Park, road to be named for Mansfield’s Ed Needham
from the Covington News, Nov 22, 2013
Gabriel Khouli, staff writer
(Obituary in the Covington News)
The influence of the late Ed Needham, founder of global yarn conversion and treatment industry Beaver Manufacturing, can be seen all over Mansfield, and now his name will be a common sight as well.
The portion of County Road 213 near Mansfield will be designated the Ed Needham Memorial Road, and Beaver Park, a county park that was created from a land donation made by Beaver Manufacturing, will be renamed Ed Needham-Beaver Park, following votes by the Newton County Board of Commissioners Tuesday.
Memorial road signs will be placed at the city limits of Mansfield and Newborn at the request of the Mansfield City Council.
Beaver Manufacturing donated land to the county for both Beaver Park and the area’s fire station. The industry has been very active in the Mansfield area, including helping Mansfield Elementary, and the wider community.
Needham died in early October at the age of 87. When he worked at Bibb Manufacturing Co. in Porterdale, his ideas on how to manufacture higher quality yarn through different chemical treatments were dismissed. So, he and former partner Kenneth King purchased an old cotton warehouse in Mansfield and started Beaver Manufacturing.
The company now produces yarn used in a variety of industrial applications, specializing in hoses—from the garden hose to various automobile hoses to the thick rubber and metal reinforced hoses that support oil rigs hundreds of miles offshore.
Beaver is a global powerhouse, selling to countries around the world, primarily in Europe and Asia.
Needham and his wife, Nonie, were active community volunteers.
