Neither snow, rain, darkness, illness, car trouble nor animals on the road kept Ron and Elaine Bowser of Herman from the swift completion of their Butler Eagle motor routes over the past 35 years.

Their retirement today changed that.

Elaine started her Butler Eagle job in 1982 delivering bundles of newspapers to paper carriers and stores.

At the time, Ron was making railroad car axles.

“After work he would meet me,” Elaine said. “Two months later, somebody needed a carrier.”

March 1982 was Ron's beginning as a motor route carrier. It was a second job.

Elaine delivered bundles for 19 years. Some of those years she had her own delivery route. Ron started with 58 papers and one route on Bull Creek Road.

As the years passed, the routes expanded. At their busiest, the couple delivered nearly 700 papers daily over 12 routes and drove 70 miles. They sometimes didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. They went through six Chevrolet Trackers.

“We were thinking about two hours at the most because we had three kids,” Ron said.

When Ron retired from Trinity Industries in 2007 and their children no longer lived at home, the couple made changes.

“We were looking to cut back,” Ron said. “We didn't need as much income. We actually did this job to get them through college.”

They rode together and had 170 customers on a route of about 25 miles. They started at Bull Creek Road and Saxonburg Road. From there, they delivered on Wise Road, Crisswell Road, Old Plank Road, Hampton Court, Weckerly Road, Forest Mere Circle, Township Line Road, Dutchtown Road, October Drive and September Drive.

“We've had a lot of good customers,” Ron said.

The Bowsers enjoyed the generosity of their customers and appreciated the many tips and Christmas gifts they've received. One customer gave them walleye and perch from his camp in Erie.

The Bowsers returned the favors.

“If you see a young lady in the ditch, you have to pull them out,” Ron said.

Twice Ron saw people who had fallen and helped them get to their houses.

At Forest Mere Circle in Penn Township, the Bowsers turned around in the driveway of Robert and Donna Neff.

When the Neffs lived in Pittsburgh, their newspaper appeared on the porch, but they never saw the carrier. When they moved to Penn Township in 2007, newspaper arrival became much more personal.

“He's a really great delivery person,” said Donna Neff.

Ron did more than deliver a paper at the Neffs.

“Our dog watches for him every day and he makes (the dog) do his tricks,” said Neff. The Neffs' dog, Taz, is a boxer and Brittany Spaniel mix.

“He does four tricks for me,” Ron said.

He carried dog treats in the car as well as carrots.

“He feeds horses and sheep,” Elaine said.Sometimes, winged creatures got in the way of deliveries.“I hit a chicken one time,” Elaine said.When she told the owner, he said, “We'll have it for supper.”Once Elaine thought she hit a pheasant. Sure enough, Ron found the beak stuck in the car's grill.Snow slowed deliveries and sometimes added an extra hour or two to their work. Some days Ron was on the road before the snow truck.“I used to plow snow over the hood of the car when it was a two-wheel drive car,” Ron said.They drove with one or both windows down in their vehicle, even in winter. Although they turned on the heater, the winter wind was frigid.“If you put a big winter coat on, you cannot work,” Elaine said.“You need a good pair of boots,” Ron added.In recent years, they started deliveries about 12:30 p.m. weekdays and about 1 p.m. Saturdays. It was part-time, six days a week.The Bowsers don't know anyone else who has worked as a motor route carrier for as long.“They work very well together. They support each other. If one cannot do something, the other one takes care of it,” said Alice Lunn, circulation director for the Butler Eagle.“They have an excellent work ethic,” she added.Karen Mallonee, customer service manager in the circulation department of the Butler Eagle, has known the Bowsers for 28 years. She used to be their district manager.“They're great people. They're good people,” Mallonee said.She said carriers have to pay attention to what they are doing and follow through on collections for monthly subscriptions.“They are very organized. Ron does most of the delivering and Elaine handles the financial end,” Mallonee said.The job worked because it allowed flexibility. Mallonee said parents with young children sometimes take the children along instead of finding a baby sitter.The paper has about 350 delivery routes and often carriers have multiple routes.“We do have some great carriers, but it is hard to find them,” Lunn said.Carriers must have their own substitutes and backup vehicles. Mallonee said the Bowsers have been very reliable and their route was always covered.That could be because the Bowsers worked even when sick and missed many family events. They also had a mechanic who agreed to work on their cars on the weekends.“You cannot get a substitute for 500 papers,” Ron said.Jim and Jean Menchyk of Butler were longtime customers and became friends with the Bowsers.“Everything changed when they came on,” Jim Menchyk said. “They're just so dependable and, I guess, just friendly — the kind of people you want as a neighbor.”A former teenage carrier, Menchyk said, “With a paper route in the middle of every afternoon, it limits what you can do.”“I'm glad to see that they're finally going to take retirement as seriously as they take the newspaper job,” he said.This week, customers greeted the Bowsers along their route with gifts and to say goodbye.Elaine plans to spend more time scrapbooking and looking through her recipe collection so she can make a book.Ron looks forward to more free time and more traveling to find trout and bass.“I love to fish. I will be doing a lot of fishing in the mornings now,” Ron said.