JANUARY, 1967
THE PIEDMONITOR
PAGE THREE
PIEDMONT PRESS NOTES
BLTJEFIELD — Reporter Gene Elmore: Whew!
Maybe we can get back to normal operations, now that
the holidays are over. Normal, with winter, ice-covered
runways, and braking action reports. During the holi
days, parties were the order of the season. At our
Christmas party at the Club LaSaluta, everyone had
a great time, but we were sorry of two things: no one
from the home office could attend and Milt Ward
didn’t get to present his famous Mexican Hat Dance.
Though it was no fault of his, the party downstairs
wanted it a little quieter so they could present awards.
Maybe next time, Ole Buddy. We haven’t figured out
that new dance Noland Adams came up with. We sure
appreciate Charley Fields, BKW and Dan Love, PSK,
coming by to cover for-us. Milt and Clara Ward held
open house on December 30 with everyone except Ted
Farrington and Sonny Bennett, who had to hold down
the fort, attending and having a ball. Surprise guests
in attendance were Grandma Frickert (World’s Oldest
Airline Stewie) and Tojo Hashimoto (famous Japan
ese rock ‘n’ roll singer) who entertained us. Everyone
nearly collapsed with laughter at those two characters,
portrayed by Milt. The rest of the evening was spent
with Chet Atkins Ward on the Old Guitar and the
group singing some of the really old favorites. We had
Duke Ellington fly in on Fit. 477 to give a concert.
He returned the next day to DCA for engagement at
the White House. Sorry we didn’t get to fly the Duke
back but we understand, according to Huntley-Brink-
ley, that he made it in from West Virginia. Many
entertainers from NYC were stranded in route. It’s
hard to imagine that people can’t get out of this
country. The past year was our best ever with pas
senger boardings up and Air Freight up at least 200
per cent. We sure appreciated the gift from Santa.
CHARLESTON — Reporter Ruth Shumate: What’s
behind the red door?! There are people on the other
side, telephones that ring and a machine that prints
all sorts of messages. The people transfer the data to
cards and put it in a special file. The workers are
happy. They work well together. They have meetings
after hours to plan social parties and informative
meetings as well. Give up? This red door is decorated
at the window by a pretty red drape, and is entered
by many people daily and viewed each week by hun
dreds of outsiders who comment on the difference and
gaity in appearance. Why it’s the new paint job on
the door behind the counter leading to Piedmont
reservations in ole Charley West. It was a big Christ
mas and New Year’s up this way! A Christmas party
and buffet was held at the Quarrier Diner Club Room.
Special guest was Ed Jones returning to share the
event of the season. Birthdays of the month were cele
brated with cake and coffee for Paul Kelley and Phil
Bostick. Sorry, Dexter, you have to work on your
birthday to have an “office cake.” BiU Grubbs served
cake and coffee to the employees just before Christ
mas. The cake was a white background with holly
Christmas trees and Santa in his sleigh. The employees
presented Dave Smith with a Christmas remembrance
and enjoyed a little “get together” after hours. This
concluded the social side of the red door for last month.
Don’t think that a lot of work isn’t put out too, ’cause
reservations are booming and this month of January
is coming right along. Ticket sales are hitting a peak.
New Year’s night was spent worrying out CLT wea
ther since we had two charters going out with the
“Hello Dolly” cast, starring Betty Grable, departing
CRW 2200. Miss Grable visited the office (behind the
red door) and even shared PhU Bostick’s birthday
cake. Needless to say the Charters left only a few
minutes behind schedule, and thanks to all concerned,
made the destination in CLT. Jim McCormack wants
you all know that he, too, shot a deer this season.
And, yes, Bostick is still talking about his. Happy New
Year to all, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing you
anytime this year.
CINCINNATI — Reporter Sue Roe: Cincinnati
would first like to wish all of you a very Happy New
Year! It seems everyone has at least partially re
covered from the holiday season. Our Christmas party
was a huge success. Everyone had a good time, even
Bob Steppe, who usually has such a shy manner at
parties! We even caught a glimpse of Captain Dark
doing the frug in his red vest. Much to everyone’s
relief, Sandy Schoen brought her compass! Carolyn
Donaldson has just returned from a nice long visit in
Los Angeles. Boy, some people really rate. Jan Tueniler
will soon be departing for Jolly Ole England on a
B.O.A.C. Interline Tour — Tally Ho! Our illustrious
Paul Loar has just returned from a week in Acapulco,
and from what we understand, he really rang out the
old and brought in the new.
