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The Door Reminder: Six Decades of Tradition

Lon Kopitzke gently lifts old papers from a stack that spans generations. At the bottom of the pile is the first ever issue of the Door Reminder, founded by his father John in 1947. At the top, the last issue, printed by publishing giant Gannett in 2010. Between them lies six decades of industry changes, Door County history and traditions.

Len Villano, Door ReminderThat first issue, published by John Kopitzke in March 1947, comprised one 8.5” x 11” sheet and was sent to 600 people at a cost of one cent apiece. And the first issue of the Door Reminder, known to Door County residents at the end of its life for its expansive advertising and “shopper” style, had only one ad, run by John Kopitzke himself for the “Snack Shack” he owned. Lon’s father had tried his hand in the restaurant business, but when he made a trip back to New London, his former home and Lon’s birthplace, and saw its New London Reminder, he returned with $50 of printing equipment, including a mimeograph that would get the Door Reminder through its first four years. In 1950 John Kopitzke moved to a 10 x 14 offset press, and when Lon and his wife Ruth Ann bought it from his parents in 1975, they immediately farmed the Reminder’s printing out to Brown County Publishing in Denmark.

For the most part, though, the Reminder stuck to its shopper model. As ad prices increased with inflation over the decades (a full-page ad in the early 1950s cost $17.50; 50 years later it cost $800), Lon and Ruth Ann stuck to the Reminder’s traditions.

“We had no reason to change it,” Lon says, leaning back in a leather recliner in his living room, his head pressed into the thick cushion. “What we had was a proven winner.”

The Reminder’s most important tradition, however, was its deep ties to the Door County community. The Kopitzkes’ staff was never bigger than 20, but its interactions with local businesses and organizations reverberated from the base to the tip of the peninsula. And Lon and Ruth Ann put a concerted effort into doing what they felt was right, often offering free ads to non-profit organizations or charity benefits. There were tensions at times, but for the most part, the Reminder served as a friendly, welcome resource to both advertisers and readers throughout Lon and Ruth Ann’s ownership of it.

Gannett bought the publication in 2003, and the final issue of the Door Reminder was published September 7, 2010. But for Lon Kopitzke, holding a copy and thinking back over the decades, the Reminder was always his.

Calling Door County Home: 

Len Villano, Lon

Lon Kopitzke

Lon Kopitzke

By Carol Thompson

Lon Kopitzke has lived almost everywhere in Door County north of Sister Bay. From a restaurant and a farm house with a fishing pond to an old church and the current Clay Bay Pottery, Lon’s called them all “home.”

He’s working on another transition with his wife Ruth Ann to a home tucked into the woods in Gills Rock. As the Kopitzkes unpack boxes of Ziploc bags filled with family pictures, they look back on their life in the county.

Lon grew up learning the business of the Door Reminder. On Wednesday nights after school, his dad would take him and a carload of kids to Sturgeon Bay to pass out papers door to door.

On one Wednesday evening, Lon and his friend were making their way down Pennsylvania Avenue passing out papers. Lon’s dad was supposed to pick them up at the end of the street, but when they finished there was no dad in sight. It was winter and getting dark, so Lon and his friend sat on the sidewalk, waited and worried until his friend proposed an idea:  “Let us pray.”

“So we sat down and we prayed, ”Lon said. “ And by god, my dad showed up.”

Over the years as Lon grew up, the Door Reminder grew as well. In 1975, Lon and Ruth Ann bought the paper from Lon’s parents and moved it to the building behind the Piggly Wiggly in Sister Bay.

They ran the business in a way only a Door County couple can. They understood the local, seasonal economy, and were patient with advertisers short on cash in the slow winter months.

“If people ran up a bill you didn’t worry about it, because you knew they would pay up,” Ruth Ann said.

As the county grew and changed, the Kopitzkes recognized the importance of the swarms of visitors who fell in love with the area.

“Without the influx of people from outside we sure wouldn’t have all the extra things that Northern Door has,” Lon said. “Everything from the Peninsula Players to The Ridges Sanctuary, down through the years, has been initiated by people outside the area. It’s kind of unique that you find all these diverse activities in a rural area like this.”

After selling the business, the Kopitzkes have been learning to enjoy retirement. Although he said he’s never bored, Lon was astounded by the surplus of time he had without the Reminder and the occasional 3:00 am layout sessions.

So the Kopitzkes spend time with their daughter and four-year-old grandson. They take their camper on trips around the country and fly to horseback adventures in Ireland or to Alaska to see dogsled teams pull past the finish line of the Iditarod.

But they always return back to Northern Door, the place they’ve made home.

Photography by Len Villano.