What do you love most about your job?
Over the years it has never been hard to come to work. There has been stress on some days, but it has always been a short season. I’d say the most rewarding job I worked on was the Lancaster County Business Directory. When it first started back in 1990, it was known as the Southern Lancaster County Business Directory. Before we had computers, everything was done by hand. Negatives were pasted up (that is where cut and paste comes from), there was a lot of darkroom work, negatives were stripped onto plastic grid flats, and then plates were burned for the press. That was when I would be working 65 to 70 hours a week to complete the job. That busy season started around the beginning of June and my part would end in August sometime. Then we would print and bind it for distribution at the Solanco Fair. It was hard and long hours, but when it was done you would look back on it and just say WOW, with a smile on your face.
Tell us about a work-related success story that you’re proud of.
When I started here at DavCo almost 40 years ago my personal ambition was to make Davy Esh one of the wealthiest men in Gap. I wanted to do the best job I could and help to build DavCo into a name you could trust and want to come back to. I don’t think Davy was the wealthiest man monetarily, but I do believe he was in the top 10 of most well-known people for helping the community through business and outreach to the youth.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I always like being with my family either hunting or fishing with my sons or going on road trips with my daughters, cooking on the open fire on a backyard patio, and Sunday morning breakfast. And I enjoy my kids, even though they are in their 20s and 30s, still bringing their friends over for a party weekend. As long as we can be together, life is better.
Describe an interesting hobby or pastime that you have.
I always have fun cooking over an open fire and BBQing chicken on the big pit and helping my wife with her small hors d’oeuvres catering business.
What’s something surprising that not many people know about you?
I first got to know Davy and Elsie Esh back in 1975 when he printed my sister’s wedding invitations, and Elsie made my sister’s wedding cake. We went to their house in Cochranville to place the order one evening and these four guys, Jerry, Merle, Ricky and Donny showed me their new rabbits they were keeping in the house. Also, I went to school with Jerry at Octorara Elementary School for about two years before their family moved into the Pequea Valley School District.
Do you follow any sports teams?
No
What are some of your favorite local spots to visit?
Prayer & Worship: East Gate House of Prayer (White Horse), Gateway House of Prayer (Ephrata). Diners: White Horse Luncheonette, Village Café (Intercourse). Coffee Shops: The Corner Coffee Shop (Intercourse) on Friday or Saturday Evenings, Whiff Roasters (Lititz). Shopping: Cabela’s, Lancaster Archery, The Restaurant Store, Paul B Zimmerman, Gideon King Hardware. Ice Cream: Lapp Valley Farm, Down on the Farm Creamery
Tell us about a personal success story that you’re proud of.
It would have to be my kids and the positive choices they are making.
How has your role evolved since you joined DavCo?
I first started when there were only three employees outside the Esh family, and I had a lot of hats to wear between the straight-line typesetter and the single color press we had at that time. My role at that time consisted of proofreading, paste-up, darkroom tech (including hand developing everything from halftone photos to type paste ups), stripping negatives to grid sheets, cutting layovers for the different colors, and burning the plates for the press.
Then we got into four-color printing, but still did it on a one-color press, meaning the paper had to go through the press four times for each side of the sheet. I needed to learn a whole new way of crafting design and how to angle screens to create full color images while only physically printing four ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). We did this till about the mid ’90s, when newer technology allowed us to go straight from computer to film. Up to that time I was still doing the proofing and sending out all the proofs by US mail or fax. We started to email proofs in the late ’90s.
Technology has continued to improve and new processes have been adopted. Now my role here at DavCo involves helping to organize the final stages of the Lancaster County Business Directory, scheduling of the printing projects, setting up the templates for the layout on the printing plates and digital presses, and making plates with our computer-to-plate system.
What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on and why?
Probably going out west back in 1992. We took three weeks to go and see my sister’s family in Ohio and my wife’s uncle in Colorado. We then traveled to the Grand Canyon and up to Yellowstone. This was just my wife and me, before we had kids. Our first child came in December of that year.
What’s your favorite memory from working at DavCo?
When something big got finished or was a super blessing to the company, I would sometimes hear Elsie walking through the shop in Gap, shouting at the top of her lungs, “PRAISE THE LORD!”
What would you like to learn or improve in the future?
To accept getting old.
What is one thing you can’t live without?
JESUS
If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be?
Israel
What does your typical day at DavCo look like?
I’m usually the first or second one here in the morning, so I get to make the first pot of coffee. I go to my desk and check emails. Most of the day I am a conduit passing jobs along as they are given to me. I receive jobs from the CSRs, schedule them, write an imposition template on the job jacket and pass them along to the design department. Once the design is completed, I check to make sure the job is positioned correctly in the template, and prepare it for press. In my spare time I do final proofing and work on placing ads in the Lancaster County Business Directory and the Central Pennsylvania Business Directory.
Tell us about your family / kids / pets.
We have four children. One works here at DavCo and loves hunting, fishing, and beekeeping. Our second is married and he started his own carpentry business. Our third is on staff at YWAM (Youth with A Mission) Lancaster. Our fourth is on staff at Gateway House of Prayer and has her own house cleaning business.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I think everyone should celebrate birthdays more. You should take off on your birthday and celebrate in some way. Also, if you are able, take off work for your wife’s and kids’ birthdays. Take off from work and do something with them all day. Find something they like and do it. Make memories.