50years2008

Celebrating 50 Years in 2008
By Sandy Thomas

George C. Anderson, 77, of Bound Brook, N.J., USA, has a BBA from St. John’s University. Anderson began his career in textile wet processing as a lab technician in 1949 with Ciba Co. in New York. After serving in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, he went to St. John’s and received his business degree before returning to Ciba as a sales representative. He then worked for American Cyanamid as a salesman, product manager, and national accounts manager for 19 years. In 1980, Anderson joined Chem-Mark Corp. where he was employed as a dye sales manager for four years. In 1983, he became president of GEM-J Inc., where he served as a manufacturers’ representative in the northeast and mid-Atlantic areas for Fabricolor Inc., Keystone Aniline Corp, and Yorkshire Pat-Chem until his retirement in 2003.

Anderson has held several AATCC offices over the years, including chair, vice-chair, councilor, and treasurer of the Metropolitan Section. He also served as chair of the National Technical Conference in 1982, vice-president of the Central Atlantic Region, and chair of the Harold C. Chapin Award Committee and Constitution & Bylaws Committee. Anderson has been active on numerous committees, including the Technical Committee on Research, Committee on Conferences, Study Committee on Employee Benefits, Textile Education, Publications, Membership, Correlation of Laboratory Tests with End-Use Performance, Characterization of Dyes Test Methods, Assessment of Dye Strength and Shade Test Methods, Garment Wet Processing Technology, Odor Determination, and History & Archives. His hobbies include gardening, reading, and spending time with family. He is active in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Marine Corps League, and has been a volunteer equipment manager for the Immacula High School football team for 33 years. He and his wife, Katherine, have four children and six grandchildren.

Raymond G. Dorchies, 80, of Chancellor, Ala., USA, holds a Belgian A-2 degree (equivalent to a MS degree in the US) from H.M.T.S. Technological Institute in Courtrai, Belgium. Dorchies started his career as a textile chemist and progressed to technical director at Soluol Chemical Co. in West Warwick, R.I., and then worked as plant chemist at William E. Wright & Sons Co. in West Warren, Mass. He then was employed as a senior research associate at the corporate research and development division of International Paper Co. in New York. In 1976, Dorchies traveled to Oudenaerde, Belgium, where he was the general manager for Formed Fabrics Europe N.V. for two years. Upon returning to the US, he was the director of manufacturing and research and development for SUS Chemical Co., both in Providence, R.I. and Rock Hill, S.C. In 1983, he became the technical director for CNC International L.P. in Woonsocket, R.I. where he worked until his retirement in May, 1995. Dorchies did some textile chemical consulting work for clients such as A. Harrison & Co. and Eastern Color and Chemical Co. for almost four years after he retired.

Since joining AATCC, Dorchies was a member of the Annual Intersectional Technical Paper Competition Committee of the Rhode Island Section, which presented an award-winning paper at the AATCC National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. in 1966. He has participated in various conferences and seminars over the years including: the Conference on the Chemistry & Physics of Polymers at the University of Missouri in 1963; Flame Retardance of Fibers seminar at Clemson University in 1971; Flammability and Flame Retardance of Textile Fabrics seminar at North Carolina State University in 1975; and AATCC’s Analytical Methods for a Textile Laboratory workshop in 1990. Dorchies was a member of the Chemical Engineering Product Research Panel and the Information Council on Fabric Flammability. His hobbies include photography, gardening, reading, artistic painting, and drawing. He and his wife, Shirley Dobbeleir Dorchies, have been married 53 years, have four children, and 9 grandchildren.

Frank P. Fields, 82, of Mooresville, N.C., USA, has an associate degree from Mitchell Community College, a BS in chemistry from Catawba College, and a military degree from the US Naval Hospital Corps School. He served in the US Navy for three years. Fields was first employed at Burlington Industries in Mooresville as supervisor of the dye house. He then worked for ICI America, Inc. as a sales representative first in Providence, R.I., and then in Mooresville, where he specialized in selling textile dyes and chemicals to textile industries in N.C. and S.C. Fields retired from ICI in 1991, but continues as a sales consultant to Marlowe-Van Loan Corp.

