This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: marcenath Surnames: Fordham Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newmexico.counties.donaana/4967/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Former Herald pressman Don Fordham dies Served with Navajo Code Talkers during WWII The Monterey County Herald Herald Staff Report Posted: 09/15/2010 06:31:27 AM PDT Don Fordham, a longtime production manager and press foreman at The Herald, died Monday after a lengthy illness. He was 89. Mr. Fordham was born May 13, 1921, in Colorado and came to work at the Monterey Peninsula Herald in 1953, when the newspaper was located at Washington and Pearl streets in downtown Monterey. He started his career as a pressman apprentice in 1938 at the Santa Fe New Mexican, but his career was interrupted in 1941 when he went into the U.S. Marine Corps after the start of World War II. He saw service in the South Pacific, including the landing at Guadalcanal, and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of gunnery sergeant. Because he had been raised with Navajos, Mr. Fordham was assigned during the war to work with the storied Navajo Code Talkers, a group that transmitted secret communication on the battlefields that the Japanese could not break. After working in the circulation departments of the New Mexican and the Las Vegas Review Journal, he returned to pressroom work at the Twin Falls Times-News in Idaho. He became press foreman at The Herald in 1970, after the plant had been relocated to Pacific and Jefferson streets. Three years later, he was named pressroom superintendent, and in 1985 he was promoted to production manager in charge of the pressroom, composing room and engraving department. In 1985, he began the search for a new press and settled on the flexography model still being used. The press was considered revolutionary at the time in that it uses a water-based ink that is environmentally superior. Mr. Fordham retired from The Herald in 1991. Mr. Fordham's son, Jim, said his father worked for a period as a guide at the Grand Canyon to recover from a serious bout with malaria he picked up during the war. "He liked (being a guide) a lot and seriously considered becoming a forest ranger," Jim Fordham said. "But he went back to the New Mexican. "Newspapers. It was his calling." In addition to his son, Mr. Fordham is survived by his wife of 49 years, June; a daughter, Linda Myers; and three grandchildren. Memorial services are pending. The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society or to Hospice of the Central Coast. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.