Simpson mill retirees look forward to reunion

When Simpson Paper Company employees hold their ninth annual reunion picnic from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, at the Horseshoe Pavilion in Anderson River Park, prepare to hear a lot of talk about Anderson's golden years.

"That mill had a huge impact on Anderson," stated Laverne Ferkey, who will turn 74 one day prior to the picnic.

"There were more than 700 people working there at its peak, and even when we shut the mill down in 2001, we still had more than 500 people working there. That means 500 families were impacted by the closure."

The mill closed in late August of 2001, but news of the closure quickly was forgotten two weeks later when 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners on Sept 11, 2001, and flew two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, another into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth crashed in a farmer's field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward a fourth target in Washington, D.C., possibly the White House.

Ferkey was one of the paper mill's original employees and started working there long before the Simpson company bought the mill.

Kimberly-Clark Company of Neenah, Wisconsin, built the mill in the early 1960s, and Ferkey heard about it while working at a Consolidated Paper mill in the same state.

"The mill wasn't even up and running yet when I drove out here with my family in 1964. We arrived on Nov. 16, 1964. As soon as we crossed into California, it started to rain like a son-of-a-gun," Ferkey recalled.

The mill used the Fourdrinier method to manufacture fine magazine stock for Life and Look magazines, soup labels, meat wrapping and other similar uses. Employees from as far away as New Brunswick, Canada, Alaska, Michigan and New York joined Ferkey and others from Wisconsin in making the mill operate efficiently.

Kimberly-Clark ran the mill until 1972 when Simpson-Lee Paper Company purchased it. In 1977, Lee was dropped from the name and it operated as Simpson Paper Company - Shasta Mill until it was sold in 1999 to the Plainwell Group, investors more interested in carving up and selling off its assets than in making paper, Ferkey and other employees say now without fear of retribution.

"I started out in 1964 making $2.70 an hour before we started operations, and then it jumped to $2.84 an hour. That was pretty good money back then," said Ferkey, whose official position was "First Helper" on a super-calender control panel. The panel controlled a series of large metal rollers (the calender) where pressure and heat was applied to the passing continuous sheet of paper or web.

Calenders are used to make the paper surface extra smooth and glossy, he explained. The calendering process also gives the paper a more uniform thickness. The amount of pressure applied to the web by the rollers determines the ultimate finish of the paper.

Ferkey is looking forward to attending the picnic like he does nearly every year.

"These picnics are good for us. We get to talk with everyone," he said.

Leroy Neuenfeld agrees. He moved to Anderson from Everett, Washington, in 1975 when Simpson-Lee Paper Company closed its mill there.

One of the things Neuenfeld is looking forward to, as he does every year, is the barbecue put on by a group of millwrights.

"They do the barbecue while the rest of us swap stories because that's what they do best," he said.

For those attending the picnic, Jerry Jones cautions to "bring chairs."

Beverages will be provided and lunch is served "noonish," Jones said.

Jones expects between 100-150 people, but would appreciate a head count by Thursday afternoon. Call Jones at 246-2354 or contact the organizing committee through the Web site, www.theshastamill.com