WATSONVILLE — Forty-six years ago, Daryl Nelson walked into the Pajaronian, hoping to land an apprenticeship in the pressroom.
He wanted to get into the same trade as his father, who worked as a pressman at a newspaper in Minnesota before moving to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
But there was one holdup.
“I applied with the Pajaronian pressroom, but Jim Borrego had just started his apprenticeship and it would be at least four years for a job to open up,” Nelson recalled.
All was not lost, though.
“They then told me about an apprenticeship in the composing room,” he said. “I applied for that and the rest is history.”
Nelson, who started his job in the composing room at the R-P in September 1972, retired Wednesday, capping off a nearly half-century career in the newspaper industry that included a seven-year stint at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The job hasn’t changed much over 46 years. Nelson’s first task with the newspaper was to paste together the comics page, which he still did up until his retirement, among his many other duties. But the technology behind the job has changed considerably.
In the early days, stories and ads would be physically cut and pasted onto a page according to a “dummy,” which is a mock-up by a page editor of how the finished page should look.
Now, the “dummies” still exist, but the entire layout of the newspaper is composed with computer programs such as Adobe’s InDesign and Photoshop, as well as Nelson’s favorite, MultiAd Creator.
R-P Publisher Jeanie Johnson said she first worked with Nelson at the newspaper in the early 1990s.
“Daryl has been an integral part of this newspaper for many years,” she said. “His level of dedication and ability to adapt to this ever-changing business has been a true asset. We wish him all the best and will miss those Monday morning chats about the Vikings during football season.”
In retirement, Nelson plans on traveling and going on four-wheeling adventures with his modified Suzuki Samurai, mixed in with yard work and relaxing. And of course, he will always watch his beloved Minnesota Vikings, who came heartbreakingly close to playing in the Super Bowl this year.
“Forty-six years in the newspaper business, I’ve seen a lot of technology change and worked with and grew up with some great people,” Nelson said. “I will miss the people, not the deadlines!”
