By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

For many, it was more than just a job: it was a place to laugh with friends while earning a steady paycheck.

The days of gathering behind the brick walls of WestPoint Home to produce the Vellux blanket are numbered. WestPoint Home will begin closing three facilities this month, including its Biddeford operation in the historic Pepperell manufacturing complex. 

The closure is expected to take place between Aug. 9 and 22. As of April, the facility employed 121 people, said Nancy Golden, vice president of marketing for WestPoint Home. A WestPoint Home facility in Elkin, N.C., that employs 134 people is set to close between Aug. 7 and 21. The Chipley, Fla., facility is scheduled to close between Sept. 1 and 15, leaving 326 people out of work.

After announcing the closure in April, Golden said the Biddeford facility only manufactures Vellux blankets and is not operating at capacity. Decreased demand for the flocked foam blankets as well as competition contributed to the decision to close, she said.

WestPoint’s Biddeford complex is for sale for $2.245 million. The property includes 12 buildings on more than 11 acres overlooking the Saco River. All buildings are masonry construction with granite foundations.

In the months since the closure was announced, longtime employee and city councilor Pete Lamontagne said many employees seemed to be in denial that the facility would actually close. As the closure date neared, attitudes shifted, especially after the last shipment of raw material for flocking arrived, he said.

“It’s getting to be awful sad in there,” he said.

Lamontagne said many employees are now feeling “a little anxiety” at the prospect of looking for a new job or retiring sooner than expected. Some have met with Rapid Response unemployment teams to talk about their options, including going back to school.

Lamontagne, 64, grew up in Biddeford, the son of mill workers. His mother moved to the area from Canada and worked as a weaver in the mills at a young age in the early 1940s. His grandmother, father, sisters, aunts and uncles have worked in the mills, a tradition that has made his family heritage “very connected” to the city’s manufacturing tradition.

For Lamontagne, leaving WestPoint means leaving friends he has worked with for 37 years. 

“We’ve always been there for each other,” he said. “It’s a pretty close group.”

That closeness has led to both friendships and marriages.

 When they leave WestPoint for the final time, Dan and Sharon Britton will return to their home in Alfred and ponder what to do next. The husband and wife team have a combined 74 years of experience with the company. They met while working at the mill 21 years ago.

“We’re the lucky ones because we’re at retirement age,” Sharon Britton, 62, said.

Though they will collect both Social Security and severance packages – one week’s pay for each year of service – the Brittons said they may find part-time jobs to keep busy, but not before they enjoy some time off.

For Ron Therrien, the closure comes only five years after he started as a range helper on the third shift. The 39-year-old Biddeford man learned a variety of jobs in his department and said he enjoyed “floating” around to do different tasks. He has not made plans for what do when this job ends, but said his is not worried about his future. His wife, Lynn, is an occupational therapist at York Hospital.

Lamontagne said the idea of sitting at home is not appealing to him. He didn’t plan on retiring and said he will likely pursue schooling in the medical field. If going back to school doesn’t pan out, he will volunteer at the hospital because “I enjoy that type of work.”

“I’ve always gotten up and gone to work,” he said.

Dan Britton, 66, has spent most of his life in the Biddeford-Saco area and is well aware of the significance of the mills in the community. His family moved to the area from northern Maine looking for work years ago. He went to work at Saco-Lowell, only to find himself laid off and looking for work. He started at WestPoint Pepperell in December 1966. Sharon Britton planned to work at WestPoint Pepperell for three years, but ended up staying for three decades.

“It was an opportunity for both of us to have a steady place to work,” Dan Britton said. “I’m the old man in the mill.”

“And I’m the old lady,” Sharon Britton said with a laugh.

Sharon Britton said WestPoint Pepperell – which became WestPoint Stevens in 1991 and later WestPoint Home – was the best mill in the city to work in: there were company picnics, holiday parties, breaks spent chatting with friends. Going to work was something to look forward to, she said.

“It’s never been a bad place to work,” agreed Lamontagne.

All four employees said they have always taken pride in the product they made. The Vellux blanket was developed by Francis Spencer in Biddeford in the 1960s. 

“Not many places can say they developed a product from scratch,” Dan Britton said. “We all have a part of Vellux. I have to feel really good about that.”

“It’s hard to believe there won’t be more Vellux blankets, at least from here,” Sharon Britton agreed. “It’s another era gone.”

Though they have known about the closure for months, the employees said the sadness associated with the closing has not dissipated. 

“For both of us, it’s a sad thing,” Dan Britton said. 

“And it’s stressful because plans keep changing, the closing dates change,” Therrien added. 

Sharon Britton said many employees are at the point where “they don’t know what to expect” anymore. 

“It’s sad because people you’ve made friends with over the years will go their own way,” she said. 

With only weeks to go until it is over, the employees are marking off days on their countdown calendar and thinking about what they’ll miss the most. 

For Dan Britton, it’s the people he’s made friends with during the past 40 years “and, believe it or not, the job.”

“We’re going to miss our break time,” he said, drawing laughs from his fellow employees.

Sharon Britton said she will miss seeing the people she is used to talking to everyday, though she won’t miss packing lunches each morning.

“It’s like your family is breaking up,” she said. 

Therrien said he’s seen a lot of people come and go through WestPoint’s doors, but “it’s not going to be the same” without his friends from work. And for Lamontagne, the idea of walking out of the mill on the last day is unthinkable. He will be away that day on a previously scheduled vacation, but his thoughts will be with the friends he looked forward to seeing every day.

“I’ll certainly miss that,” he said. “It’s not going to be there anymore.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.