Olin news
ECUSTA PAPER. AND FILM GROUP
VOL. XXV, No. 1 FIRST QUARTER 1 979
Calling it a Place of Honor,
THEY SAID IT LOUD AND CLEAR:
THE OTHER PICTURE MAY BE GREAT,
BUT LEAVE “UNCLE HARRY” UP THERE
Let there be no question about it.
Employees here are faithful to the
memory of the late Harry H. Straus,
and they let it be known.
In this period of the 40th anniver
sary of the establishment of the
Ecusta Paper Corp., the protests
were abundant when the oil portrait
of Mr. Straus was moved from above
the fireplace mantel to another wall
of the Ecusta cafeteria. The light in
stalled over the portrait helped to
show it off, but did nothing to stop
the telephone calls protesting the
change. Not all of those persons pro
testing can be counted among the
Ecusta pioneers. Quite a few who
came to Olin years after Mr. Straus’s
death were as vocal as the senior em
ployees.
This rumpus in the realm of tradi
tion came about as result of a gift
to Olin.
Richard Jennings of Asheville and
Cashiers had a storage problem and
told us about it: A large photographic
mural was crated and stored in a
building in Biltmore he had just sold,
and he needed help in placing it
where it would be appreciated. He
said that it was of Whiteside
Mountain and the work of Eliott Ly
man Fisher. After opening the top of
the crate in Biltmore, we hastened to
accept the mural, thinking it probably
would go in the lodge at Camp Straus.
Only when it was fully uncrated
could we judge the excellent con
dition and the beauty of the mural,
too fine to be exposed to the wide
range of temperature and humidity at
Camp Straus. It seemed the perfect
size for the cafeteria fireplace.
ECUSTAIN THE LEAD
Olin’s Ecusta Paper plant
at Pisgah Forest was at the
very top of the list of the
South’s 30 safest pulp and
paper mills for the calendar
year 1978.
The Southern Pulp and
Paper Safety Association
placed Ecusta in the No. 1
position with 4,154,762 man-
hours exposure and a rating
of zero in four classifica
tions: disabling injuries,
frequency rate, severity rate,
and injury index.
The average injury index
among the 88 mills reporting
was 6.617 in 1978, an im
provement over the average
injury index of 8.392 in 1977.
The results were reported
in Southern Pu/p and Paper
Manufacturer.
Flossie (Florence T.) Gillespie was
one of the first to telephone about
relocation of the portrait:
“I was deeply hurt. The first thing
I do on entering the cafeteria is to
glance at Mr. Straus’s portrait, then
I turn to go in line. I’ve done that
ever since the portrait has been over
the fireplace.
“He was such a great person, so
understanding. I never was close to
him but I talked with him one time
about a problem a friend of mine was
having. He took care of it. Later on he
asked me whether everything was all
right.
“We all owe him a debt of grati
tude. The majority of the people
working here own him quite a bit.
I’d have had to go out of the county
for a job had it not been for this
company he started.”
She followed through by ex
pressing her appreciation when the
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