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Thread: Remember the Man Who Walked 21 Miles a Day to and From Work? There's an Update to His Story

  1. #1

    Remember the Man Who Walked 21 Miles a Day to and From Work? There's an Update to His Story

    Still going strong!

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016...-to-his-story/

    TROY, Mich. (TheBlaze/AP) — A Detroit-area man who had said he walked 21 miles a day to and from work is finding life is much easier about a year after receiving a new car and a windfall of donations, but the downside to that generosity is that he has put on weight.

    The Detroit Free Press reported last year about James Robertson’s daily trek to the factory where he worked in Rochester Hills. Shortly thereafter, donors gave Robertson the car and roughly $360,000. He moved from Detroit to suburban Troy.
    James Robertson, 56, of Detroit, walks to catch his morning bus as a part of his commute to work on Jan. 29, 2015. Hundreds of people have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to help Robertson, who says he typically walks 21 miles (34 kilometers) to get to and from work. Robertson began making the daily trek to the factory where he molds parts after his car stopped working ten years ago and bus service was cut back. He's had perfect attendance for more than 12 years. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza)

    James Robertson, 56, of Detroit, walks to catch his morning bus as a part of his commute to work on Jan. 29, 2015. Hundreds of people have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to help Robertson, who says he typically walks 21 miles (34 kilometers) to get to and from work. Robertson began making the daily trek to the factory where he molds parts after his car stopped working ten years ago and bus service was cut back. He’s had perfect attendance for more than 12 years. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza)

    “I love this car,” Robertson said of his 2015 Ford Taurus, a car he selected because he said, “It’s like me — simple on the outside, durable on the inside,” the Detroit Free Press reported.

    “People ask me why I still work. I don’t change that for no one,” Robertson said.

    Now it takes the 57-year-old about 12 minutes to drive to work. The newspaper reported Sunday that the new situation hasn’t rid Robinson of all of life’s problems. He still needs to find new friends and fit into a new neighborhood, and he wants to lose weight because he is not getting as much exercise as before his good fortune.

    Robertson said he isn’t likely to retire anytime soon, in part because he prizes his friendships at work.

    Each weekday, and lately on many Saturdays, Robertson makes the trip to his job at Schain Mold & Engineering, where he operates an injection-molding machine. But instead of needing five hours of walking and bus riding to get there, he can get to work by car swiftly.

    “His attendance has never faltered, not one day,” plant manager Todd Wilson said recently. “That money, none of it changed him one bit. James is still one of the most loving, caring people I know.”

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  3. #2
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Cool.

    Windfall just makes you more of what you already are on the inside. He already had that work ethic and character, and it didn't change him.

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  5. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by CatchyUsername View Post
    Still going strong!
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    Windfall just makes you more of what you already are on the inside. He already had that work ethic and character, and it didn't change him.
    Thanks for posting that Catchy, its a local story but I missed the new updates on it. Its so nice to know that he's doing well and that the money hasn't been a curse to him as it has to some lottery winners.

    From another article:

    Like a lottery winner, his life changed almost overnight: From commuting 21 miles a day on foot to driving a new car — and from fending off feisty pals in an urban rooming house to kicking back in a suburban apartment all his own.

    Likewise, James Robertson suddenly had a pile of unearned cash — about $360,000. It poured into three GoFundMe pages on the Internet and kept coming, 24/7, until the humble factory worker said after a week "that's enough" and the pages were shut down...

    ...Yet, some things about him haven't changed. They're values he says he got from his parents. One is pride in his job. Another, loyalty to his employer. A third, an addiction to baseball — but hardball only, thank you. He smirks when he points out a softball diamond at his well-groomed apartment complex...

    ...He has been uprooted from the neighborhood in Detroit where he grew up, where most everyone looks and talks like he does. Now, he's an odd character in an attractively bland, earth-toned complex of upscale suburban apartments. He stays up late watching TV. He was just getting up at 10 a.m. on a recent weekday when a reporter arrived. Compare that with a year ago, when his routine was truly daunting: Rise in Detroit before dawn, dress for the elements, then start an Olympian commute that required riding two buses and walking 21 miles a day — all to keep a suburban factory job.

    Back then, James Robertson, soon dubbed "the walking man," insisted he didn't mind walking. Said he didn't miss his old Honda that crapped out. Said he didn't mind sleeping just two or three hours a night, making it up on weekends. Instead, back then, he said he liked his job, liked his coworkers and liked the boss who brought him big country dinners, in return getting Robertson's perfect attendance for more than a decade...

    http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/s...size/79973200/

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  7. #4
    Can you imagine not having a car, and still having perfect attendance? This guy is simply amazing.

    I don't want to use the word, "deserve", but I will say I'm sooooo glad someone like him was blessed so richly. Praise God!

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