St. Joseph inventor brings nostalgia through popular school supplies

By Kirsten Stokes

Kids headed back into the classroom this week, many carrying carefully chosen and must-have supplies ready for the new year ahead.

Many of those items have their roots in the inventions of a St. Joseph native whose pioneering creations have impacted the educational experiences of students across states and generations.

Jon Wyant, a longtime inventor for Mead Corporation, left his indelible mark with three stand-out creations that have stood the test of time — the Organizer, the Five Star collection and, most famously, the Trapper Keeper.

“For the Trapper Keeper, we backed it up with a lot more advertising and a lot more color and pizzazz,” Wyant said.

Wyant’s journey toward becoming a trailblazing inventor traces back to his formative years in early education. His abilities came to fruition as he provided artwork for yearbooks at Central High School and the University of Kansas, where he pursued a degree in graphic design.

Wyant eventually returned to St. Joseph and a building on the corner of 11th and Mitchell streets. The structure now houses the Mitchell Park Plaza apartments, but 60 years ago it was home to school supply manufacturer Westab. There, Wyant created 43 patents, and his credited ideation and development of those products resulted in more than $1 billion in sales for the company.

“It’s just mind-blowing to look at this building today because it used to be all factory and offices,” Wyant, who is now retired, said on a visit to St. Joseph last week. “I loved building and designing new products and then running up the factory and getting one made, having a prototype or seeing it there.”

Wyant embarked on his career at Westab in 1966, a journey that would ultimately lead him to retire from the Mead Corporation in 2002 following a merger of the two companies. In recognition of his significant contributions, Wyant was honored with a plaque on the Inventor’s Walk bridge in Dayton, Ohio.

This tribute serves as a testament to his innovative spirit and his enduring impact on the lives of students everywhere, and according to his daughter Jackie Harris, this is all attributed to his multifaceted skills.

“My dad grew up on a farm and learned to go out and help build houses and put on roofs and do things mechanically,” she said. “And then his natural ability to become an artist kind of sprung up as a young child and progressed through middle school and high school and then on to college.”

She said those elements worked together to help him envision and build products.

In the realm of invention, collaboration can occur and make assigning credit for ideas murky, and something that Wyant experienced with the Trapper Keeper patent. Some internet searches cite the late E. Bryant Crutchfield as the Trapper Keeper’s inventor, leading to questions about the origin of the product. Wyant explains the confusion.

“Crutchfield did marketing and advertising and I did the creation of product design, and that’s what we brought together and how we launched the whole thing,” he said.

No patent on the Trapper Keeper itself exists, but patents for elements incorporated in it do. Wyant is named on the patent for a diagonal folder and a notebook pencil clip that are parts of the Trapper Keeper design.

From his humble beginnings to inventions that helped shape the educational landscape, Wyant’s wife Barb recognizes that his value extends beyond being known as “Trapper Jon.”

“It’s just been a wonderful life together as we’ve gone through and progressed with our family and his career,” she said. “He is a very humble person.”

Wyant’s legacy that inspires generations of students and inventors alike will stand the test of time and one day, out of retirement, he may make a comeback.

“In my spare time, I have created the second Trapper Keeper,” Wyant said.

But he’s keeping this idea trapped until it’s time for another wave of innovative school supplies to hit the market.