople wouldn’t
shut up.
Finally, one night, the com
munity businessmen decided it
was time to take matters into
their own hands.
The next morning, when the
train started its run through the
middle of town, behold — at one
end of the town was a pile of
dug-up track, at the other a pile
of railroad ties, and in the mid
dle, a freshly-graded wide main
street.
The street is still there, sans
tracks, and flowers or plants in
digenous to the season are kej^t
growing in planters hanging
from the 72 light poles lining
the thoroughfare.
Goldsboro citizens have
worked hard to project an image
of an outgoing, busy city. One
bonus of which they’re particu
larly proud is the fact that
they’re the largest, if not the
only, city in the southeast
United States without parking
meters.
Rapid Growth
Growth has been rapid, going
from a small town of 17,274 in
1940 to a city of over 30,000 in
1962. The population of surround
ing Wayne County is 82,059. The
city offers the finest shopping
facilities east of Raleigh, with
retail sales last year totaling
over $50 million, 12th highest in
the state.
Statistics tell part of the story,
but perhaps the best summation
of the attitude of Goldsboro and
its people can be made through
its official slogan — “The Friend
ly City of Progress.”
Dan Berry, Bill Evans, and Tom Etheridge (left to right) relax in the
small but complete Operations section of the GSB station. The large
window in the background at left looks out on the runway Piedmont
shares with military aircraft of all types.
Ar/o/VAi
7 IX
District Sales Representative Norman Coiner (left) and Station Manager
Parker Haley by the car rental counters at the GSB station. Haley
termed relations between the military. Piedmont, and the City of Golds
boro as "excellent."