Since joining AATCC, he was elected chair of the Piedmont Section in 1974, served as National Counselor from 1975-1977, and represented the Piedmont Section at the national convention for many years. He has also participated in several AATCC committees. An article entitled, “Choosing a Wetting Agent,” written by Fields was published in the January 25, 1971 issue of Knitting Times.

He continues to be interested in his community as he has been a member of the Mooresville Board of Education for 32 years.

His hobbies include sports of any kind. Fields and his late wife have three children and two grandchildren.

Charles E. Gavin, III, 72, of Waltrace, Tenn., USA, holds a BS in textile management from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He began his textile career in 1959 as a shift dyer and became superintendent of carpet dyeing at Cabin Craft Inc. Gavin became plant manager and superintendent of carpet dyeing for Rossville Carpet Dyeing, and later became laboratory manager and technical service manager for Allied Chemical Corp. in 1965. He joined Columbus Mills in 1967 as superintendent of dyeing, then became manager of chemical services, manager of carpet manufacture, director of research and development, and finally vice-president of carpet manufacturing. Under Gavin’s direction, the first acid-dyed carpet product line was developed and marketed at Columbus Mills as an improved replacement for disperse dyes. “The market soon followed our lead and the dyeing of carpet was changed forever,” says Gavin.

Gavin joined Coronet Mills Inc. in 1979 as vice-president and director of dyeing. In 1980, he formed MFG Chemical Inc. in Dalton, Ga., to serve as a supplier to the carpet industry, offering consulting and the resale of chemical products and dyes. Today Gavin serves as chair of the MFG board of directors.

Gavin first joined AATCC as a student chapter member at Auburn. He has most notably served as president of the Association from 1999-2000, and was awarded the Harold C. Chapin Award in 2002. He currently serves at the Association’s treasurer. He was councilor of the Southeastern Section in 1978-79, 1992-94, and 1997-98. Gavin was a judge of the Intersectional Technical Paper and the Student Paper Competitions. He served as chair and vice-chair of the AATCC Foundation and was its first contributor. He has also been chair of the Appropriations Committee, the Study Committee on Employee Benefits, and the Constitution & Bylaws Committee. Gavin has served on the Global Interaction Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee, the Executive Committee of the Council, the Executive Committee on Research, the Technical Committee on Research, the Committee on Conferences, the Subjects & Speakers Bureau, as well as the Publications, Corporate Membership, Individual Membership, Building & Grounds, History & Archives, Textile Education, Constitution & Bylaws, Retirement Plan Administration, Intersectional Technical Paper, Harold C. Chapin Award, Olney Medal Award, and Henry E. Millson Award for Invention Committees.

At the local level, Gavin has served the Association in the South Central, Piedmont, and Southeastern Sections. He has worked as section chair, vice-chair, treasurer, secretary, committeeman, meeting speaker, and as student chapter liaison for Auburn University. He was recognized by the Southeastern Section with a Blue Jacket service award in 1997 for “dedicated and unselfish service”—one of only four Southeastern Section members ever recognized with this award.

In addition to AATCC, Gavin is a member of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC), Pi Kappa Fraternity, and Phi Psi (textile honorary) Fraternity. Gavin has always been a strong supporter of textile students. He has established a permanent scholarship at Auburn University through the Alabama Textile Education Foundation, and has presented scholarship funds to the University of Georgia. In 2007, he initiated the Charles E. Gavin III Family Scholarship at AATCC. Managed by the AATCC Foundation, the scholarship is awarded to university students based on citizenship, need, academic expectancy, and the student’s history of work and community service. The participating universities are the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, Auburn University, Clemson University, and North Carolina State University.

Other activities include serving as Trustee for the Alabama Textile Education Foundation and as a member of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council. He was also named Outstanding Textile Engineer Alumnus for Auburn in 2003. In April 2008, Auburn’s Ginn School of Engineering honored Gavin and his wife, Carol Ann, by naming a classroom and the Dean’s suite in their honor.

