| Show UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Born March 1917 in Paris Idaho he wasson of Earl Bird and Catherine Wright Innes There in his hometown at the age of nine his newspaper career began when he becameprinterdevil at the weekly Paris Post published by John Wallis An oft-told family story relates that his duties included arriving early at the plant to buildfire in the wood-burning heating stove Paris citizen protested loudly when pickets began to disappear from his fence and the loss was traced to young Innes who collected one or two enroute to work each day because they burned well as tinder for the fire Early in his teens he began to operate the Linotype and continued to polish his printing skills while attending the areaFielding High School After graduating in 1935 he remained with the Post four years until asjourneyman typesetter he followed John Wallis to the Wasatch Wave in Heber City After the Wave changed ownership in 1942 Russ joinedcommercial printing firm in Salt Lake City -but on December 1943 with the nation engulfed in World War II he was inducted into the Army There he becameSgt Innes and spent 28 months on active duty with the 566th Quartermaster Corps He saw overseas service in the Rhineland and Central Europe and then inrelocation which involved onlysmall percentage of the armed forces was assigned to the Asiatic Pacific Theatre and served with occupation forces in Japan He was discharged on April 18 1946 Russ and Phebe Weston of Laketown Utah had married on August 18 1940 loan from her father John Weston added to his son-in-lawmustering out pay provided the capital needed to purchasehalf-interest in the Free Press on July 1946 At that time Lehinewspapers were involved in heated competition as they frequently had been during the previous three decades In 1946 the rivals were the Free Press and the Sun Earlier the Sun the Banner and the Rustler had all been adversaries In that prior journalistic duelling the Banner had elimi nated the Rustler and the Sun in turn had acquired the 562 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |
