Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 15, July 22, 1959 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, July 22, 1959
RUNNERS-UP—Believe it or not, these seven lovely daughters
of Convair Fort Worth families failed to win recent Ridglea Swim-
ming Pool Association beauty contest. In group are Judy Starnes,
Jo Ann Perry, Judy Tkac, Anne Busey, Kathy Schenck, Dale Dahlberg
and Patricia Penn.
Speech Reading Solves
FW Mechanics Deafness
Talking on the telephone fasci-
nates Convair Fort Worth’s F. C.
Riley, who’s been living in a
world of silence since birth.
Riley, a structures mechanic in
Dept. 58, “speech reads” fluently
and is soft-spoken and distinct in
his own speech. (“Speech read-
ing” is the term now used instead
of “lip reading.”) He even talks
on the telephone by “listening”
to vibrations.
Speech therapists at TCU’s
Speech and Hearing Clinic mar-
vel at the progress he’s made.
Riley started learning to speech
read at TCU a little more than
a year ago.
Efforts to conquer his handicap
started back in 1931 when he
enrolled at the old Van Zandt
School for the Deaf at 11 years
of age. Here he studied sign lan-
guage until he was 14 years old,
then went to Austin to the Texas
School for the Deaf.
When he came to Convair 13
years ago, Riley could hardly
make himself understood, but he
didn’t give up.
At the TCU Speech and Hear-
ing Clinic he has been working
with Mrs. Ernest Lawrence, a
member of the TCU faculty.
“Mr. Riley has come a long
way in a short time,” Mrs. Law-
rence commented. “And you must
realize that he came to us after
Two Convair Actors
Appearing in ‘Suds'
Two Convair employees are in
the cast of “Suds in Your Eyes”
now playing its 12th season at
Coronado Community Theater.
Richard A. Martin of Astro’s
Dept. 531-1 and Bert Horner of
San Diego Division’s Dept. 6-51
are alternating in the role of
“Wilson.” Martin also played the
role last year.
he had entered his thirties!”
When asked if he had any spe-
cial hobbies, he grinned and said:
“Yes. Talking!”
HELLO! -— Convair Fort
Worth's F. C. Riley of Dept. 58
has been deaf since birth but is
now able to understand others
and to talk fluently himself.
Convair Samaritan
Group Wins Award
A flight safety award has been
won by a Military Air Transport
Service unit flying Convair C-131
“Samaritans.”
The 1st Aeromedical Transport
Group headquartered at Brooks
AFB, Texas, has received the
MATS outstanding achievement
award in flying for 1958. The
group has been flying the Con-
vair-built “flying hospitals” for
over two years.
Accepting the award from
Col. E. J. York, chief of staff,
Western Transport Air Force,
Travis AFB, Calif., was Col. L. B.
Matthews, group commander.
"Jack's wife doesn't make his work shirts! Pete's wife doesn't
make his work shirts, Art's wife doesn't—"
TWA Sends Key
Men to Convair
For 880 Class
Convair SD is hosting TWA
maintenance personnel here for
the first six-week training courses
for the Convair 880.
SD manufacturing as well as
customer service will assist in the
training program as TWA repre-
sentatives will be observing 880
factory processes in detail as a
part of their on-the-spot train-
ing.
“Our aim is to provide a pro-
gram tailored to the requirements
of TWA and our other custom-
ers,” said L. J. Bordelon, chief
of transport service. “We have
worked closely with the TWA
organization in preparing this
effort during the past two years.”
Bordelon welcomed 39 TWA in-
structors, supervisors, mainten-
ance foremen last Monday morn-
ing (July 13) as they arrived in
Saji Diego from five key loca-
tions where 880s will eventually
be serviced—Kansas City, New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and
San Francisco.
The group is now divided into
two classes, explained Don Max-
ion, SD regional field representa-
tive in charge of 880 customer
service training. Part are entered
ip the aircraft systems program
and the rest in the electrical
course. TWA program coordina-
tors are C. K. Sharp and M. E.
Maltby, both of Kansas City.
Next TWA classes, a course
on the 880 power plant and one
on electronic systems, will start
the first part of August while
Delta training will begin the end
of that month. The TWA courses
will be repeated later in the fall
for other groups.
Classes for 880 customers will
be running continuously for dif-
ferent airlines during the next
nine months, Maxion said.
SD Assembler Killed
In Bay Door Accident
Russell L. Beard, hydraulic as-
sembler at Convair SD Plant 2,
was fatally injured July 9 when
a missile bay door of an F-106
interceptor snapped shut.
