Before the mill in Shannon closed in 2004, it had many different owners and names — Brighton, Burlington, Klopman and Galey and Lord.

But the employees who worked there, like H.E. “Toonie” Reeves or Pat Irvine, have fond memories of their time working hard at the mill and those who made up the community that surrounded it.

Reeves worked for 10 years at the mill, sometimes in the weave room and later running the “dope wagon” (or the sandwich wagon), serving those who worked hard on the looms to output fabrics used in everything from laundry bags to shirts and pants.

“That was something everyone loved to see coming,” Reeves said of the wagon. “There wasn’t any sort of vending machines at the mill at the time, so it was the only way people could get something to eat.”

Before he took over the role of helping hungry workers fill their bellies before returning to work, Reeves worked in the plant where he met his wife of 60 years.

“That was when I was weaving in the mill. She was still in batteries and we would stand in line with one another,” he said. “And that’s how we met.”

The dope wagon Reeves ran was operated to benefit the mill’s baseball team, according to mill reunion organizer Don McDonald. Profits from the wagon, sometimes operated by players on the baseball team, helped pay for travel, equipment and the ballfield’s upkeep.

When Irvine arrived at the mill in 1970 when it was Klopman mill, she said the various names for things was the first thing to confuse her.

“A lady came around and I was at my first day at work and asked me, ‘Pat, the dope wagon is out here if you need anything,’” Irvine said. “And I didn’t understand what they meant.”

She soon learned the lingo, and then helped train others to learn how to run the mill. During her nearly 35 years at the mill, Irvine helped establish a training department at the mill.

“It was interesting to me because I worked in a lot of areas, wrote manuals and did job safety analysis,” she said.

She said she was looking forward to seeing everyone from her days working at the mill at today’s reunion, being held at The Forum in Rome from noon to 6 p.m.

“I’m excited. I’m very excited about it. I’m looking forward to seeing all the people who I haven’t seen in a while,” Irvine said.

Charles Fowler, plant manager of the mill from 1984 to 1994, said he has fond memories of the 1,200 employees who worked at the mill.

“I always enjoyed the plant because I like people. You got some really good friends that I’d like to visit with them out in the plant,” Fowler said.

One memory he said “lingers in my mind” was of employee George Howard, who during the days of segregation drove the mule-drawn garbage wagon at the plant. One day at work, the mules took off with him on the cart after being spooked.

“It was pretty frightening for him,” Fowler said. “They ran into a fence, which is what finally stopped him. I don’t remember what spooked them, but I remember him telling me that story.”

He said he hoped to see Howard again, along with many of the other employees who worked at the plant.

Then there are those like Ray Whitlow who remembers the early days of the mill. Whitlow began working at the mill in the late 1930s for $12 a week, maintaining the machines. When World War II broke out, Whitlow joined the service and then came back to work afterward as a loom fixer and moved up to the role of supervisor until he left in the 1960s.

Whitlow said during his time at the mill, everyone worked hard to make a variety of products.

“When I started to work there, they were making cheesecloth and book binding cloth and mosquito netting and laundry bags,” he said. “That was in the late 1930s. After Burlington bought the place out, they went into these manmade fibers and they made all types of cloth for shirts and pants and so forth.”

Robert Winkle, too, spent a good portion of his life working in the mill. He started in 1946 sweeping floors when the mill was owned by Brighton, and went off to serve in the military after a few years work before returning in the 1960s to work for Burlington, Klopman and Galey & Lord until he retired in 1995.

“The best to work for was Burlington,” he said of his work experience at the mill. “They had the best all around insurances and everything.”

Winkle said he worked his way up when he returned from being an overhauler’s helper, who kept the machinery running, to a shift supervisor. He served as supervisor for 18 years until he retired.

“I had some mighty good help,” Winkle said of the employees he supervised. “I had some long time helpers, some that stayed with me for years.”

What they said:

Brighton and Galey and Lord had an impact on my life so much that I could write a book as it was like one big family.

I went to work in 1945 in the weave room, learning to weave. At that time, no vending machines were in the mill. The highlight of the shift was when the dope wagon came through with cold drinks and sandwiches. That’s where I met Evelyn Stephens, later my wife, at the dope wagon. She was a battery filler.

