During your retirement ceremony, friends and colleagues called you a number of things: a rock, a castle, fountain of information and knowledge. You joked that if you’d known all that, you would have asked for more of a raise during all your years of working here. How did their words make you feel?

It makes me feel good. All my life, I worked with dedication and the best of my knowledge.

They cited 54 years of service, 54 years dedication to the Navy, 54 years of this and that. Make you feel old?

Not old. No. Maybe I feel too young in my head. And I have a sense of humor, which helps me feel young.

What made you want to work for the U.S. Navy?

The only reason I started here in 1953 was because the U.S. Navy was the only employer in Italy where, at 5 o’clock on a Friday afternoon, you could quit working and have the whole weekend all for yourself. For us [Italians], that is unheard of. I was thinking I would do it for a few months and then go for my real career. For generations, my family was merchant marine officers. Those few months turned into 54 years.

The world has changed quite a bit in 54 years. Technology has changed, and yet you refuse to use a computer. Why is that?

Because I can use my brain. And my small calculator. It’s funny, at the end of the fiscal year, all the representatives from the Navy, the Army, the Air Force meet … and pull out their salary scales they worked on the computers. I pull out my little calculator and I make them do it all over. Their computers often make mistakes. (Dublino helped calculate the salary scales for Italian employees at all the U.S. military bases in Italy.)

So what do you do with your little calculator now?

I throw it out. It’s the end. I’m retired. (A huge grin crosses his face)

In those 54 years, did you develop any hobbies?

I like music. I play the piano, accordion, the guitar and the mandolin.

And you like boating. That’s what you’ll be spending much of your time on now, correct?

Yes, I have an 18-foot boat with an outboard motor. Nothing special. I like to boat in Gaeta. And now that I’m retired, I’ll be spending part of my time here in Naples, part in Gaeta, and part in England visiting my son. He lives there.

They said you can count on one hand the number of days you missed work during your 54 years. Really, you missed five days or less?

Yes. Once was for the Asian flu in 1954. I was so sick. And then, another time, I have terrible allergies, and I had an asthma attack. But don’t ask me what year that was.

Gaetano “Nino” Dublino

Age: 80

Title: Retiree, after 54 years working for U.S. Navy

Europe readers: Know someone whose accomplishments, talents, job, hobby, volunteer work, awards or good deeds qualify them for 15 minutes of fame? How about someone whose claim to glory is a bit out of the ordinary — even, dare we say, oddball? Send the person’s name and contact information to: news@estripes.osd.mil.