July/August, 1978
page five
Several Piedmont people flew in the Dash 7 when it
was in Winston earlier this summer. Made by De Havil-
land Aircraft of Canada, the new plane is built for
short-haul operations. It is a four-engine, 2,000-foot
STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft.
Time to make party plans
Despite the fact that the calendar says it’s
August and the thermometer is acting like a
firecracker, the central reservations office is
thinking Christmas! Actually, they’ve already
thought, and planned, and are hereby announc
ing the program for the 8th annual CRO Christ
mas party. Though they do all the work and have
a lot of fun, they generously share their party-
giving talents with all Piedmont employees.
This year’s gala will be December 9, from
8:00 p.m. til 1:00 a.m. at the Benton Conven
tion Center in Winston-Salem. Tickets will be
available starting November 1 in the Credit
Union office or from Betty Butner, INT-CRO
KIOO. The tickets will be $15 per couple, $8
single admission or $3 to put your name in the
door prize hat. All full-time employee ticket
holders will be eligible for the enormous assort
ment of exotic door prizes.
The Younger Brothers band will help usher
in the 1978 holiday season. In the picture, page
five, from last year’s affair, Snoopy, alias agent
Tony Wright, is escorting Santa Spencer Rice
around the dance floor. Santa Spence is Ameri
can Airlines’ traditional participant in Christ
mas, central res style.
These dog days will end. For temporary
relief right now, circle December 9. It is less
than four months away.
RDU’s millionth
On June 28, 1978, the half-way point in the
airline’s 30th anniversary year, Raleigh-Dur-
ham boarded its one-millionth passenger. Pied
mont’s Raleigh City Sales Manager Frank
Paschal and Station Manager Allen Perry were
on hand to note the occasion as Robert G. Wilder
of Cary, North Carolina checked in for Flight 19
to Memphis, Tennessee. A regular Piedmont
traveler, Wilder is program manager at the Air
Pollution Training Institute in the Environ
mental Sciences Group of Northrup Services,
Inc. at the Research Triangle Park.
Thompson is kids’ buddy
A recent story in the Roanoke Times &
World News was about a Piedmont pilot and a
second-string sandlot football team that came
from behind to become champions. A collection
of trophies tells of wins on the field, but under
lying philosophy reveals the deeper champion
ships.
Jack Brandon says good-bye to Fergy.
Some months back, the Piedmonitor noted
how' Captain Howard Thompson wore a coach’s
sweat shirt almost as often as his regulation
pilots’ uniform and that he was selected' coach
of the year for his work with the Roanoke city
champion Lions.
The Lions are why Thompson has become
Roanoke’s father of the year in the youth lead
ership category. But Thompson is shy of such
awards. He does it for the boys, he said.
His team learned a lot of lessons on their
way to becoming champions. And, “you’re
actually a winner if you learn a lesson,” Thomp
son says. They had seasons when they lost
every game, but the lesson his boys learned was
perseverance, “and holding your head up even
though you lost.”
Thompson's football trophies are displayed right be
side his aircraft models.
Among the things he has tried to teach his
team, the Lions, is never, never to get high and
mighty once you win. Thompson made it a rule
never to play a game without praying first; that
nobody will get hurt, that whatever you do, God
will be proud of you, and that you won’t do any
thing to shame Him, yourself or your family.
That last part is also Thompson’s philosophy
for his two sons, John, 21, a student at Mary
Washington College, and Bill, 16, a ninth grader.
Another conviction is “in society, what you do
must not only be good, but look good. That’s
kind of deep. But a lot of times what you do
looks good to you, but not to society, and society
is where you’ve got to live.
“You can win all these trophies, but they
don’t mean anything. You pass that kid on the
street five or six years later, though, and he
still calls you sir and mister, then you know
you’ve helped.”
A Roanoke citizens committee chose Thomp
son as father of the year in youth leadership.
Fergy is gone
It is as dift'icult to remember the days when
Piedmont had no female flight attendants as it
is to recall a time when Fergy was not at Smith
Reynolds Airport.
Fergy, in fact, came with the first of his
“girls.” That was about 1962.
There are probably a lot of people who are
surprised to know that Joseph Leon Ferguson’s
name never appeared on Piedmont’s payroll.
Technically, he was an employee of the Blue
Bird Cab Company; actually, Fergy was a vital
part of Piedmont’s family. He blended, but in
no way faded, into life around the airport.
A confirmed prankster, one of Fergy’s
favorite targets was George Stack. Their
joking relationship worked both ways. George
says his favorite memory is of the time Fergy
hid behind one of the support columns in the
terminal lobby in an effort to suddenly surprise
George. Walking toward the post, George saw
just Fergy’s stomach. Back then there was more
of Fergy than could hide behind even an ample-
size post.
The real Fergy never changed, but he did
alter his appearance drastically some six years
ago. The perfect picture of the jolly, fat man,
Fergy went on a diet, under his doctor’s orders.
And in what didn’t seem like too many months,
Fergy was the happy, thin man. When he first
started the diet. Captain Art Auman bet Fergy
a new suit that he would not lose all those
pounds. We heard the suit from Captain Auman
was Fergy’s favorite!
Over the years there were rumors of an on
going, after-hours poker game. Details about
this activity are a little sketchy, but Stack,
Milton Moss and a couple of pilots confirmed
that Fergy was a member in good standing of
the occasional group.
This summer, Fergy turned 65. After 27
years with Blue Bird, 16 of those being Pied
mont years, Leon Ferguson retired.
Airport Station Manager Jack Brandon, the
generations of girls Fergy drove between the
old Robert E. Lee Hotel or the newer Holiday
Inn, passengers, freight shippers and countless
others already miss the world’s best limo driver ^
friend dependable co-worker.
Passenger Wilder is honored by Raleigh-Durham Station Manager Allen Perry and City
Sales Manager Frank Paschal.
Snoopy and Santa are saying it's not that long 'til Christmas! The CRO starts planning
early for their annual party. Details above.