Oct 1-2010:NWLP
9/28/10
10:01 AM
Page 8
CWA’s Bonnie Kelsch retires
after 44 years in printing trades
Bonnie Kelsch, a member of Communi-
cations Workers of America Local 7901, re-
tired Sept. 16 after 44 years in the printing
trades.
Her retirement was celebrated with a re-
ception honoring her at Oregon Catholic
Press, where she has worked the last 21
years.
Kelsch joined the Multnomah Typo-
graphical Union Local 58 (now CWA Local
7901) in 1977 and has been a member for 33
years. She also has served on the bargaining
committee for the union.
A graduate of the Advertising Art School
in Southwest Portland, Kelsch worked at ad-
vertising agencies, as a freelancer, and doing
layout and paste-up before landing a job at
Paul O. Giesey/Adcrafters.
It was during her time at Giesey, a union
shop, that Kelsch says she received her real
education, learning from journeymen who
had been in the business 30 or more years.
She spent the next 12 years dyluxing, burn-
ing and rubbing-up color keys, developing
plates and doing additional camera work and
keylining.
She was hired at Oregon Catholic Press
in the pre-press department in 1989.
As her craft has evolved to fit the chang-
ing times, so has Kelsch’s skill set. “Our pro-
fession has changed so much,” she said. “We
used to have sharp knives to cut letters or
dots out. Now we have a keyboard and can
do the same corrections and layout with a
flick of a key.”
“Getting the job done and correct the first
time has always been one of Bonnie’s prior-
ities,” said Eddie Osborn, her foreman at
OCP. “I have been her co-worker, her man-
Bonnie Kelsch (right), receives a
retirement pin from CWA Local 7901
President Madelyn Elder. Kelsch has
worked in the printing trades for 44 years
— the last 21 at Oregon Catholic Press in
Portland.
ager and her friend for 22 years. She has al-
ways been a person that I can depend on 100
percent every day all day and know that she
always has our best interest in her heart.”
Kelsch lives in Columbia City west of
Portland with her husband John. Her son,
Steve, and two grandchildren live in Califor-
nia. She plans to visit them more regularly, in
addition to traveling more throughout the
United States.
(Editor’s Note: Geri Ethen contributed to
this report.)
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PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
OCTOBER 1, 2010
