LaVonne Meyer, Star publisher from 2003-'05, dies at age 84

Publisher of the New Richland Star from 2003 to 2005, LaVonne Meyer died this past week on Friday, March 21. She was 84 years old.

A brief “caretaker’” of the Star, lifelong New Richland resident LaVonne’s journalism career spanned nearly five decades. In 2003 when former longtime publisher Margaret Engesser officially retired, Meyer was the choice to take the reins.

In a 2022 interview with the Waseca County Pioneer, Meyer said she felt pressure to move forward with the paper’s 120-some-year legacy and do everything she could to help that legacy continue.

Meyer graduated from New Richland High School in 1959 and was hired by the Star in 1962. Referring to then-publisher Margaret Engesser, Meyer described being uncertain about a job with a newspaper. “When Margaret asked me to work at the Star, I said ‘No. No. No.’ But she said ‘Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.’”

Meyer remained on staff for decades, despite what most would consider a very rocky start. “My first assignment was reporting on a dead body,” she claimed. “There was a car accident out on Highway 13 and I had to go take a picture. Talk about getting ‘real’ real fast!”

Given the small staff and the many different tasks called for at a newspaper, Meyer became thoroughly acquainted with the day-to-day operation of the business—from the mundane to the sensational, working side by side with Engesser.

All this while she and her husband, Richard, raised their family, which included sons Brad and Bruce and daughter Brenda (now Dobberstein). She continued despite the sudden loss of her husband after 25 years of marriage—news of which she received while on the job at the paper.

During the late 1990s as Engesser gradually withdrew, Meyer stepped into her shoes bit by bit, observing that, “When you work for a newspaper, every day is the same, but different. You have to take the bad with the good.”

In 2003 when Engesser officially retired, Meyer was perhaps the only choice to continue forward, eventually buying the business for a token price. At that time, the paper was located in what is now the power and light building along New Richland’s main street. It had only two staff members, Meyer and production manager Reed Waller—an artist and 1967 New Richland High School graduate with New Richland roots, whom Meyer had known since he was, she claims, “three-and-a-half feet tall.” Waller had returned to the New Richland area in 2000 and was hired as a graphic designer by Engesser.

In addition to everything else, Engesser’s death shortly after her retirement and the subsequent liquidation of family assets gave the paper no choice but to find a new home.

Still, perhaps out of determination to keep the publication’s legacy alive, Meyer persevered.

In her time with the paper, it had gone from using lead linotype equipment and literally “pressing” its images to designing ads and pages using computers. Photography had gone from bulky, box-like cameras that used black-and-white film to stream-lined “point and shoot” units that didn’t need film at all. Bookkeeping had evolved from pencil and paper logbooks to computer spreadsheets.

“And ‘Poof!’ went 40 years,” she recalled. During her tenure, many workers came; nearly as many moved on. “Some people just aren’t cut out for this job,” she observed.

Speaking of longevity, Meyer claimed the Star owes its survival to Reed Waller as much as to herself, saying he “deserves to be recognized by the community” for his dedication and commitment.

Meyer said she considered herself very fortunate to have found a career in journalism, and took pride in all she was able to achieve and accomplish. But she revealed with a smile as wide as her ears that, when she sold the Star and retired at age 62, “It was a huge relief. A giant weight off my shoulders.”

In her words, the paper’s 2005 buyer, Jim Lutgens, “Wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Meyer’s love for New Richland and its neighboring communities was strong, as were her roots.

When she and Waller got together to be interviewed (in 2022), they laughed over and over again about their experiences with the operation of a small-town newspaper, and perhaps especially about the Engessers themselves. Although Margaret ran the Star for decades on her own, she had originally shared its daily operations with her husband, Emmett, who died in the 1970s.

Meyer’s parents were Jasper and Lola Hagen. Her three children gave her an extensive family which, she believed, included the Engessers. The families remained close. Meyer and Cheryl Engesser enjoyed lunch together at least once a month for many years until Meyer’s passing.

Meyer's message to young journalists out there, and really anyone was, "Follow your dreams. Follow your passion."

During the 2022 interview, Meyer extended a thank you to Star readers for their many years of support, patronage and kind words. "We couldn't have done it without you," she said.

“LaVonne, we couldn’t have done it without you,” Star Eagle Publisher Eli Lutgens concludes.

 

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