FROM SEA TO SAND
TRACEY ENGELKING IS LIVING HER BEST LIFE AS BOTH AN INVOLVED PALM SPRINGS RESIDENT AND A THANKFUL DAP HEALTH PATIENT. SHE WANTS YOU TO LIVE YOURS, TOO.
BY DANIEL VAILLANCOURT (as seen in DAP Health magazine) racey Engelking, 51, may not be a celebrity, but if she tried her hand at fame, she’d surely be an overnight sensation. Often told she resembles Sarah Jessica Parker, she definitely exudes a star’s confidence, charisma, and sex appeal. She was born a water-lover, raised Roman Catholic, and lived with her mom, dad, and adored older sister Kelley in the tiny town of Auburn on Owasco Lake in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York state. “I was a competitive swimmer — always in the lake, always in the pool,” she says. “But it was so cold there! As beautiful as the
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summers were, even as a child, I knew there was no way I could live there.” So, after dropping out midway through her junior year as a fine art major at SUNY Buffalo, she packed her meager belongings — and $600 cash — into her Oldsmobile Cutlas Sierra and hightailed it to La Jolla, California, to live by the beach. THE GREATEST WEDDING STORY EVER TOLD While working as a showgirl at a club called Nightlife in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood, Engelking met a hot new bartender named Chad. On his third day there, she offered him a tour of the area. They made a date for
the very next day. “It was July 31, 1998,” she reveals. “We went to dinner, walked around downtown, went to the harbor, watched the fireworks over SeaWorld. Out of nowhere, I said, ‘You’re exactly the kind of guy I would get marry.’” When Chad replied the feeling was mutual, she blurted out, “Let’s get married!” They wed 48 hours after meeting, and they’re still together more than a quarter-century later. “He’s the easiest human I could ever, ever imagine being with,” she says. “I can’t imagine being with anybody else.” Alongside her diamond ring, Engelking wears the little pawn shop band they found for $20 in El Cajon.