Last week Eric Muhr posted on Facebook a 1968 Barclay Press staff photo. I was in that picture having started working at Barclay Press the previous September. I was twenty-one when Harlow Ankeny (standing at right) hired me to work part-time while I took classes at George Fox College. I had turned twenty-two by the time the photo was taken. After the 1967-68 academic year, I started working full time.

There are four printers (people directly involved in the production process) in the 1968 photo—two sitting on the floor and the two at the left sitting on the hearth. Today the Barclay Press printing is outsourced and the need to dedicate space and capital to maintaining a printing business has been eliminated. The printers in 1968 were (second row, left to right) Dick Eichenberger—pressman, Dan McCracken—typesetter, (front, left to right) Ed Dealy—press and bindery, LeRoy Benham—prepress. The listed functions are oversimplified because in actuality everyone doubled in at least one area. Betty Mills is seated at the far right. One of her task was the management of subscriptions and mailing lists in the days before data was computerized. To the left of Betty is Gertrude Ankeny (office manager and assistant to the general manager who stands behind her). George Randall (in the middle) packaged and shipped an uncounted number of books, periodicals, and Sunday school materials.

In my mind I hold this photo up alongside of the 2016 staff—Eric Muhr, Kati Voth, Cleta Crisman, Mareesa Fawver, Nicole Fawver, Aj Schwanz, Ron Woodward, and Judy Woolsey. The similarities and differences are striking. Similarities: commitment, vision, competence. Differences: job functions and methodology.

The 1968 staff and the current staff represent a small percentage of the total number of people who have kept the fire burning. There are roughly another 75 people who have had a staff function at some point in the 55-year history of Barclay Press. This does not include the many people who have been an essential part of Barclay Press as writers, donors, board members, and customers.

My forty-four years at Barclay Press (spanning 48 years) concluded in December. I will briefly summarize my career by declaring that my life has been richly influenced for good by the people I worked with and the constituency I worked for.