1 i
AMCO NEWS
Vol. XXX No. 2
Adams-Millis Corporation
April-May, 1974
J. H. MILLIS WRITES OPEN
To All Members Of
The Adams-Millis Family - -
Dear Friends:
LETTER TO EMPLOYEES
At my request on
^ay7, the Adams-Millis
Doard of Directors
warned Bill Mewborne,
Jf., President and Chief
Operating Officer. 1
■'^ill remain Chairman
of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer. Mr.
Mewborne is well quali
fied to direct the opera
tions of the company and
'vill continue to report J-H, Millis
'iirectly to me. His promotion is significant in
that for the first time in the 70-year history of
Adams-Millis, there will be neither a Millis nor
a-n Adams as its President! As such, I thought
A timely to write to you and to trace the history
of your company--and to express to you some
Personal feelings.
The corporation had its beginning in 1904 as
anadjunct to an overall manufacturing plant oper
ated by John Hampton Adams andmy grandfather,
fames Henry Millis.
The two founders, associates in the overall
Pfant, decided to start a small hosiery mill near-
oy and erected a two-story brick building on
nglish Street. The firm started as the High
ointHosieryMills, Inc. , and installed 40 knit
ting machines at a cost of $5,000. Only one
®tyle of hosiery, all black, was produced. The
^verage out-put for the first year amounted to
OO dozen pairs daily. During the first year, the
^i^erage employment was around 125. J. H.
Lillis became President and J. H. Adams was
'darned Secretary-Treasurer and General Mana-
Ser. Fourteen citizens became interested finan
cially in the venture and 6 of those were elected
directors. J. H. Millis died in 1913 and J. H.
Adams became President and active head of the
Associated industries.
The mill prospered; and, a few years later,
Adams, Mr. Millis and associates organized
file Piedmont Hosiery Mill, erected a large new
W.B. MEWBORNE, JR. APPOINTED
CORPORATE PRESIDENT
Executive Vice
President William B.
Mewborne, Jr. was
elected President and
named Chief Operating
Officer of Adams-Millis
Corporation at the Board
of Directors meeting,
following the annual
meeting of stockholders
on May 7. He succeeds
James H. Millis as
President; Millis re- W.B. Mewborne, Jr.
mains Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive
Officer. Mewborne is a Director of Adams-
Millis and has been Executive Vice President
since joining the company in 1970,
A native of Durham, President Mewborne
graduated from Roxboro High School in 1954 and
from Duke University in 1958, after which he
served as an officer in the U. S. Navy, Upon
his release from the Navy in 1900, he returned
to Roxboro as an associate partner in the family
business, the Roxboro Lumber Company. In
1965, he joined Wachovia Bank and Trust Com
pany in Winston-Salem and later became a Vice
President of the Wachovia Corporation and a
Vice President of Wachovia Bank and Trust Com
pany. He is currently a director of Universal
Reliance, Incorporated, in Louisville, Rentucky,
President Mewborne resides with his wife,
the former Elizabeth Leigh Jordan, and their
three childrenat 1312 Westminster Drive in High
Point. They are active members of Wesley
Memorial United Methodist Church.
building, installing modern machines. Mr.
Adams was elected President of the new company.
Still later, other mills were organized--Kerners-
ville Knitting Company, Kerner sville, N. C. ,
and Pointer Hosiery Company, High Point, N. C.
In 1928, Mr. Adams and his associates
arranged for a merger of all the hosiery interests
under one charter, resulting in Adams-Millis
Corporation. Mr. Adams became President and
(continued on page 4)