09/18/2026
What a great story!! JAMA is proud to be apart of their journey!!
“This is Lomar’s 50th year. 50 years ago, Jim Geisman got a couple patents and along with his business partner, named the business after their wives by combining their two names: Lola and Mary. Then it became just Jim owning Lomar, and for the last 30-some years, his son Ron has led the company. We’re now into the third generation—me! Jim is my grandpa. I joined Lomar after college and we've been here ever since.
Horton is a super tight-knit community. You feel it as soon as you leave. I left for college and went to Grand Valley for a finance degree. I spent a little time working at University of Michigan and then got a master's degree from Central Michigan. I reconnected with my now-husband and we moved back to Horton. Our families are all here, and we just kind of missed it. In my experience, you don’t realize how good you have it: I tried out the city things, and home called me back. It's the people, 100%. You go to the little markets, the stores around here—it's all people you grew up with. The people I graduated with are now the teachers for my kids, and life becomes a full circle. Even here at Lomar, we have a father and a son both working here. Brothers work here. When you see those people, those connections—it's what makes Horton feel like a community.
At Lomar, we feel it’s important to invest back into the community. We've got a great partnership with the Jackson Area Manufacturers Association (JAMA). Our apprentices are so valuable to us and JAMA has such an in-depth program there, and we give apprentices experience in all the machine areas at our shop so they come out so well-rounded at the end of that four-year program. Skilled labor is always hard to find, so when we take someone who wants to learn and give them a full understanding of everything on the machining side, we all win. They get the skills and we're able to do harder, more complicated jobs.
One of my teachers in high school was Denise Bergstrom. She went on to be the middle school principal, and now is the superintendent. That circle again! The Jackson Chamber introduced a Drive Jackson 20-Year Vision Plan. Lomar just loves the idea of making Jackson a great place to live, work and go to school. We started meeting monthly with Denise, trying to connect some dots between what we do at Lomar and how we can help students in the community.
Because of those meetings, she approached us and said, 'Our new technology teacher has this great idea to create a tech hub that'll give students hands-on STEM activities: interactive tables, drones, Lego kits, things like that. Would Lomar help us with this?' And of course, we jumped right in and we're doing a community match grant: any funds that are raised, Lomar will match that to help them meet their $120,000 goal. STEM is so important to manufacturing. We need those kids that can get in and figure stuff out, who want to work with their hands. We are so excited just to be a part of this whole process.
Another partnership we've really enjoyed is the Parks Department, another pillar of the Drive Jackson campaign. A few years ago, they approached us and they wanted a new playground here at our Hortonville Pond Park, and so Lomar jumped in, and we've got some equipment that's named in memory of one of our founders. We've recently reengaged with them and are looking at different opportunities to update that park even further. We love that partnership and are excited about the impact it will have."
—Becky Dorian, Lomar Machine & Tool Company
