J
“Homer”, a racing-homing pigeon, is held by Tom Robinson
as Betty Flinchum, a secretary, places message in capsule.
Mr. Robinson releases pigeon for its return to a data pr®*’’
essing company which used the birds as advertising gimuii®^'
^Homer\ A Racing-Homing Pigeon^ Unusual Visitof
“Homer” was one of the many visit
ors to the Fieldcrest Mills General Of
fices during September.
Homer is a racing-homing pigeon and
was named by Betty Flinchum, secre
tary to Julian F. Scott, manager-Busi-
ness Information Department. Mr. Scott
received the pigeon in his mail.
The story began one afternoon when
a sturdy, well ventilated box arrived air
express. Inside was the pigeon and a
letter from a computer firm in New
York telling about a new data process
ing system. The letter went on to say
that this firm would like to send a bro
chure giving all the details of the new
system.
To get the brochure, the letter said,
“. . . you don’t even need a postage
stamp. Simply write your name and
address on the enclosed slip of paper,
place it in the capsule on the pigeon’s
leg, and release the pigeon.”
him home with her for the night, and
the next morning Tom Robinson, of the
Auditing Department, took Homer out
of his box and released him in front of
the General Offices.
Homer flew to the top of the building,
sat there a few minutes looking around
as though to get his bearings. He th®”
started flying off, circling for a minU'®
to
until he knew in which direction
head.
The last anyone saw of Homer he
headed in a northerly direction carry'
ing his capsule and message home-
This firm decided to use pigeons, 2,-
500 of them to be exact, because they
figured an executive couldn’t very well
tell a pigeon he wasn’t in. This method
of making selling contacts was so novel
that it rated a lengthy article in the
Wall Street Journal describing how the
pigeons were sent to executives of the
top 2,500 firms in the nation.
Principals in organization changes at Foremost Screen Print Plant, left, JanieS
Poteat, technical superintendent; George L. Howard, personnel manager.
Homer came to Eden from an address
in Columbus, Ohio and when released,
was to return to Ohio. Homer spent
just one day here and was released the
following morning. Mrs. Flinchum took
New Appointments Announced At Stokesdal^
Win Memberships
Two General Offices employees won
memberships in Effie’s Figure Salon in
the drawings held recently in connec
tion with the opening of the new salon
at Eden. Receiving the free member
ships were Laura Horsley, Employment
Office, and Ann Aheron, Engineering
Department.
In new appointments at the Fore
most Screen Print Plant at Stokesdale,
George L. Howard was named person
nel manager and James L. Poteat was
appointed technical superintendent.
Mr. Howard, a native of Baltimore,
received his B. S. in business adminis
tration from the University of Mary
land and previously was engaged in
personnel work with the Bethlehem
Steel Co., at Sparrows Point, Md., and
with Allstate Insurance Co., at Roanoke,
Va. He served as personnel manager at
the United Brass Works at Randleman
and immediately before joining Fi®^^
crest was personnel manager for Si
vania Electric Products, in ReidsviH®’jjj
Mr. Poteat graduated from
Carolina State University with a B-
in textiles. He joined Fieldcrest at
in 1963 as a quality control engih®'
but left for military service in 1966-
He returned in June 1968 as a
A. A V- U I.AA XX%»\_A XXX %J KAXX A V \J MO M *• ^
ity control engineer and shortly th®* ,
-to*
after was appointed assistant dir®®
8
of the Domestics Quality Control
partment. He continued in that cap®®
ty until his latest appointment.
THE MILL WHIST b