Arthur Winston grew up picking cotton in Oklahoma from an era that is gone. Like many from his state in the 20s and 30s, his family went to California for a better life. For seventy years, he worked for the MTA (Los Angles transit authority), mising just one day to attend his wife's funeral in 1988. President Clinton cited him "Employee of the Century" in 1996. Last month, he retired at the age of 100 with every intent to remain active. Strangly, he died. MSNBC Story
His story got a lot of press I remember just a few years ago because he was the oldest employee. He was working right here in L.A. Then just a couple months ago they did another big feature segment both on the news and in the Times newspaper when he retired. I loved the fact that the crew he worked with held him in awe. One said he didn't know how he could complain about anything being hard, after watching Winston running around at 100 years old. They were in mortal fear of not keeping up with him. I was so sad but not quite surprised to hear he died so soon after retirement. I think not due to age so much, but because that job WAS his life. He was just one of those sparkling drops in the ocean.
