Heidelberg welcomes oldest visitor to drupa

On the opening day of drupa, Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg, welcomed drupa's most senior visitor to the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG booth – Maria Manns, aged 97.

Maria Manns was born in September 1910 in Dsseldorf, Germany and was sent to work in the print shop run by her father, Hermann Stapperfenne, at the age of five. The company mostly produced account books for wholesale companies on a Tiegel press from Heidelberg - which at that time was not electrically powered. Over the years, the print shop invested in a four-color press from Heidelberg and, in 1945, Maria Manns took over her father's business, which she continued to run until 1968.

The sprightly lady held her own in technical conversations with fellow printers at drupa and was astounded at the technological progress that has been achieved. Manns said, ‘When I think of all the changes there have been over the years, words fail me.’ She visited the first ever drupa in 1951 and hopes to attend the next one in 2012.