A tale of two city employees

QUINCY - Two longtime Quincy employees entered retirement with a sendoff held in their honor at city hall Wednesday.

Randy Coleman, a 30-year veteran of the Quincy Police Department retired, then joined the police reserves Oct. 1.

Chris Anderson is now retired after nearly 36 years as a utility worker for the city.

Coleman

Randy Coleman and his wife Judy Coleman remember the most interesting and humorous crimes her husband encountered in his three decades on the Quincy Police force.

It is an example of why he enjoyed his job.

"When I got down there I was approached by a male with no pants on," Randy recalls.

The man informed Randy a woman took his pants at gunpoint.

The woman was herself in need of new trousers.

"So she prowled a vehicle and took a blanket and a .22 caliber rifle, then she held the guy up," Randy said.

They searched the area and found her, charging her with robbery.

Throughout his years, Randy gained a reputation of being upstanding and straightforward in addition to being a strong sergeant, a rank he held for 13 years.

"They say that he is the most honest, most even, fair police officer they've ever dealt with," Judy said.

She said even people sent to prison based on Randy's investigations have high regard for his honesty.

"He was just an honest, good, all-around cop," longtime friend and former officer Charles VanVelkinburgh said. "He does so many things, he's so versatile that I don't think they're going to find one like him … He can do anything."

Randy said he never dreaded getting up in the morning for work.

"A lot of people have a job where it's 'Aw, I've got to go to work today,' but I never had a day that I didn't get up and look forward to coming to work," Randy said. "I think the most rewarding is just the contact with the people.

"You like the variety, you like the changing conditions and changing situations. Nothing you do out there is done exactly the same every time," he said.

Situations on the job may be similar but always a little different so it's important to be flexible, he said.

Rather than retiring and removing himself from a profession he loves, he found a way to retire and still be part of the police force.

Randy joined the police reserves and he said being on the reserves is a change.

"The biggest difference is a role reversal. I'm no longer a sergeant or a supervisor. So now it's my turn to do what I'm told," he said.

For leisure in retirement he's looking forward to woodworking and antique restoration, a hobby he's had for around 15 years.

"If you need something built, he's a tremendous woodworker … anything you ask him, he can do," VanVelkinburgh said.

Anderson

Chris Anderson is retiring 18 days short of 36 years serving as a utility worker for Quincy.

His favorite part of the job was working with the people.

Like Coleman's job, Anderson's was unpredictable.

"Each day was different depending on what you were doing and how the severity of it was," he said.

Anderson recalls starting at the landfill and then working a garbage truck for 18 years among other tasks.

"It's just a lot of jobs and sometimes they were not too good jobs and some of them were. You know it all depends. Each day is different," he said.

Anderson is looking forward to enjoying some hobbies in retirement.

"Well, I've got two or three projects going. I've got a '41 Chevy I'm going to restore. And I've got a plasma cutter. I'm going to do some cutting there. Just tinker," he said.

He says his hobbies will probably keep him from being bored.

"My wife will not allow it," he joked.

He and his wife Mary wed in 1971, four months before he took his position with the City of Quincy.

He said there's a secret to a long and successful marriage.

"Listen to her," he chuckled.

Chris' retirement is something his wife was looking forward to.

"It's a great day, I'm glad he gets to retire," Mary said.

She's especially excited about Chris' Chevy restoration project.

"(It's) his dad's old pickup. We wants to get that restored and drive it in the (Farmer Awareness) parade here one of these years because that's what Dad always wanted to do.

"We are very lucky. We just have a perfect marriage and so we have no problem spending time together," she said.

Mary is proud of the work her husband's done and proud of his ethic.

"He's been very dedicated. He is a worker that can be sent out by himself and one of the things that I have made a comment to people here, I think Chris actually has worked for the city longer than anybody in the whole time of the city," she said.

"He enjoyed his job with the city. He worked all different departments and it was a good thing," she said.