Dan

If I had to pick just one word to describe Dan, it would be exuberant. You want to meet someone who is so full of life it’s practically pouring out of them? Go have a conversation with Dan. Heck, you probably just need to stand next to him, and you’ll feel his zest for life changing you for the better.

When I asked Dan how his perspective on aging has changed as he’s gotten older, he said quite plainly, it hasn’t. Not really. He does everything “a little bit slower, but it's pretty much the same thing I used to do.” Dan spent 40 years as an engineer before switching gears and opening three collision shops. He was also deeply involved in Toastmasters, still teaches business, and lectors at church on Sundays.

Dan actually wanted to be a priest when he was younger. Until one day in college when he went ice skating and laid eyes on a beautiful woman out on the lake, Dimples. Long story short, that was the end of his priesthood journey. Dimples and Dan were married for 67 years, had five kids, and many grandchildren. They spent summers on Keuka Lake. He says he barely had time to eat when they were there because the grandchildren always wanted him to take them out on the speedboat. His wife wasn't a fan of the speed, though, so he bought her a pontoon boat. They would cruise around the lake, stopping for meals at waterfront restaurants and visiting neighbors.

That’s Dan for you. Always looking to make people happy. At Legacy at Clover Blossom, where he now lives, he keeps a running list of 100 jokes to make people laugh. If he notices someone staying in their room too much, he’ll knock on their door and tell them to get out and join the activities. "You gotta keep active," he says with a twinkle in his eye.

Dan’s brain is always at work. He loves computers (yes, plural; he has two big computers in his residence) and lives by rank and file. “Everything that I think of, I'm just constantly putting in rows and columns because … that's the way I think.” When his wife was in assisted living, he said the waitstaff kept bumping into chairs in the dining room, so he suggested angling all the tables 45 degrees. Problem solved. “That's the way I am, you know, looking around to see how I could do things differently. It's so much fun.”

When his wife died more than five years ago, he knew it was time for a change. He didn’t want all the empty space of a big home anymore, and he really hated cooking. That’s when he found Legacy at Clover Blossom.

Dan’s approach to life has always been analytical. He taught his kids to use the DMAIC method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) when solving problems. He says once you put your problems through this method, they become much smaller and more manageable. “I haven't found anything that I couldn't handle except for people dying. You know, that's kind of tough to hang on to. You know, that's tough.” Dan is no stranger to loss. Besides losing the love of his life, he has also lost a son and a grandson.

I asked him where he finds his resilience. “I think by writing, writing, writing, and reading, and speaking. Just getting outside of myself. I mean, don't bring things in and hold them there, and then they start simmering inside you, and pretty soon you can't handle it, you know?”

He explains that during times of great loss he finds it best to, “just get outside yourself and do things for other people, and pretty soon what happened to you just moves into the background.”

Dan has been working on a book, a collection of more than 250 pages of stories and poetry about life. It’s a gift for his children and grandchildren (who lovingly call him G-Pop). He shared a piece he wrote about his wife.

Dan’s life is a testament to the power of resilience — not the kind that denies loss, but the kind that honors it by moving forward with purpose. He analyzes, he gives, he keeps going. Whether it’s reorganizing a dining room, telling a joke to brighten someone’s day, or writing his memories for future generations, Dan continues to find ways to make life fuller — not just for himself, but for everyone around him. Because, as he’s learned, the best way to move love forward is to give it away.


Listen to an excerpt from Dan's interview.

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