A few weekends ago, children volunteers from Oconto Falls’ St. Anthony Church and School helped LeRoy “Doc” Davidson clear out the last of Davidson Printing’s reams of paper, which he then donated to the school.
The printing press, which closed near the end of 2023, has stood at 205 Superior Ave. in Oconto for decades. But times and technology have made the printing equipment obsolete, and it’s unlikely the building will be home to a printing press again.
Students met in the former printing press office Oct. 28, and owner Davidson and his wife, Jean, reflected on their past 50 years in Oconto. Looking around the office, they pointed out the counter and desk that have stood in the same place since before the Davidsons bought the business, as well as a glass box displaying an old toy printing press.
“I always wanted to have my own print shop,” Davidson said.
Born Jan. 11, 1936, in Appleton, Davidson got his nickname from family members living through the Great Depression. The first grandchild on both sides, Davidson’s family hoped he would become a doctor, thereby insulating him from the kind of hardship so many were facing at the time.
“He’s been called Doc since he was born,” Jean Davidson said.
While neither of the Davidsons ended up going to college, both said the Depression caused an expectation and hope among their generation to do so. They say in recent years, they’ve seen it turn back, with a growing emphasis on young people learning trades.
For Davidson, that’s very much how he got into printing. During high school, he worked for North Appleton High School’s print shop, helping turn out school forms and yearbooks.
He continued to work in school printing when his family moved to Menasha, leading to Davidson teaching two printing classes during his senior year. One class set the printers up in the morning, and one class shut them down in the afternoon. Davidson said he loved it.
“If I could have, I would have spent all day there,” he said. “Printing has changed now. You could set type, change how things fit on a page. You had a taste of everything.”
After graduating high school in 1954, Davidson joined the Army and was asked about his interests. On his survey, he wrote, “Printing. Printing. Printing,” and “Overseas. Overseas. Overseas.”
Taking those interests into consideration, the Army first interviewed his family and friends to ensure his trustworthiness and loyalty to the country. Then Davidson was sent to Camp Eschborn in Frankfurt, Germany. He spent his time there chauffeuring the base’s colonel and printing classified information, including booklets for NATO. As much as he was able, Davidson consciously tried to not read the top-secret information he was in charge of printing.
After serving in the Army, Davidson returned to Wisconsin in 1958 and began working for a printing press in Neenah. It was during this time that he and his wife met.
They married Sept. 14, 1963. While they started their family, Davidson continued work at the Neenah printing press. He enjoyed it, but as the press grew, jobs became more segmented, more of an assembly line. One of the aspects of printing Davidson said he’s always enjoyed is the variety of skills and jobs it requires.
Davidson would take weekends to travel around the state, stopping in at printing presses to introduce himself and learn if owners were thinking of selling. Often, he would get a tour.
One such visit brought him to Oconto. Davidson left his name and phone number, telling the owner to put it in his desk drawer in the event he decided to sell.
A year later, Davidson received a call from the owner’s brother telling him his brother was in the hospital and would not be returning to the printing press. Was Davidson still interested?
That’s how, in 1975, the Davidsons packed up their home and three children and made the move to Oconto.
At that time, Oconto had a population of about 5000, much smaller than Neenah. But the town was home to the county seat, the Bond Pickle Company and a boat manufacturer. It had a sheriff’s department and a hospital.
“It had a lot, I thought, for a printer,” Davidson said. “That’s one of the reasons I came here.”
The move was a big change for the family.
Davidson told his children, “It’s a small town, and the school is small. You’ll have a better chance to get involved in everything.”
They bought a house next to what was then Lincoln Elementary. For Jean Davidson, the small town provided many opportunities to get involved. She joined Oconto’s women’s club and, in addition to being a homemaker, she worked part-time as a bookkeeper for Davidson Printing. She also taught herself how to play bridge.
“I always thought if I could keep it going ’til I was 65, I would be happy,” Davidson said. “But this community has been so good to me. They kept giving me work.”
Approaching his 90th birthday, one gets the sense if the world still communicated on paper to the extent it used to, Davidson would be happy to continue printing out of the Superior Avenue press.
As for the toy printing press at the far end of the counter, Davidson received it as a gift from Santa Claus when he was 10. He had seen it in a catalogue and told his parents.
Years later, after he bought the press in Oconto, Davidson’s father found the toy stored in the attic and made a display case for it. He gave it to Davidson a second time, this time in celebration of owning his own printing press.
Davidson points to the toy’s label: Superior Star Rotary Printing Press. With Davidson’s Printing being on Superior Avenue, Davidson said with a smile: “It was meant to be, I guess.”
