Glen David: Engineer, Teacher, Fast-Food Chef, Handyman

In 2003, at age 66, Glen David retired after 40 years in the industrial-insulation field. His career had taken him and his family from Colorado to Florida to South Carolina and back to Colorado. “I looked forward to not working,” Glen says. His retirement lasted about six months.

Glen grew up in a ranching family in Wyoming. Raised with a strong work ethic and a love of independence, Glen had a steady, upward career. He started out running his own business and then worked for corporate industrial contractors. In his late 50s, he was let go from a high-level job when his employer downsized. Always the optimist, Glen saw it as a way to grow and change. He started over at the ground level in his field and quickly rose to a leadership role, overseeing some of the biggest professional challenges of his career. One of them was fireproofing massive structures at Denver International Airport.

After retiring, Glen and his wife moved from Colorado to Tennessee to be closer to a daughter and grandchildren. He missed working, though. “I felt like I had a lot of energy that I wanted to use someplace, and I like being around people,” says Glen. He got a part-time job working on the grill at a local McDonald’s, and he loved it. Before long he was the restaurant’s in-house fixer-upper; plus he was training new employees—including many young immigrants—in McDonald’s precise cooking standards. He stayed five years.

Today, at 74, Glen is back in Colorado running his own handyman service. He says it is a perfect fit for his mechanical talents, desire to help others, and need for a little extra income, plus it provides a lot of scheduling flexibility. Some of his clients live in a senior-citizen apartment complex, and Glen has been able to help out in other ways, such as driving people to medical appointments or to the airport.

Being a handyman also allows Glen plenty of time for his other lifelong passion: service to others through his church. As a young man, he first earned his degree in industrial management at a technical college; then he spent three years at a Bible college. Over the years, he has led Bible-study classes for people of all ages, often using his artistic skills to draw pictures of the Bible stories he teaches. Currently, he spends an afternoon each week as a lay mentor for a seminary student.