The following excerpt is from Margaret Ensley's memoir about working for Southern Dairies in Asheville during the war:

The men in the plant accepted me as a young woman who would put up with no foolishness. I put them at ease and did my job. I never had a single incident and they respected me both personally and professionally. If they had a hurt finger, I bandaged it. The lab was also the first aid center. Most of these men are deceased now but they live on in my happy memories. Gary Hughes became President of Southern Dairies and moved to Washington."The Old Man" never forgot this plant and returned his expensive suits on theSealtest truck to be hand cleaned across the street at Ted and Rochelle Adler's ABC Cleaners. Long after the war ended, he retired to Asheville and died. He also was responsible for the building plans for the now existingSealtest plant. Charles L. Rackley became General Manager and was my mentor in so many ways. His door was always open. One day I had a decision to make on some long forgotten matter. I went to his office and discussed it with him. His comment was, "You are up a tree, now get yourself down." I got myself down and to this day, I have never forgotten his advice. He was killed in an automobile accident caused by a freak ice slick. Hammond G.Strom became the manager near the war year's end. He is also deceased.

The war brought many changes in the plant. Security was tightened and visitors were no longer taken on tours of the plant. Mine was classed as a top priority job and I could only leave to take another high priority job. I began to get calls from companies that wouldn't even give me an interview after my graduation.

I liked my job and my men. They treated me as their sister. Since I was tiny, they would never let me fill my test bottle from the heavy sulfuric acid jug. They taught me how to roll a ten-gallon milk can and how to scrub the milk stone (which created high bacteria counts) off of a milk vat with citric acid. They carried heavy cases of composite samples to the lab for me. I even picked up a few very choice words of profanity from them which I still use on the proper occasion today.

J.D. Hofler, retail sales manager, took me on a call to meet one of his best accounts in an adjoining county. He was a real pro. He showed me how to do a real firm grip handshake as this customer would not buy from anyone who didn't have a firm grip. I learned how to handle Sealtest national inspectors, military officers, and state inspectors who came to inspect the plant, as well as irate milk producers. The Blue Ridge Milk Dealers Association represented the producers. Cal Cook of Leicester was their president. It was necessary to handle these men very carefully as their milk was very necessary. I still laugh at how a complaint on Mr. Cook's milk was handled my Mr.Rackley , Manager and good friend of Mr. Cook. For several weeks Mr. Cook's cans of milk showed heavy sediment pads when I tested them. Knowing of this bosom friendship, I considered it wise to consult Mr.Rackley on how he wanted to handle the matter. He said "I will handle it." Several days later, Mr. Cook, red-faced, arrived in the lab to show me the letter Mr.Rackley sent him. It said, "Dear Cal, there is a war going on and cow feed is very expensive and in short supply. I would so appreciate it if you would put the feed into the cow and not into the milk." This sure solved the problem. There was no new equipment to be had, so it was repair it and make do. T.V. (Toots) Eudy, plant engineer, and Harry Shroat, plant manager, were stretched to the limit repairing and keeping equipment operational. Both did a noble job.

I was advised that any test I ran must be accurate and stand up in a court of law. Only on one occasion did I have to prove my accuracy. A small competitive milk plant badly needed milk and persuaded several of our best producers to change to them, promising a better price by padding their composite test samples. When the producers dropped by to show us these figures, we immediately suspected what was going on. Mr.Rackley contacted Carroll Pegram , state inspector in Raleigh, who came to Asheville at once and caught them in the act. I was licensed by North Carolina to test, weigh, and sample milk.

Southern Dairies was indeed fortunate to have a federal credit union for the benefit of its employees. It served as a convenience for savings and loans within the group. It was open a few hours on payday. As there was no one else, the treasurer job fell to me as the war years progressed. I learned to keep accounts.

As most everyone in the plant had someone in the military that they mailed goodies to, the A&P store next door to the plant was always so kind when their truck came in with Hershey bars, sugar, butter and coffee which were in short supply. The ice cream department also had five pound cans of cold chocolate fudge which we could buy and ship to servicemen, especially overseas. It traveled will in hot climates. A soldier I sent one to said, "We cut the can open and ate it by the handful with much rejoicing." He was in the South Pacific.

Southern Dairies acquired a Grace C milk receiving plat at Murphy NC, close to the Georgia line. I spend most of one summer there. Believe me, that was an interesting experience. Mr.Rackley had arranged with the Dickey Hotel for my room and board. The plant was just a few doors down the street. I was given precise instructions as to how I would proceed with the work there. As many of our milk producers were from the backwoods and rural areas, it was doubtful if they had ever produced any Grade A milk and this was a task that had to be approached with utmost care. Moonshine stills were not uncommon in this area. On my last day there, I was presented with a jug of very fine moonshine as a going away gift. There was no way I could transport this gift home because it was illegal to carry it in a company truck. If caught, that truck would lose its wartime gas and tire ration. Breathing a prayer, I commented, "What a lovely gift," to the producer who brought it and explained why I couldn't accept it. He understood. I considered this one of the most honored gifts I was ever offered, as it showed that the producers accepted me. I never returned to Murphy again, but still remember them fondly. A woman I trained, Sue Williams, from Murphy, took over the lab there. Sometime later she moved to Asheville to live, but never worked in the dairy again.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, the D-Day landing began on the beach at Normandy to reclaim Europe. This would signal the beginning of the end of World War II. I listened in the lab to the radio commentator as the battle progressed that day and wept tears.

Military personnel stationed in Asheville began to return home and facilities returned to near normal. I had been offered a transfer to Southern Dairies Laboratory in Washington. In the spring of 1945 I took a vacation to New York and stopped on my return trip in Washington. I had decided to accept it, but fate plays strange tricks on us. Shortly after returning home, I became very ill for the next year. My body was worn out from the stress and long ours of the war and surgery was necessary. I never returned to the work I loved so much. It was 1946.