By JOELYN HANSEN
Beatrice Daily Sun

After 48 years of running Miller Printery, the Millers have decided to stop the presses and close up shop at their downtown Beatrice print shop. Their last day of business was Dec. 31.

It will be hard for the Millers to step away from the business they have known for 48 years and rethought retirement several times, Ron Miller said. But, as difficult as a decision it was, it was time for it to come to an end.

"It's been good to us," Miller said about the business over the years.

The Miller family has owned Miller Printery since 1939. At that time, Fred W. Miller, Miller's grandfather, took over the business from Lem P. Gessell who opened the shop, then known as L. Printery, in 1909 in the 100 block of North Fifth Street, located where Nellie Watson's China Store was. It was one of many print shops then in operation in Beatrice.

Prior to owning the business Fred W. Miller worked as a printer for Gessell.

As a 9-year-old boy, Miller began working in the shop with his grandfather, he said.

Fred W. Miller was one of a kind and he loved to fish, he said. Miller is often amazed at the work that his grandfather would get done, especially considering all the men who would stop by the shop and talk to him for hours about fishing.

Never wanting anyone to be idle at the shop, Miller said his grandfather would put him and his brother to work. It was his job to stand on a box and help feed the paper into the press, he said. He would also make deliveries on his bicycle to different businesses around town.

Miller often worked in the shop and still remembers the days when he, a junior high school student, would be assigned the task of printing 10,000 parking tickets for the city of Beatrice, he said. He would come in on a Saturday and spend the day hand feeding the press as he printed all 10,000 tickets.

By the time the day was done and the job was complete, Miller said his arms would often ache from the work.

He has many fond memories of working with his grandfather at the shop, he said. He and his brother would often be down at the shop because they liked being around their grandfather.

"I always took an interest in it," he said. "My grandpa was always interesting to work with."

"My younger brother and I both kind of hung out here. (My grandfather) usually found something for us to do because he didn't want us to stand around."

When Jean first started coming to the shop, she said Grandpa Miller would find work for her to do. It was he who taught her how to set type, she said.

"Grandpa Miller liked to give me a bad time," she said. "He was the one that made it interesting for me to come down."

In 1959 Miller took over the business from his grandfather, but though his grandfather was retired, he still came down to make sure the work was being done right and offer his sound advice to the young businessman.

The young businessman, at the time the youngest printer in Beatrice, said he took his craft seriously and always made sure that he produced quality work for his customers. He would sometimes rerun a job if it didn't print right or there was a mistake.

"To this day I can look at something and tell if it's crooked or straight," he said.

Jean became more of a permanent part of the business in 1960 after they were married, Miller said. Since that time they ran the business together, he said.

Through the years they've owned the business, they have seen many changes to the technology as printing presses have advanced in their capabilities and computers are now used for the design process.

They also moved the shop to 319 S. Sixth Street, its current location, in 1977.

Many hours have been spent in the shop by the Millers, and in keeping tradition alive, their children, Ronda and Heath, spent time in the shop, even from the time they were infants, Miller said.

They would bring them to the shop. In their playpens, the children would sleep as the printing press ran and only when it stopped did they wake up, he said.

Miller said there are a lot of good memories associated with those years for when their children were in the shop. When Ronda was about 2 years old, she acquired the nickname "Inky" from the police chief at the time.

The print shop would also prove to haven of mischief for their son, Heath, who discovered some fresh ink, Miller said. As Jean was helping a customer and Miller was out of the office, she suddenly turned around to see her son in head to toe green and red ink.

The children also helped out at the business a lot, Miller said.

"Probably a lot of people remember (Ronda) making a lot of deliveries in her little yellow Volkswagen," he said.

The Miller children have since moved on from the print shop, Miller said. Ronda lives in Kansas and operates a large dairy farm with her husband.

Heath is an art director for KOLN-TV and produces various works of art for sister stations, too.

Now after 48 years, the Millers are looking forward to their time away from the shop, as they hope to spend more time traveling and taking Volkswalks, a historic 6.2 mile walk around a town or city, around the country.

The Millers will miss a lot of the many customers and friends they have made through the years in the community and in the printing industry and credit their support that helped kept them going all of these years.

"We've had some loyal customers that were with me when we first started and with us when we ended," he said.