January/February, 1979
page seven
The January flight attendant graduates included, from left, front row: Rick Pardue, Melinda Hornbuckle, Melissa Mill-
away, Maya Moore, Margaret Landon, Judy Chatman. Second row, from left: Pam Cummings, Mary Kulikowski, Nina
Parham, Kim Byrd, Dot Wendt, Denise Meehan, Deborah Holyfield, Maureen Morrissey, Tom Ray, Sandee Speas and
Monique Wade.
C. Wooten goes to Tampa from Fayetteville;
M. A. Blythe leaves Myrtle Beach for Fayette
ville; and H. E. Bryant will move from Augusta
to Myrtle Beach. Effective April 1st, R. J.
Brandon will go from Winston-Salem to Dallas/
Ft. Worth and T. F. Finney will come to Win
ston-Salem from Greenville-Spartanburg.
Other recently announced promotions and
personnel moves include T. H. Chappell being
promoted to buyer in the purchasing depart
ment. Chappell now has the responsibility for
contracting the repair/overhaul of all aircraft
and engine components outside Piedmont’s
facility. He has been with the Company since
1972.
Captain W. D. Carico has been named divi
sion chief pilot-Roanoke, replacing Captain J.
G. Zavar who elected to return to line flying
on the B-737.
Also in the flight operations department,
Captain J. K. Combs has been named manager
B-737 flight training. His new responsibilities
include the coordination, supervision and sched
uling of all B-737 simulator and flight training.
Captain J. P. Odum is now manager YS-11
flight training. Combs and Odum report to Cap
tain J. C. Sifford, director of flight standards.
Kuniaki (June) Tsuruta has been named
manager-operations budgets. He was previously
a senior analyst for special projects in the
purchasing department. Tsuruta has been with
Piedmont since 1974. He will coordinate, moni
tor and assist in developing all budgets for
operations staff, flight operations, maintenance
and engineering, business aircraft, Piedmont
Aerospace Institute and Piedmont Fabricators.
W. H. Smith has filled the newly established
position of manager-employee relations. He
works in various areas of the employee relations
department and reports to Vice President J. B.
Wilson. Smith was an area personnel manager
with Burlington Industries prior to joining
Piedmont in January.
September report sorry
The CAB’s airlines consumer complaint
report for September, which is the most current
tabulation, shows Piedmont slipped further
down in the rankings. Among the locals. Pied
mont was in seventh place; in the industry
standings, 14th.
The 14th may be nice for celebrating Valen
tine’s Day this month, but it’s a lousy position
to be in where our service is concerned.
Letters to the Board are categorized ac
cording to complaints involving delays, reserva
tions, baggage, fares, refunds, cargo, customer
treatment and charters. The report is compiled
based on letters per 100,000 passengers en
planed.
re . tire - SYN., see GO
is Websters' definition
According to the Websters, that’s John and Olive, rather than
Noah’s dictionary, “There will always be a Piedmont.”
It is an appropriate point of view for Piedmont’s first couple.
John and Olive Webster are the first Piedmont employee couple to
retire. They are probably the first hired, as well, since neither of
them remembers another twosome that was here when they started.
Actually, the Websters didn’t join Piedmont at the same time.
John came first, in 1948, nine days before the airline’s first scheduled
flight. He started out as Piedmont’s station manager at Louisville.
“Getting SDF ready to open was a 24-hour-a-day job,” said Olive.
“There for a while, John had a bed at the station.” A former Eastern
manager, John knew a lot about the business before he signed on
with Piedmont. He had worked with Eastern in New Orleans, Chicago,
Dothan, Greenville, Memphis and Miami prior to becoming Piedmont’s
man in Kentucky for the airline’s first years there.
In 1950, John, Olive and their daughter, Martha, left Louisville
for him to assume the station manager’s job in Winston-Salem. It
was the next year, 1951, that Mr. and Mrs. John E. Webster became
Piedmont’s first employee couple. Olive came in as a secretary for
engineering, operations and maintenance, working with H. K. Saunders
and Ace Tompkins.
The Company’s growth in those days was a lot like today’s —
rapid. The engineering, operations and maintenance departments
were outgrowing their office. Tompkins moved to the hangar. He
took Olive and the single sheet of yellow paper he used for figuring
aircraft routing with him. She soon inherited the legal-size pad and
the responsibility for routing or scheduling the maintenance work for
all of Piedmont’s planes. There were 12 DC-3s then.
A few years later, John moved again. This time it was just up
stairs, to dispatch. Though they never worked in the same depart
ment, or even in the same building, the nature of their jobs kept the
Websters in close contact as they got Piedmont’s Pacemakers in and
out. They handled them all, from DC-3s through F-27s, Martin 404s,
FH-227S, YS-lls and 737s. The fleet of 12 of the same planes in the
early 1950’s had grown to a fleet of 47, which, of course, includes
three different kinds, in 1979. When asked whether or not they
ever took their work home, Olive said, “Yes, we discussed it a lot. We
certainly understood each other’s jobs. And they’ve both been interest
ing.”
John and Olive officially retire on March 1, 1979. She says, “It
will be a big adjustment, but we’ll enjoy it.” They’re planning to travel,
with England first on their list of places to go. John has already
rediscovered his painting and she is looking forward to “sitting by
the fire for awhile” and then doing some reading, needlepoint and
Olive and John Webster are going into retirement.
gardening. John’s the one who loves to cook, which suits Olive. Their
neighbors will probably see them out on their BMW as soon as the
weather improves. Olive will be the one riding on the back!
Olive said, “We have been in the aviation business at the best time
anybody could be. We watched Eastern grow ’til it got big and now
we’ve watched Piedmont too. This is a good time for us to go.”
Olive’s expressions as she talked about the Websters’ 53 years
with Piedmont and their coming retirement revealed varying degrees
of anticipation, excitement, pride and, perhaps, a sense of some relief
at leaving the daily deadlines and the pressures that go with meeting
them.
The Websters are leaving, but ours is a better Company for their
having been here.