Were Ken Ruben, the Culver City transportation maven awake, alert, surely he would have appreciated the view – from high on a scenic hillside just east of downtown Los Angeles.
Rushed to gleaming County USC hospital on Sunday evening, for one day he was lying in a bright fourth-floor setting connected to an uncountable number of hoses and wires.
The stillness, the silence were numbing.
Just hours ago, at midnight, he was transferred to L.A. Community Hospital, East L.A., as hopes dimmed for reviving, restoring the diminutive, stout personality whose knowledge of busses and trains borders on peerless.
Seventy-one days after 72-year-old Mr. Ruben, a Culver City downtown personality for years, was walloped by a powerful stroke, he is comatose. His eyes have been closed for days.
A wide belt of eeriness has surrounded visitors to his room in various nursing homes and hospitals since he was found on Jan. 1.
A pocket full of friends – pals from his all-consuming railroad hobby – poured in over the weekend to his shared room at an East L.A. hospice. When they greeted him and attempted to converse with him, frustratingly, nothing happened.
If he comprehended, he was unable to indicate.
What would Mr. Ruben say if he could reply?
Speculation being perilous, we will report only what we have seen:
A vacuity of enthusiasm, an absence, a vanquishment of the gritty personality who stretched a dollar from here to San Francisco, and back, whether on rails or bus wheels.
In the 14 years I have known Mr. Ruben, he has logged thousands more miles than I, owing to the loyalty and camaraderie of intimates from his fiercely pledged rail circle.
Since there never may be another Ken Ruben, dear God, may we have the old edition back for a few more years.
On a popular railroad discussion site it has been reported that our friend Ken Ruben has passed away. R.I.P., Ken.
Ken’s knowledge of rail, and transit information was unlimited. He seemed always happy to greet you and tell of his latest exploits. To say he was one of a kind person doesn’t tell the whole story. Few were like him, and our world is a bit smaller now without him. RIP.
I, too, knew Ken, but not well. He did have an encyclopedic knowledge about public transit, especially in Southern California, and was a very nice person. That is a very nice photo of him. He is missed by many.
R.I.P., Ken.
Ari Noonan —
Your article is beautiful and a very touching tribute to ken — one of the best tributes to anyone that I have ever read. Thank you.
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