for Gray Printing co. ( the title was partially
missing)
Thursday, January 12, 1989
Pix #1 - A. Gordon Gray (deceased), son of George M. (second generation)
Pix #2 - George A. Gray
Pix #3 - James G. Gray
Pix #4 - Thomas Gray
Pix #5 - Robert Gray, son of George
Pix #6 - Scott A. Gray, son of Jim
Pix #7 - Lisa Gray Fisher, daughter of Tom
(Author's Note: today's POTLUCK in the fourth and final in the series
about the 100-year-old Gray Printing Co., established by George M.
Gray in 1888, in the same location where it is still located on E.
North St.)
It isn't very common that a business or industry remains in the control
and management of the same family for 100 years.
George M. Gray, the founder of Gray Printing co. was succeeded by
son A. Gordon Gray as president in 1943.
Tuesday, morning, Oct. 31, 1967, Gordon Gray made his daily visit
to his office. Even though he was an octogenarian, he continued to
have an active interest in the business with which he had been affiliated
for 60 years. He was in cheerful spirits when he dined at the Fostoria
Country Club at noon with some of his fellow townsmen. Nobody noticed
anything unusual upon his departure for home after lunch, but his
wife found him sprawled on the living room floor when she entered
the house at 3:30 p.m. He had been stricken with a fatal heart attack.
Had prepared for his succession
Gordon had prepared for the future. He had accomplished the objective
fate had prevented his father from attaining. Gorgon's eldest son,
George A., had already been installed as president.
After he resigned his army commission in 1945, George was appointed
personnel manager and purchasing agent. He replaced his father as
president in 1965 and became chairman of the board in 1981. George
retired in 1986 to devote more time to his hobby, the Fostoria Historical
Museum located in the abandoned fire station.
James G. Gray on management staff, too
Upon his discharge from the Armed Forces in World War II, Jim, as
he was better known, entered the sales department at Gray Printing
Co. after a work experience in the pre-press and offset press room
When Lester Kisabeth retired from the sales department, just before
Gordon's death, Jim took over the sales manager's office and kept
it until he became president in 1981. He succeeded his brother George
as chairman of the board in 1986. No longer required to carry the
burden of the presidency, Jim had more time to concentrate on the
customer clientele he accumulated during his 40 years with the company.
President Thomas Gray keeps eye on production
Tom Gray, the youngest of the Gray brothers, joined the company in
1950 after graduating from Wooster College. After two years in the
Army, he returned to the negative assembly department. Lester Switzer
took on Tom as his understudy in 1954, and he was well prepared to
assume the job of plant manager when Switzer unexpectedly died of
a heart attack in 1958. Tom moved upstairs to the president's office
in 1985 and continues to keep in touch with factory production.
Bob Gray - VP sales, marketing
After a four year hitch in the Peace Corps, and teaching in the public
schools, Bob Gray joined the Gray staff as personnel manager under
his uncle Jim's sales department.
Bob is presently executive vice-president in charge of sales and
marketing
Scott, Jim's son, newest on Gray staff
Jim's son, Scott, studied petroleum engineering at Marietta College.
At graduation he faced a depressed oil industry. His father suggested
he work temporarily at Gray Printing. Once inoculated with printer's
ink, he was hooked. Scott is serving as corporate secretary and is
working into sales.
Gray board not family affair
For 75 years the board of directors at Gray Printing co. was made
up only of family members. Eventually the company recognized the need
for fresh viewpoints and additional expertise, and replaced family
directors with outsiders. The current board of directors, half of
whom serve the company in no other capacity, are: Lisa Gray Fisher,
George Gray, James Gray, Robert Gray, Scott Gray; (outsiders) Von
Boll, William Holliday, Frank Kinn, Donald Mennel.
Gray 100 years old, still progressing
If George M. was among those visitors who from time to time tour
the Gray facilities, he would be proud of what he sees. The white
brick on the building facing E. North St., is similar to that built
in 1917, only with numerous additions, including Cadwallader St. property
and all of the property to the railroad toward the east; also some
property on the north side of North St. which is used for parking
facilities.
Employees provide talents
There is one more very important aspect about the Gray Printing Co.
as it relates not only to what goes on inside the Gray facilities
but the people who have worked there. Those who contributed to the
final product before it was completed and delivered.
George Gray, a third generation in the family, and still active,
provided a list of employees of past years and up to the present.
It was quite apparent to this author that there was not space for
the complete list, so here it is for the year 1988, including mechanical,
office, sales and supervisory. Sorry there is not space for the early
years, too.