I worked up to early 1949. They started short time and laying off. We had a 3-day-old baby, Linda Sherry, and $2.00 in my pocket. I walked three miles and stood in line with about 150 people. I was about halfway in line when Mr. Kelly and Mr. Phillips came by. Mr. Kelly was the employment manager, and Mr. Phillips was the weave room overseer. He motioned me to come up front and hired me. That was one of the most grateful days of my life. I asked for a house in the Village and got one with three rooms and a bath, garbage pickup and water furnished for $3.50 a week. I worked until 1955.

I got an Aunt Fannie pie franchise. I was still connected with the mill because I delivered pies and cakes to the commissary.

I knew every face in the mill. I ran the last dope wagon through the mill until they opened the cafeteria.

I bought the Donut Shack. That was not the end of me and the mill, for it helped me to be successful in my business. I had customers from the mill; plus the mill bought donuts and cakes on special occasions until they closed.

The mill had a big impact on my life, and I am forever thankful.

H.E. “Toonie” Reeves

When I was born in May 1943, my parents Elbert and Eva Fricks were employed by Brighton Mills in Shannon. Dad worked in the weave room and mother in the card room. “Lint Heads” was the term used to describe mill workers because they collected flying lint in their hair while they were working. They were living in the first of three rental houses owned by the company. All the houses were sold to employee tenants in the early 1950s.

My grandfather, Levi Virgil Williams, was the first of many relatives to work in the plant then known as Brighton Mills; Later Burlington, Klopman, and finally Galey & Lord.

I worked two summers at the mill while attending college; followed by my sister, Pam; my son, Todd; my wife, Emalyn; her brother, Jeff Sticher; and her parents, Warren and Mable Sticher.

In the mid-1980s Klopman Mills sold most of the property near the plant. My great-aunt, Lois Johnsey, bought the supervisors clubhouse located on Minshew Mountain Road. This property had been a farm where my grandfather Levi Williams raised his family. We had family reunions there until the property was sold after she passed away.

William Fricks

I have many fond memories of the old mill. My entire 74 years have been spent around Shannon. The mill is the only place I remember my dad working until he retired. At age 18, my brother went to work in the mill. He left to go to Vietnam for two years, and when he came back, his job was there. My dad trained him, and he was one of the last ones there. He helped take the machinery apart to ship to another plant. I had a sister that worked 30 years. I worked 20 years. Total all the years my family worked, and it’s over 100 years.

We used to hear the whistles blow signaling the shift change at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 12 p.m. I think my fondest memory living in the village — everybody knew everybody else. All the kids no matter which street you lived on would get together to play ball, skate, just fun games. There were few cars and less TV back then. We played in the streets most of the time. We loved skating down “jolly hill.”

The mill would have a Christmas party for the employee families. Santa was always there, handing out shopping bags with candy, fruits, nuts and toys for every age group.

The 4th of July would be a huge celebration with the barbeque and all the trimmings and games for the kids.

This is just a few of my memories. Just seeing the old mill empty for so long is very sad, but the old village isn’t the same either.

Time changes.

Jean White

When I reached 16 years old, I went to the plant May 10, 1951. I went three days a week until Oct. 4, 1951. My principal at school asked them to hire me.

I went to work on second shift and went to school in the daytime. My first night there was a nightmare. I put my lunch down and never did find it. Everything in the plant looked the same to a young country boy. I worked 40 hours a week for $1.01 an hour. My first pay after taxes was $34.69.

I worked for a lot of supervisors during my years, but my best supervisor was Charles Cole. I worked for him for 20 years or more. He just wanted you to run your job right, and I like to think I worked with him.

When I went to work it was real hot in the weave room, and when I got off at 12 p.m. you could ring water out of your pants. This changed through the years.

On April 18, 1968, I was saved and started praying about my job, not to make it easier but for me to do the best, and that is what I tried to do.

I retired at the plant on May 10, 2000, after working 48 plus years. I made a good living at the plant, but the best thing that happened to me was I met my wife there.

At the present time we have been married 56 years and have three children, five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. My life has been full.

