One last Friday the 13th for Russell

By Jeremiah Tucker, Sauk Prairie Eagle

Judging by the pictures that adorned the windows of Giegerich’s Sons, Inc. last week, the 54 years Henry Russell spent with the company were a long, strange trip.

There were pictures of Russell dressed as an old-fashioned gangster, a Mexican bandit, a hillbilly, a Viking, a jester and an American revolutionary.

They all were taken during the in-house printing company’s Friday the 13th celebrations of which Nov. 13th was Russell’s last as an employee.

“I decided to make Friday the 13th where we always have screwball stuff my retirement,” Russell said.

His actual last day will be near the end of the year, but he’s so associated with the Friday the 13th celebrations where the employees dress up in costumes and offer special deals, they decided to celebrate his retirement early.

“Henry’s the one who started it,” Jon Giegerich said of the 20-year-old Friday the 13th tradition. “He always came up with something weird for us to do.”

Around the shop on Park Avenue were mannequins dressed up to represent Russell’s past and future. One was dressed as a soldier to represent the three years he spent in the military – the only break he’s taken from Giegerich’s since he was hired in high school – and another mannequin was dressed as a fisherman.

“I’ll maybe do some travelling and fishing after that,” Russell said.

Russell eventually bought a portion of the business, which has been in the Giegerich family since Jon’s grandfather bought what was then the “Sauk County News” newspaper in 1899.

In 1959, the family transitioned the business into a commercial printing shop.

“I’m going to have to find a new press operator, but we hope to continue on in the same,” Jon said, adding that he suspects Russell will continue to stop by the store. “We’re going to miss him. He was a jack of all trades.”