For Pat Mascia, being outdoors is a way of life.

He started fishing when he was 8 or 9 years old, and started golfing around the same time. He hasn’t slowed down since, and at age 80, the retired dentist is still happiest when he is outdoors. 

Mascia recently finished a floating trip on the Mississippi river where he fished for smallmouth bass, and he’s getting ready to travel to Canada — travel restrictions permitting  — to fish for walleye and smallmouth. For the past 40 years, he’s traveled regularly to North Dakota to hunt on a friend’s 10,000-acre ranch. He doesn’t hunt big game much anymore, though, preferring to focus mostly on game birds. He eats everything he shoots.

Mascia also plays what he calls “fun golf,” which means he worries more about having a good time with friends than paying much attention to the score. 

“We bend the rules a lot. If you lose a ball, it’s not a penalty shot,” Mascia said. “What we really enjoy is the camaraderie of the other guys. Everyone who is able, walks. We don’t take carts.” 

When he’s not on the course, Mascia typically walks between 1.5 and 3 miles a day with his wife. The couple met when Mascia was hitchhiking to school as a sophomore at St. Thomas College. She was in a car with Mascia’s cousin. They got acquainted, and when Mascia was looking for a date to take to a dance a couple of weeks later, he thought of her. She already had a date that night, but she encouraged him to ask her out another time. They’ve been married 57 years.

“Not only that, I got a ride,” he said. 

A GrandPad advocate

Mascia was introduced to GrandPad by his daughter, and he quickly fell in love with it. He’s not adept with technology, but he uses GrandPad to connect with his grandchildren, the youngest of whom is 19. He also loves to play Scrabble and listen to music, and he uses the GrandPad to research topics for the speeches he gives to a group of retired dentists he belongs to. One of those speeches was all about the GrandPad, and it was compelling enough that other members of the group bought their own GrandPad. 

“I love that thing,” he said. “I can call my grandkids up whenever I want.”