The names you see at the tops of local stories, with columns and photos, or on the opinion page can become familiar after a while.

The Citizen has been blessed with many talented and dedicated people in these positions over the years, but those names have changed a fair number of times, too. It's the nature of a small-town newspaper to see many reporters and photographers move on to larger organizations after a while.

But the truth is our newsroom is blessed to have two people with an amazing record of longtime loyal service to this newspaper and community.

People who have worked closely with The Citizen are probably familiar with Jean Bennett and Al Speck, but too many readers probably don't have any idea what these two individuals mean to the paper they get each day.

Jean has been with us for 27 years. She's the person who oversees our obituaries, processes letters to the editor, handles archiving and does a good amount of feature page proofreading, among other things.

Most importantly, though, is the work Jean does on her phone. She's the person who answers the general newsroom extension during normal business hours, and the range of phone calls she handles over the course of a day is remarkable. What amazes me most is her ability to remain calm and polite and focused on helping the caller. I wish I had her talent for this (and I'm sure a few other people wish I did, as well).

As a longtime newsroom employee and local resident, Jean also brings a tremendous amount of historical knowledge and institutional memory to share with the rest of us.

That background came in handy recently for a reporter who was writing a story about an effort to establish a new scholarship in honor of Auburn's Jerome Heartwell “Brud” Holland. Jean tracked down the file we have on Holland for the story, and that leads me to Al Speck.

The reporter going through that file came across the 1985 coverage of Holland's death, and she discovered that Al had covered the story.

For Al, being a news reporter was one of the many jobs he's performed with grace and skill in a 46-year career at The Citizen.

These days, Al works as one of our copy editor/page designers. His primary responsibility is the design of our Lake Life pages, and he plays a big role in putting together our Sunday news pages.

Like Jean, we can always count on Al for some insight into the stories we write. We also draw inspiration from his incredible work ethic.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Tuesdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net