A Des Moines native with deep roots on the south side, Kerry Endres has been with Beeline and Blue through three generations of Ainsworth owners. Next year, he'll celebrate 40 years with the company, but we didn't want to wait until then to feature him and tip our hat to his service. After decades of work for the AEC and graphics sectors, Kerry has many stories about how the industries, times, and city have changed. Read on to see just a few of them.

Get to know Kerry Endres!

Kerry works as a color production specialist, managing Beeline's flat-bed printer and router-cutter operations. He's in what is now a highly digital industry, but he started with Des Moines Blueprint literally before the internet was even an aspect of business.

Clyde Ainsworth hired Kerry right out of school, as a runner delivering plans to downtown corporations. Several times a day, Kerry says he walked plans up the street to Iowa Power and Light, the utility company that has since evolved and grown into MidAmerican Energy.

After a short time, he moved into printing blueprints, then into creating PMT Photostats. (Remember those?! Kerry does!) After Beeline Color Center was in place, he worked with Len Ainsworth on the color side of the business, helping to create the first prototypes of color-matching profiles through the Onyx system — profiles that are still the company standard.

Kerry remembers Trent, Beeline's president and third-generation Ainsworth, spending time at the office when he was young. "He couldn't have been more than 7 or 8," says Kerry, "right in there with his father and grandfather."

A drummer since age 10, he has played all his life for bands in all music formats and currently plays primarily with a worship band at his church. Kerry lives in Des Moines with his wife Allyson.

Swimming down memory lane.

One of the projects Kerry remembers most fondly is the graphics Beeline and Blue produced for the Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha. Clark Creative Group concepted the campaign and Heartland Scenic Studio did the design, fabrication, and installation. Beeline worked closely with Heartland to produce a product that would stand up to the extremes of an outdoor environment. Kerry is shown above with one of the 12 two-sided metal cut-outs that were printed, routed to a custom shape, and then specially laminated with our Bee-Guard liquid coating to resist the elements.

Dream Big. We’ll Print It.