Pleasant Huber Hanes, Sr.

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Pleasant Huber Hanes, Sr., was born in Salem, the son of Pleasant Henderson and Mary Lizora Fortune Hanes. His mother was a native of Texas; his father was a native North Carolinian, a direct descendant of Philip Höhns, who immigrated from Germany in 1738 and settled in York, Pa. The name, Höhns, was early Anglicized to Hanes. Philip's son, Marcus Hanes, and his wife, Anna Kerber, moved to North Carolina in 1774, when he acquired 1,060 acres in the Moravian settlement of Wachovia. There were ten children in that family, one of whom was Alexander Martin Hanes who married Jane March. One of their eleven children was Pleasant Henderson Hanes.

After preparatory schooling in Salem, Huber Hanes entered Trinity College, Durham, in the fall of 1896. There he was manager of the baseball team and president of the Athletic Association; he was awarded a B.S. degree in 1900. He was also graduated with honors from the Eastman Business School, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1901.

Returning home, Hanes joined his father and other members of the family in organizing the P. H. Hanes Knitting Company, which became one of the nation's largest manufacturers of knitted underwear. He was secretary and treasurer (1903) and vice-president and treasurer (1917). When his father died in 1925, Huber Hanes succeeded him as president and general manager, posts he filled with great success. On his retirement in 1954, he became honorary chairman of the board of directors. The top administrative positions were then assumed by his son, Pleasant Huber Hanes, Jr.

In addition to his own business interests, Hanes for many years was a director of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company, the Security Life and Trust Company (later the Integon Corporation), West End Properties, Inc., and the Carolina Board of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. On occasion he served as chairman or president of those boards.

A loyal alumnus of Duke University, the successor of Trinity College, Hanes was chairman of its centennial fund-raising committee in 1939 and a longtime trustee. Two business honors of which he was proud were his membership in and onetime presidency of the associated Knit Underwear Manufacturers of America. He also held the position of director and regional vice-president of the National Association of Manufacturers. For two years (1927–29) he was a member of the State Salary and Wage Commission of North Carolina, a gubernatorial appointment. He was also a member of the North Carolina Citizens Association, the North Carolina Folklore Society, the Roanoke Island Historical Association, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Newcomen Society of England, the University Southern Club of New York, and the Merchants Club and the New York Club (both of New York City).

In Winston-Salem, Hanes was a member of the Centenary United Methodist Church, serving several times on its Board of Stewards; a charter member of the Winston-Salem Club of Rotary International; and a member of the Twin City Club, the Forsyth Country Club, Winston Lodge No. 167 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (Knights Templar, Shriner), and the Wachovia Historical Society. He also joined the Sedgefield Country Club near Greensboro.

For nearly seventy years in Winston-Salem, Hanes was active in many civic, cultural, religious, and social service agencies. To all of them he gave liberally of his time, and to them and to many statewide causes he also gave generously of his money. A friend wrote of him, "Few civic or philanthropic movements in North-western North Carolina are activated without the enthusiastic support of Mr. Hanes."

On 27 Oct. 1909 he married Evelyn Hazen of Knoxville, Tenn.; they had two children, Rosalie (Mrs. Thomas O. Moors) and P. Huber Hanes, Jr. Hanes was buried in Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem.