Arthur Winston, who set a remarkable personal record by missing only a single day in 72 years of work, died of congestive heart failure Thursday as he slept in his South Los Angeles home. He was 100.
Many of his colleagues and friends honored him by calling him Mr. Winston. He cleaned Los Angeles buses and trains for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The only shift he missed was the day in 1988 that his wife died.
Otherwise, said his bosses at the MTA, they had never known him to arrive for work late or to leave work early. He didn't retire until March 23 one day after he turned 100.
(snip)
Still, he did not consider himself particularly special. "I'm just a working man," he said in a 2005 interview, five months before he died. "Nothing more, nothing less. My Daddy taught me the right way to do things. I just tried to follow what Daddy said."
(snip)
"My Daddy taught me how to work and he also taught me that no matter what's going on around you, just stay strong on the inside. Don't bother nobody. Don't let nothin' destroy you. No matter how things are going in the outside world, just keep going. Keep going, and learn from what you see in front of you."
(snip)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-041406winston_lat,0,3779451,full.storyNow I guess I'll follow this great example and toddle off to work, myself (at 2:00 in the afternoon...) :)
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