PAGE EIGHT
THE PIEDMONITOR
APRIL-MAY, 1967
PIEDMONT PRESS NOTES
ASHEVILLE — Reporter Beckie McCuUoch:
Shades of blue are now gracing our walls here in
AVL due to the masterful painting of several of the
agents. A welcome change from the green, the pale
shades of blue offer brightness of the oncoming spring
and summer. Mr. Gwennap, Station Manager, is now
enjoying the convenience of a well deserved private
office with the same blue decor. Our “Spy in the Sky”
has choice photos for reprint of-the 727. For further
information, please contact Chief Agent J. W. Dean.
Another musician is on the scene here in the form of
new agent Clay Ledford. Clay is guitarist for the
Dixie Ramblers — country hoedown, anyone? Friend
ly competition is the name of the game these days
between Judy Baldwin and husband Bill who recently
went to work next door (United). With a newly re
decorated office, private office for the boss, and jet
service to and from Asheville we are looking forward
to a very profitable and enjoyable summer. It’s Sum
mer Camp time again so Non-Revs — “SEE ASHE
VILLE NOW”!
BALTIMORE — Reporter Bill Burton: Spring has
rnany effects on people. The most outstanding inclina
tion of the Baltimore Piedmont crew is the vigorous
drive for outdoor sports. Boating seems to be the
high spot. Tom Thompson drove to Virginia and re
turned with a 16-foot runabout, making a total of
three 16-footers at BAL. The other two belong to Lead
Agent Howard Lewis, and our newest agent Ken
Boggs. We are planning a “Boat-a-Rama” beach party
at the end of May, with water skiing, boat racing and
pleasure rides for the kiddies. Running a close second
to boating is sports car racing. Howard Lewis and
Tom Thompson drove down to Florida for the big
Daytona 500. They returned with some great photos
of the race but disappointed because the weather
wasn’t up to par. Bill Burton challenged Howard
Lewis to a race. Howard’s ’66 GTO against Bill’s ’59
Rambler. He backed down because he knows you
just don’t mess around with a Rambler. It’s painting
equipment time again. This always seems to stir up
a bit of enthusiasm within the Baltimore gang. It
sort of makes you take notice of all the hidden artistic
ability we Piedmont-a-tors have. Had a “Get Together”
at George Scherer’s (Chief Agent) home March 25
All but one showed up. We won’t mention any names
but no one talked to Bill Burton for two days.
CHARLESTON — Reporter Ruth Shumate: Want
ed.. A return match with basketball team! Those CRW
Piedmont Rocket basketball players are ready and
anxious to travel. We have bowlers, too, ’cause didn’t
Phil Bostick and Bill Hanson win trophies last year?
But they want you to invite the basketball scorers
or come up to CRW for a real game of excitement
spirited by Dexter Conrad. Spring is finally here we
hope. Dave Sm«h is ready to go-go-go play golf as
soon as the spring thaw is complete; Mac will prob
ably lead him astray as he was quite the golfer last
year. The season also finds painters Jim Birthisel
and Ronnie Abshire redecorating to please their
spouses. Those ball games in CVG still tend to tempt
Pei-ry, Bostick, and MacCormick. Perhaps they’ll get
mere this year. Spring, yea—planting flowers and
Dams Moore says you get a cold to last all summer
Irene is looking forward to future trips to North
Carolina and Florida. And speaking of painting
Charlie Parsons has really out-painted himself on the
ramp equipment. He has had paint from ear to ear
Jerry Young and Sales Rep Bill Grubbs had the first
sun burn of the season. New Agent Jim Breeden is
enjoying the pretty weather, ignoring those bad
stories about adverse conditions and looking forward
to next winter. Quiet about it all is Paul Kelley who
seems to have a bad case of “spring fever.” Spring
time means Girl Scout Cookie Time for the Bill Han-
son.s. Bill has spent his vacation delivering his daugh
ters cookies. Our office had 100% buyers. Tom Hicks
can fly longer hours now that the days are longer
Ken Harrison is sporting a new car. Glad some people
received tax returns. As you all must know by now
West Virginia will soon be able to sell that “high-
spirited’’ stuff legally, private clubs and all. Licenses
will be issued by May 1st. So when you come to ole’
Charley West, remember we are not backward.
