Bow Tie Weather Guy Enjoying Retirement
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - For decades, Troy Dungan was the weather guy with the bow tie. North Texans tuned in to see him in times of good weather and bad.
He disappeared from the news in 2007 and was gone, but not forgotten.
"I'm going to have to retire from retirement-- I'm too busy!" Dungan joked during a recent interview at his North Dallas home.
It's been three years since we've seen him do the weather in Dallas-Fort Worth, but even well into his retirement, he's anything but bored. "I do some commercial work. You've probably seen and heard me selling things. So I'm staying as busy as I want. I worked three hours last week. That's about enough, don't you think, for one week?" he said with a laugh.
At 74-years-old, Dungan is as energetic as many men half his age. He serves on several boards, is an elder at his church and, in part because of his commercial work, spends several weeks each year traveling with his wife of 38 years, Janet.
"It helps support my vacation habit. I'm making some bucks doing that and it's fun. Fortunately, I don't have to depend on that, but it's good to have that extra income."
He doesn't have to depend on it because, during his more than 30 years as chief weather anchor at WFAA Channel 8, the Hillsboro native tried to spend his money wisely.
For one thing, unlike many of his peers, he chose not to buy more house than he and his family needed. "I knew a lot of people in the 80's who did that. They over-bought and they were sorry they did later. The house we live in is the same house we've lived in since 1976," he said, adding that everything in it speaks of their lives and what they've done together.
He and Janet raised three children in that house, and now they have one grandchild: three-and-a-half year old Jacqueline, who was born right around the time he retired. They visit Jacqueline in Oklahoma City as often as they can, but many of their trips are spent in more exotic locations. Venice, Italy is a favorite spot, but their most recent vacation late last year took them to Prague, Budapest, and Vienna. So what did Troy decide to have imported for their trip? "When you're in Vienna, you have to have Vienna Sausage, right?" he joked.
During his three decades doing weather, viewers never saw Dungan wearing a straight tie.
That's because he doesn't own any.
But he does own more than 200 bow ties, which became his trademark before he even got to Dallas.
"I was standing in the middle of Pontiac Lake in Detroit--not walking on water, that's only been done once," he said with smile. "The ice was about this thick," he added, spreading his arms wide." It was cold, and I was wanting to wear a high-necked sweater, but you couldn't see the tie. And I thought, if I wore a bow tie, then you could wear a high-necked sweater. Back then we wore blazers with the channel number, so I started doing that and started wearing some bow ties. It was 1974."
Retirement certainly seems to suit him, but I wondered if he ever misses the excitement of covering the weather-- especially during big weather events like we saw during Super Bowl week.
"The weather is in my rearview mirror," he said without hesitation. "I enjoyed doing the weather, but it was just time to stop doing that. You can like something and have enough of it. So I had enough of it. I don't miss it."
He says he also feels fortunate that he was able to leave on his terms. And although today's Dallas-Fort Worth market is much different than the one he entered in 1976, there are some things that appeal to him. One of them is CBS 11's own chief meteorologist, Larry Mowry. "Of course I like the way I did weather. I really like the way Larry Mowry does the weather. Because honestly, he does it kind of like I would."
