Newspapers / Olin News (Brevard, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1976, edition 1 / Page 3
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3 MARATHON TRAVEL COMES TO AN END William A. Hannan and G. Earl York, on retiring in January, brought to a close 80 years of com pany service and the longest record of joint travel for Olin employees between Asheville and Pisgah For est. Each could have made a round trip to the moon or nearly two dozen circles of the globe for the more than half million miles traveled, mostly in a series of cars and station wa gons owned and operated by York. For Marguerite Thompson, who completed 35 years of service last year, it meant making a new arrange ment for the 35-mile commute. Like others who have already retired, she was with York’s carpool from the day he began it. She is secretary to the director of safety & loss pre vention. Hannan’s 46 years with the com pany put him among the top of Olin’s long-term service employees. York would have observed his 35th anniversary next September. Hannan had almost 10 years of service in New York City when brought to Pisgah Forest in 1939 by the late Harry H. Straus, founder of the Ecusta Paper Corporation, to take over the payroll responsi bilities for the new firm. Less than two years later he met Earl and Iris York through an associate at Ecusta. Their conversation led to York’s interview with Mr. Straus and commencement of work Sep tember 23, 1941, half a year after Mrs. Thompson’s employment. Except for Hannan's Navy stint and York’s Army service during World War II, they traveled together ever since. It was a very amicable situation, Hannan said. “I don’t remember ever having a serious disagreement. “We’ve been more like Russians in search of their souls, forever talking.” Sometimes by bus, often compli cated by wartime shortages of gas and tires, the Asheville residents made whatever arrangements they could to get back and forth. Keeping a car going was tough even after the war until that jubilant New Year’s Day 1946 when York bought a four- year-old car in good condition, a Field personnel met at Watertown’s Guest House in February for a two- day work session. Topics of dis cussion ranged from safety to im provements that are ahead in flax procurement equipment, and from in-depth studies of flax crops to quality of fibres bought for the pro rarefy. Within the hour his mood was gloom. Skidding on ice, he had clipped fenders clear down Biltmore Avenue. It was to be his single ac cident. As travelers they witnessed many, however, and had important roles in getting the injured to medi cal attention. York recalls burning out the engine of a new station wagon tak ing an injured Ecusta employee from the wreck on 280 to the med ical center at Pisgah Forest. He believes that in his concern he drove the eight or ten miles at high speed in low gear. Weather was a major factor, often, but there was only one day in all the years of traveling that they did not make it in. “They were real winters back then, not the summer-like weather we’re having now,” York said. No sooner had York’s driving taken on a steady pattern in 1946 than things within the carpool started moving toward a family affair. Hannan had met Frances Wehry, Marguerite Thompson’s sister, at church in Asheville. He saw her again in New York City while on leave from boot camp. They began courting seriously after cessing plant at Rauville. Most of the above persons were with Archer- Daniels-Midland prior to Olin’s pur chase of the flax procurement por tion of ADM’s field organization. See photo layout for candid shots of participants. the war and were married in St. Lawrence Catholic Church October 26, 1946, with the carpool in at tendance. Mrs. Thompson was her sister’s matron of honor, York an usher. Best man was Howard Schmidt, also part of the New York cadre that arrived July 4, 1939, corporate regional auditor with al most 40 years of service. Hannan, a native of New York City, went to work there December 6, 1929, with a predecessor of the Ecusta Paper Corp., the Boucher Cork Co., and has worked with an other of Mr. Straus' interests, the Champagne Paper Corp., before coming to Pisgah Forest. He and Mrs. Hannan, who died two years ago, reared five children: Sheila Hannan of the home, a senior at UNC-A; Mary Norene (Mrs. Don) McCrimmon of Ithica, N. Y., UNC-A graduate in psychology; Edward A. Hannan, a law student at the Uni versity of Wisconsin; John J. Han nan, owner of a clothing store in Raleigh; and William Dennis Han nan, in Officers Candidate School at Ft. Benning. York’s initial work was in Ecusta Finishing where he helped ►-
Olin News (Brevard, N.C.)
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Jan. 1, 1976, edition 1
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