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Show PageS Forum January 31, 1S88 features Mmrmm PMlaME:nrjMi Vnsks Gamjpnns by Bill Godwin It isnt very difficult to find Wilbert L. (Bill") Gore, founder of W. L. Gore and Associates, Inc., during one of his frequent visits to Westminster. Just find the only crowd on campus and he is the man that you cant see in the middle of it. Upon closer inspection you will find Bill with his wife and primary associate, Genevieve (Vieve), confidently talking with students and faculty about anything from education to philosophies of management to the molecular structure of polytetrafluoreothylene, (Thats Teflon to us laymen.) Fifty-fiv- e years after Wilbert L. Gores graduation from Westminster High School and Junior College he and his wife have returned to Westminster College to receive the Distinguished Service Award. The award was presented to the Gores Jan. 21 by Pres. Dick in recognition of their years of support for Westminster. The Distinguished Service Award is Westminsters most prestigious award. Bill and Vieve Gore have previously received honorary degrees from Westminster. The Gores have a long association with Westminster College. Bill Gores mother graduated from the Collegiate Institute (which later became Westminster College) in 1909. Other members of the Gore family that have attended Westminster include Gores three sisters and some of his children and grandchildren. Gore said that he came to Westminster around 1928 after he had trouble East High School due to a summer job with the Union Pacific Railroad that extended into the beginning of the school year. Westminster proved to be more amenable to Gore's slightly delayed entrance and the job with Union Pacific provided him with the means to pay the tuition. (Tuition at that time was somewhere in the neighborhood of $50.00.) While a student at Westminster Gore played on the football and tennis teams. Although he weighed in at only 135 pounds Gore was the center on the football team because of his ability to hike the ball with great accuracy and his quickness, which was important because centers were also receivers at that time. While growing up in Salt Lake City Bill Gore spent a lot of time in the outdoors. You cant see anything from here (the Westminster campus) that I havent climbed, Gore said. The Gores are still very active in the outdoors. Vieve sewed up some of the first Gore-Te- x products that were field tested by the Gores in ng x , 1973. Bill Gore graduated from Westminster in 1931 after which he attended the University of Utah where he received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Physical Chemistry. titled job at idea of leaving a DuPont until the day that Vieve told him, Bill, if you dont resign from DuPont and try this youll always be sorry. Bill Gore came home from his last day of work at DePont on Dec. 31, 1957. W. L. Gore and Associates was started after breakfast on Jan. 1, 1958 with two associates and the lower half of the Gores Delaware home serving as the manufacturing facility. There is more to the Gores Westminster tradition than simply attending school here. They have been influential and substantial contributors to the school for many years. Claudene Wilcox, assistant to the president, said that, "Through thick and thin the Gores have kept coming through with the support. She added that the Gores continued to support Westminster through its period of reorganization in the late 70s, a time when many people held back for fear that the institutions would not survive. In 1979 Bill and Vieves son. Bob Gore, developed a method of stretching PTFE. Through the use of this process W. L. Gore and Associates were able to produce an ever widening array of new products including industrial joint sealant, vascular grafts, reinforced patches used in surgery, industrial filtration systems, fibers used in the Apollo space suits, and the now famous Gore-Te- x waterproof breathable fabric. Gore appeared to be completely at ease even as he prepared to present his executive lecture to a capacity crowd without the benefit of well-payin- g, notes. The lecture touched on a number of subjects. Gore expressed his confidence in the ability of the United States to develop a technically viable nuclear defense system that could help in the elimination of the nuclear threat that now hangs over the entire world. He also talked briefly about a recent visit to China. Gore noted that if China stays on its present course there is a good chance that in 0 years there could be about a billion energetic, smart entrepreneurs entering the world market place, creating both great challenges Gore acquired the rest of his education, the ideas and impressions that would play an important part in the formation of W. L. Gore and Associates, Inc., while working for DuPont. Gore said that he noticed people worked hardest, were most successful, and derived the and great opportunities. most pleasure from their work when they were Gore, however, is not waiting around for the teams. or forces to small tast Chinese to provide great challenges and opporassigned for himself and his associates at W. L. It was while working on some of these task tunities and Gore Associates, Inc. forces that Gore became familiar with a compound known as polytetrafluoroethylene Through the years Gore has developed a uniof (PTFE) and with some the first generation que system of management based on his expecomputers. Although the computers that Gore rience on task forces. Unlike traditional manworked with were plagued with constant agement systems that are based on authority breakdowns recognized the great potential and chains of command Gores "lattice organithat computers held if they could be made zation" is based on freedom, trust, fairness and more reliable. responsibility. Within the lattice structure on a The advent of transistors brought computers people are free to work togetherthose areas in . to basis and are able identify that would perform consistently and Gore which relithey feel that they can make the greatest for need be a would there determined that The system provides for the contributions. able interconnecting systems for this new genof through voluntary responsibility eration of computers. He also realized from his command. than rather commitment through ideal work with PTFE that it would be an material for insulating these connectors. Gore feels that only a small percentage of our human capabilities are being utilized in AmerGore first approached DuPont with his idea, ican industry. but he was reminded that DuPont was a suppof manufacturer a not raw of materials, lier The idea that we can eliminate the need for finished goods. an authoritarian structure and really trust people is a revolutionary idea, Gore said. , According to Gore he toyed with the crazy 15-2- Bill Gores signs jacket made of his Gore-Te- x product for a Westminster student. FUTURE CPAS IT'S NOW OR NEVERI IF YOU HAVE, OR WILL HAVE, A FOUR YEAR DEGREE, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO QUALIFY TO BECOME A CPA UNDER CURRENT REGULATIONS. one-on-o- alo-cati- git uriDsn Tim new rules, unless you YOU FOR THE EXAM DY JULY 1, 1000, WILL HEED TO MEET THE 30 ADDITIONAL HOUR EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT III ORDER TO BECOME A CPA. MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR EFFORTS DY ATTENDING P.R.EP. CPA REVIEW COURSE HELPED DURING THE PAST EIGHT YEARS P.R.E.P. HAS CPA EXAM. MORE THAN 1,500 STUDENTS PREPARE FOR THE THE NEXT P.R.E.P. COURSE BEGINS FEBRUARY 8, 1888 FOR THE MAY EXAM. TO REGISTER, CALL DAWN AT 484-85TO: REQUEST YOUR OR MAIL . rSIGN 1408 SOUTH 1100 EAST, SALT LAKE CITY, THE PETITION! to repeal the law requiring people to take courses in accounting and work for one year with an accountant before sitting for their CPA exam. The petition is at the information booth in Shaw Center. WHY? 55 P.R.E.P. INSTITUTE OF AMERICA UTAH 84105 on Because it will give our future CPAs at Westminster the option of substituting this requirement for two years of working for an accountant. (This is a public service annoucement.) |