National Clothesline

Clarence Booker took half a day off last month from his job as a presser at Leto’s Cleaners last month. His work day had begun at the crack of dawn, not much different than any other day in all the years he has worked as a presser. This day turned out to be different, though, when the TV cameras showed up to put him in the media spotlight.

They had heard he was having a birthday and they wanted to televise the party. He was celebrating his 103rd. So if he wanted to clock out early after the festivities, who was to stop him?

Not his boss, Frank Leto of Leto’s Cleaners in Huntington Valley, PA. Leto recalls that Booker was surprised that age wasn’t a factor when he was hired. Other places where he applied were concerned about the 80-some birthdays he had already celebrated. As far as Leto was concerned, if you can do the job, what matters your age?

Booker has been doing the job there ever since and he was right back at after taking off a few hours on his birthday. If he keeps it up for another 20 or so years, he will have equaled his longest previous stint with one firm — the 42 years worked at Bell’s Laundry in New Jersey.

“I’ve always worked,” Booker said, as he grabbed a gown off a rack of specialty items awaiting his seasoned touch. His trembling hands became become rock steady as he lifts an iron in one and begins smoothing a garment with the other. The innate skills of decades take over.

Booker said he was born in Nassau in the West Indies in 1901, started working at age 12 and hasn’t stopped since.

“I’ve always thought I should be up and doing something,” he said.

He came to the United States in 1922, lived in Miami briefly then made his way north to the Philadelphia area.

Over the years he has seen a few changes. The Wright Brothers were still tinkering in their shop when he was born, still two years away from the first manned flight. But for Booker, progress is better represented by the more ordinary things of everyday life, like indoor plumbing.

And how has a presser’s job changed over the years? The fabrics back then were “more pure” and thus easier to work with, he said. But it was all hand work, no automated machines.

And as long as there is work to do, Booker said he will be ready to do it.