Two Ottawa men retired this week with a combined century of service to the local post office, an achievement called "remarkable" by Kevin Christiansen, area U.S. Postal Service officer-in-charge.

Even more exceptional is that Ronald Kotecki and Keith Rorem started at the Ottawa Post Office on the same day, Sept. 28, 1959, and the two long-time co-workers are retiring together on the same date of Oct. 31.

Recently, Kotecki and Rorem shared memories of their years of service and both marveled at the changes they have witnessed in the postal agency.

"When we started the pay was only $2 an hour," Rorem began. "And, somehow, we all made a living and survived."

Kotecki, 68, laughed and said stamps only cost four cents each in 1959 and that he truly feels, adding in inflation factors, they are even a better deal today at 44 cents each.

"Using the mail system today is a bargain when you really think about it," he insisted.

The 74-year-old Rorem added, "And there are people using stamps today that have never had to lick one to attach it to an envelope. All of our stamps these days are backed with adhesive."

"When we began there were no ZIP codes," Kotecki said. "Those didn't come in until about 1963. The big cities had postal zones but not the smaller towns. (ZIP codes) really helped to speed up the delivery system."

However, both friends agreed the single biggest change during their long tenure was the slow elimination of mail trains which, at one time, crisscrossed the county in a constant race to make depot deliveries. Postal crews sorted mail in rocking railcars on the move.

"We used to have up to six trains a day, which workers used to toss out big pouches of mail at the depot as they came through Ottawa and then we had to attach outgoing pouches to special arms, which trains could grab without slowing down." Rorem said. He recalled certain rail mishaps when bags weren't caught by the speeding trains and they were run over.

"There was mail up and down the tracks we had to pick up," he said.

Kotecki recalled all postal workers had to learn the "schemes" (schedules) of the trains and nowadays few people think about a time "when there were two mail deliveries a day to the downtown area. We used to have a morning delivery and later, after trains came through from Chicago or the west, we delivered letters and parcels again, important to businesses."

Over time, mail trains were slowly replaced by the trucks and airplanes that now carry all deliveries.

The first few years after they started was an era when mail was more important to businesses and people than today, both men admitted. They lamented on how many businesses have dropped their post office boxes in recent years and how the Internet, along with e-mail's rising popularity, has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other.

"We used to write out money orders by hand, and now it is all automated," Kotecki remembered. "And we haven't even canceled a single stamp here for what, maybe 10 years," he said. "All of our mail here locally now goes to the Bloomington center and then it is shipped by truck or planes where it needs to go."

Rorem said most people don't realize the post office now delivers less mail across the nation than in the past, but to vastly more addresses. "There are more houses and business locations in the U.S. than ever before," he said.

Both workers also spoke of the postal savings service, a kind of banking service where people could deposit their money. Kotecki grinned and said, "It only paid 2 percent interest, but these days, that's not too bad."

The two men agreed their many years of service were good ones and, if it weren't for a good retirement plan and a recent financial incentive to leave, they both might have stayed a little longer.

"It was a good job and a steady one," Rorem said. "We've never been laid off in all these years."

Kotecki added, "Most people who left the post office to other jobs have told me that they wished they had stayed here."

To honor the upcoming retirees for their 50 years of service, USPS Central Illinois Performance Cluster District Manager Peter Allen of Bedford Park hosted a brief reception at the Ottawa facility on Etna Road earlier this month. He awarded Kotecki and Rorem with diamond service award pins, letters of congratulations from Postmaster General John E. Potter and commemorative mantle clocks.

Allen said 50-year service awards were very rare and he congratulated both men for their "enormous contribution to USPS."

Echoing those statements in a personal letter to the workers, the postmaster general said, "Few employees ever achieve this distinction. It is an accomplishment you should be proud of, and it deserves the admiration of your fellow employees and your community as well."

Local postal executive Christiansen praised the dedication of the two men and believes they are the longest continuous employees ever to work in the Ottawa office.

"Nobody can remember any Ottawa postal employee who had worked longer here than Ron and Keith," he said, adding most workers retire after 30 years.

In retirement, Kotecki plans to travel the world in the next few years.

"I would like to visit all seven continents while I'm healthy," he said, proud of the fact he exercises daily and has lost 80 pounds in recent times.

Rorem's retirement plans are closer to home.

"I just want to retire to my garage, work on various home projects and listen to my hillbilly music all day long," he said, smiling.

Kotecki, who was 18 years old and right out of high school when he started, was proud to say he has more than 5,000 hours of sick time saved up from his many years of employment.

Rorem shot back, "Wow, and I only have 2,987 stored up."

Rorem then quickly reminded Kotecki, "Remember, I was hired a half an hour before you."

The co-workers shared a laugh and returned right back to their mail jobs, that is, until this weekend.