CHARLOTTE — Reporter Louise Ramsey: CLT is
still here even tho’ it’s been several months since
we’ve had any news and several changes have taken
place. Joel Bruce left us for GSP. Since that is closer
to his family we forgave him and had a party to give
him a big send off. Hope his head wasn’t as big as
the party! We’ve welcomed three new agents to CLT
Cecelia Travis, Archie Baker and Cam McRae. They
are catching on to airline ways rapidly. “Paul New
man Hinson, alias John, is taking his holiday repay
ments sunning in Florida. Gene AValch isn’t going to
let Robert Kennedy get ahead of him. Jane is expect
ing their 10th child next month. We’re going to draw
a name out of the hat—Gene says he has run out. The
pictures of the Manhattan Pacemaker certainly look
good! We’d sure like to see it first-hand here in CLT
Blanche Tedder, her husband and daughter have gone
to California on vacation. Penny Combs is ready for
summer; her cabin on the river is open for company
so y’all come. ’
HOT SPRINGS — Reporter Sham Peri’y: What
can one say about Hot Springs that hasn’t already
been said more profoundly (or should that be pro
fanely?). It seems rather egotistical to imagine that
everyone on the Piedmont system would enjoy hear
ing about Chief Agent Lyle Cox swiping all the money
(five pennies) in the “Toupee for Lyle Fund,” and
buying a candy bar to eat with his diet drink! Let’s
face it, no one outside of HSP cares whether Lyle
gets any more hair or not. And naturally everyone
has heard the rumor about the topless stewardesses
we’re getting this summer, so there’s no point in
bringing that up any more. Really, when all super
fluous items are omitted, what is left? We could say
“Hello down there. How are you?”; but we don’t
know you and you don’t know us, so what’s the use’
Sharn Perry may decide to visit some of the stations
on our system this summer — if the denser air of
those lower elevations doesn’t kill him.
LOUISVILLE — Reporter Bill Asher: The Pied
mont decorators have been going gung-ho at SDF Our
Res room has new wallpaper and paint. Howard
Hughes worked up the most unique color scheme in
town. The, principal colors are cinnamon and a yellow-
green, accented with blending wallpaper The chief
decorators have been Mr. Crouch, Howard and Ronnie
Shanks, who had the able assistance from other
agents. The SDF maintenance boys have been re-
rnodeling too. Chief mechanic Gene Durham now has
his own office. Talk about down-town!! Mary K. has
been seeing quite a bit of down-town, incidentally
we hear it is with a certain Mr. Jim. Seems like it all
started at the SDF station party, which was delight
ful. We would like to thank Messrs. Turbiville, Cowen,
Hudson and Parrish for attending our Incentive’
Party. We hope to have the pleasure of their com
pany again real soon. Congratulations to Jim and Edie
Burger on Sherry Lynn. Eight lbs. 10V2 ozs. of cry
ing joy!! We’re all sorry about Tom Duggins’ resigna
tion from the PAI ranks.
MYRTLE BEACH — Reporter Prank Woodruff:
We’re still holding to the 40% increase in boardings
with another 40% in March. We keep looking for
direct or direct connecting service to LGA and maybe
we can get some of the CHS and ILM boardings
Wayne West almost had to wade in the other day
after a log knocked a hole in his boat. Everyone is
busy getting their yards in shape, by planting grass
and watering. It hasn’t rained lately. It will be good
to get 250/227 back in with service to N. C. areas. The
spots are biting now and the fishing is improving
day by day. The Ocean Forest Hotel is again offering
lower rates for PAI employees this year. If you would
like to come down, just write Ocean Forest Hotel N.
Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, S. C. 29577. The mo
tels will not accept booking without deposit but we
will be glad to get availability if you let us know.
NEW YORK ^ Reporter Eddie Jones; New York
— New Jets, certainly a great mark of progress for
our company! We do wish to offer our compliments
to those preparing our 1966 AnnujJ Report. The cover
surely bears the beauty and distinction, so worthy
of binding the contents of such a noted milestone in
our company. Business continues to grow for us at
LaGuardia as 3,661 passengers boarded here during
March. Our April quota of 4,500 is just for records —
we have high hopes of exceeding the 5,000 mark with
the help of the “Manhattan Pacemaker.” Just dream
ing and hinting for the future, we think that with
the help of the next 727 Pacemaker coming out of
the Carolinas soon we could exceed the 10,000 mark
before summer ends! We welcome our new mainten
ance chief at LaGuardia, Gus Tomlin. Gus comes to
us_ from Washington National. We can only describe
this move as DCA’s loss and our gain. Gus is making
lots of progress in setting up one of the neatest shops
on our system, despite our current shortage of operat
ing space. We wish him lots of luck in obtaining addi
tional mechanics. Do we hear any volunteers? I’m
sure that everyone is watching our jet operation with
a bit of admiration and challenge. I find it most
interesting in chatting with various other airline
officials in several recent meetings that we are not
the only ones with this watchful eye! It appears that
industry itself is most interested in seeing how our
jet will operate with our scheduled ground time.
Seems all you folks downline are doing a tremendous
job in helping to prove to the industry that we are
capable of such an operation. We certainly recognize
the assistance of Eastern’s personnel here at LGA
in assisting us with this operation. Just the other
night, Eddie Potulin and his crew turned the jet
around in just 17 minutes. We had over 70 passengers
off and boarded 75 outbound, parked him at a new
gate as experiment and smashed a window with
the jetblast — all in just 21 minutes! Noticed any
BIG Piedmont badges lately? Am sure you could
see a few at LGA as many of Eastern’s operations
and ramp service personnel have “made their own”
irom our latest supply of baggage stickers! Looking
forward to seeing you visitors in New York since
the weather is getting better.
