J. Richard “Dick” Vernon

The founder of Minuteman Press will be remembered as a talented musician and entrepreneur, after dying Tuesday at his home.

After graduating Butler High School in 1951, J. Richard “Dick” Vernon found work as an electrician for West Penn Power. But there was something about printing that he liked, according to his wife, Danna Vernon.

“He said the reason printing interested him was that when he was younger, his mother gave him a little printing press,” she said.

Dick Vernon gained experience in the business by taking a job printing forms and office supplies for Butler Memorial Hospital before he and his wife started a small printing business in their basement.

“We ran the business in our home for a few years,” Danna Vernon said. “We did letterpress in the beginning.”

She said her husband later entertained and pitched her the idea of starting a franchise location for Minuteman Press.

In 1989, the couple made his idea into a reality, and ran the company for six years. In 1995, they sold the company to their son, Dan Vernon.

Outside of his business, Dick Vernon enjoyed CB radios and music. He founded clubs focused on those hobbies, including the CB Rangers and the Tri-State Country Music Association.

Danna Vernon said music had always been a part of their lives. She said her husband started playing the bass, then went on to learn guitar and later found a niche as a steel guitarist. She learned to sing.

“We are traditional country music,” she said.

Dick Vernon played backup for various bands, and his skill was well-known locally and to some around the country.

Danna Vernon said she and her children still remember Vernon being part of big jam sessions on a local farm that would bring hundreds of people together.

“The kids described it as the Woodstock of country music,” Danna Vernon said.

The couple recorded a song together called, “We Could,” and it was his wish that the song would be played last at his funeral.

“It's a love song, between Dick and I,” Danna Vernon said. “No matter what, he wanted that song played for he and I.”

Dick Vernon inspired future generations of country musicians by pairing his musical talent with an entrepreneurial spirit and a unique sense of humor.

“He just loved to make people happy, and that was his life,” she said.

Danna Vernon said her husband loved to make people laugh. He carried around a little wallet filled with small business cards, each of them different from the other with one exception. Instead of contact information, each card says, “My Card” on it. Sometimes the joke went on.

“He would say, do you have my other card, and then he would pull out a card that said “other card,” she said.

She said many people have told her they were inspired by her husband, or had their spirits brightened by his personality.

“A lot of it was music,” she said. “(And,) a lot of it was his sense of humor and making people laugh.”