The staff of a century-old newspaper was left to put out the weekly edition on their own Tuesday after the editor and publisher died unexpectedly.
Steven R. Wallis, 52, suffered a pulmonary embolism at about 5:25 a.m. when he had gone outside to start his vehicle Tuesday, his wife, Tamara Wallis, told the Deseret Morning News. He was taken to Ashley Valley Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
"The newspaper business is always stressful, but he never showed the stress," said Patty John, the sole proofreader for the Vernal Express.
There had been rumors that talks of the paper being sold to the competition had invoked an undue amount of stress on Wallis.
"I know he told them no, and that was in August," John said.
John said emotions always ran high for the staff of 10 on Tuesdays, which is deadline day. This Tuesday, she said, was particularly bad for them.
"Steve was the only one who knew how to use the program we use to get the paper out," she said.
Because of that, the Vernal Express was expected to be published a day later than usual this week, with the help of a neighboring city's printing press.
The edition will be complete with a front-page tribute to Wallis, who also owned the paper.
"This one's definitely different," John said. "It'll be special to us because of the circumstances."
The Vernal Express, originally named the Uintah Pappoose, began in 1891. The Wallis family's involvement with the Express began in 1917 when Steve Wallis' great-grandfather, James H. Wallis, took over management of the 5,300-circulation paper. James H. Wallis and his son, William B. Wallis, are both members of the Utah Newspaper Hall of Fame. Jack R. Wallis, Steve Wallis' father, passed away in February 2003 after serving as editor and publisher for 31 years.
John said it was the current publisher's wish to keep the paper in the family for at least an entire century.
"I haven't heard of any plans to change ownership yet," she said.
Tamara Wallis, a nurse by trade, said she doesn't know how to run a newspaper, but for the time being will keep it in the family because "it was everything to him. It was his whole life."
"He was a kind and gentle man, and his family will miss him," she said.
Wallis leaves behind five children, ages 15 to 26.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com