P.S. I tell people why I worked so long is because I was still hunting for my lunch.

Glenn Davis

It was the summer of 1943, and I was about to turn 13 when I started working at what was then Brighton Mill. I knew people were making between $16 and $20 a week. That was more money than I could make at any other summer job.

You were supposed to be 16 to work at the mill, and that’s what I claimed to be when I went to talk with the principal of Model School who was doing the screening. He didn’t know me, because I went to Darlington, so he called the health department to confirm my age. He had them check records for 1926, 1927, 1928, and when they couldn’t find me, he said, “Were you born in Floyd County?”

I said I wasn’t sure, and he didn’t have any reason to think I wasn’t 16, so I was given a job in the weave shed. World War II was going on, most of the able-bodied men were in service, and they needed warm bodies. The weave shed was hot, with jets putting out steam to keep the cloth moist. You couldn’t hear because the looms made so much noise.

My job was blowing lint off the looms and lubricating them when they came down for service. Later I was given the job of doffing cloth. The rolls were heavy. They weighed about as much as I did.

At first I was paid 42 cents an hour, but when I got into doffing the cloth, it was 50 cents. It was a fair wage. There were people supporting a family working for that amount. Once I started doffing I got enough to buy a war bond every week for $18.75, with a little left over. The next summer I got a job making jewelry for the same pay. Jewelry was not as heavy as those rolls of cloth.

The company sent a bus around to pick up employees because gas was scarce. The best part of the summer was riding the big blue bus home in the afternoons —- with Mildred.

Fred H. Moore

While working the night shift in the Number 2 weave shed, I was sitting on a loom pulling some ends through the harness when a rainstorm blew up. My job was located near the big door at the end of the weave room, and I noticed hundreds of little fuzz balls the size of your fist going all over the floor.

Not knowing what or where these balls were going or what they were, I yelled out for someone to come and tell me what it was because I was not moving ’til they were identified. You see when you work the night shift, things do not appear as they would normally, and sometimes your eyes will play tricks on you.

Sam Bell, my supervisor, came and discovered hundreds of little wet frogs that had come in from the rain and went under the looms and collected up lint to create these jumping balls. Sam got the cleaning crew to drag brooms and clean them up so I could get off the top of the loom and get back to work.

Bernice Davis

My mother, Opal Sanders, went to work at Brighton Mill at Shannon when I was 3 years old in 1939 and worked there many years in the winding department. She worked there until they brought in the new winders and they decided they would train younger people instead of retraining the older ones.

My fondest memories were the Christmas parties every year just a few days before Christmas, when I was a kid. Every child of the employer was given a shopping bag, age appropriate, of toys, games, candy and fruit. How we looked forward to those days. Back then kids didn’t get everything they wanted like they do now.

Then on or about the Fourth of July we were all invited to a large barbecue, all you could eat and games throughout the day with prizes, three-legged race, sack race and many more. Then when all the kids were wore out there would be a baseball game. Shannon had their own ball team at that time, and they would play another team from out of town.

I’m not sure when all of this stopped. I just remember we missed it.

The mill was sold many times, and my sisters, Frances Sanders Stubbs, Jeanetta Sanders Hatt and I all worked there but not as long as my mother did.

We were not working there when the mill closed, but it felt like we had lost an old friend. My sister, Jeanetta, and I still live in the Shannon community.

Sue Sanders Wilson

I got a job at Brighton Mills in the early ’40s, after World War II started. They gave me a job in the Twisting Department. I can still remember most of the people on my shift. Will name a few: Rot Powell, Rex and Louise Rutledge, Homer Itson, Merlan Gould (Fricks), Dalton Grear, Simon Goss, William Crider. I could name more …. I was paid 49 cents an hour. Had to work two weeks before a payday. Got paid, paid my board, $4 a week, which was $8 out of my first check. We got paid cash. Was some change in most of everyone’s pay envelope. I learned to count the spots that came up on a set of dice. Sometimes I lost my change and sometimes they lost theirs. This was part of my experience in the Twister Room.

Later I got in the Weaving Department. That is where I met my wife, Winnie Worlef. We were both weavers. We were married June 30, 1951, raised two girls, have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. We both are members of Oak Grove Baptist church, Gordon County.

