William
Raymond
Holt,
“Ray”
as
he
was
known,
is
shown
in
the
1947
picture
above
operating
the
new cloth press
which had just been installed as
part of the $1,500,000 modernization program announced by Mr. Louis D.
deLoach,
newly appointed Executive Vice President and General Manager of the
mills.
The press was capable of baling about twice as much cloth per week as
the old machine it replaced. Operated by a hydraulic pump powered
by a
20hp electric motor, the press is capable of baling upward of 60 to 65
bales per day containing some 100,000 yards of cloth. The cloth was
baled and shipped
to the J. L. Stifel Co. headquarters in Wheeling, W. V. for finishing
and printing.
Ray,
the son of Roland and Mae Gault Holt was a native son of
Glendale. Going to work in the mill at early age, he worked
himself up to being Supervisor of the cloth room operations. He married
another Glendale
native, Anna Thelma Reaves, the daughter of Joseph Malcom and Stella
Putman
Reaves. They were the proud parents of two children; a daughter,
Harriet and a
son, Roland M. Holt. To my knowledge Ray and his family never lived
outside
of Glendale until after he left Glendale when the mill was merged with
Indian Head Mills.
Ray
and his family were members of the Glendale United Methodist Church
while
living in Glendale and he was a WW11 army veteran. Raymond’s obituary
published in the Spartanburg Herald and Journal stated that he had died
March 20, 1989 in the Spartanburg Regional Hospital. He was 83 years of
age.
He had retired from Converse Mills in Converse, South Carolina and was
living
on South Church Street in Spartanburg at the time of his death. He was
survived by his wife and two children; Harriet H. Thompson of Pacolet,
South
Carolina and Roland M. Holt Sr. of Spartanburg; five grandchildren and
five
great grandchildren.. Funeral services were held at the Glendale United
Methodist Church with interment in the Glendale Cemetery.
Thelma
Holt
died
May
4,
2001
at
the
age
of
92.
Living
and
working
at
Glendale until the mill closed, she was then employed by Arkwright
Mills, Arkwright, South Carolina, from which she retired. Though she
had been
a member of the Glendale United Methodist Church some 70 years, she had
joined the Arkwright Baptist Church a few years before her death. This
writer
had the pleasure of seeing her there many times while I was serving as
Interim Pastor for the Church. Her obituary published in the
Spartanburg Herald
and Journal on Sunday, May 6, listed her daughter, Harriet Thompson and
son, Roland M. Holt Sr. along with five grandchildren and nine great
grandchildren as survivors. Funeral services were held at Floyd’s
Greenlawn Chapel
with interment following in the Glendale Cemetery. This writer
considered
Ray and
Thelma Holt dear friends for more than seventy years. No one could have
had and enjoyed better friends than Ray and Thelma. I know, for they
were
my dear friends until the end! They also had two fine children.
