Picture this: The city of San Diego, blossoming with a fresh sense of business and civic self awareness in the early 1960s, playing host to the public figure who seemed to most embody this vitality and optimism nationally, President John F. Kennedy. That was the scene 40 years ago in June, and the Uptown Examiner had a front row seat for the occasion.

On June 6, 1963, JFK landed at Lindbergh Field, rode in a black limousine motorcade through Downtown and up El Cajon Boulevard, with thousands cheering and lining the streets as he moved toward his appointment as commencement speaker at San Diego State College.

The “City in Motion” had made great strides in retaining its charm while taking its place among America’s great cities, and San Diego’s working press had long played (as it does today) a key role in this progress.

The Examiner was established in 1937, taking root in the Navy town that had just welcomed the Pacific Coast League Padres to Lane Field — the original ballpark Downtown. Meanwhile, Leon and Dolphin Westmoreland, a father-son duo whose years in printing had involved publication of seven local newspapers in Arkansas, came to California in 1931, and in 1935 purchased the Coronado Journal.

The following year, bullish on local prospects despite the Depression, they moved toward publishing the Coronado Citizen in an adjoining structure on Orange Avenue in Coronado. With the outbreak of World War II, paper and labor shortages led them to sell these newspaper interests, and establish in 1942 Citizen Printing and Publishing Co. “uptown” at 3740 El Cajon Blvd.

That year, they purchased the Examiner, and acquired the Navy News two years later, beginning more than 40 years of service to the growing community. Dolph and his wife, Eleanor, lived in the College area, and prior to Leon’s passing in 1960, their son Jerry (with other extended family) was hard at work in the shop. The hum of the Heidelberg press was complemented by the banter of locals dropping in to discuss business deals, neighborhood news, legal notices or current politics — all vital to the city’s life.

When Dolph Westmoreland sold his business interest to Art Specht because of health issues in 1986, he retained a wealth of memories. One of the fondest was of a waving, smiling JFK (who the week before had celebrated his 46th birthday) casting an eye at this shop and investing his adopted city with priceless recognition.

Some 15 blocks up the boulevard, we were waving from the curb, on holiday from Horace Mann Junior High. Forty summers ago, he passed this way. It was a fine moment in what has grown to be America’s Finest City — and the Westmoreland publication, now known as the twice weekly San Diego Metropolitan Uptown Examiner newspaper and owned since 1998 by Metro San Diego Communications Inc., continues to play a vital role in making it so.

Linda Westmoreland Smith, daughter of Dolph and Eleanor Westmoreland, works in the development department of the Zoological Society of San Diego. Her husband, James D. Smith III, teaches at Bethel Seminary and University of San Diego, and ministers at College Avenue Baptist Church.