Brighton Mills had people come here from as far away as Trenton, work Monday through Friday, then go home for the weekend. Brighton was just like a big family.

At one time, I had a paper route mostly in the village and I knew every one that lived in there. Also my route was as far as a mile plus outside. Brighton was so well-known that several families moved here from the mountain counties. Union and Fanning were the main ones, back in the time of Brighton Mills.

We did not have to lock doors or even close them. No one bothered what others had. And when we kids were early teens and we were at a friend’s home and it was getting late, the adults would say and call our names, “You should go home now your mom and dad might need you.” And it could have been almost time for the evening meal, and there is not enough food for another plate. Times were pretty tough for the mom and daddies.

Richard Keith

Working at Brighton Mill helped us buy our 1942 Model High School $25 class ring. Our principal, R.H. Minor, gave us the last school period to do our homework. Our young men went into the service; Milton Gaines, Bill Willis, Harold Self, the late L.A. (Bud) Millican’s tour took him the farthest away. J.L. (Stuffy) McKeller gave his life and J.M. Jackson was in a car accident while in service.

McKeller’s garage was a historical landmark near the old Model School. Those not present at our recent, six-month gathering at Western Sizzlin were Edna David Barron and husband Hoyt, Rayburn Gresham Killinger and Woodrow Jenkins and his wife the former Virginia Barrett.

Rebekah Wright Skelton

I was teaching at Model School during the years of Brighton Mills. I taught Home Economics from 1948-1953 and have many fond memories of those years.

The Mill Store provided fabrics at a very good price. Mrs. Evelyn Willis, who ran the store, was very helpful to the students who were purchasing fabrics for clothing projects in home economics classes. They sometimes sponsored fashion shows featuring garments made from Brighton fabrics.

There were many outstanding students whose parents worked in the mill. The mill was supportive of the school in many ways.

Margaret Brewer Gayler

To write about Shannon and the mill, you have to mention the houses and people who lived in “the village.” My father, S.A. Austin, came to work in the mill in the late 1920s. He became overseer of the cloth room and later, night superintendent. He held this position until his death in 1962.

As a teenager in the early 1950s, I remember where most people lived in the village and who their children were. The adults worked in the mill on three different shifts, and their children attended Model School. Everyone walked to their jobs, and most of us walked to school in our early years. Life as a teenager was going to baseball games in late spring and summer. Brighton Mills belonged to the Textile League. We spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons munching on parched peanuts from a small brown bag and drinking Coke from a bottle while we watched the game.

The mill had a swimming pool built, and it instantly became a summer hit. During the week we had a “Youth Club” at the Scout cabin. The club met three times a week, where we had a jukebox with songs from our era, we danced, sat around and talked and always enjoyed the company of others. Movies were on some of the weekends in the high school auditorium. If we were lucky, we could catch a bus and go into Rome to see movies on the weekend. The mill had a big Labor Day barbecue, and everyone came. At Christmas, the families gathered in the high school gym for a Christmas program with all the families receiving a fruit basket. There was always a Christmas scene at the entrance to the mill.

During my teen years, a solid family value based life was built. Those years were wonderful. People truly cared about their neighbor. I am proud to have been a “village kid.”

Sandra Austin Smith

I started work in the Shannon, Burlington mill in 1951, in the weave room. I was in the 11th grade at Model High school. The two supervisors that I can remember were Sam Bell and Felton Cornet, who were mighty kind to a country boy who had never seen inside a mill before.

I began work as a sweeper and eventually began doffing cloth for better wages.

There were not a lot of pleasurable experiences that I can remember. It was very hot, and if that wasn’t bad enough a fine mist was sprayed from the ceiling to make the yarn run better.

The noise of about 600 looms was unbelievable. To talk to someone, you had to cup your hands over their ears and shout into them.

I remember one night about 9 o-clock the power went off. I was standing between two rows of looms, amazed at the darkness and quietness, when all of a sudden I thought I’d been run over by a freight train. I found out later that it was absolutely necessary to shut down all looms before the power came back to prevent them from starting up with the shuttle in the middle of the loom and making an awful mess of things. That weaver that ran over me never slowed down or said I’m sorry.

