Chuck Williams: At 84, Dayton Preston won't quit

Walk into the Columbus Government Center on a Monday morning, take an elevator ride to the 11th floor and look around.

Who do you see?

None other than Dayton Preston. That's one way to make Mondays better.

Dayton is one of the good guys. And at 84 years young, he has decided for about the eighth or ninth time he just can't retire.

Can't do it.

So, now Dayton is working as a bailiff in the Muscogee County court system; and has been for three or four months. When this week started, he was herding a pool of jurors into Judge Gil McBride's courtroom for jury selection.

In the nearly 26 years I have been in Columbus, I have known Dayton in a few roles. First, an owner of the Columbus Astros, a minor league baseball team -- remember when we used to have one of those -- an industrial recruiter for the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and a marshal on Bull Creek Golf Course.

When you see Dayton, the first thing you notice is the smile.

Monday, as the potential jurors lined the hall waiting to get into the courtroom, Dayton was walking through the narrow opening.

"When are you going to retire?" I asked him.

"I tried it. Didn't like it," he shot back.

People in the hall just started laughing. That is what Dayton does best. He cuts the tension of the moment in a way that is real, honest and at time laugh-out-loud funny.

The only problem with his new part-time job is he can't converse with the potential jurors, even though he knows many of them.

"I just look at them and smile," he said.

A smile is worth a thousand words -- and they always smile back.

But one question must be answered. Why did Dayton decide to go to work as a bailiff? The job requires 20 or more hours a week and cut into his work as a marshal at Bull Creek.

"You know, I don't like to read about what happens in the newspaper," he said. smiling. "I would much rather be up here and watch it happen."

Part of Dayton's charm is his ability to spin a story. Monday morning waiting for a trial to start was no exception. Dayton was telling me how longevity runs in his family.

"You know my mother used to tell my dad that the glass of scotch he drank every night and that cigar he smoked was going kill him," he said. "You know, she was right. It finally got him at 92."

Being in the winter of his life, Preston refuses to give in to age. And part of that is fighting off the urge to retire.

"You know, if I ever sat down," he said, "I am not so sure I would get back up."

Here's hoping Dayton doesn't sit down any time soon.

Chuck Williams, senior reporter, chwilliams@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 3:41 PM.