His hobbies are gardening, reading, traveling, and trying to keep up with his grandchildren. While his passion continues to be the Tennessee Walking Horse, his family sometimes refers to AATCC as his hobby! He and his wife, Carol Ann Hart Gavin, have three children and four grandchildren.

James E. Lonon, Jr., 74, of Marion, N.C., USA, served in the US Army for two years in the early 1950’s. He began his textile career as superintendent of dyeing at Eugene Cross & Co. in Marion, N.C., where he was employed for 34 years. In 1986, he became vice-president of Elmore-Pisgah Inc. in Spindale, N.C. and worked there for 20 years. Lonon then went to work for Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing in Old Fort, N.C. where he is still employed in sales and marketing. He says his main hobby is “working.” Lonon and his wife, Nancy Bradburn Lonon, have two children.

Henry H. Perkins, Jr., 75, of Clemson, S.C., USA, holds BS and MS degrees in textile chemistry from Clemson University. He started his career in 1958 as a student worker at Milliken & Co. Upon graduation, he worked as a member of the textile chemistry faculty at Clemson University’s School of Textile Science and Industrial Management for about five years. In 1964, he was employed by the USDA as the director of its chemical laboratory where he worked for 31 years until his retirement in 1995.

Since his retirement, Perkins has been involved in two textile-related associations. He has worked as collaborator for the USDA at its Cotton Quality Research Station in Clemson. He has also been involved with the International Textile Manufacturers Federation as chair of its Honeydew Working Group (sticky cotton), located in Zurich, Switzerland. (This organization recommends physical and chemical test methods for cotton that are internationally accepted.) Perkins attended an AATCC-sponsored yarn dyeing symposium in 1998 and the International Conference & Exhibition in 1999.

His hobbies include golf, yard work, and church work. He and his wife, Summers Ulmer Perkins, have four children and 11 grandchildren.

Ronald S. Perry, 72, of Stuart, Fla., USA, holds a BS degree in textile chemistry from New Bedford Institute of Technology, MS degrees from Lowell Technological Institute in both chemistry and textile chemistry, and a PhD from Lowell in chemistry. Perry was first employed at I.C.I. Organics Inc. in Dighton, Mass. and Providence, R.I. as a research chemist and in technical services. He then worked at Sun Chemical Corp. as a technical service manager. In 1973, he joined the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he was chair of the Textile Sciences Department for 16 years and professor of textile chemistry for 23 years until his retirement in 1999. Since then, he has served and is still active as an expert witness and consultant to law firms, particularly in flammability. Perry has presented numerous lectures to chemical and textile companies and Army and Navy laboratories in Natick, Mass. on various aspects of treating textile fabrics with textile chemicals, dyeing auxiliaries, and dyes.

Over the years, Perry has served the Association well. He was chair of the Rhode Island section from 1980-82, vice-chair from 1977-79, and secretary from 1974-77. He also served as chair and co-chair, respectively, of the Technical Committee of the International Technical Conference held in Boston, in both 1980 and 1990. He was chair of the Scholarship committee for many years, a member of the Board of Governors of the New England Technical Conference from 1974-76, and a member of the Soil Release and Durable Press Committee. Perry has served as a lecturer for various educational programs sponsored by the Rhode Island Section and has presented several papers at AATCC International Conferences. He also has had papers published in Textile Chemist and Colorist, and has a patent for “The Process for the Reduction of Free Formaldehyde on Textile Fabrics.” For many years, Perry was a past member of the American Chemical Society, Sigma Xi Honorary Research Society, the American Arbitration Association, and the National Council of Textile Education.

His hobbies include golf, traveling, cooking, and reading. He is an officer in the Hutchinson Island Golf Association in Stuart, Fla., and the St. Lukes Men’s Golf League in Barrington, R.I. (He is a winter resident in Stuart, and a summer resident in Prudence Island, R.I.) He was married to the late Elaine Almond Perry, and has one son who is also in the textile industry.

Frank R. Padula, Wanaque, N.J. USA. Biographical information was not available.

