When Roxy Carey called to ask if I would join Burt Alsup in giving a talk to the Kishwaukee Valley Heritage Society on the history of the Genoa Republican earlier this month, it brought back a flood of memories.

I had not seen Burt since 1966 when we shared a few years on the Genoa weekly, him in the back shop and me on the editorial end, but we both had fond recollections from our days at 501 W. Main St. in Genoa, where the paper was housed.

My first experience there was working for $1 an hour as a “printer’s devil” and janitor while in high school. I also wrote sports stories and covered school news. Burt started there in 1959, in the back shop, which meant learning the printing trade and handling commercial job work.