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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Cynthia Sykes Cook, February 19, 1994. Interview K-0091. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Scarcely believing news of a company closing

The closing of the furniture factory in Mebane so closely followed the closing of the Hillsborough location that Cook could scarcely believe it possible, she recalls.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Cynthia Sykes Cook, February 19, 1994. Interview K-0091. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

VALERIE PAWLEWICZ:
Let's talk a little bit about the plant closing. When did you first know that something wasn't right?
CYNTHIA SYKES COOK:
We always said we wouldn't be surprised if something happened. They had closed the Hillsborough plant about a year before they announced our closing. Deep down you think, well, White's been here forever and there's no way they are going to close White's down. When they told us they had all the supervisors in the office--personnel--met in the conference room. They handed out a letter and I thought ‘for once I'm not going to read ahead I'm just going to wait and let him talk.’ I was sitting there and the first thing that Mr. Austin said was about the plant being closed. I looked down at my letter and there it was. I got really upset. I got up and left. I didn't stay in there. We were in the process of buying this house and we were getting ready to close the next week. It was just something that I never thought would happen so when it did I just couldn't believe it.