When told, in 1968, that only a man could handle the messy business of printing news, Jeraldine Lafromboise became that man.
“Call me J.R. from now on if you have to,” Lafromboise told the board of trustees that governed her recently-deceased husband’s newspaper group, which included The Daily Chronicle (in Centralia) and the Aberdeen Daily World.
Though the board members protested — a schoolteacher pregnant with her second child really wasn’t fit to run a paper, they said — Lafromboise would hear nothing of selling the family business. Instead, she became the publishing company’s president and chairman of the board — and an expert in newspapers.
“She immersed herself in the business and surrounded herself with people who knew what they were doing,” her daughter Jenifer recalled. “That was my mom. No one was going to tell her what to do.”
On Dec. 28, 2012, Jeraldine Royce Loomis Lafromboise, owner of The Chronicle for the last 56 years, died. She was 79.
Friends and family remember “Jeri” as smart, kind and fun loving; a businesswoman who was “fiercely private” in her dealings but who adored her employees and wasn’t afraid to take chances for them.
Born Dec. 14, 1933 in Hoquiam to Jennie Loomis Meade and Roy Loomis, Lafromboise spent most of her youth in Auburn. After graduating from Auburn High School in 1951, she attended the University of Washington where she was a cheerleader and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. In 1955, Lafromboise became the university’s homecoming queen, graduated with a degree in education and married the love of her life, Richard.
The newlyweds settled in California where Richard served in the Air Force and Lafromboise taught elementary school. Upon Richard’s retirement from military service, the couple moved to Olympia. There, Lafromboise gave birth to Rick, her first child.
In 1965, the family moved to Seattle, and in 1968, Richard purchased the Centralia Daily Chronicle, the third newspaper in his publishing group which already included the Aberdeen Daily World and Redding, Calif.-based Red Bluff Daily News.
Only months after purchasing the Chronicle, Richard died and Lafromboise took over her husband’s newspapers. In 1969, she gave birth to her second child, Jenifer.
As a newspaper woman, Lafromboise remained dedicated to her husband’s vision.
“Local, local, local,” daughter Jenifer described her parents’ focus.
Born and raised in a small town, Lafromboise instinctively understood the dynamics and needs of small communities.
“She knew how important newspapers were,” Jenifer said. “How a newspaper could link people together, how people relied on their newspaper for information about their community.”
As Lafromboise grew older, and the business of news changed, she encouraged her employees to embrace technology and take chances.
“If someone had a new, quirky idea, she’d say: try that, go with that,” Jenifer recalled.
Even if the idea didn’t pan out — as with Lewis County Buzz, The Chronicle’s now-defunct social networking site — Lafromboise valued the gumption of creative risks.
“She was proud of the fact that we tried. We put ourselves out there, opened up different doors,” her daughter said.
Lafromboise knew that to survive, The Chronicle must stay relevant.
“As a 70-plus-old woman, it was hard for her to wrap her mind around websites and social media,” Jenifer said. “She didn’t always know how we would do it, but she knew we needed to do it.”
Jenifer Lafromboise, 43, will assume ownership of the paper. She took over as chairman of the board when her mother retired from the role in early 2012.
The new owner of The Chronicle, the Chronicle Print Division, the Reflector, the Nisqually Valley News, Southwest Washington Family magazine and Sign Pro says she does not anticipate any drastic changes.
“I believe that the best way to honor both my mother and father is to keep on moving forward with the pride and determination, that they both encompassed,” Jenifer said. “I have faith in the people who work for us; we want to evolve with the times and do what we need to do to deliver a quality product for our community.”
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