John C. Reno, 78, of Acworth, Ga., USA, received a certificate of proficiency in chemistry and dyeing from the Philadelphia Textile Institute. He was first employed as a head dyer in 1948 at Orinoka Mills in Philadelphia, Pa., remaining there for 12 years. He served in the US Army for almost two years in the early 1950’s. In 1960, he joined Monsanto Textile Co. (formerly Chemstrand Co.) as manager–dyeing and finishing, and worked in the company’s Decatur, Ala. and Atlanta, Ga. facilities until he retired in June 1993 after 33 years of service. However, he did not stay retired, continuing to work as the technical director for Textile Labs in Dalton, Ga. for five years. In 1998, he formed his own consulting business, which he operated until 2007.

Reno has had a couple of interesting “milestones” in his career. In 1964, he helped formulate the “blaze orange” color (10-mile fabric) in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Safety. He was also instrumental in developing two- and three-color nylon dyeing systems for both the apparel and carpet industries. As an AATCC member, he served on the RA54–Colorfastness to Heat Test Methods committee and presented many technical papers over the years at local, national, and international conferences.

Reno’s hobbies include fresh and salt water fishing. He and his wife, the late Patracia Stief Reno, have two children.

Harry L. Rowden, 77, of Greensboro, N.C., USA, attended the University of Chattanooga, Tenn. and served in the US Air Force for one and one-half years during the early 1950’s. He was first employed with Davenport Hosiery Mills in Chattanooga as a knitter, and then at General Dyestuff as a lab technician. In 1957, he joined GAF Corp. where he worked as a salesman in the Chattanooga and Greensboro, N.C. areas for 16 years. He then worked for American Hoechst Corp. and Hoechst Celanese Corp. as a senior salesman in the Greensboro area for 20 years until his retirement in 1993. Since joining AATCC, Rowden served as vice-president of the Mid-South Region in 1989-1990. He also served the South Central Section as committeeman and national councilor before moving to North Carolina where he was chair and national councilor for the Northern Piedmont Section. As an AATCC member, he has participated on the Membership Committee and attended the 2000 International Conference & Exhibition.

Rowden’s main recreational activity is golf. Since retirement, Rowden has been active in his community, serving as president of the Monroeton Senior Golf Club in 1995. He has also been involved as an elementary school tutor and “lunch buddy” at Archer Elementary School (1994-1998) and was docent and history “trunk teacher” at Greensboro Historical Museum (1995- 2000). He is also a charter member and elder at Northwest Church of Christ. He and his wife, Norma Jean Denton Rowden, have two children and three grandchildren.

Walter J. Turner, 78, of Mt. Laurel, N.J., USA, holds a degree in chemistry from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences. He was first employed at North American Lace Co. in Philadelphia, Pa. as a dyer and then progressed to superintendent of dyeing and finishing where he worked for 23 years. He then worked as assistant plant manager for Lee Dyeing Co. of N.C. in Butner, N.C.; plant manager for Champagne Dye Works in Asheboro, N.C.; plant manager at Thomas Wilson & Co. in Port Jefferson, N.Y.; and plant manager for Esten Dyeing and Finishing Co. in Pawtucket, R.I. He moved back to N.C., working as manager of lace dyeing at Mohican Mills Inc. in Lincolnton, N.C., until his retirement in 1995.

Turner’s hobbies are gardening, fishing, and visiting his children in Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida. He and his wife, Dolores Kapovich Turner, have three children, two grandchildren, and one great–grandchild.

Isaiah Von, 89, of McLean, Va., USA, holds a BA degree from the University of Buffalo, and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Von was first employed at the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) from 1943 to 1946. The OSRD was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II, especially for military high explosives. In 1946, he was employed by American Cyanamid Co., Organic Pigments Division where he worked for 35 years as research chemist and chief chemist of the vat dyes and organic pigments departments. In 1983, he served as a consultant to various companies in the area of vat dyes and organic pigments, until he retired in 1994.

Von was author and/or co-author of 18 US and international patents and has written at least six academic papers. He and his late wife, Bernice Oppenheim Von, have three children and two grandchildren.