Friends, coworkers pay tribute to beloved 95-year-old MTA employee

[+Young+]

CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A man who worked for New York City transit for half a century, is receiving tributes from everyone who had the pleasure of working with him.

For generations of booms and busts, wars and the pandemic, the subway has been the life blood of the city.

The fragile and aging subway system is looked after by thousands of MTA workers.

"This shop was his family," coworker Eugene Leybovich said.

At the Coney Island Overhaul Shop, there was only one Frank.

"All you had to say is one name, Frank, everybody knew who that is," Leybovich said.

The MTA's oldest employee was 95-year-old Frank Gurrera, who schooled an army of transit workers.

"Hi kid ... that's the way he was all the time," facility manager Thomas Mathai said. "I'm 55 years old."

After serving in France in World War II, where he built parts for the B52 Bomber and the Moonshot, Gurrera landed at New York City transit 50-years-ago.

He spent all that time at a workbench, working with his hands to produce the tiniest bits of metal that powered the city.

In the past year, he told his life story to the Coney Island History Project.

"Make this, fix that, it's all part of the job. Keeps your mind going. Keeps your hands active. Keeps your body going. I have to fix that," Gurrera said.

"He knew how to take a piece of metal -- just a piece of metal and make this happen," Leybovich said. "How many people can say that I can do this?"

The New York City subway has thousands and thousands of cars coming through this facility for overhauls.

Gurrera, in a half century, has touched every single one of them, keeping tens of millions of New Yorkers moving.

As he got on in years, his coworkers would mark every birthday, and no one dared ask him when he'd retire.

"He'd laugh and ask me 'Shirley when are you retiring?' so when I'm retiring then he's going to retire," coworker Shirley Martin said.

"He came here every single day, he did the job," Leybovich said. "If you saw Frank call out it meant he really wasn't feeling well."

Late last year Gurrera went out.

Friends say his heart had started to fail.

He spent months on medical leave, until Thursday, when they learned he'd passed.

Gurrera left behind a legacy of hard work and grit that will see this city through.

"I was the one that made it. And it makes me feel good," Gurrera said. "I've accomplished something and contributed to mankind. And I still feel that way."

(https://abc7ny.com/oldest-mta-employee-nyc-transit-worker-frank-gurrera-subway/6433020/?fbclid=IwAR1hOKVPn2hYUmf8cZtawHJbbcBXXZ3K4tLH6MDENVAKtRAhuWDPm8EE0JI)

[R10 2952]

50 years of putting up with TA management; he'd be a gold medalist by Olympic standards....

[Lex]

2 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

50 years of putting up with TA management; he'd be a gold medalist by Olympic standards....

Based on the story, he probably liked his job too much to quit.

[trainfan22]

This guy probably made parts for trains from all three eras, Pre War cars, SMEE and NTT. Amazing.

 

There was an motor man who recently passed away sadly also had an article written about him, operated R9 in passenger service when they was still regular passenger trains in the 70s, and was operating R160s on the .

[mediccjh]

On 9/27/2020 at 7:59 PM, trainfan22 said:

This guy probably made parts for trains from all three eras, Pre War cars, SMEE and NTT. Amazing.

 

There was an motor man who recently passed away sadly also had an article written about him, operated R9 in passenger service when they was still regular passenger trains in the 70s, and was operating R160s on the .

That is correct; he died on his way to work in 2017(ish). The nicest guy down here, and very humble too. The one day, he was working an RDO, and he asked me (of all people) for some pointers on the  since he knew it was my line. 

[Trainmaster5]

2 hours ago, mediccjh said:

That is correct; he died on his way to work in 2017(ish). The nicest guy down here, and very humble too. The one day, he was working an RDO, and he asked me (of all people) for some pointers on the  since he knew it was my line. 

Maybe you've heard about our switchman at Utica Avenue IRT ? Man had 50 years on the job. We used to tease him about retiring all the time. His response was " what am I going to do,  sit home and watch soap operas with mama every day "? Sadly he went on vacation one Christmas week and passed away before retiring. One of the nicest guys I've ever met down in RTO. If he missed the B46 bus when he cleared he would walk from Eastern Parkway to the Utica station for his train to Far Rock. I remember when Command made the radio announcement congratulating him for his milestone. Before I had a picked job I was vacation relief and I loved working his job. I missed him and his contemporaries when they left the job. Just had to add to your post.  Carry on.