Pressed for Success: How Debbie Tilison Built Cobleskill’s Printing Powerhouse
After two car accidents, the last hit by a drunk driver, ended Debbie Tilison's dangerous Albany commute from Sloansville, she made a life-changing decision. In 1986, the 26-year-old high school graduate drove to Cobleskill, a town where she knew no one, and walked into every business looking for work.
What happened next in the Jamesway Plaza would spark a 40-year legacy.
A man with a briefcase emerged from beneath a "help wanted" sign. "Excuse me, are you the owner? I’m looking for work," Debbie asked. "No," he replied. "I just sold the place." She turned away, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. The man had returned. His name was Bob Youngs, and he was launching a phone-based restaurant equipment business. Despite memories of selling encyclopedias through telemarketing as a teenager, Debbie needed work. She walked away, hired.
Six months later, Bob decided to expand into shipping services under the name McMichael’s Wrap and Ship, honoring his 14-year-old son Michael. But the Friday before their Monday opening, Michael was hit by a car and rushed into surgery. Bob forgot to give Debbie her paycheck, and without cell phones, she couldn’t reach him all weekend. Living paycheck to paycheck, she had every excuse to stay home - but she showed up anyway.
"I went back over the weekend, hung boxes on the wall, and put up signs that we were going to ship UPS," Debbie recalls. "I had no idea what I was doing, but I just did it." Since Bob was otherwise occupied, Debbie had to be resourceful to get the register petty cash open for change – you'll have to ask her about that! When Bob returned to find the business running, he was stunned. That moment cemented a bond that would last 40 years.
After a year of operating from a tiny 10x10 kiosk in Lindsay's Department Store, Debbie walked into Bob's office at the Bull’s Head Inn, “I’d like to buy the business.” Bob replied, “We know the business can afford $150 a week because that’s what I pay you. Start paying me $150 per week until it’s paid off, and I’ll sell it to you.”
It felt like a million dollars, but Debbie said yes.
On April 1, 1989, "April Fool's Day, fittingly," Debbie moved into her first real storefront, a space alongside Bush Lumber in Cobleskill. There, she reopened the business as Race Printing & Package Center. Almost immediately, one Bush Lumber employee caught her eye, Dennis "Denny" Tilison, an avid bowler, longtime member of the Cobleskill Golf and Country Club, power badminton player of 50 years, Central Bridge native and graduate of Schoharie Central School. In Denny, Debbie found her partner in life and business.
The couple married and have spent 35 years building Race Printing "piece by piece." The current storefront was once multiple office spaces, theirs being the smallest. Expanding to more space, year after year, and eventually purchasing the building. Denny knocked down more walls, eventually constructing another building for equipment and his own personal office. He still does all the bookkeeping by hand, ledgers and pencils, no computers. When Y2K hit, he just said, “I've got my pencil,” Debbie laughs.
Debbie's voice fills with pride when discussing her team. "God has sent me the people I needed when I needed them."
Lead designer Erna Beadling has been with Race Printing 18 years. Debbie used to watch Erna work at The Times-Journal and think, I hope she works for me someday. When a competitor tried to hire Erna away, she chose Race Printing instead. Nikki O’Neill joined through divine timing stepping in just as longtime employee Theresa considered retirement. Together, Erna and Nikki form a "powerhouse graphic design duo." Manager Ginny Kane has kept the shop running seamlessly for more than 20 years. She started at 19, left briefly for the South, and ultimately found her way back to Race. Mindy Jonker-Young started 14 years ago when her oldest daughter was just a baby, and Heather Kistner joined five years ago. "It's like a family," Debbie says. "And Denny? He definitely doesn't feel like the alpha male."
Becoming a certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) opened doors for the business. SUNY Cobleskill to municipal clients to a downstate BOCES that still sends regular orders because of the certification. Even with that reach, their priority remains rooted in service to Schoharie County first.
Race Printing’s rise wasn’t easy.
People doubted the need for a print and ship shop at all, “Why would people pay you to do something they can do themselves?” A competitor even ran full-page ads mimicking her exact services and prices. Debbie was crushed, until an older man she’d never seen walked in, pointed to the competitor’s ad, and said, “I saw your ad,” placing a huge order. He returned once more with another and never came back. “I believe he was an angel. He even looked like Clarence from A Wonderful Life,” she says. The competitor closed within six months. Race Printing and Package Center is approaching its 40th anniversary.