LONDON CORBIN — Reporter Schuyler Day: LOZ
is still here. We haven’t moved, just haven’t written
any news in a long time. We have been pretty busy
here just as we’re sure everyone else on the system
was through this holiday season. Last year was a good
one for LOZ. Our boardings were up a great deal above
’65. And if you think you are having load problems,
don’t feel like the Lone Ranger because we have a
built-in weight problem at LOZ the year ’round. The
big news at this station is that the cities of London
and Corbin, through state and federal matching funds,
have raised a sum of $498,173 to be used for airport
improvements. The now 4,000 ft. runway will be length
ened to 6,000 ft. and widened from 100 to 150 ft. Taxi-
ways will also be added. We’re sure that the ILM based
crews and the operations personnel at TRI, LEX and
SDW will give a sigh of relief when this project is fin
ished. At the present time a target date for construc
tion has not been set. However, the airport officials say
we can expect construction to be under way by sum
mer. We are hoping it will start this spring. Another
new item at LOZ is the Long Line. We have had it
about 3 months and we still find a lot of amusement at
some of the conversations we hear over the squawk
box. At times we find ourselves huddled around that
box like it was a radio with a good ball game broadcast.
Now that we have had it this long we don’t see how we
did without it before. Sure is a handy little gadget to
have around when you can get on it. Mr. Parrish came
by not long ago for his station visit, and fell right into
a job. Before he left, he had answered the phone sev
eral times, taken an in-range contact from a flight,
answered the Long Line, and checked in a passenger,
we think. At least we saw him with a grease pencil in
hand and he came away from the counter headed
toward a baggage cart with two large pieces of lug
gage in tow. We hope this won’t keep him from com
ing back. We always enjoy his visit. The first week of
January everyone you met, was saying happy New
Year, the crews likewise. Capt. Robertson came up
with a new one. Happy New Airport for LOZ.
.. ... .
COCD wUCK
All Charleston is thinking about Eddie Jones who left
CRW for LGA.
liYNCHBURG — Reporter Jay Hunt: LYH here!
First of all, ROA, why don’t you push those mountains
out of the way? With the mountains out of the way
it sure would help. Those ROA flights really keep us
busy when ROA closes. If you were to fly into LYH
you would see a big hole and lots of mud all over the
place. But a 20,000 gallon tank is going to be put into
that big hole, we hope. This is a start on getting LYH
ready for jet service. All LYH employees are happy
with the Christmas gift Santa sent us by teletype. Man
ager C. R. Blackmon was all smiles when he received
his last check, so we are wondering what amount
brings smiles to the manager. Mr. and, Mrs. Edwin
Bosiger have another addition to their family and are
very proud of their baby girl. Susan weighed seven
pounds, fifteen ounces when she arrived on the 16th
of December. Maybe the next will be a boy, agent of
the future, O.K., E.P.? The holiday repayment vaca
tions have started. Frank Reynolds was the first. He
took off for LGA on flight 34 for a New Year’s party.
Bill WoUe was in a hurry on the ramp and took a
spill on the ice. It could have been those college girls
that took his mind off his feet. Anyway, he now has
a large ankle and is walking easy on one foot. When
you walk into reservation's these days you’re likely
to hear Fran Dresser trying to explain to Bill why
you can’t fly beyond Jacksonville, Florida, at a joint
rate discount with Delta Airlines. Roy Creasy was in
the hospital with back trouble, but is now back in
operations. He thinks he will make it and says his
back will be better when spring gets here. It seems
like his is not the only bothersome back in the winter
months. There must be a bug going around. When the
snow falls we all say “here, bug, here bug!” LYH wants
to wish all Piedmont employees a Happy New Year
and the best yet in 1967.
PULASKI — Reporter Glen Shanks: Snow, ice and
just plain bad weather have combined to keep us from
making our quota for the past couple of months. We
thought it was bad last year but at least it waited until
winter time to begin. Things are really looking up for
our Station Manager, Jim Faucette. He recently pur
chased a new 10 by 60 ft. mobile home then decided
that it did not look right without a nice 25” color TV-
stereo combination and is now in the negotiating stage
for one of those. As soon as he gets this squared away
we understand that he is going new-car hunting.