Beard was repairing a malfunc-
tion of the bay mechanism with
his head and shoulders inside the
plane when the bay door tripped
shut. Officials said that he ap-
parently thought the lever operat-
ing the doors was set to hold the
doors open. He was dead on ar-
rival at Mercy Hospital.
A native of Kansas City, Kan.,
Beard had been with Convair
since July, 1950. He was a re-
tired Navy chief machinist in
submarines with 30 years’ service.
Larry Hayes Named
Jr. Achiever Head
Convair Fort Worth’s Larry
Hayes has been elected new pres-
ident of the board of Junior
Achievement of Tarrant County.
Hayes, administrative assistant,
was elected at a combined meet-
ing of the board and corporation.
Division Manager Frank W.
Davis and M. J. Scott of the FW
suggestion section are also on
the Junior Achievement board of
directors.
New City Manager
Given Tour of Plant
New City Manager L. P.
Cookingham got a hearty Tex-
as welcome recently as Division
Manager Frank W. Davis
showed him and Mayor Tom
McCann through Convair Fort
Worth.
Cookingham and Mayor Mc-
Cann were flown to Convair
by helicopter from Bell Heli-
copter Corp. They were shown
around by Marion L. Hicks, as-
sistant division manager, J. T.
Cosby, B-58 program director
and manager of customer serv-
ice, and B. G. Reed, assistant
division manager.
EXHAUSTING—Doris Jean Suitonu (Convair SD Dept. 603-9)
is professional Tahitian dancer. Average performance lasts but two
minutes because of strenuous hip swinging and muscle-tiring move-
ments. Other members of act are husband Peter (on left) and
Opi Fule. Photo by Ed Tice.
Hard Work
Tahitian Dances Exhausting;
Two Minutes and You've Had It
A two-minute Tahitian dance
can be more exhausting for a
performer than sixty minutes of
playing time for a football star.
Take it from Doris Jean Sui-
tonu (SD Dept. 603-9) who is
“Manutani” of the pi'ofessional
dancing team, “Manutani and
Peti.”
“Two minutes is about all I
can take at the present time,”
Doris Jean said. “After that my
muscles stiffen tighter than a
drum, especially in the legs and
thighs.”
And that’s after more than a
year of almost daily practice and
a two-month trip to Samoa where
she had a first-hand opportunity
to observe the intricacies of the
dances.
“Some people tend to confuse
the hula and the Tahitian dances
when there is actually no real
similarity other than the grass
skirts. The Tahitian dance is
much more strenuous and the
hips have to move much faster.
“We strive to keep our per-
formance as authentic as pos-
sible,” Doris Jean said. “Com-
mercialism in a dance such as
this tends to destroy its native
origins.”
Uie other half of the act is
Doris’ husband, Peter. A Samoan
by birth he gets the act off stage
with a dramatic flourish, the
Samoan knife and fire dances.
Doris has also tried her skill
at the latter dances but is con-
vinced they can be quite danger-
ous for the novice. Her husband
generally performs the knife
dance with another male partner,
Opi Fule.
“Those knives are sharp, there’s
no doubt about that. The success
of the dance depends for the most
part on a keen sense of timing
and balance. Particularly when
the partners swing the knives in
sweeping arcs at each other’s
head. You have to be positive
of the exact split second to duck
your head,” Doris added.
They have appeared frequent-
ly on stage at various events in
San Diego, most recently at the
San Diego County Fair.
SIGN SHOP—Astro uses thousands of signs. Most originate here
in basement of Bldg. 3 where Maurice Woods, left, and Leonard
Smith work.
Satisfying Demands for Signs
Full Time Job at Astro Plant
Ever notice how many signs
there are at Convair Astronau-
tics ?
Not humorous ones like
“Thimk” but signs and posters
that serve a useful purpose.
Just how many there are in
all, no one is sure. However,
those who prepare them estimate
several thousand are in use.
Most signs at Astro are painted
at the plant, although some are
done externally. Bulk of the work
falls to plant engineering’s sign
shop in the basement of Bldg. 3.
Two full-time sign painters hold
forth there. While many of their
jobs require individual hand let-
tering, they also use silk screen
and machine cut stencils. They
prepare everything from tiny let-
ters up to some with letters over
a foot high.
Exterior signs on paving are
done by plant engineering’s paint
shop.
Many comments have been re-
ceived from visitors on the unique
posters located throughout Astro.
Art work on these is performed
by communication department’s
art section. Printing is done out-
side the plant. The art section
also has galleys of large type and
a press for setting up special let-
tering.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 15, July 22, 1959, periodical, July 22, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117971/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.