PULASKI — Reporter Virgil Spradlin: Station Man
ager Jim Faucette has just returned from two weeks
on Virginia’s east coast; he was helping Uncle Sam
get organized. He has to keep check on the Air Force
personnel about once a year. Evidently they didn’t
feed him too well, because when he got back to PSK
he was ready for some good home-cooked meals. Glen
Shanks took a ride on Piedmont’s pride and joy, the
Manhattan Pacemaker the other day. He says that
it s almost as fast as hLs Honda. The only problem,
he says, is that when you are non-reving, sometimes
you have to get home the best way you can! Maybe
that’s Glen’s side of the story, but we think he just
didn t want to get home too quick. Dan Love might
have put him to work carpentering in his basement.
This summer-like weather seems to please C. O. Wal
ters. He says it makes the fish bite quicker and trying
to hook them, more pleasant. We hope he has as
good luck catching the fish as he did with the deer
last season. We’d like to welcome the troops from all
around to drop by and let’s get acquainted. In closing
Confucious say. People call it “take-home” pay be
cause there is no other place you can go with it.
RICHMOND — Reporter J. L. Thompson: The
spring thaw has finally arrived. The sap is rising
again, the frogs are beginning to peep and we have
come out of hibernation! No, we haven’t been sleep
ing, by any means, but with winter operations, extra
flights, increased revenue and several new agents in
training, our time has been pretty well used up and
another edition of the Piedmonitor is here before we
know it. New members of the RIC family now in
clude Jane Thomas, who was with EAL for a hun
dred years; Arnall Haden, Jerry Farris, Don Cheat
ham and C. G. Phipps. They didn’t come all at the
same time, but over a period of the past five or six
months. However, all are most welcome. Recent travel
ers from RIC have included Bob “Batman” Bullock
and Jerry Farris, who took advantage of the UAL
Interline trip to the West Coast. Tom Farmer flew
himself and a few of his racing fan friends down to
Sebring for the sports car races. Don MacPherson
has just returned from his annual Easter pilgrimage
to Bradenton-St. Pete and Tampa. Don Cheatham
flew co-pilot with a charter group from DCA to the
Bahamas with several intermediate stops and Addie
is currently on vacation, destination
UNK. Jerry Barger spent a week in the INT area
visiting with his parents. J. L. Thompson just used
up a week catching up on some unfinished fishing
and loafing left over from last year.
ROANOKE — Reporter Don Conner: Zzzzzz .
splash! Hi, everybody. We’re just sitting here on the
creek bank reeling in a few big ones and reminiscing
about the events that have taken place back at the
home place prior to fishing season. Now if we can
just get R. C. Cromer to hold this line for us, we’ll
catch you up on the latest ROA happenings. Zzzzz
splish! Atta boy, R. C., Suurrp! We sure earned this
vacation, what with our record Easter boardings and
all. Daily boardings of 601—646—752—528—596. March
22-26 was quite tiring. The 752 passengers boarded
March 24th set a new ROA record. We also became the
first station to fill the “big ’un” to capacity, doing so
on March 23rd by boarding 57 locally and then having
to send an air taxi to AVL. Zzzzzz . . . splash! Zzzzzz!
Get ’m. Art. Way to go, sport. Must be at least five
inches. Zzzzzz . . . splish! Suuurrrp! Pardon the inter
ruption, folks. Let’s congratulate M. E. Smith, who
was recently promoted to Lead Agent in Res. Replac
ing him as passenger service agent is Frank Carroll
who just may find a home yet, if he changes depart
ments enough. We added Ralph Keye to our sales de
partment to fill Frank’s vacancy. Zzzzzz . . . Hey,
that’s a whopper. Bob! Must measure at least an inch
. . . between the eyes. Zzzzzz . . . splash! Suurrrrp'
Gerald Wingo has been laid up awhile with back
trouble. He’s the only man we know who can hurt his
back on an inside job. Anyway, he managed to get
out of the hospital just in time to admit his wife.
Their new daughter, Sharon Denise, was born April
5th. That s why Gerald’s not with us fishing today.
He’s too busy Vv^ith the washing and ironing. Bill
Jenkins and his wife christened their new son Gary
Wayne. Zzzzzz . . . splish! Uncle Sam, who has been
fishing in Piedmont’s pool for a long time finally
hooked elusive, ole red-eye Bob Linkous ’for six
months active duty. Replacing Bob on the ticket coun
ter is none other than the grand ole Guardian of the
Coffee Fund, Guy Mowbray. Coffee’s on the house
now, folks. Ray Welch missed today’s action. He’s too
busy rehearsing his lobster commercial for TV Due
to the strike, he wasn’t allowed to appear at the
Academy Awards presentation. Guess you know about
Carlyle Kemp and Trish Gray running off to SFO for
a gala weekend. No, they didn’t get married, and any
way, they’re both over 21. Furthermore, they were
chaperoned by Aileen Aldridge, who may be over 41
for all we know. From our vantage point here among
the cattails and alders, we can see Shelby Hale sun
bathing in front of the trailer she has purchased on
Smith Mt. Lake. Funny that she doesn’t invite us
giving me the pole
back. Oh, hello, Mr. Game AVardeii. License . . . what’s
that? See you folks next month, v/e hope!”