DALLAS -- After a combined 100 years of dedicated service, Steven Landregan and Tony Ramirez are retiring from the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
Colleagues and friends, they both joined the Texas Catholic newspaper in 1966. Landregan was an editor and Ramirez was a sports reporter. They have worked for the diocese in various jobs ever since.
"I never thought I'd work here 50 years," Ramirez said.
Thursday, the diocese took time to celebrate their service and their careers. Before joining the church, both worked in the private sector.
Ramirez wrote for the Dallas Morning News and believes he was one of the city's very first Hispanic reporters.
"As far as Hispanics, I don't think there were any at the News or the [Dallas Times] Herald or any of those papers that had bylines," he said. "I never really thought I was a trailblazer. I just do my work."
Landregan was also a journalist, working as a news broadcaster on WFAA radio in the 1950s. But it was a job as an administrator at Parkland Hospital where he became part of history, on duty the day of the Kennedy assassination.
"I was there when the president arrived and helped take the president and the governor in the trauma rooms," Landregan said. "I found a chair for Mrs. Kennedy to sit down in."
That day, he became the hospital's defacto spokesman, delivering confirmation to the reporters that the president had died.
"We were waiting to hear from the operating room or the emergency room," Landregan said. "It was an accidental involvement. I happened to be at the right place at the right time -- or maybe the wrong time."
Starting in 1966, both Landregan and Ramirez found fulfilling careers at the diocese, serving multiple bishops And now, after a half-century with the church, Tony plans to travel more with his wife.
"We like to go out west, to Vegas," he said.
At 88, Steve isn't slowing down. He plans to learn the guitar and take a course in sketching, while working on his memoirs.
But both admit they will miss their work.
"To proclaim the Gospel and to bring people to Jesus Christ, this is what we're about," Landregan said. "And I don't think there could be any loftier goal than that."