MTA Names Bus Facility for 91-Year-Old Employee

One might think 91-year-old Arthur Winston has a secret formula for health and vitality at the South-Central Los Angeles bus facility where he cleans and fuels the buses that roll in.

But Winston, who is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s oldest employee, says the recipe is quite simple:

“I get up at 5 a.m., eat my cereal and get to work by 6,” said Winston, who celebrates his birthday today. “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I get plenty of rest . . . don’t think much about age.”

Winston, who has worked for the agency and its predecessors for 66 years, will be forever remembered in Los Angeles. The agency renamed its South-Central bus facility the Arthur Winston Division on Friday.

“Winston is a special kind of hero, a man who sets a model for us all,” said Mel Wilson, an MTA board member, before a gathering of more than 60 people, including city officials, employees, friends and family of Winston.

Winston, who works an eight-hour shift five days a week, has missed only one day of work--the day his wife, Frances, died in 1988.

“I love my job,” said Winston, who was decked out in a three-piece suit, felt hat and a rose pinned to his lapel.

“I have no plans to retire. I have no limits.”