Yowell, Ed, 1918-

Ed Yowell, born in 1918 in Nashville, Tenn., was a sales executive in the textile industry.

Ed Yowell was born in Nashville, Tenn., on 15 November 1918. As a result of the Great Depression, his father declared bankruptcy in 1936. The following year, due in part to his lack of money, Ed was forced to cut short his formal education and embark on his professional career. In the next several years, he held a variety of positions, including selling Hoover vacuum cleaners in Orlando, Fla.; selling Singer sewing machines and vacuum cleaners in Tampa; and becoming an industrial sewing machine mechanic at a du Pont ammunition plant in Pulaski, Va. He then became a sales trainee at Union Special Machine Co. in Chicago.

Yowell volunteered for the Army Air Corps in April 1942. During World War II, he spent time at Fort Sumner Glider School and B-17 school in Roswell, N.M., where he met his future wife, Pvt. Elizabeth Wren of Minden, La. He also attended the Army Air Force Aerial Gunnery School in Kingman, Ariz., and trained to be a tailgunner in Tampa. The war ended before he was sent overseas.

After his discharge, Yowell worked for Union Special Machine Co. in New York. In 1953, he accepted the position of director of promotion for the Episcopal Diocese of New York. In 1955, he became division manager at Airkem, Inc., and then headed up a Brooklyn sales office for Singer Manufacturing Co.

In 1959, Yowell returned to the South, becoming technical director in the Thread Division at American Efird Mills in Mt. Holly, N.C. He worked there until 1972, eventually serving as vice president and general sales manager. Yowell then served as sales manager for thread products at Dixie Yarns in Chattanooga, Tenn., and later as southern vice president for the New York-based Plymouth Thread & Yarn Co. In 1977, he became sales manager for the Elastic Division of Stedman Corp. in Asheboro, N.C. After retiring as per company policy on turning 65, Yowell went back to work for Plymouth Thread & Yarn as a vice president in 1983. His career with the company ended in 1996.