Larry A. Hodek, who has served postal zip code 60546 patrons as a letter carrier for nearly four decades, spent his last day at work on Jan. 2.

After decades of walking through heat and cold, rain and shine, 60-year-old Hodek had been looking forward to the day he could sit with a cup of coffee in his Westmont home and wait for the mail to be delivered to him.

"My friends threw a retirement party for me on Friday, January 9 after-hours at the North Riverside post office,” Hodek said. “I was so happy to see so many of my friends and co-workers including Marie Diddier, vice president of the branch association of our letter carriers' union there. Jay Riske was there, as was Lorenzo Herrero of the Brookfield post office and Chuck Soumar, one of the postal patrons who became a friend throughout the years.”

Chuck has had his own rock band, The Ides of March, for 45 years, in addition to the furniture upholstery shop on Harlem Avenue in Riverside.

It all began on Sept. 23, 1970. Young Larry Hodek, just out of Illinois State University, joined the United States Postal Service.

"I graduated with a major in physical education and a minor in geography," he explained.

However, the Vietnam War was raging, America and the USSR were in a cold war, and, to top things off, on Aug. 8, 1970, then-president Richard Nixon resigned. Kissinger had negotiated another cease-fire between Israel, Syria and Egypt, and the OPEC oil crisis was looming.

Perhaps the security of work with the postal service sounded good to the 22-year-old graduate. The U.S. Postal Service dates back to 1775, with Benjamin Franklin's service as Postmaster General, so Larry was joining good company.

"When I began in 1970, Ernie Banks was playing with the Cubs, and Bobby Hull was with the Black Hawks,” Hodek said, admitting to being an amateur hockey player over the years. "And postage was only 6 cents a letter. My first assignment was as a 'fill-in', wherever they needed me, sort of an auxiliary route."

In 1971, the United States government found another job for the young mailman. He was drafted into the U.S. Army.

"Before I left for service, Jean Pavlik of Berwyn and I were married, and we are still married, still living in Westmont,” he smiled. "I spent 17 months in Germany, and after I came home, I went back to work and was permanently assigned to a route in Riverside in 1974 where I am today with 365 deliveries a day. My primary route covered downtown Riverside, East Quincy and Burlington roads, Longcommon and ends at 156 Riverside Road. It has been my honor to serve the public all these years.”

He spoke of the many friends he has gained while serving as a postal carrier. In 40 years, he has seen many changes in the families he served, children born and grown to adulthood, all a part of an extended family. “If you factor in 365 deliveries a day, with perhaps four people in each family, that amounts to serving about a thousand people a day," he added.

Asked if the job carries a chance of injury, Hodek responded: "Oh, sure, we often fall down on broken or slippery steps, etc. One Christmas Eve, I was making a delivery in Riverside Lawn. The owner and his dog were waiting for me on the porch. The dog was a German Shepherd attack dog, and I spent that Christmas in the hospital."

Hodek and his wife, Jean, are the parents of two children. At this writing, daughter Julie, a graduating law student at DePaul University, is in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a three-week seminar. Their son, Eric, is a graphic designer for Riverside Press, a division of Houghton-Mifflin Publishing Company, based in Schaumburg.

Hodek calculates that in his career he has walked more than 100,000 miles — most recently 10 miles a day, 12 in former years.

The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,902 miles; therefore, Larry Hodek has walked the equivalent of more than four times around the earth with a few thousand miles left over.

If anyone wishes to figure how many steps the mailman has taken in his more than 100,000 miles around the world, there are 5,280 feet to the mile. Consider a two-foot stride ... divide 5,280 x 2 ... ah, math majors, step right up.

After four decades on the job, the former physical education major is still trim and looks forward to playing a bit of hockey, gobbling a bag of popcorn on occasion while sitting on a deck chair, and sometimes living on a diet of hamburgers and fries. His daydreaming reflects his good sense of humor.

Is it possible that his wife, Jean, has other ideas? She is still teaching English as a Second Language at Miller School in Westmont.

Could it be that Larry, the recent retiree, will join the growing Retired Men's Club, otherwise known as the "Honey, Do This, and Honey, Do That" club?

Keep us informed Larry; Don't be a stranger.