Goodyear plant manager calls plant strong during his final days

When Goodyear announced plans in June for $200 million in improvements at the Danville plant, plant manager Terry Tennyson said those improvements could keep the plant here for many more years.

“My professional goal, since I’ve been back at this plant, is that I want to drive down Goodyear Boulevard on my 80th birthday and see that parking lot full,” Tennyson said. “Our goal in this plant is to keep it going another 40 years and maintain our standard of living so everyone working here can retire here.”

He repeated that goal in a recent interview, saying, “I truly believe this plant is headed in the right direction — we’re doing all the right things.”

Tennyson, however, is leaving the Danville plant, heading to his home in Spartanburg, S.C.

Andrew Harper, who is currently the manufacturing director of the Dalian, China, plant was expected to take over the helm of the Danville plant on Friday.

Tennyson plans to stick around for three or four more months to ease the transition.

“It’s very critical to me that this plant has a smooth transition to the new manager,” he said.

Tennyson has been manager at the Danville plant since March 2005, but it wasn’t his first position at the plant.

“I moved to Danville in 1971 when I was 22 and my wife was 18,” Tennyson said. “All three of my kids were born in Danville Memorial Hospital. I’ve lived here more of my adult life than anywhere else.”

Tennyson worked his way up the ladder at Goodyear, and in the mid-1980s started a 20-year period of being transferred to different plants. His wife, Ruth Anne, and children made all those moves with him.

About five years ago, they decided to settle in Spartanburg.

“She’s followed me around every place I’ve worked in North America and when we moved to Spartanburg, we made the decision to work around her career,” Tennyson said. She is now assistant principal at a local high school and working on a doctoral degree.

After settling in Spartanburg, Tennyson began commuting to work in Akron, Ohio, where Goodyear is based, and then was transferred to Danville — commuting back and forth to Spartanburg on alternate weekends, with Ruth Anne coming to Danville on the other weekends.

He said the three-hour drive from Danville isn’t as bad as the drive was when he was in Akron — 540 miles after work on Friday, then turn around and drive back on Sunday.

“I want to get back to where I can work out of my home,” Tennyson said.

Asked what the move would mean for him professionally, Tennyson said a formal announcement hadn’t been made yet but that he expects it will include some troubleshooting at different plants.

Tennyson said Danville and his “home” plant remain special to him.

“The people that started this plant up, they were the greatest generation,” Tennyson said. “They had a special worker in this plant, and they imprinted on me; that’s where I got my values from. I feel like I’m part of the plant.”

He also said he hopes to own a farm in the area and retire here one day.

• Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.