Throughout a professional lifetime, a person might change jobs or move to different cities, feeling uncertain about what they really want to do with their career. That was not the case for Rodger Gilliam, who has known what he likes to do since his first day on the job at Harding Press on Sept. 8, 1968. He has worked there for 46 years and is currently their shop foreman.
Gilliam has lived in Searcy his entire life. When he was 15 years old, he offered to pay for a motorcycle if his father would allow him to get one. After his father agreed, Gilliam used his new motorcycle to deliver newspapers for the Daily Citizen for a year until he started working with their Addressograph, an address labeling system. During the time spent working at the Daily Citizen, Gilliam says he connected with a few older individuals who ran the press and became interested in the printing process. It was then, during his junior year at Searcy High School, that Gilliam began working at Harding Press.
Throughout his time working at Harding Press, Gilliam says he has been fascinated by the printing process and truly loves his job.
“I like everything about it. I just enjoy printing,” Gilliam said. “It’s like making something from nothing.”
Gilliam is second-in-command to manager Danny Wood, but he started out as an intern, doing odd jobs and observing the more experienced employees. He eventually began to print on his own. At that time, Harding Press used letterpress printing, but it later switched to offset printing, so Gilliam has worked with both printing methods.
Then, in 1995, Harding Press obtained computers and began the transition from offset printing to computer printing. Although Gilliam was most accustomed to life before the digital age, he says he was willing to learn about computers along with his coworkers.
“I couldn’t turn a computer on then,” Gilliam said. “I was looking for an off and on button. I told the manager, ‘I need to learn this.’ And good thing I did, because everything went to computers.”
Gilliam works in the same room as graphic designer Peggy Kemp, who has worked at Harding Press for a total of 10 years. Kemp said she first met Gilliam while she was a student working for the Bison newspaper. At that time, Harding Press printed the Bison, and the two spent time corresponding and working together. Kemp says she admired Gilliam’s willingness to transition to computer printing.
“When the press changed to a computer to plate process, he was willing to learn the new process and worked hard to become an expert at it,” Kemp said. “He has also been very willing to teach me the process.”
Kemp says the two work well together, and that Gilliam has been able to teach her things about printing because of his many years of experience in the field.
“Rodger is a hard worker and always willing to do whatever needs to be done, such as helping a pressman, working in the bindery, running jobs in the copy center, pricing jobs and supplying quotes to customers, as well as his own job and sometimes part of mine,” Kemp said. “We work well together as part of the team of employees that make up the staff of Harding Press.”
