In the 1960s, news poured out of the Cuero Record newspaper’s front door, and lead exhaust spewed out of the pipes from the upstairs press room where Alfonso Gonzales ran the printing presses. Gerard Gonzales carries fond memories of his father, Alfonso, and walking home from St. Michael’s School with sisters Linda and Yvonne.
“We would pass the Hotel Muti, where the Cuero Police station is now, on our way to the Cuero Record. You could access the composing room (typesetting) upstairs through an entrance behind the news rack,” he reminisced. The scent of freshly inked paper filled the air.
Gerard Gonzales, the proud owner of the Standard Printing Company, located at 111 E. Church St., officially closed its doors on a somber January day. He continued his thoughts, watching the movers as they carried tables away.
In those days, newspapers were printed by hot lead typesetting in which molten metal was injected into a mold that had the shapes of glyphs (letters and symbols). The resulting glyph slugs were used to press ink onto paper.
“As we walked up the stairs, the hot air from all the pots containing molten lead for lino- type and headline machines would hit us,” he said. “ At that time, the Cuero Record employed about 18 people, producing a daily newspaper along with various others from surrounding cities,” he continued.
Mrs. Cheatam, his high school counselor, encouraged his love for drawing, and he pursued a graphic arts degree, taking printing and photography at Texas State Technical Institute in Waco and earning a degree in Commercial Art and Advertising from San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas.
He honed his skills by gaining experience from his uncle’s printing company, Commercial Computer Topography, in Florida. He married his wife, Debbie, in May of 1975, and feeling homesick, they returned to Texas in 1976.
Luck was on his side because Tex Tan Western Leather Company in Yoakum had just lost their printer. He worked as a commercial artist in their advertising department.
“So, with my printing experience, I was able to jump right in. I worked at Tex Tan Western Leather Company for about nine years, where we photographed all their saddles, bits, bridles, special promotions, and holiday advertising. With a crew of seven, we shot photographs of all the products Tex Tan carried, wrote descriptive copy, typeset, and composed all the pages of their nearly 300-page dealer catalog, which was then sent to Fort Worth to be printed,” he said.
In 1984, he worked briefly as the advertising director for Cuero Record and Standard Printing when the owner, Glendol Snodgrass, approached him to purchase the business. It was a big decision for Gonzales and his wife.
“At the time, my wife had completed her associate degree at Victoria College and had started pursuing her elementary education degree at the University of Houston at Victoria. After much thought, she decided to postpone her studies, and we purchased Standard Printing in July of 1985,” he said.
The husband and wife worked hard to establish Standard Printing. His wife Debbie handled all the bookkeeping, pricing merchandise, answering phones, and customer service, while Gonzales handled typesetting, logo design, printing, and delivering forms.
“I remember the first time my wife and I opened the door to Standard Printing; we were both scared. We had never owned a business before and really didn't know what we were doing. In the first two to three years, we worked 10 to 12 hours a day, including Saturdays and Sundays, putting whatever money we made back into the business,” he explained.
They raised their two sons at the print shop with a crib in the back, a refrigerator for their bottles and snacks, and a microwave. Many customers would ask, 'It sounds like you have a baby back there,' 'Yes, ma'am, we do,” he would reply.
“Later, we added cable (TV) so they could watch cartoons as they grew older. It wasn't long before they were roaming the store and pulling merchandise off the shelves, and it became clear that it was time for daycare,” he continued.
Through the years, Standard Printing has become a stalwart in the Cuero Community, earning the 2015 Texas Treasures Business Award given to businesses that have provided employment opportunities and support to the state’s economy for at least 50 years.
Gonzales has served on the Cuero ISD, Chisholm Heritage Museum, and numerous other boards. Pat Elder, owner of self-storage Security Storage, has served on the Cuero ISD and Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum boards with Gonzales.
“Wonderful businessman and community leader. But best of all, a great friend,” Elder said.
Standard Printing has been a steadfast supporter of local organizations, including the Gobblers, by providing high-quality printing services for flyers, posters, and tickets.
“(At times, even) printing items of community interest for free,” DeWitt County Historical Commission Vice Chairman Dianna Bartosh said Another person who remembers Gonzales's kindness is Glenn Rea, publisher of the Cuero Record and Yorktown News-View for 29 years and is the publisher emeritus.
“I was the stranger in town, and I needed supplies to get going. So, I walked over to Standard Printing, and Gerard gave me credit. He was the first guy in town that trusted me,” Rea said.
The once-thriving Cuero Record newspaper, along with traditional print media, has diminished, becoming a mere shadow of its former glory and reflecting the digital and AI changes that have swept through both the industry and the town.
The printing business has always been closely linked to the Gonzales family legacy, a tradition that began with Alfonso, his father.
“I've been around ink for most of my life, witnessing the transition from letterpress to offset lithography to digital printing. So, I suppose it's time for me to retire,” Gonzales stated in his farewell remarks.
DeWitt Poth & Son from Yoakum is the new owner of Standard Printing. More updates will be provided soon.
