A Taylor newspaper legend

OUR TOWN

One of my early role models for a strong work ethic and future career success was Lomis Weber at the Taylor Daily Press. I was 17 at the time and had been promoted from delivering newspapers to working in the circulation office and in the pressroom.

Lomis was the foreman of everything from the composing room where large, blank sheets of graph paper on slanted boards became newspaper pages filled with headlines, stories and advertisements, to finished copies of the newspaper rolling off the presses.

As a teen, I was impressed with how much he knew about each step of the process. His leadership was no doubt the reason for the smooth operation of getting the paper out on time each day. That kept home-delivery subscribers happy as many of them watched and waited for the rolled-up edition of local news to land in their yards by a certain time.

I soon learned that Lomis’ roots in Taylor run deep. He was born here in 1929 in a house next to St. Mary’s Cemetery. He began working regular jobs in the community at age 11 and was already learning the printing trade by 13.

During a recent conversation with my now 95-years-young friend, Lomis talked about the early days when Taylor had two newspapers, The Taylor Times and The Taylor Daily Press. We also talked about his early jobs, and the super strong work ethic that led to his successful career.

“I worked at Diamond Inn washing dishes when I was 11,” Lomis said of the popular hamburger spot. “Back then it was a lean-to shed on what is now a vacant lot. Pete and Steve Jozwiak ran it. Steve would wait on the counter. Pete handled the cooking.”

At age 12, Lomis received his Social Security number and went to work for Albert Johnson at the Red and White Grocery next to Diamond Inn.

“My first Saturday to work there I went to work at six in the morning and we quit at midnight. I got paid a dollar, and 2 cents of it went to Social Security.”

A little over a year later, Lomis walked a block and a half to the Taylor Times where his brother Kermit worked and spoke with the owner, Don Scarbrough.

“I walked in the back door like a good printer would and got a job working there,” Lomis said. “I worked there sweeping floors and I learned the printing trade. I went to school in the morning and I went to work in the afternoon.”

The Cotton Boll

One of the jobs Lomis worked on at the Taylor Times was printing the Cotton Boll, Taylor High School’s studentcreated newspaper. Although he was never on the school’s Cotton Boll staff, he supervised the proofreading and printing of each edition through his job at the Times.

The Cotton Boll teacher during those years was legendary Taylor English teacher, Miss Ruth Mantor, known for her no-nonsense style and demand for quality work. During a time when Miss Mantor left and another teacher took over, the young journalists weren’t as efficient with their work, and Lomis decided to teach them a lesson on the importance of proofreading.

“One time they had a story about the homemaking class having a tea for all the students and teachers,” Lomis said. “I changed it from spiced tea to spiked tea to see if the proofreaders would catch it. They did not catch it, and I printed their Cotton Boll with that mistake. After that paper came out, Miss Goff, the girl’s gym teacher, came storming into the room and said, ‘I didn’t get any of that spiked tea.’ The kids learned a lesson and they started being a little more careful after that.”

Scarbrough also bought the Elgin Courier and the Williamson County Sun. At times he assigned Lomis to work for both of these newspapers, sometimes as a printer and sometimes as an ad salesman.

Next, Lomis walked through the back door at the Taylor Daily Press and asked owner and editor George Peeler for a job.

“That’s how printers got jobs,” Lomis explained. “They walked in the back door.”

He remembers being 18 or 19 at the time and continued working at the daily newspaper until retiring at age 65. That paper was the forerunner of the Taylor Press.

Changes

During his career, Lomis witnessed many changes to the printing process. As he told me about the early days, he used the terms hot type and cold type, melting metal rigs and pouring pigs, Linotype machines and offset printing — methods and machinery that I would have to spend time researching to better understand.

By the time I joined the Press in 1979, Lomis was overseeing much more modern printing methods that involved creating newspaper pages on large sheets of graph paper, taking a photograph of each page with a giant camera, and creating metal plates to print from.

I think a big part of his success was his ability to adapt and learn each new phase of the printing trade, and to help others on staff adapt to the latest modern advances to stay current in their jobs as well.

“I learned the business from the ground up,” Lomis said. “I remember when Mr. Schulz bought the Taylor Daily Press and added a new press. We had three units originally and he added a fourth press so we could do a little more color work. Later we had five units for the new offset press.”

Lomis described Afton Schulz as tough, but good, and one of the first printers in the state to go into offset printing.

“I was lucky enough to help erect the press and learn how to run it and take care of it. I still worked as a printer, still did a lot of work on the Linotype at that time, but I was also the first offset pressman. I had a helper and we printed that paper and then he got other papers that we printed and we became a commercial printer.”

National Guard

Besides his work with local newspapers, another highlight for Lomis was being in the National Guard. During that time, he served as sergeant first class, second lieutenant, captain and company commander. Although he was learning to fight and fire the big guns, he also enjoyed working with the Guard on several community projects.

“We made and installed the stringers of Christmas lights across Main Street,” Lomis said. “That was a job we all looked forward to doing. When we had a meeting to work on Christmas lights, I think everyone showed up.”

They also blocked off traffic for the Christmas parade and afterwards served hot dogs at the Armory for everyone who had been in the parade.

Now, at 95 years young, Lomis enjoys spending time with his children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. His daughter Sandy Weber Baker Tharp and son Mark Weber are well known in Taylor as local graduates, active community members and both have worked for the Taylor Independent School District. His wife Marjorie, who he calls the love of his life, passed away in 2004.

Lomis also enjoys working in his yard and is known in the neighborhood for the beautiful flowers growing around his house.

When asked for a few words of advice, Words to Soar By as I like to call them, to help others succeed, this is what he said: “I want to give a lot of credit to being a Christian. I can remember when I was 2 years old, I graduated from cradle roll to Sunday School. I can remember sitting there with a 2-inch-square angel food cake and my graduation diploma at St. Paul Lutheran. Being a Christian, being a church member, working and doing things for and with the church, is the most important thing in my life. I still go to church and dread the day I can’t go. The Bible is always close by.”

In the senior edition of the 1947 Cotton Boll, Lomis’ classmates predicted he would one day become the editor of the New York Times. They knew he was headed for huge success in newspapers and printing. But instead of New York, he was happy to stay at home.

In his own words, Lomis said he has remained in his hometown “because of Taylor being Taylor. It’s a good church town and it’s a good place to be at home.”

Join me here next week for another tale from Taylor. Until then, make it a great week.

Crow is a longtime Taylor resident and retired from the Taylor Independent School District after 40 years of service. For a topic or suggestion, reach out to Crow via jason.chlapek@granite mediapartners.com.