At 64, He Finds Niche: Providing Service to Elderly

“I’m not smarter than anyone else or any luckier,” says Arturo Amador, “but the simple act of getting up every morning at 5:30 and going to work is so fulfilling that I feel blessed. I would pay to do it.”

Amador, 64, talks this way at an age when many people are counting the days until retirement. And just to prove he means business, earlier this year he started one--Empire Charter Lines, which specializes in providing vans and minibuses for seniors.

Amador has been in the transportation business since he came to the United States from Cuba at 26. He started out as a garbage man, parked cars at night and still runs a company that manages parking garages. But starting a new company at his age, he said, has been a big challenge.

Amador’s service takes seniors on outings, conventions and trips to Las Vegas. Groups can accumulate charter credits, an earthbound counterpart of frequent-flier miles.

“I targeted older people because we are a growing population and we are more energetic than most younger people think. We are not sedate. I feel the same way I did 30 years ago,” he said.

“Because of fixed incomes and the high price of charter buses, seniors who want to travel were restricted. What they needed was affordable transportation.”

According to Amador, starting this business has given him the opportunity to bring quality to people’s lives, and to give something back to his adopted country.

Amador was the son of a sugar plantation worker, which meant that his family moved from one job to another. At 16, he left his family and went to live in Havana. Ten years later (and several years before the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power), he left Cuba.

“The moment I decided to stay in America, I applied myself to learn English,” he said. “I went to classes, but the only person who spoke English was the teacher, so I spoke too much Spanish there.

“Then I went to an adult education school and everyone was American, so I made progress by taking grade school subjects in English--like a kid. I finally graduated and went to community college.”

Amador said he believes that the United States holds the same opportunities for other immigrants as it did for him. “I was poor, but I worked every day and I went to school full time, supported myself and raised a family. For every person who treated me badly, there was a hand extended from someone who helped me and so I never felt discriminated against,” he said.

Amador still works a 10-hour day but he also knows how to enjoy life. He plays tennis, sails, dances to country-Western music and spends one day every weekend with his grandchildren.

“I have enough to live an above-average life. I gave my sons what I think they needed--I assisted them to get an education and was a role model for them--so I don’t feel it is important to leave them money. My life is very full,” he said.

In November, he and his wife, Maruja, are going back to Cuba for the first time since he left.

“I am an American citizen so I am going back as a tourist. This is my country, but I was born there. I remember Cuba before Castro and now I want to see it after Castro,” he said.

Amador is looking forward to watching his new business flourish. “On the day I retire I will go back to college and earn a degree,” he said, “no matter how old my years are.”

Bulletin Board

Good Nutrition--Max Fields will lecture on “The Importance of Iron and Minerals”; Culver City Senior Center, 4153 Overland Ave., Culver City; 1 p.m. Monday; information: (310) 202-5856 (free).

Saints & Sinners--The group will have dancing and entertainment; Fairfax Senior Citizens Center, 7929 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; 7 p.m. Tuesday; information: (213) 874-1243 ($4 guests).

Grief Recovery--The Grief Recovery Institute will hold a grief seminar; La Cienega Park, 8400 Gregory Way, Beverly Hills; 7 p.m. Tuesday; information: (213) 650-1234 (free).

Health--Dr. Milton Kogan will present “Laughter Is the Best Medicine”; Westside Jewish Community Center, 5870 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles; 10 a.m. Thursday; information: (213) 938-2531, Ext. 2225 (free).