By: Jessica O’Connor
Bernie Gahagan, of Walterboro’s Gahagan Print Shop, has spent most of his adult life working in the printing business, and hopes to help old customers for a while into the future.
In fact, Gahagan got his foot in the door of the industry when he began working for The Press and Standard in 1967. He laughingly reminisced that former editor, Katrina, was selling newspapers out of the back door at 12 years old when he became part of the team.
The paper’s former head pressman credits his apprenticeship with Ed Barbour for teaching him everything he knows about the business of printing. This knowledge, paired with Gahagan’s quick thinking, led him to “save the day” once when a belt malfunctioned on the press ahead of a looming deadline.
“I put an electric motor up on stilts to make a long belt work,” he recounted. “I saved the day, because they didn’t want to miss a deadline-they had never missed one.”
In 1972, Gahagan began printing in the back of his home on Hampton Street. With the help of Hal Dean, Scott Dean, Marion Fox, Vernon Drew, T.K. Campbell Jr.(electric wiring), Wayne Mutzabaugh (built the pressroom), and other extended family, he eventually rebuilt the building on Carn Street that would become Gahagan Print Shop’s permanent home.
“When I got the two front offices ready, people just started walking in, and the business started,” he said. “Kathryn Snead sent work from an auto dealership. Sy Padgett sent work from the school system. We printed for most everybody in Walterboro for 50 years.”
The entire Gahagan family helped run the business, including Bernie’s wife Jeannine who set type and kept books, his children, who grew up in the shop, and his mother who proof-read and gave advice.
Sister, Avis Finley and her husband, Robert and their daughter Kathleen helped get it all started. Their son, Bob helped train people to run the presses.
Cousins Hugh and Mildred Guess loaned trucks to help move equipment. Their son, Huey, helped move a press from Orangeburg, and daughter Alison babysat for us.
“Many cousins helped with putting books together around the dining room table-I paid them with hamburgers,” Gahagan laughed. Mr. Greg Knight was also a fixture in the shop for 32 years, manning the front counter. Mildred Drew (darkroom), Susan Irvin, Shirley Galloway, Charlotte Ware, Beth Fox Surratt, Sami Fender, Paula Drew Mutzabaugh, and Wayne Shell all did their part and we had a good time working together.
After 50 years of printing job work (envelopes, letterheads, file folders, forms, etc.) for many businesses in Walterboro, Gahagan Print Shop was lost to a fire on August 11, 2022. The cause was undetermined, but suspected to be due to lightning.
“Everybody worked hard to try to stop the fire,” Gahagan recalled. “I’m very grateful for that. I’ve had numerous well-wishers call and come by, and I’m very happy that people remember us. I’ve dealt with 2 or 3 generations of customers in 50 years. I started off working for the father, then the son took over-then other children in the family.”
“It was a great privilege to print for the people of Walterboro and Colleton County all these years,” Gahagan emphasized. “My wife and I are very pleased to have such loyal customers.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Gahagan family with the demolition of the print shop and living expenses. Those interested in donating may do so at https://www.gofundme.com/f/bernie-jeannine-gahagan-fire-recovery?qid=b9ebd9eac5890d9d46eae6807084ce8c or https://tinyurl.com/n5ze8nb6 .
Friends and community members are also in the process of organizing a fundraiser for Bernie and Jeannine Gahagan at the Walterboro Farmer’s Market on October 1, 2022. There will be more details to come about this event at a later date.
The Gahagan family is thankful for the many years of support shown to their business by the people of Colleton County.
