Geistweidt retires after 50 years at the Standard

Fredericksburg lost an important steward of the town’s history when Sherrie Geistweidt, an employee of Fredericksburg Publishing Company for just over 50 years, retired from her storied career.

Geistweidt wrote the column “50 Years Ago in the Standard.” She previously wrote a once-per-month personal column called “Time Pieces” filled with historical and humorous memories and anecdotes from her life growing up on land near the Doss area in northern Gillespie County.

During her half century of service, she has served as head of bookkeeping and printing, obituaries editor, columnist, historian and proofreader. She also checked for style and design formats, as well as kept up with some circulation duties.

“She is a behind-the-scenes player who helps our newspaper be a better publication, one of the top weeklies in the state,” said Ken Esten Cooke, publisher. “She’s like the ultimate utility player who can help in any position.”

Geistweidt began her career with “PubCo” while she was still a 16-year-old student at Fredericksburg High School. She learned the craft of community journalism working under former Publisher Art Kowert and his wife Elise, and, later, under Terry and Cathy Collier, the latter of whom had been her high school journalism instructor.

“It’s difficult to adequately sum up a career of 50 years – all with the same company (which is rare these days). But Sherrie Geistweidt is a hard act to follow in any line of work,” former publisher Terry Collier said. “We had a strong notion from the start when she joined the staff of the Standard-Radio Post that she would prove to be a keeper in large part because she had already proven herself as a very good editor of the Campus Comet newspaper at FHS.

“Ultimately, her responsibilities with the paper grew to the point that she became our proofreader, largely because she had an acute knack for checking facts, spelling, style and all else pertaining to accurate, quality news writing and advertising,” Collier added. “In short, Sherrie kept the rest of us out of trouble (most of the time — our fault — not hers) because she knew just about everybody in the county and especially who was related to whom.” 

“As a person and as a journalist, she is ‘rock solid.’ For decades in her role as copy editor and obituary writer she literally read every word that was in each week’s issue,” Cathy Collier said. “Her institutional knowledge of ‘old Fredericksburg’ was legendary. One time we jokingly made little bracelets that said, ‘WWSD’ — What Would Sherrie Do — and that was always good advice.” 

Geistweidt worked through several eras of the newspaper industry, coming on board as the “hot type” era gave way to offset printing, using wax paper and pasting on a sheet to lay out to the digital world working with word processing and design software.

Geistweidt also tutored newsroom rookies on news operations and style, along with coaching about local family names and history.

“She was really a repository of information, and that’s something every newspaper should be so fortunate to have,” Cooke said. 

Geistweidt contributed in some way to most every award won by the Standard-Radio Post during her tenure, whether it was for editing, proofreading or layout.

“She was also very good with customers and had that hometown knowledge and personal touch that is such an asset. She was also just a joy to have in the newsroom — she had a great work ethic but was also funny and her recall is just amazing,” Cooke said. “We’ll miss her immensely, but we wish her nothing but the best in her retirement.” 

“Always punctual in starting the workday (“I’ll see you at 7:52” was her mantra at the end of every workday — and she did), Sherrie soon added circulation manager to her roster of newspaper staff duties as she made weaving through the weekly maize of postal regulations, home delivery staffing and newsstand distribution challenges look easy,” Collier said. “Through all that, among the more subtle assets which, I believe, made her essential was her knack of getting along with all of us — even when our ‘rascal’ side sometimes came out. Geistweidt also believed in the importance of community journalism. “Newspapers are the recorded history of our community,” Geistweidt said. “If we’re not here to do this, who will? It’s up to us to carry the traditions forward. We are the ones who tell the community it’s not Lady Bird Park, it’s called Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park.” 

Geistweidt has no definite plans but will no doubt stay busy with her church newsletter work, sewing projects and cooking.

This article was originally published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Fredericksburg Standard.