When 18-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Vitelli began work at U.S. Steel Clairton Works as a billing clerk, she punched numbers by hand, wrote with pencils and inserted carbon paper into her manual typewriter to make copies.

Back then, dresses and skirts were mandatory, and when someone called on the telephone "it rang until someone picked it up," she recalled.

		Listen in Jefferson Hills resident Betty Rothbauer talks about why she decided to retire after 63 years with U.S. Steel's Clairton Works. Mrs. Rothbauer has special memories she has from her job. Mrs. Rothbauer talks about her plans now that she's retired.

On Feb. 28, Miss Vitelli, now Mrs. Rothbauer, 81, of Jefferson Hills, retired as an accounting clerk at U.S. Steel Clairton Works after 63 years.

"I thought it was time," she said of her decision. Her incredible longevity was almost a company record.

Yesterday, U.S. Steel honored Mrs. Rothbauer with a retirement party at the Bradley House in Baldwin Borough.

"We value the contributions of all of our employees, and are especially proud of Betty's 63 years of devoted service to our company that began when our company and our country needed her service most," said U.S. Steel Corp. spokesman John Armstrong.

Mrs. Rothbauer's employment with the company began on Feb. 22, 1944, in the late stages of World War II. After a year she was transferred to the shipping department, which had been an all-male bastion. But with the young, healthy men in the armed forces, the women were needed to help the men who remained, she said.

She handed over her $95 monthly salary, which was paid in cash, to her mother to help with the 12 children in the Clairton household. Some of the money also went toward packages that workers sent to colleagues who were serving overseas, and to buy war bonds after actress Ginger Rogers promoted them at a rally in the mill.

She met her husband, Anthony, now 83, through writing letters to him as he served in the Army in the China-Burma-India theater. He was the cousin of a good friend.

The couple has a son, Anthony Jr., 51, of Jefferson Hills.

Mrs. Rothbauer said she stayed on as long as she did because she enjoyed the work, the people and the company.

"I was always treated fairly at U.S. Steel," she said.

"I told her I wanted to be just like her when I grow up," said Mae Twitty, 58, of Clairton, of her former co-worker's overall good health and activity on the job.

"She was a busy-body in that she was always on the move," she said.

Mr. Armstrong said that as remarkable as Mrs. Rothbauer's length of service is, it is not the longest at U.S. Steel.

A man who started with the company in 1941 is still employed at their Fairfield, Ala. plant.

In her retirement, Mrs. Rothbauer plans to "do the things I've never had time for before," such as visiting her nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews -- numbers so numerous "I quit counting," she said.

She said she may also do some volunteer work at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

But, whether she continues to automatically rise and shine at 6 a.m. remains to be seen. "I haven't been off work long enough," she said.