Melvold, Robert T.

MELVOLD, THOMSON, ELWOOD, BROWN, SOHL, PESETSKY

Posted By: Carol (email)
Date: 11/11/2005 at 10:51:39

Robert T. Melvold, 87, of Maquoketa, Iowa, died Friday night, Oct. 28, 2005, in the extended care unit of Jackson County Public Hospital in Maquoketa of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
A memorial service will be 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at First Lutheran Church in Maquoketa. Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at the church and from 9:30 a.m. to service time Friday, also at the church. In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to science at the University of Iowa Medical School.
Robert Thomson Melvold was born Aug. 22, 1918, in Cresco, to Clarence Melvold and Mae Thomson Melvold.
He graduated from Cresco High School in 1936. He attended Luther College in Decorah for one year, then transferred to the University of Iowa, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism in 1940.
After receiving his degree he entered the U.S. Navy's V-7 officer training program in July 1940. He spent the following five years in the Navy, most of that time in the Pacific Theater of World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant commander during the latter stages of the war and commanded his own ship with the landing forces on Okinawa and in the occupation of Japan.
On Feb. 18, 1944, he married Frances Dale Elwood of Cresco at the U.S. Naval base in New Orleans.
On May 1, 1946, he and Frances purchased the Maquoketa Community Press, one of two weekly newspapers serving Maquoketa at the time. He purchased the competing Jackson Sentinel on Jan. 1, 1952, and consolidated them into one semiweekly newspaper, the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press. He represented only the third family to publish the Sentinel since its founding as one of Iowa's oldest newspapers in 1854.
In 1954, he purchased the DeWitt Observer, which he and Frances currently co-owned.
In 1968, he and his business partner in DeWitt, Bob Parrott, co-founded the North Scott Press at Eldridge. He had since sold his interest to the present publishers, Bill and Linda Tubbs.
He also formerly owned the Galena, Ill., Gazette and the Bellevue Herald-Leader. He also founded Eastern Iowa Printing Co., later Tri-State Graphics.
He retired as publisher of the Sentinel-Press in February 1987, but remained active in the business. He continued to write his weekly column, "Random Observations," until his death.
In 1970, he received the Master Editor-Publisher Award from the Iowa Newspaper Association, the highest honor given by that organization of his peers. His newspapers won many state and national awards for news coverage, commentary, advertising and community service.
He was a member of the Maquoketa Rotary Club, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow and a past president. He served several years as chairman of the Industrial Development Commission that brought about the city's present industrial park. He had a strong interest in American history, particularly the Civil War era. He enjoyed fishing, golf and bridge.
He was a lifelong advocate for freedom of the press and for conservation causes.
Survivors include his wife; three sons, Douglas, John (and Mary McAllister) and R.B. (and Beth), all of Maquoketa; three daughters, Miriam (Mrs. Bill) Brown and Annette (Mrs. Kelvin) Sohl, both of Maquoketa, and Janis (Mrs. David Pesetsky) Melvold, of Lexington, Mass.; and eight grandchildren.He was preceded in death by his parents, his stepmother, Regina Melvold, and one brother, John, in infancy.
Memorials may be made to the Maquoketa Area Community Foundation.
Published in the Quad-City Times on 11/3/2005.