MIDLAND, Texas — When you’re a 93-year-old retiree, you have every reason to relax and enjoy your retirement.
"I retired in 1995," Polo Park Estates resident Jack Rogers said, followed by a chuckle.
And just because you’re in your 90s, doesn’t mean you don’t have a sense of humor.
"I was a drug dealer," Rogers said after I asked him what his job was. "I was a pharmacist. When I tell people I’m a drug dealer they kind of stand back and look at me."
When you’re Jack Rogers, enjoying your retirement is about helping other people.
"I did this [volunteering] in Fredericksburg, [TX]," Rogers said. "When I moved here in Midland about 22 years ago, I started working at food pantries here. I work at AMOS (Area Missions Outreach Services) on Monday, and on Tuesday and Thursday I work at the Baptist Crisis Center. I've been doing this for a number of years. I enjoy doing volunteer work."
And when you’ve been doing it for more than 40 years and made it all the way to 93-years-old, it tends to become a way of life and you get some miles on your body. Especially when one of the main hobbies caters towards it.
"At 93 years of age," Rogers said. "I’ve walked 4,000 miles as [part of] a walking hobby. [...] There’s not too many people that've walked 4,000 miles."
When he moved to Midland, something important to his hobby was missing.
"There wasn’t a walking club and there wasn’t any place to walk," Rogers said. "And so my wife told me 'Jack, why don’t you start a walking club here in Midland?'"
He did just that. He formed the Midland Walkabout Volkssport Club about 20 years ago.
This club has family-oriented, amateur athletic events. Most walks are about six miles and are friendly to families with strollers and wheelchairs as well.
The club walks at Big Bend, Monahans Sand Hill, Stanton and many other places.
Unfortunately, Rogers hobby was taken away from him recently.
"I had to quit walking," Rogers said. "I fell, so my walking days are over."
Despite this, Rogers, said those walking days did wonders for him.
"At 93, I don’t have aches and pains and-- well I enjoy life and I love being outdoors," Rogers said.
Just because he can’t walk, don’t expect him to stay still for very long.
Because once a walker, always a walker.
Now he's walking the path of where his heart is -- thanks to the man above.
"God has given me this extra time in life and I’m paying him back by doing volunteer work," Rogers said.
He encourages that for everybody, no matter what age.
"Do volunteer work," Roger advised. "If you’re able. [...] People need something to do, people need to be active and that’s one way to do it is helping other people."
You might want to take Rogers' word for it because you don’t walk 4,000 miles without earning some wisdom along the way.