Muskegon Alum Eyes Retirement

IN A WAY, Pete Hoekema’s career has been book-ended by IN-PLANT GRAPHICS magazine.

In a 1975 article, we caught him at the beginning of his career, when he was a printing manager at the Foremost Insurance in-plant, overseeing 14 employees and dreaming of expanding into color printing. Today, after 30+ years as graphics manager at Muskegon Community College, Hoekema is looking forward to his retirement in December.

“It’s been great,” he says of his career, almost all of which has been spent in the former logging community of Muskegon, Mich., along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Hoekema was born not far from there, in fact, and attended a local college for a year before resolving to pursue his childhood dream.

“I decided I wanted to follow one of my passions as a kid, which was to draw pictures,” says Hoekema, a tall, amiable man with a deep voice. “I was going to be a commercial artist.”

In 1967 he enrolled in the graphic arts program at Muskegon Community College, but the following year, he had to take time off to earn money. His timing brought complications.

“I took a semester off, lost my deferment and got drafted,” he says. He spent two years in the military, including 101⁄2 months in Vietnam.

Before going overseas, Hoekema got married. On his return, he and his wife Marilynn moved near her family in Palm Beach, Fla., where he tried to resume his graphic arts studies. The program there was not what he expected. So they returned to Michigan, where he finished his second year at Muskegon Community College.

Soon after that he was hired by Foremost Insurance, based in Grand Rapids. Within six months he was promoted from the stripping department to supervisor. Six months after that he was assistant manager.

“I learned more in four years there than I could ever have possibly learned at a school,” he says, adding that he intended to get his bachelors degree, “but it has never happened.”

Hoekema kept in touch with his instructor at MCC, and when he heard the school needed a new shop manager, he applied. He got the job.

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In February 1976 he started work. One month later he got his pink slip. The college had decided its graphics program—split into instruction and production departments—was too expensive. So Hoekema talked with the instructors and suggested they team up, letting students work on live jobs in the in-plant. The plan was approved.

After that initial excitement, life at the shop stayed fairly calm through the ’70s and ’80s. Hoekema not only managed the in-plant, watched the budget and bought supplies, he handled design, as well. He designed the school’s logo, which is still in use, and has created a lot of original artwork over the years.

In 1994, the in-plant moved into a new facility, which Hoekema helped design. Joining the other equipment there was a new Xerox DocuTech 90. Not long after that, the cameras were replaced by scanners and image­setters.

Hoekema was always on the lookout for new services to offer, so when the college’s sign painter retired, “we assumed the sign duties, purchased a vinyl cutter and started making signs,” he says. This led to a class on vinyl cutting.

Four years ago, the shop added a 44˝ Epson 10000 wide-format ink-jet printer to bring in poster work.

Hoekema acknowledges it is tough running an in-plant with just two full-time staff, one part-timer and seven student workers.

“You have to work around their class schedules, so it’s a real challenge,” he says. He is proud, though, that the shop has succeeded and has a good reputation on campus.

Though Hoekema was a heavy supporter of the IPMA in the ’70s, and served as a chapter president, once the chapter dwindled, he found a new group to believe in: The Association of College and University Printers. He attended his first ACUP in 1989 and hasn’t missed one since.

When Hoekema retires in December, he plans to do some traveling with his wife. A father of two, with seven grandchildren, Hoekema is an avid bicyclist and enjoys woodworking and tinkering with a 1964 Corvair he keeps in his garage.

Clearly, though, he will leave with fond memories of his job.

“The nice thing about this job is that it’s never boring,” he says, an almost identical statement to one he made about printing in the 1975 article. “I still walk in the door with a smile on my face.” IPG