HUNTINGTON BEACH : City’s Oldest Worker Going Strong at 91

Poring over a computer printout of every type of crime code listed at the city’s Police Department, records assistant Murray Ross shakes his head incredulously at the thick stack of pages.

“When I see all the stupid things that people are up to, it’s amazing to me,” he said. “I guess I have a Pollyanna attitude about overlooking deficiencies in human nature.”

Naive optimism, perhaps, but he makes no apologies. Ross, who turned 91 on Tuesday, believes that this quality has been the key to his long life.

He is the city’s oldest employee, and works 20 hours a week in the Police Department’s records division, where he was hired in 1987 under its senior aide program.

“He’s so sharp for a person his age. He’s remarkable,” said Pat Davies, Ross’ supervisor. “We’ve really lucked out with our senior aide program in general, and Murray has been exceptional.”

And Ross said he may well continue working past his 100th birthday. Throughout his life, he said, he has faced obstacles much more formidable than age.

A son of Russian Jews, he said he has never been daunted by the anti-Semitism he has encountered his entire life. As a theater manager through five decades, he survived the arrival of television that nearly devastated the movie business.

And when doctors told him on two separate occasions that his days were numbered, he wouldn’t believe them.

The first time was in 1930 when, during the Depression, Ross was stricken with polio. At that time, the disease typically was a harbinger of lifetime disability or death.

Ross said the illness contributed to the demise of his first marriage and loss of his successful job with RKO studios in Los Angeles, and initially left him incapacitated.

But he kept on working.

He moved to Seattle to take advantage of a hydrotherapy program for polio victims, and landed another theater management position. Four years later, he was walking again. None of the symptoms ever recurred.

“Things looked pretty bleak for a while though,” Ross recalled. “I remember at the time getting a letter from the White House. President Roosevelt had heard about my situation and invited me to visit. I decided not to go, though, because I didn’t think it would be of any help to me. I thought nothing would help me more than my willpower to overcome my deficiencies.”

In 1984, Ross, at 85, developed an aortic aneurysm--just weeks after he attended the funeral of a friend who died of the same affliction.

But eventually, he made a nearly complete recovery.

Since then, Ross said his health has been relatively good.

Besides his job, he also heads up his block’s Neighborhood Watch committee and helps care for his wife of 52 years, Mimi.

“Can you believe it? I’m going to be 91,” he said a few days before his birthday. “I don’t feel it, or look it or act it. I might just get to see the 21st Century. My kids are taking bets on it.”