Jan. 21—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — For 17 years, Joe Czyrnik has climbed snowbanks and trudged through pelting rain delivering The Tribune-Democrat throughout Greater Johnstown.

He is up at 4 a.m. five mornings a week, delivering newspapers to 178 daily subscribers.

Czyrnik, 87, is timely and dependable.

“I can hardly believe I’ve been delivering papers this long,” he said at the newspaper’s office at 425 Locust St. in downtown Johnstown.

“I do it because it keeps me busy,” Czyrnik said, “and I’m a people person.”

Czyrnik said he started delivering newspapers after losing his job when he was 69.

He worked for 40 years as a salesman for a local beauty supply company until the business was bought by a New Jersey company.

One day, his new boss pulled him aside and told him he was no longer needed, he said.

“My sales manager said I lost some of my image,” Czyrnik said. “I said, ‘Is that your way of telling me I’m too old?’ He said, ‘Probably.’ Six months later, he lost his image, too.’ “

Czyrnik is no novice to newspaper delivery.

He and his wife, Patricia, would help their three boys deliver newspapers.

“I’d go with them occasionally,” he said. “We had fun. I remember it vividly. Then they grew up and moved away.”

Czyrnik delivers newspapers in Ferndale and Southmont boroughs, downtown Johnstown, Roxbury, Cambria City and Minersville.

It takes him about six hours.

“I don’t rush,” he said. “If you rush, you screw it up.”

When he is finished, Czyrnik picks up a meal at the Greater Johnstown Senior Activities Center on Main Street in downtown Johnstown and goes home.

Czyrnik said it’s tough delivering newspapers when it snows.

It’s not the cold that bothers him.

“It’s climbing over the snowbanks,” he said. “You can’t walk into a yard because the snow is deep. It ticks you off … but in the summertime, it’s great. Nobody minds you walking across the lawn.”

Czyrnik’s supervisor, Lee Harfield, calls him his most valuable carrier.

“He doesn’t miss a day,” Harfield said. “When it’s storming out, Joe’s out there. If we had more carriers like Joe, we would have no problems at all.”

Roxbury resident Marian Arcurio is on Czyrnik’s route.

She said Czyrnik has a calm demeanor and is dependable.

Arcurio said she told Czyrnik he doesn’t have to deliver the newspaper when the weather is bad.

“But guess what?” she said. “He delivers it anyway.”

That’s no surprise to Sue Sheehan, The Tribune-Democrat’s regional director of audience development.

“He has a great relationship with his customers and cares about them,” she said.

For Czyrnik, it’s a two-way street.

Customers care for him.

“I have at least five or six customers a day who worry about me,” he said.

“If I’m a half-hour late, they’re there waiting for me asking if everything is alright, and they’re sincere.”

Czyrnik grew sentimental when talking about his late wife.

“My wife helped me religiously,” he said. “She’d get up and help me with the Sunday papers. She was always in my corner. Then, she up and died on me.”

The Czyrniks were married for 60 years when Patricia Czyrnik died on Sept. 21, 2022, at Windber Hospice. She was 84.

Czyrnik believes the daily rigors of delivering newspapers has improved his health.

“My doctor tells me she thinks I’m in better shape than I was 15 years ago,” he said. “My blood pressure is down and my bloodwork has improved.”

Czyrnik said he isn’t sure how long he will continue delivering newspapers. His knees are troubling him, and he is scheduled to see a doctor.

Czyrnik has nieces on both sides of the family who routinely check on him. He keeps going for them, he said.

“I have to hold up my end of the deal,” he said. “You can’t give up. If you give up, you become a burden to somebody.”