Dave Rotenberry doesn't think much of the five miles he walks in the morning, every morning except Sunday, to and from his home in McKinney. But his family certainly does. So does his cardiologist.
The retired restauranteur is 87-years-old and marches across Collin County at 7 a.m. six days a week with a freshly charged pacemaker too. "It's kind of like a job now," he laughed. "I clear my mind, and I clear my arteries at the same time."
The question we had for him then was why? Why at nearly 90 years old does he walk 30-miles a week even on a 100 degree July day? The answer was waiting for him back at home.
Her name is Marie. "She's the reason I'm living this long," he said of his wife of 62 years. At 92 years old, his wife has a few health problems of her own now. Dave says he walks, so he can stay healthy enough to be around to take care of her. "She took care of me for about 62 years, so I gotta try to help her now, you know," he said.
Rotenberry also walks because he's the oldest living Rotenberry he knows. His dad only made it to the age of 57. He's survived most of his brothers and sisters too, so a committed daily walk is enough to bring a daughter to tears. "I'm very proud of my dad. I couldn't have asked for a better dad," said his daughter Dixie Johnson. "I know people my age they don't have their mom and dad like I do. And I'm very blessed. And I thank God every day."
So if you see an old man walking in McKinney, one occasionally taking a swig of sweet tea out of a flat, rectangular plastic salad dressing bottle, you'll know it's Dave Rotenberry keeping himself, and his family alive. "It fits in my back pocket," he laughed while holding the salad dressing bottle midway through one of those morning walks. "I don't have to hold it," he joked.
And if you're looking to join him in a life-saving exercise regimen, he offers this advice. "Get out and walk. And don't eat so much," he laughed.