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COLERIDGE — Before Vance Viergutz was able to buy the Randolph Times in 1960, he first had to find a dedicated, caring person to take over for him at the Coleridge Blade newspaper.
Viergutz, who had owned and operated the Blade for 13 years, found just the person he was looking for in Bob Yost.
Yost had worked for Viergutz in high school. It was easy to see his love for printing and the newspaper business.
Yes, Bob Yost was the perfect person to take over the Coleridge Blade.
For generations of Cedar County newspaper readers, the Coleridge Blade didn’t just arrive each week — it showed up, steady and reliable, because Bob Yost made sure it did.
Yost, who spent a lifetime in the newspaper and printing business, died Dec. 14 at the age of 89.
His passing marks the end of an era for Coleridge and for anyone who ever waited on ink-stained pages to tell the town’s story.
Former Coleridge Blade Editor Alisha Stone said Yost was the epitome of a small town newspaper man.
“Such a genuine man - Bob was a great mentor, teacher, historian and most importantly, friend,” Stone said. “ I wish I would have written down all of the wonderful knowledge of Coleridge that he shared with me over the years. He was always deeply respected in our community and he will be sorely missed,’’ A 1953 graduate of Coleridge High School, Yost got his start the old-fashioned way in the early 1950s, sweeping floors, learning type and earning his keep as a printer’s devil before moving up to fulltime printer under Vance Viergutz at the Coleridge Blade.
It was hands-on work — long hours, heavy presses and little room for mistakes — but it was work Yost took pride in.
When Viergutz purchased the Randolph Times in December 1959 from long time publisher Stanley Norris, Yost came back to his hometown from a newspaper job in Lexington to buy the Blade.
Yost didn’t just buy a newspaper. He took on the responsibility of making sure birthdays were printed right, ads ran on time, photos looked sharp and the community saw itself reflected honestly in print.
Alongside his wife, Beth, Yost poured himself into the Blade. The couple sold the paper in January 1978 to Don and Pearl Johnson of the Cedar County News, only to buy it back less than a year later. It was a move that spoke volumes about how hard it was for Yost to let go of the press, the deadlines and the weekly rhythm of newspaper life.
The Yosts continued publishing the Blade until selling it in 2002 to Rhonda Leapley.
Through the years, Yost earned a reputation for top-notch printing, sharp photography and his familiar “Two Bits from Bob” column — a regular stop for readers who appreciated his straightforward, hometown perspective. He was the kind of publisher who noticed the details and cared deeply about getting them right.
In 2002, Yost was honored by the Nebraska Press Association as a Golden Pica Pole recipient, an award recognizing more than 50 years in the newspaper business. For those who knew him, it was a fitting tribute to a man who understood that a good newspaper didn’t happen by accident — it happened because someone was willing to put in the work, week after week.
For Coleridge, Bob Yost wasn’t just a publisher or printer. He was part of the machinery that kept the town connected and informed.