One night while on the midnight shift I overslept and got to the mill about an hour late. The place was locked up and no one was around the front gate.

There was an awning that stuck out over the iron security bars. I jumped up, caught the awning and swung over the bars. I was never even missed. I had often thought about breaking out of the mill, but never thought I’d be guilty of breaking in. I worked there about two years and left in 1953.

A.L. Squires

I often share this story of how I became an employee at Galey & Lord. I had three brothers and two sisters who worked at the mill. I always longed to work there myself. I put in my application in 1994, and I would go back to Human Resources every week or two for almost four months straight.

I guess Emma Ash finally got tired of telling me to check back. My last visit to the office, Emma said, “Wait right here.” She went and got Elaine Robbins and told her to please hire me.

I stayed there four months shy of 10 years. I started out in the spinning room. New to ever working in a mill type of an environment. There was a betting pool to see how long I would last. I guess I surprised them. I moved on to the weave room after my 90 days there. The weave room is where I stayed ’til I left in 2004. I moved up from being a weaver to being a instructor for new loom technicians. My wife worked with me for five years.

Galey & Lord was a great place to work. It provided a great income for us to raise our family. I was hoping to retire from there. If it was to reopen, I would be the first person in line to fill out an application. I almost start crying when I think of Galey & Lord. All the friends I had there. They were more than co-workers, they are my family.

My memories of Galey & Lord come from my parents. Of course it was Klopman Mills then. My daddy, Ralph “Shorty” Sharp, worked there for more than 30 years as a fixer in the card room. My mama, Rose Sharp, worked there for 13 years in the spinning room.

My favorite thing I remember most about it was Christmas time. Back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, all the employees’ children were invited to come see where mama and daddy worked as well as receive a Christmas present.

I remember taking a tour of the plant to get to those rooms where we picked up our gifts. Those long corridors we walked through seemed like they went on for miles. When we finally got to that room it was like seeing a gold mine. Presents everywhere and lots of happy people. Not just us kids, but the grownups to. The Christmas program they offered to us children will be forever etched in my mind. The gifts seemed so special. How I would love to step back in time for just one more of those Christmases walking hand and hand with my mama and daddy through that huge, huge place.

Danette Sharp-Edwards

While I was never an employee, I was involved in an episode that may be of interest to old-timers. Back in the ’50s, I received a phone call from Ed Kelly, who was, as I remember, the personnel manager.

“We tint the various types of yarn with a dye that washes out, for purposes of identification, so that there will be no mix-up in using the wrong fiber in weaving various types of cloth,” he explained to me. “But we’ve just ruined a three-day run of cloth, due to an employee selecting the wrong batch. It turns out that the reason he did is that he is colorblind. So we figured we’d better make sure this doesn’t happen again and would like for you to help us set up a color blindness testing procedure.”

Jack Runninger, O.D.

I worked for Galey & Lord for 16½ years. I really enjoyed the swing shift that we used to work. You had days off, and you had time to do all of the things that you wanted to do. I am sorry that I can’t be at the reunion. (I have a church obligation.)

We took some photos of our last week of working 12-hour shifts. This was right after 911 attack on the World Trade Center. We wore our T-Shirts with America on them and just before our dinner, we sang “God Bless America.”

This was a very memorable day. I worked in Warping on third shift before it closed. These are some of my co-workers in Warping and Slasher Room. Have fun and hope to see you all if we have another reunion or just in passing. Good Luck in what you do and may God continue to bless each and every one.

Mary Johnson

aley & Lord always had the reputation and privilege of having caring and good occupational health nurses. The staff members and nurses that were in employment during the last 10 years prior to closing were: Sara Chambers, Thresia Williams, Avis Rhodes, Brenda Jarrett, Kim Rice, Janice Dodd.

Other staff members that were employed during Galey & Lord’s history were: Teresa Fagan, Glenda Cox, Mary Caldwell and Mary Hampton. I apologize for those that I may have overlooked.

Galey & Lord employees were always known for their friendliness, hard work and dedication.

Thresia Williams, RN