Karl Walters, Harold Owens, William McDaniel, Steve Thompson, Jeffery
Hammer, John Machir, Frank W. Borer, James Brose, Robert Holderman,
Toni Hill, Jean Roberts, Suellen Gehring, LaVonne Hipsher, Joy Pankurst,
Loretta Mann, Charlotte Reffner, Roc Standish, Ronda Wedge, Bobbie
J. Welly, Jennifer Cramer, Judy Wedge, Werner Cramer, James Willard,
Kenneth McGuire, David Pike, James Abel, Michael Mitchell, Duane McVay,
Fred Levee, Suzette Weiler, Joseph King, David Johnson, David Lorek,
Elizabeth Welch, Donald Southward, Robert Reinhart, Judy Fruth, Kyle
Glits, Judy Hermazn, Donna Hogan, Terry McDonald, Louise Wagner, Karen
Buskirk, William Mansfield, Donald Lindhorst, Robert Carl Wagner,
Richard McMorgan, Fraser Gilchrist, Willis Beck, James Emerine, Barbara
Sams, Elmer Auer, Duane Buskirk, Ronald McClellan, Joel Crabtree,
Diana Miller, John Valachovic, Richard Downs, Ralph Gilliland, Timothy
Bliss, David Phillips, Ronda Roelle, Tim Reinhart, Byron Mann, Gerald
Sams, Ralph Heaster, Wilbur Hall, Lynn Trautwien, Harold Young, Daryl
White, Howard Richards, Craig Cole, Scott Finley, Martin Finley, Roger
Hogan, Jerry Platt, Susan Holderman, Lawrence Smith, Malcolm Beck,
Jerry L. Moses, Sr., Charles Fangboner, Thomas Calmes, James Etzinger,
Brenda Bonawit, John Twiss, Claire Hanley, Glynn Joseph, Sr., Donald
G. Correll, Daniel Ewing, Richard Fillhart, Terrance Meyers, David
Holderman, Daniel Holman, Terry Hemrick, Michael Smith, Allen Brose,
John Brose, John Harshman, David Dick, David Cramer, Terry Ward, Kenneth
Sauber, Jr., Candy Kiser, Pete DiCesare, Sandra Lewallen, Richard
Weissinger, Richard Graves, John Keith Risner, Clarence Campbell,
Gary Welly, Margaret Deiter, Joan Filliater, Jane Chaney, Joy Zender,
Deborah Kurcan, Eugene Zender, Barbara Sauber, Patricia Rumschlag,
Faye Lombardy, Iris Jean Hastings, Theresa Harner, Becky Williams,
Karen Brandeberry, Nancy Webster, Margaret Ellis, Barbara Hossler,
Roger Bell, Joseph Emerine, Tina Droll, Carol Ann Goetz, Edria Tillotson,
Daisy Cole, Eric Tyler, Mary J. Hubbard, James Walter, Kevin Wolph,
Edward Forster, Helga Opitz, Donna Jean Smith, Bonnie Wertz, Carol
Cramer, Anne Cramer, Penny Riggs, Kathy Dieter, Barbara L. Rice, Geraldine
Barringer, Michael Tryon, Terry Baker, Charles Anning, Danny Allen
Babb, Dean Barkley, Anne Clouse, Carol Creeger, Robert Etzinger, Jeannie
Fairley, Lisa Fisher, Marvalene Fittro, Kelly Geyman, Phyllis Gilliland,
James Gray, Robert Gray, Scott Gray, Thomas Gray, Ann Hoffman, Donald
Kisabeth, Jack Lambright, Floyd Lawless, Mark LeVans, Kathy Lorek,
James Main, Chris Massery, Darlene Mendoza, Sharon Mitten, Howard
Ohler, Herbert Opitz, Gerald Puterbaugh, Leah Rader, Mazine Ramsey.
Linda Reinhart, Sharon Reino, Bette Reiter, Judson Rinebold, Mike
Shabel, Ross Stofflet, Harold Storrer, Jr., Russel Wice, and Michael
J. Williams.
The Gray board of directors
Those business men and women, some on the inside and some on the
outside, who keep the management team advised, and offset nearsighted
views by not being so close to everyday problems. The current directors
are Von Boll, president of Cummins, Michigan; Frank Kinn, retired
president of Commercial Bank and Savings; Robert Gray, executive VP
and sales manager; Scott Gray, secretary; James Gray, chairman of
the board; George Gray, retired chairman emeritus; Don Mennel, chairman
of the board, Mennel Milling Co., William Holliday, retired, Peggy
Gray Candies; Lisa Gray Fisher, sales representative.
Heed God's word
Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes" ... Say not ye. There are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? I say unto you Lift up your eyes,
and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." (John
4:35)
North America a mission field? Absurd, you may say. But it is true.
A field, ripe for harvesting of precious persons for whom Christ died;
a mission field stretching across North America is in view.
One of the largest and ripest fields today is teeming with refugees
and immigrants from Asia. The area of our world with two-thirds of
the earth's people. These Asian arrivals, especially the Indo-Chinese,
are responsive to the gospel of Christ. They are eager to find love,
acceptance and friendship.
Long Beach, Calif., is one of the places where the Church of the
Nazarene is responding with laborers for this harvest of soul. About
a decade ago, the first Asians began coming to Long Beach First Church
of the Nazarene. The church has not been the same since. Today, the
largest ethnic ministry of the church is well over 1,000 people.
The Asian Nazarene Bible College Extension is there also, training
Asians to be pastors, teachers, evangelists and missionaries.
