[In this column, Hartford Pryor
remembers some disabled people who
were able to continue to work because of
the care and concern of local industry
and their friends.}

I remember, as a kid in the early
30's, I became acquainted with a man
that had a tragic experience. His name
was Mr. Johnny Lovett. Everyone called
him "Uncle Johnny."   He became a
diabetic and after a period of time had
both legs amputated above the knee. He
did not let this keep him down. He had
someone to build him a low 4-wheel cart
that he sat on and he pushed himself
around with his hands. After a while, he
had someone to make him two padded
cushions to fit in his hands. He would
come to East Thomaston Baptist Church
in a taxi and down to the front row.
Sometimes Rev. Morgan would call on •
him to pray. He could really pray, and
everyone liked to hear him.

Martha Mills (B. F. Goodrich) and
Thomaston Mills had baseball teams.
Almost every weekend Thomaston would
have a game with out-of-town teams and
Uncle Johnny was always there on his
little cart selling peanuts and candy bars.
The most wonderful part of this story is
that Martha Mills would let him work,
painting bobbins as he sat on his little
cart.

In 1948 Mr. Dewey Kent was the
overseer of the Cloth Room at the
Thomaston Division. After suffering a
stroke, he could not walk but needed to
work.   Mr. Hugh Stewart, the Cloth
Room mechanic, would go to Mr. Kent's
house with a wheel chair and bring him to
work, stay with him, and push him
wherever he needed to go, even taking
him home to lunch each day. This way
Mr. Kent could continue to work.