Howard Gisi no longer delivers the Daily Gazette the way he did whn he was a teenager, but he can still remember what it was like back in the 1930s.
"I delivered 100 newspapers on the west side of Sterling," said Gisi; who delivered when he was 15 and 16 years old. "Newspaper routes were much larger then, not like the ones you have today with only 25 customers. And I walked mine. It wasn't a motor route."
For Gisi, the newspaper route was like a small business. He looked for new customers and collected from those to whom he delivered. His route was around West Seventh and Eighth streets and went to Avenue K. When he was a carrier, nearly everyone got a paper.
There were some people who couldn't afford to get the paper, according to Gisi. "I liked delivering the paper, but I didn't like collecting," said Gisi. "if~ you couldn't collect the money, you didn't get paid,"
Collection didn't always go as well as he would like. Some people were more difficult to collect from than others.
"There are still some people who owe me money," said Gisi. "Most of them are gone now.
Gisi made enough money trom delivering the newspaper that he was able to buy a car, a Model A Ford.
"I delivered newspapers when it was really cold and back then it got cold," said Gisi. "I delivered newspapers when it was minus 25 degrees (Fahrenheit). That was the coldest I ever delivered papers in." Delivering newspapers allowed Gisi to get to know the neighborhood well. On cold days, some customers invited him in to warm up"
"Some,of them would invite me in and give me some hot tea of coffee to help me warm up," said Gisi. "It really helped on those cold days."
As a carrier, Gisi would occasionally pick up a few odd jobs from his customers. He also remembers getting a few treats around Christmas. Sometimes I would get some cookies," said.Gisi.
Just like today newspaper carriers back in the 1930s were given extra incentives for signing up a new customer. "When a house emptied, I was sure to check to see if the new people who moved in wanted to get the paper," said Gisi. "I could get 15 cents for a new customer."
When he sold his Model A Ford, he sold it to a friend who didn't have enough money to pay for it all at once. "He gave me $25 for a down payment on the car and never saw him or the car again," said Gisi.
After delivering newspapers, Gisi went on to work for a service station, and later he drove a city bus in Sterling. At one time there were six city buses in Sterling, according to Gisi. "I met my wife driving a city bus," said Gisi. "I like to tell people that I picked my wife up on the street corner." His wife, Shirley, is quick to tell people she was a passenger on the bus he was driving. "I was from Rock Falls and he was from Sterling and we would bet on the football games," said Shirley. "Rock Falls High School had good football teams back then." The two have been married for 59 years. After working as a bus driver, Gisi drove a truck for 43 years. When he retired, he was a driver for Jewell Foods. But his first job was delivering the Daily Gazette.
Sterling Daily Gazette by Greg SMith SVN News Reporter February 2005
