"Rocket Scientist Mike" - This is a page about Mike in his younger years, living at home. We start with this school picture from kindergarden. If you see Mike, ask him about the time he locked himself out of the house and got a double dose of kindergarden that day. He got a 'Voltron' toy for kindergarden graduation and thought it could fly. He found out that just because they do in the cartoon, doesn't mean they really do. Thus began his career of breaking things.

"Great Hunter Mike" - When Mike was 6 years old, we were living in the country with a large field view from the front yard. He saw some "really big eagles" in the field one day and got extreamly excited. We got camera and headed out the door. This is him before we saw the "eagles". The "eagles" turned out to be a flock of wild Turkeys. He will never forget the difference between wild Turkeys and Eagles.

"Daredevil Mike" - Here he is at 12 years old after a bad bike wreck. He had a 13-speed bike with the thin wheels. He thought he could take it over a storm grate with 2" wide openings. He failed to realize his tire would fit quite nicely into the grate. The bike stopped suddenly, he did not. The result was several stitches to put his mouth back together and another Kodak moment.

"Graduate Mike" - After retiring from his Daredevil days, Mike went on to graduate the 8th grade. He is shown here with his two younger brothers on this festive occasion. He has been a good big brother in his attempts to teach them the error of his ways. So far it isn't working, they are following gallantly in his footsteps.

"Mechanic Mike" - At 16, Mike got his first job as a small engine mechanic at the local lawn mower repair shop. He still can't fix a lawn mower worth a darn. He still won't work on them at home, and you have to bribe or blackmail him to get him to push one. Now he works on helicopter's for the US Marine Corps, scarry isn't it? He has lost more tools and broken more parts than we can count. We are still looking for the lawnmower gas cap. He did enjoy playing in the grease and oil.

"C.A.P. Joe Cool Mike" - This is Mike as a Master Sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol. His assignment, for this photo, was to park the planes at the annual summer air show in 1996. He took his responsibility's with the C.A.P. very serious, especially when it came to training recruits. Mike studied hard to understand the theories and dynamics of aviation, and recieved several awards for his efforts. Mike learned the principals of Search and Rescue while in the Civil Air Patrol. His dress uniform looked like a New York City doorman with all his ribbons and decorations. Mike got his first Helicopter rides at one of these Air Shows and he was hooked. One of the first duties Mike did after returning from Boot Camp was to attend a CAP awards dinner, in his Marine "Class A" uniform.

Firefighter Mike - Mike served with the local Volunteer Fire Department. He went to a lot of classes to learn how to fight fires and got his Firefighter I certification. He had hoped to be a firefighter in the Military, but there were not any openings at the time of his enlistment. Mike spent many days and nights out fighting fires in the local community. The Local Fire Department Members still ask about him and look forward to his leaves so that they can catch up (on reruns of Bevis and Butthead). Mike hopes to return to Fire Fighting after his Military duty. He just loves running into a burning building, when all the smart people are running out.