Meet John & Debbie Doty
John Doty started Doty’s in 1996 after his computer was damaged in a move back to Iowa. At the time, the only place in the Oskaloosa area to get a computer fixed was Radio Shack, which sent them out of town to be repaired. It was going to take several weeks to get the computer back. The Dotys recognized a need in the community.
John Doty
John Doty was born and raised in Iowa. He left the state after joining the United States Army immediately after graduating from Oskaloosa High School. He studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. While serving as a linguist in the military, he received several accolades for keeping his unit’s computer equipment running in the field, especially in the harsh desert environment during Operation Desert Shield.
John has always had a strong interest in computers. He had expressed a desire to open a computer store while living in Texas. Recognizing a need in the Oskaloosa area, he and Debbie decided to start a computer repair business with just a screwdriver, computer knowledge and a desire to succeed.
John retired in the spring of 2023, after 27 years in the computer business and more than 15,000 computer repairs. He will continue to work part-time in the printing industry.
Debbie Doty
Debbie was born into a military family. By the time she started 9th grade, she had attended 9 different schools. Her dad’s last duty station was Fort Hood, Texas. Debbie fell in love with writing in high school, where her 10th grade English teacher talked her into joining the school newspaper staff. She went on to study journalism at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State). She was working as a typesetter at the post advertising office when she met John, who was stationed there with the U.S. Army. Debbie was honored with an award from the Department of Defense for her part in developing a children’s coloring book designed to help children of deployed soldiers understand the Middle Eastern culture of the area to which they were deployed.
Shortly after moving to Iowa, Debbie took a job as a reporter at the Oskaloosa Herald. She remained there for nearly 3 years while John continued to build the business. She left the Herald to work as John’s scheduler and purchaser. Debbie continued to do some design work for non-profits, which she sent on to another local printer to finish. She convinced John to purchase an entry-level production machine to better control the quality of the products being printed and officially add printing to the business in 2002. Since then, Doty’s has upgraded to a digital press with a Fiery server and many post-print finishing machines. As our customers demand more of us, we will continue to add equipment as we strive to meet customer expectations.