However, this is probably from necessity rather than
a desire to have something to spend his raise on. His
old hupmobile has just about seen its best day. Virgil
Spradlin, our newest addition, took his lovely bride
non-reving to the West Coast recently, compliments
of Delta. Glen Shanks bought his Honda just prior to
the trip and Virg was going to use the money from the
sale to make a down payment on a second car but
when they returned ole Virg was singing the blues
about high prices, so no second car now.
ROANOKE — Reporter Don Conner: Our journal
istic schedule was thrown asunder when November
and December were combined into one Piedmonitor
issue. So we’ll catch you up on the ROA happenings
that were missed. November, 1966 is the time that
will be remembered as the month in which Piedmont
began its service to New York City, just as August,
1955 is remembered as the month in which we began
our first flights into Washington, D. C. We apologize
for not having submitted a photo of ROA’s first LGA
passenger, Mr. Ray Levesque, but Rodney Bowers
bought the wrong size flash bulbs for our Brownie.
Thanks, Rod! A seige of the flu hit the ROA station
just prior to the Christmas holidays and the local
apothecary shops did a booming PAI business for a
few days. However, this did not dampen our holiday
spirits which were highlighted by our yearly Christ
mas party. The success of our party was mainly due
to the outstanding work of Don Holiday, CAICS (Chief
Agent In Charge of Shindigs). Recipients of interline
passes presented as door prizes were Captains Ray
Emanuelson and Harold Miller; John Rehder, Ken At
kinson, Ed Deitrich, and Kenny Wood from ROA-M;
Carlyle Kemp, Res.; and Emory Bowers, Henry Carr, ■
and Dan Campbell from ROA-0. We appreciated the
help of the DCA agents who covered our station for
us. We regret the departure of George Hutchinson,
who has left employ to work for the National Guard
in ORF, but we welcome the addition of Kerniit Vest
to Operations, Freda Higginbotham and Joe Grant to
Res. Kermit comes to us by way of the USAF and the
local G.E. Company. Freda, a native of BLF, was
formerly employed by National Airlines in DCA. And
everyone knows Joe Grant, who quelled all rumors by
making official his transfer from SHD to our station.
Incidentally, Joe, along with Jess Cantline and Carlyle
Kemp, purchased the airplane formally owned by Don
Vance and Bill Carico. We’re still trying to figure out
who got the best end of the deal. Frank Carrol and
Don Conner have recently swapped duties, with Frank
moving to Res. and Don going to Operations. Winter
sure is cold on the ramp. Trip-wise, most of the ROA
agents have been staying close to home. Dick Morgan
and Harold and Cindy (Mouse) Norton made the Las
Vegas scene; Iona Carr dropped down to MIA to plan
a wedding (not her own) while Aileen Aldridge finally
got airborne south to TPA after two unsuccessful at-
temps due to weather and load problems. Everyone
else has been sitting by the fire, making faces at the
weather, and planning their summer excursions into
the wild, blue yonder. We would like to compliment
our steel-nerved Res department who have somehow
managed to carry on while the walls are being ripped
out and rebuilt around them. Visitors to ROA will be
unable to recognize our station in another couple of
weeks. The remodeling currently in progress is due to
the tremendous increase in traffic over the past few
years. We applaud the initiators of this progressive
step. ROA Reporter Audrey Callahan: By the time
this issue goes to press our own Woody Nester
will be “involved” with Uncle Sam for six months of
active duty. “Sorry about that, chief.” It looks as
though another Ops Agent, John Hewitt, will be trans
ferring to maintenance to do our Accounting work.
We are looking forward to working with John. Roa
noke Maintenance has been carrying quite a heavy
work load, but wouldn’t you know they had an empty
hangar the very day that a Maintenance Station Chiefs’
Meeting was held here. Audrey Callahan would like to
request that Morris Mahn from ILM not bring John
Rehder any more oysters! We feel sure he will under
stand the request.
SHENANDOAH — Reporter D. Pitcock: SHD is
still here. We aren’t able to hibernate like Hot Springs.
We’d like to welcome new agents Will Myers and Bill
Overstreet to our organization. We lost Joe Grant to
ROA. Our loss is their gain. Through misunderstand
ing and unfamiliarity with airline terminology, one
of our new agents operating the radio one night told
another to cut the porch lights off, later learning the
Captain said cut the approach lights off. Got to talk
to that boy; back to the classroom. We at SHD will
be celebrating our seventh anniversary February 1st.
The two agents who worked that first morning are
still here. Jim Dallas and Doelph Pitcock will never
forget that day, nothing worked right. We got our FX
line. It’s a great help to us here and to our customers.