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publishers to ask him to join their staff. Burton
Grindstaff, of Hugo, Oklahoma, served as the newspaper's first editor, where he managed the news department and wrote a daily comment column. John's mother, Charlotte Frere Dubuisson, served originally as society editor. She was a college graduate,
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in the South
Pacific. In the early years of the war the Corsair was largely deployed with land-based Marine squadrons, but also functioned less frequently as a carrier fighter for the Marines on smaller escort carriers in later years of the war. Thistlethwaite resumed his editor and publisher duties
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Photo-offset is a method of offset printing using photomechanical plates. A photographic image is first taken of a "dummy" version of a newspaper, and the image is then transferred to chemically treated plates. The plates transfer the image to a rubber "blanket" which is wrapped around a cylinder of
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printed a statement of ownership listing John
Thistlethwaite as the primary publisher of the newspaper and noted eight original primary stock holders from Louisiana. These included their publishing company World News Incorporated, John Thistlethwaite, his Uncle Hugh, his mother Charlotte, and his
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and made plates so they could be reproduced on a printing press. Andrew
Dossman, Jr., the paper's pressman, had also completed a course at the Chicago School of Printing and Lithography, and was responsible for taking the plates from Tubesing and printing the paper. Ralph Hubbard, linotype
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John R. Thistlethwaite Jr. was born into what would become a family of five children on July 16, 1918, in
Washington, Louisiana, to John Richmond Thistlethwaite Sr., and Charlotte Frere Thistlethwaite. Thistlewaite's father died during the depression in 1934. Thistlethwaite attended Tulane
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Thistlethwaite died the morning of
Saturday, April 6, 1996, at Opelousas General Hospital, still a resident of Opelousas. Religious services were held at United Methodist Church, Opelousas, on April 9, conducted by the Rev. Ted Standley, and he was buried in the town's Bellevue Memorial Park
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a former
Washington teacher, and twenty year resident of Opelousas. Bill Lawless, staff photographer, had studied chemical engineering at Tulane University for two years from 1937-8, an education that would help prepare him for the challenges of the photo offset printing process.
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fraternity at Tulane
University, a former member of Opelousas City Planning Commission, and a former president of the Louisiana Press Association from 1959-60. He was a recipient of the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award and the Sertoma Service to Mankind Award.
265:. Thistlethwaite attended the Technical Trade School at Pressman’s Home, Tenn., and interviewed trade authorities in a number of states to obtain more information about journalism and how he could effectively use photo-offset printing to publish his small town newspaper.
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Jim
Fitzgibbons served as the newspaper's original managing editor, supporting the advertising efforts of the paper, and managing the paper's business concerns. Fitzgibbons, of Monahans, Texas, had gained recognition for the sale of his newspaper, the
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Unable to find employment as a journalist during the depression, at the age of twenty-one
Thistlethwaite and his friend Ducote Andrepont decided to start their own newspaper in Opelousas, despite the small town already having two newspapers, the weekly
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of Opelousas, Louisiana on December 24, 1939, the first American small town daily newspaper to use offset and photo-offset printing. Ducote “Duke” Andrepont was the newspaper's cofounder.
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Cemetery. He was a member of the Boston Club of New Orleans, the board of regent of the Louisiana Universities, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1973, a member of
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Both Thistlethwaite and Andrepont first attended technical school and visited other print offices to become familiar with the newspaper industry and the challenges presented by
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Ducote Andrepont, the son of an Opelousas publisher, and a journalism major at Louisiana State and the University of Oklahoma, served as advertising manager for the
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As recognition of its contribution to journalism through the groundbreaking use of photo-offset printing in a daily newspaper, a copy of the first edition of the
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resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. Offset printing and photo-offset printing remain the primary means of printing newspapers today.
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and secretary-treasurer of the newspaper's publisher, World News Company Inc. Thistlethwaite served as President of their publishing company World News.
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University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in the spring of 1939. During his years at Tulane, he was editor of the Tulane
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304:, one of the first newspapers in America to use photo-offset printing. It was his experience in this innovative printing method that caused
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was printed on December 24, 1939 at 226 W. Landry St. in downtown Opelousas. In October 1940, nine months after printing its first edition,
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258:. Their greatest obstacle was the challenge many newspapers faced from a diminishing circulation due to the effects of the depression.
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Phil Tubesing, an engraver, had studied at the Chicago School of Printing and Lithography to learn the Photo-Offset process. At the
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operator and compositor had twenty five years experience in newspaper work, and specific experience with photo offset printing.
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editor while Thistlethwaite was a Marine aviator who attained the rank of captain flying the fast and effective
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was a tabloid style newspaper of thirty-eight pages, and used two colors on its front page. As a
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a printing press which then contacts paper to print the newspaper. The first edition of the
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university yearbook and on the editorial staff of the school's student newspaper, the
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184:(July 16, 1918 – April 6, 1996) was an American journalist who founded the
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419:"Opelousas Daily World: Meet the people behind the first edition"
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N.Y. Times Company Is Acquiring The Enterprise, Other Newspapers
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After 1941, during World War II, Rigby Owen served as the
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partner D. Andrepont; the primary mortgagees included
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Find-a-grave website for John R. Thistlethwaite Jr.
613:United States Marine Corps pilots of World War II
316:, Tubesing photographed the “dummy” pages of the
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549:, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sunday, 7 April 1996
491:, Opelousas, Louisiana, pg. 3, 23 October 1940
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536:, Lafayette, Louisiana, pg. 16, 7 April 1996
336:was sold to Worrel Newspapers Inc. in 1972.
562:, Opelousas, Louisiana, pg. 8, 7 April 1996
340:acquired eight daily papers, including the
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369:continues today and is available online.
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532:"Obituaries, John Thistlethwaite, Jr.,
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588:People from Opelousas, Louisiana
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348:from the Times Company in 2000.
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79:John Richmond Thistlethwaite Jr.
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513:"Gannett Buys Louisiana Paper"
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487:"Statement of the Ownership",
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144:B. A. Tulane University, 1939
238:on his return from the war.
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558:"John R. Thistlethwaite",
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182:John R. Thistlethwaite Jr.
608:American male journalists
268:The first edition of the
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593:Tulane University alumni
545:"John Thistlethwaite",
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468:www.globalsecurity.org
279:Mergenthaler Linotype
108:Washington, Louisiana
534:The Daily Advertiser
443:. Andrepont Printing
441:"Andrepont Printing"
126:Opelousas, Louisiana
421:. York Daily Record
359:Delta Kappa Epsilon
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120:(1996-04-06)
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583:1996 deaths
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560:Daily World
489:Daily World
385:Daily World
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133:Nationality
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518:August 16,
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393:References
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43:. Please
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36:orphan
34:is an
318:World
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520:2021
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