I want to tell you about Mike. First of all he is 96 and will be 97 in July. His handshake is still as strong as mine. His eyesight is great but his hearing isn't so good. Mike has a great sense of humor. I knew we would get along when I first met him about 4 years ago. I was talking with him at a dinner party and sensed he had t a New York accent. I asked him if he was from New York and he said that he had been born and raised in Brooklyn. Although he hadn't lived in New York in a lot of years, he still had that distinct New York accent so I said, "Do you miss New York"? and he leaned in toward me and he said, "I miss the action"! I knew we were going to be friends.
What a life, Mike has had. Ran the streets of Manhattan in the 1920's, looking for odd jobs to help bring in money to a house that had very little. Learned about life, the good, bad, and ugly before he was 13. He used to hold back a nickle now and then and go to the movies or a quarter and go to the opera. When he was 20 he and his best friend left New York looking for work. This was the depression 30's and jobs were few and far between and they ended up doing WPA road construction in Ohio. Then one day he was in a post office and he saw a poster recruiting men for the military. He said he enlisted just to have a place to eat and sleep on a regular basis. He lost contact at this time with his best friend, and though they never really got back together they did write to each other for several years. He got a job as a parachute rigger for the Air Force in the late thirties and was rigging parachutes for practice runs at an Air Force base in Ohio. He has hilarious stories of near misses, of air men being dragged on the ground because of wind and their inability to wrap up their chute. On one occasion they ran after a guy that was being dragged by the wind, for over half a mile.
Then Pearl Harbor. He actually didn't know what was going on that Sunday because he'd been out and hadn't heard a radio til he came back to the base later in the day. He never followed politics much in those days so it all came as a surprise to him but 2 days later the division commander asked for volunteers to go to Pearl and he stepped forward. 5 days after the raid at Pearl he was in Pearl rigging chutes and teaching others how to rig chutes. He did this job all through out WWII. It was an exacting job and he learned to be precise and follow procedures step by step. There was no margin for sloppiness and by the way you couldn't be a drinker and party much because the next morning some airman's life was in your hands when you were rigging his chute.
When the war was over he stayed in the Air Force but shifted to a more management type job that eventually landed him a job with the Department of Defense as a quality control manager and inspector. He wrote the manuals on how things should be done. When the cold war jacked up in early 1950's he was employed on a secretive mission to set up air bases all through out the middle east. He still won't tell me all that was done, but essentially it came down to this: if we needed to fly nuclear weapons to Russia the planes would have to refuel and they needed air bases to do that. Also, if the planes ever got hit with ground or air fire they might need an emergency place to land. He, and his mates, were essentially preparing for WW III. He and his wife and 2 kids lived in Casablanca for several years. On one occasion he was given a top secret mission where plans in an attache case were handcuffed to his wrist. He was to take them to take to the high command in Germany. He had a few hours in Paris before his train to Germany left, so he went to the Louvre and walked around the place. Imagine a man walking around looking at paintings like the Mona Lisa all the while carrying a loaded 45 automatic in his belt. He could have capped Mona if he had wanted to.
Back to the States and Sacramento in the 1960's and 70's. He was asked to put together a suicide prevention program for the military and so in fact he was one of the most instrumental creators of the suicide-prevention program the U.S. Military still uses today. I have seen all of the awards, certificates, honors, and photos of him shaking 5 star generals hands and so forth. When he retired in the late 70's he continued to write articles for suicide prevention programs for local communities, the Government and websites around the world.
Mike had long been a technical writer, doing up extensive manuals for the Government but now he shifted gears in his retirement and became a creative writer. He wrote a science fiction novel that is still for sale on Amazon.com. He wrote a collection of short stories he called "Grandpa Stories". The kind of stories a grandpa would read to their grand kids. They are also archived. I've read his works and I can tell you he is a good writer.
Mike then started going to Elementary schools as the guest speaker, reading stories and telling stories to kids. As he entered his eighties, sadly he lost his wife Gail and then shortly after that he moved in with his son and daughter-in-law in Sorrento Valley. When he turned 90, he turned his talents to writing his own blog site. Articles, links and many interesting entries. He continued writing up until just the last 6 months. Imagine that, writing a cogent, interesting blog when you are 96!! He wrote at least 5 blogs for my site.
Mike traveled the world, was around for some of the most iconic moments of the 20th century, designed programs that are still in place, did secret service work, is a published author, was married to his wife for 50+ years and raised 2 kids. How much life a person can get out of one life.
I met Mike at a dinner party several years ago. There were about 7 people at this party all in my age group and then Mike who sat at the end of the table to my right. As dinner went on and people began to get "wined up" NO ONE pay any attention to Mike. No one talked to him, no one asked him a question, he was invisible to others at the table but not to me. One two occasions, people got up to go back into the kitchen for food or drink and they both asked all of us at the table if we wanted or needed anything all of us except Mike. He was totally ignored. Mike might as well have gotten a plate to go and sat in the car.
I was really bugged about this and I decided that while others gabbed in the kitchen, I would talk to Mike. I went into the living room with Mike and we began to talk. He was so interesting, he knows philosophy, art, writers, religion and so forth. I said, "Mike let's go get some breakfast someday and talk about the world". He said, "I would be delighted too" and we did many times. He always shakes my hand vigorously and says, "how are you my friend"? I always say, "if I was half as good as you are right now, I'd be better". We laugh, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "well, whataya going to do"?
His life seems to be winding down, father time is after all undefeated, but I will be Mike's friend to the last as I would hope that someone, someday might be my friend when I get older. We too easily shunt people aside and tend to think they don't have anymore to contribute. We assume they are done before they are done. As a culture we don't show much respect to older folks and it's totally Darwinianly Stupid" to do that because the very people that dismiss, as useless, and older person will one day be older and not want to be dismissed. Doesn't take much, a simple how are things going would do. My friend Neville almost always will talk to an older person and really listen to what they say, strangers that he gives some time of his day to.
I love Mike and I am happy I got to know him. If I have 3/4 of what he had at age 95 I will consider myself lucky. He inspires me to not think old, to not give in to the perception of being old. We all have to give ground when we get older but we don't have to give up. Besides, like Mike said so well, I (would) "miss the action".
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