With the nearest UPS store 40 miles away, Race Printing has become the community’s go-to hub—handling nearly 100 packages a day and printing almost anything you can imagine. Business cards, billboards, banners, booklets, marketing materials, even apparel—their designers can create and produce it all. They make custom labels for local restaurants, farms, and home-based businesses, and partner with area artists to print greeting cards and art for markets and online shops. Race also offers Idemia fingerprinting services twice a week. “We print menus for almost every restaurant in the county,” Debbie says. “And we make sure to patronize them all.”
Debbie has always given back, serving as a past president of Literacy Volunteers of America and joining the Chamber early on. She’s navigated every shift in technology, from typing college term papers all-night on a Commodore 64 to adapting to Etsy and Canva. “Each time you lose a little in one area, a new service becomes needed,” she says. “You reinvent yourself and give the community what it needs.”
Her philosophy is simple: never say no.
If someone walked in asking for something—printing, shipping, designing, fixing— self-trained Debbie said yes, then figured out how. A sign in the shop, a Norman Rockwell print, sums it up, “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.”
Now, Debbie works just a couple days a week, confident her team runs everything seamlessly. Seven years ago, encouraged by her goddaughter, she became a licensed realtor and loves helping young couples buy their first homes and older residents downsize - including Bob Youngs, who hired her four decades ago. She and Denny spend their free time e-biking, snowmobiling Sharon Pathfinders trails, boating Sacandaga, hiking Vroman’s Nose, and testing out their new pickleball rackets. "Schoharie County is so beautiful," says the Shenendehowa graduate who's now deeply rooted here.
Debbie’s advice is a single golden rule: “Treat others as you would have them treat you - not as they treat you, but as you would have them treat you.”
That rule, and the community that embraced her, carried Race Printing through competition, floods, recessions, and constant technological change. “The community is what built Race Printing,” Debbie reflects, “Service is our specialty.”
Nearly 40 years later, Debbie Tilison has proven that saying yes can build something extraordinary. Race Printing isn't just a business; it's a cornerstone of Cobleskill and proof that community support creates lasting success.
ROOTED
Interviewed and Authored by SEEC Associates, November 2025
Photos taken by Roslyn Rose Photography
RESOURCE BIN
Human
Debbie Tilison, Owner - Race Printing & Package Center
Former President, Literacy Volunteers of America, Schoharie County
Active supporter of local businesses and restaurants
Dennis Tilison - Bookkeeping, Operations & Maintenance, Life & Business Partner
Denny eventually left Bush Lumber and joined Debbie at Race Printing, balancing the business with more than 30 years of driving a school bus before retiring from the route. Together, Denny and Debbie work hard and play hard. For years, Denny raced at local dirt tracks before transitioning into leadership roles as head starter at Fonda Speedway and later Race Director at Fonda Speedway, Utica-Rome Speedway, and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. Debbie never missed a chance to cheer him on.
“Working with all of us women—I don’t know what I’d do without him!” Debbie laughs. “Denny handles all the inventory and ordering, takes care of every bit of maintenance, and somehow always finds more space when we need another piece of equipment. We’re a great team. He loves the behind-the-scenes work, and I love being out front with customers.”
The Powerhouse Team
Ginny Kane - Manager (20+ years combined, since age 19)
Erna Beadling- Lead Graphic Designer (18 years)
Nikki O’Neill - Graphic Designer (2.5 years)
Mindy Jonker-Young - Front Counter Associate (14 years)
Heather Kistner - Front Counter Associate (5 years)
Physical
Race Printing & Package Center
111 Barnerville Road, Cobleskill, NY 12043
Phone: (518) 234-4442
Monday-Friday: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Financial
Self-funded
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011, National Grid rolled out a recovery grant program that helped Race Printing repair the extensive flood damage.
Industry/Services
Full-Service Printing & Graphic Design ($45/hour—half the rate of most)
UPS, DHL, FedEx & USPS Shipping Services (nearest competition is 40 miles away)
Custom Labels & Product Packaging for 100+ local artisans
Business Cards, Brochures & Marketing Materials
Bookbinding, Laminating & Bulk Mailing
Fingerprinting Services (Identigo) - Mondays & Thursdays
Church Cookbooks, Wedding Invitations, Booklets & Special Projects
Printed Garments, DTF transfers, silk screening & embroidery
Digital
Website: www.raceprinting.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raceprinting/
Email: raceprinting@yahoo.com