Jason Keagle at Gnomon Copy: fit to print

Growing up in the heart of downtown Newfield, Gnomon Copy IT Manager Jason Keagle walked to school, rode bikes all over town “till the lights came on at night” and played touch football with friends. Newfield was a good place for raising kids and remains the centerpiece of Jason’s expanded family life all these years later.

In high school, Jason discovered technology.

“I remember learning to program Commodore ’64, just as Apple was first coming out,” he said. “PCs were introduced by IBM in 1981.”

The Vo Pro program at BOCES was then a “best-kept secret,” and Jason took it all in.

“My teacher Reginald Herzog was a life-changer,” he said. “We programmed in Basic, did design work for the just inaugurated DARE program [drug abuse resistance education for elementary, middle and high school kids] and learned how to input data in our tech classes.”

Few Ithacans realize that our Gnomon Copy, where Jason has worked since 1995, has two other stores in the U.S. Even fewer have any idea what the word “Gnomon” represents. The name of the triangle on a sundial is a gnomon, and that leaves unsolved what the meaning of Gnomon has to do with work done inside.

When longtime Ithaca owner Ed Enstine was looking for someone with computer expertise, Jason was the choice.

“When I joined Ed, the Adobe program was called Aldus PageMaker, soon to be refined to include Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign,” Jason said. “In those days, Gnomon processed lots of hard copies. At that time, computers and copiers had little interface and networking key components was a new field. When Adobe developed Acrobat, an early bridge became available for Macs and PCs to read and print documents.”

Jason said that Ed has been a “constant” in his career.

“A great influence, Ed has that special blend of giving and forgiving, which has enabled each of his longtime employees to develop their own expertise and to work well together,” Jason said. “This is real leadership. I’ve tried to follow his example and feel good about the leadership skills I have developed.”

While Jason is the techie guru at Gnomon, co-workers Deidre Heatherington, Greg Rapone and Frank Oliver have all been on board for many years.

Having reliable, talented staff has been essential for Gnomon Copy’s tenure and success. It has also been the foundation for the family life Jason and wife Ruth have created.

Their son, Zach, is now employed at a much-loved Ithaca institution. Their daughter, Zoey, who was selected for BOCES’ New Visions’ pre-engineering program, will attend Alfred University this fall. Relatives in this region and good friends fill out the social network this family values in good times and in challenging times.

Jason reflected on his time with Gnomon and spoke highly of his experience.

“People come to Gnomon with projects,” Jason said. “Some people arrive with an idea. Some know what they want their finished product to look like. Maybe they want us to create a logo with them, or brochures, stickers or car decals. Gnomon staff has already done it all, and in their welcoming environment, creative projects come together.”