MIDWESTERN TRANSPLANT DOESN'T MIND BEING TYPE-CAST.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior columnist

Harold Van Dyne is a laid back, well adjusted, spiritual kind of guy. Those admirable traits stood the test of a daily commute for 18-1/2 years to a job in the Los Angeles area.

He was 21 years old when he brought his teen-age bride, the former Janice (pronounced Ja-neece) Lanham, to Lancaster from the Midwest in 1957 and went to work for a newspaper using the typesetting skills he learned in high school in Kansas.

``We had only been married a few days when we got here,'' he said. ``Harold Busch, shop foreman of the Ledger-Gazette, hired me as a Linotype operator right away after he tried me out on one of the machines. But I didn't go to work for about a week so that it wouldn't ruin our honeymoon.''

It wasn't long before Janice's parents moved from their Kansas home to San Pedro and the young couple decided to move closer to them.

``We were running down there all the time, anyway, so in June of 1960 I left the Ledger and took a job in Long Beach with United Topographers,'' he said. ``In late 1962 we came back up here, and I went back to the Ledger. I found out I didn't like working and living in the big city.''

For 12 more years he set type at the paper and moonlighted part time for Jerry Bigalk at Printing Service Center. From 1974 to 1979 he worked full time for Bigalk.

He began the big commute in 1979 when he took a job with Bowne of Los Angeles Inc. Until 1984 he set the hot lead of the Linotype, but then Bowne had to modernize to remain competitive in the printing market.

When they converted to electronic typesetting, Van Dyne had to learn to type in order to keep his job, since the Linotype keyboard differed from the typewriter keyboard used by the new electronic typesetters.

``On the Linotype you have six rows with the most often-used keys in a readily accessible position from top to bottom,'' he said. ``A conventional keyboard works mostly from left to right.''

``I was pretty confident of my ability on the Linotype, but I had never learned to type,'' he said. ``The company sent me to school, but I thought I'd never get used to it. It was hard.''

The hours he worked made his years of commuting more bearable.

``I always worked the third shift - from midnight on,'' he said. ``I didn't mind the drive because I used it as a quiet time, to pray, or listen to my religious tapes going down and radio coming home.''

He shook his head.

``I think all that meditation, the fact I placed myself in God's hands, kept me from having any accidents in all those years. I thank him for that,'' Van Dyne said.

In five years, from 1979 to 1984, he put 165,000 miles on a 1966 Mustang, then he got a Sprint.

``From 1984 until I retired last October, I put 471,000 miles on that car, and I'm still driving it. For 300,000 of those miles I had two of the original tires,'' he said proudly. ``I think I'm finally going to have to get a new engine, though. Little things are beginning to happen to it. It's starting to use oil.''

Janice was a few days shy of her 17th birthday when she and Harold were married, so when they came to Lancaster she hadn't finished school yet. She enrolled for her senior year in high school at Antelope Valley Union High School and got her diploma in 1958.

``She was three months pregnant with our first son, Mike, when she graduated,'' said Van Dyne. ``Our second boy, Brad, was born while we were living in San Pedro. Both boys and their families still live in Lancaster.''

After her graduation she worked as secretary to the administrator at Antelope Valley Hospital for a time, then went to work for Dr. Frank Schwartz, an ophthalmologist.

In 1969, after Brad was born, she began working part time at the Lancaster Assembly of God church. It wasn't long before she went full time and she is still a member of the church office staff.

Van Dyne serves on the church board of deacons and has for years sung bass in the choir.

At 62, still on the young side of the seniors scale, Van Dyne is taking retirement in his stride. Since October he's been relaxing some and taking care of personal business, like putting some rentals they own up for sale.

He also gardens, works at old car restoration and cooks.

``Janice tells me what she has in mind for dinner, how to do it, and I have it fixed when she gets home from work.''

He is proud of their lush back yard with its fountain that spills into a stone-edged cement pool and its brick-rimmed in-ground fire pit.

In the garage he has a classic red Mustang that was owned by Janice's parents.

``It has low mileage but it's been sitting around unused for a while so the engine needs work,'' he said. ``I'm getting ready to do that.''

Last August they bought a motor home and plan to travel.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for the suggested congregate donation of $2.

Monday: Macaroni and cheese with ham, mixed vegetables, garden salad, pineapple, juice.

Tuesday: Crispy chicken, baked potato, beets, tossed salad, pudding.

Wednesday: Braised beef with noodles, green beans, coleslaw, cake.

Thursday: Turkey with gravy, herb dressing, squash, lettuce and tomato salad, juice, pears.

Friday: Roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, carrot and raisin salad, banana.

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Photo

PHOTO Harold Van Dyne of Lancaster, who recently retired after a career as a Linotype operator and electronic typesetter, is now enjoying gardening, working on old cars and cooking.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News