Born Aug. 17, 1940, he was a son of Aubrey Edward Dedrick and Elizabeth Ann Lunsford Dedrick.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Edna Mae Ramsey Dedrick, and sister Marie Dedrick Thompson.

Jim worked for The News-Gazette and its predecessor, the Lexington Gazette, for 43 years. In a story in the paper at the time of his retirement in 2003, he recalled starting out as a ‘clean-up boy’ making 75 cents an hour at the Gazette. His talents and capacity for hard work were soon realized, and he moved into photography for the Gazette, and later, after the Gazette and the Rockbridge County News merged, The News-Gazette. Beside photographing football games and house fires, he also did the photo developing in the paper’s darkroom.

His abilities were again realized when he was promoted to production manager, and put in charge of the paper’s typesetting and printing, and the small commercial print shop that the paper ran. Under his leadership, the print shop grew significantly, and eventually outgrew the space in the paper’s building on Nelson Street. He oversaw the move of the operation to a new building on Jefferson Street.

While he was manager, The News-Gazette Print Shop won multiple Dietz Awards, given by the Printing Industries of Virginia to the printer with the most awards for print quality in the printer’s size category in PIVA’s annual contest.

Jim was a good judge of character and ability when it came to hiring, and always maintained a staff of people who were competent and quality-conscious. He had a loyal following among his regular customers, who knew that, under him, the print shop would deliver a quality job on time, and at a fair price.

Surviving are his daughters, Kay Dedrick, Kim Dedrick Moore (Russ) and Karen Dedrick (Wes); grandchildren, Sierra Moore (Travis) and Cheyenne Moore (Bryce); great-grandchild, Arthur Martin; siblings, Joe Dedrick (Pat) and Carolyn Dedrick Johnson (Kevin); and his “right hand man,” Calvin Hartless.

A funeral was conducted Friday, Feb. 6, at Harrison Funeral Chapel by Dorsey Hostetter. Burial followed at Fairfield Cemetery.

Arrangements were by Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory.

NG