Whether you live in State College or work on the Penn State campus, chances are that you know the name Dave Colton. If you live or work at Juniper Village Senior Living at Brookline, you most certainly do. Colton, a native of Pittsburgh, is in his 24th year with Brookline, with many a story to tell!
When Colton arrived to work at Penn State in the early 70’s (after having previously graduated from the school), Joe Paterno had just been named as Penn State’s new athletic director. After former women's basketball head coach Rene Portland, Dave was the second person that Paterno hired to join his staff, where Colton served as the Athletic Department’s chief fundraiser at a time when only five fundraisers existed on the entire campus.
Some 20 years later, and just weeks after his retirement from PSU, Dave joined the team at Brookline as the public relations representative for skilled nursing. There, he nearly doubled census in the next year. It was shorty after that year, however, that he felt he wasn’t exactly cut out for the skilled side of the business, and moved next door to personal care, continuing his public relations efforts. From PR, Dave moved to the activities department (Connections), where he has been ever since. Senior Living residents flock to any and all of Colton’s activities, including the ever-popular “Dave’s Hour” of discussion on history, current events, or any other topic of resident interest. He’s also well known for the model train collection that he displays and operates each holiday season. After some nudging from his children, at age 85, Colton finally, albeit reluctantly, has decided to cut back to working two days per week.
Run, Don’t Walk…
If it sounds as if walking a mile in Dave’s shoes might be tough, trying running in them! An accomplished athlete, Colton holds 10 national championships in distances from 800 to 5,000 meters. His love of running surfaced when he attended Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania as a freshman and joined the cross country team. He later came to Penn State to run, and kept up the habit until a few short years ago. He even ran in the Boston Marathon at the age of 48, with a time of 2:47.
No Slowing Down
Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. Colton says that he loves his job so much that he would do it for free. “I’ll know when it’s time to retire” he says, “As long as I can do [the job], I’ll be here.”
Colton lives within walking distance of Juniper Village at Brookline with his wife Dottie—a previous volunteer of the year with us. They have three daughters and two sons: Autumn, Janie, Bobbi, James and Matt. Autumn, Bobbi and James are Penn State grads, just like their dad.
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