Reg Louden may be the oldest working printer in the world, and this Sunday 22nd December marks his 100th birthday. He's a printing industry veteran, a business leader and Bunbury WA local legend, 100 years on and still working - raise the glasses, take to web, hit twitter, comment below and join the team at Print21 in wishing Reg Louden a very special happy birthday.
Across a remarkable a career spanning nearly 90 years he has worked his through nearly every production job in the industry, from floor to foreman to founder of his own business, Express Print. And this Friday, 20th December, over 130 of Louden’s friends and family, peers, partners and customers will join the man himself to celebrate this extraordinary milestone in style at the Forest Avenues Bowls Club.
Louden understandably takes more of a back-seat with the business these days, with the day-to-day running now in the capable hands of his daughter Kerry Kirkpatrick. But you just can’t keep a good printer down, Louden still pops by a couple of afternoons a week to keep up to speed with the business.
- Happy Birthday, Reg Louden
Kirkpatrick says of her father, “He just has a passion for printing. A lifetime love-affair. He’s certainly seen a lot of changes, and always kept up with the times.”
An ink-in-the-blood printer since the age of fourteen, Louden started out in the industry as a linotype apprentice in 1927 on his hometown newspaper, the Kalgoorlie Miner. He worked his way up through ranks until 1941, when Louden volunteered for the military and went off to serve in the 2/28th Battalion.
With his battalion, Louden was caught in heavy fighting at a site called Ruin Ridge, south of the El Alamien. In 1942, Louden was captured and held in POW camp in Bengazi for three months, before being transferred to Camp 57 in Italy, where he remained for nearly two years.
Among many adventures on his long journey home, the young Louden recalls sharing a royal morning tea at Buckingham Palace, where he met King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the then princess Elizabeth.
Back home again, in 1951 Louden moved with his family to Bunbury, where he took a job as a press operator on the South Western Times newspaper. Over nearly nine years Louden worked his way up to foreman, before finally striking out in 1960 to start Express Print with his business partner Ron Davenport.
53 years on Express Print is a thriving print shop with a staff of twelve, a lively mix of printers and graphic designer running a comprehensive shop floor from a Heidelberg Speedmaster GTO 52 to a fully kitted digital plant.