Last July, Joe Gibson retired as assistant vice president of operations at Encore Wire, concluding a remarkable wire industry journey that spanned 65 years. His industry story began in 1956 when he finished high school. He had lived on a family farm in Eupora, Mississippi, where his family grew cotton, corn and hay for their cows. There was always work to do, and that did not phase Joe, but he had no desire to make farming his career. Gibson had been captain of his high school football team, and he had received some college scholarship offers, but instead of following that path - with encouragement from an aunt and uncle-he went to Plano, Texas. There, he started out at Texas Wire & Cable (which later was re-named Capital Wire and Cable) as a machine operator. He was paid the princely sum of $1 an hour.
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