Donald W. Stone

Donald Ward Stone, retired recording secretary of the former Graphic Arts International Union, died Aug. 1 in Springfield, Va., of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 93.

GCIU Secy.-Treas. Gerald Deneau said Stone's "dedicated and long-time activism always worked to move the union forward. He struggled to make a living during the Depression and never forgot the hardships faced by millions of Americans during that time. He was a progressive thinker who cared about people and dedicated his career to strengthening the union and helping its members."

Born near Downing, Wis., Stone said he "was more interested in books than in beans or buttermilk" and chose to leave the family farm to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison. While studying journalism, then speech and English, he worked his way through school at a local veteran's hospital. He set up a small printing operation in the hospital for occupational therapy for the patients and became editor of the small weekly paper printed at the hospital shop.

He was laid off from the hospital, and Stone described his experience looking for work in 1932. He and a friend bought a used Model T pick-up truck for $15 and "started out to find work. We went first to Le Sueur, Minn., where they were busy canning peas and other vegetables. We found long lines of hungry job seekers there ahead of us. Then we drove to golf courses in Wisconsin, hoping for jobs as caddies, and found the same story. I went to Akron, Ohio, where relatives had some influence with the Goodyear Rubber Co. Again, we found long lines that might have been very hostile to the use of influence if it had been tried."

Stone returned to Madison and school and worked on the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, and in a photographic studio, where he used a 24-inch gallery camera with a halftone screen holder to make plates for the Wisconsin State Journal plant. In that job, he learned the new craft of stripping film to plates.

After graduation in 1935, Stone went to work at the Badger Printing Co. in Appleton, Wis., as a stripper earning 40 cents an hour.

Stone joined Local 7 of the Amalgamated Lithographers Union in 1940 when he took a job at the E.F. Schmidt Co., a union shop in Milwaukee with a reputation for high quality and good wages. He was elected local secretary. During World War II, Stone said, he worked in "specially equipped shops making maps for the troops."

Stone won an election for ALA editor and moved to the union's headquarters in New York City in 1946. In 1956, Stone was elected secretary-treasurer of the ALA.

After helping to complete the merger with the International Photo Engravers Union (IPEU)in 1964, Stone became financial secretary of the new Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union (LPIU).

In 1971, the LPIU merged with the Bookbinders to form the Graphic Arts International Union, and Stone became recording secretary of the new GAIU. Stone moved to the union's Washington headquarters, where he stayed in the post until his retirement in 1976.

On his retirement, Stone received a special honor for his contributions during his service on the board of governors of the Allied Printing Trades Council.

After retirement, Stone said, "idleness was not an option. I quickly learned that there were many opportunities for useful and rewarding voluntary service among retired seniors. They were and are badly in need of political influence themselves as voters or as an organized group."

Stone became active with the National Capital Area Trade Union Retirees. He served as an officer of the Friendship United Methodist Church in Falls Church. He was organizing president of the Lincolnia Senior Center of Fairfax County; secretary-treasurer of the Virginia State Council of Senior Citizens; a volunteer at Inova Fairfax Hospital; and a member of the Virginia Governor's Board of Aging, for which he received a special commendation for eight years of service from former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder.

Stone's first wife, Laura Severson Stone, died in 1980.

Survivors include his wife of 21 years Rebecca Martin Stone; daughters from his first marriage Sylvia Rae Schoff, the Rev. Donna Joy Schmid, and Patricia J. Sulzbach and sons Kenneth and Laurence; stepdaughters Ann Tatum Cleveland and Mary Tatum McLaughlin; 11 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

The family said memorial contributions may be made to the Friendship United Methodist Church, 3527 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042.