Zbone, he was going blind. Last he posted, he was using just about every help the computer had for him to be able to post. I'm guessing he must have reached the point he could no longer see.
Mike is well into his seventies and has had vision problems for the past several years.
I, too, was thinking about him just a few days ago. I looked to see if I had his address or phone number, but couldn't find it. The last I saw him was in 2007 when he and his wife, Lynne, met me for dinner when I was in Honolulu to meet with a client.
To the best of my knowledge, he's still living there.
Mike is a great gentleman and has one of the most amazing life stories you'll ever hear.
Do you have his contact information? If so, please PM me.
You are absolutely right about a movie of his life.
Correct me if I err here, Lex, as you know him far better than I do.
Mike is an Ojibwa Indian who grew up dirt poor on the Upper Michigan peninsula. They didn't even have indoor plumbing.
Yet his curiosity about almost everything led him to become very knowledgable about many things. He got into Notre Dame on his own merits, long before anyone ever thought about affirmative action.
As I recall, he's been on the top of some of the tallest mountains in the world, as well as at the bottom of the deepest oceans. He's been in a hundred or so countries over his life and had a Top Secret security clearance from the military.
He was treated like a top staff officer when he was on a military base, and I'll never forget him telling me a story about that. He'd be chauffeured onto a base in a flag officer's car, which was pretty cool, because here's this Ojibwa Indian with a long pony tail being treated like a General Officer!
Mike might just well be the most widely accomplished and interesting guy I've ever met. That he is also a conservative makes it just that much better!
If he finds out we are talking about him like this it could be irritating to him....
I agree about the movie...or least a book....
Either way he is more accomplished than a normal person could be in several lifetimes.
I think it was Oceanography.
I seem to remember that he and another guy designed a bathyscaphe that allowed scientists to dive deeper into the oceans than they ever could previously.
HA/KS's Link
Jack and All,
Thanks to everyone for your concerns!
Our neighbors and us have made aware of this for a few weeks. We are not happy! Already we have has eoad blockages and traffic restrictions from the Honolulu side of the Island and in Kailua, which will continue. The closures are called "caravan training for the police and other enforcement agencies by the authorities. There is training for waterway closure and security. (There goes access our boats to Kailua Bay and the ocean, including our beach for three weeks at our prime family vacation time of the year...an annual tradition for our families and visiting relatives and friends...CLOSED! But we'll see a lot of patrol gunboats parked in my backyard and near them patrolling all night. Additionally, Secret Service vans and cars will be parked on our and other streets and front lawns. Frankly, a lot of neighbors and I are pissed!
I gotta stop "writing" now. my vision is almost totally gone right now. This is why I haven't responded to this thread or posted lately.
Wife and I will have some more comments later. I need her eyes...and "brain", too!
Mike
He was particularly great at skewering GJ's socialist, "you didn't build that" garbage.
Given Mike's amazing life story, GJ lost any and all the advantages he thought he had with the rest of us by default.
I just got off the phone with Mike and Lynne after an awesome :30 conversation.
Mike has pretty much lost his vision and much of his hearing, but it was clear he has not lost any of his mental faculties, nor his sense of humor.
He's 81 now and just returned from a trip to Michigan to visit with family and friends, as well as reconnecting with his heritage.
He can no longer see well enough to post on Bowsite, but Lynne said she'll try to do so on this thread once they fix some computer problems.
Talking with the two of them just now didn't just 'make my day,' it made my month, if not my entire year.
Kyle
Good to hear he is traveling and doing well
Thank you SO MUCH for digging up his number!
You bet your life I did!
Wish I had known that Mike and Lynn had come to MI...I would have driven to the UP just to say hi.
I've often offered to Mike that I would be honored to edit his autobiography. At this point, I would be willing not only to do that, but transcribe any dictation he made.
I used to correspond with Mike's brother Clarence before he passed. I wish I had been more computer astute as all those emails were never backed up and lost.
I have a file somewhere of an unfinished project where I collected many of Mike's post here and elsewhere on the Bowsite. Time to find it and finish that.
Lynn...make sure you give a special hello to Mike when you read this thread. He has been in the number one spot on my list of people met virtually whom I would love to meet in the real world.
Kyle...sending you an email.
just glad that somebody was able to make contact, he always had great input on here, a rational man with sound beliefs and values
we need more like him
I haven't been here as long as many of you, but "listened" a great deal to anything and everything Mike had to offer. Facts, logic and a great human spirit. Funny too!
If he "reads" this I hope he knows how much he means to a good many people.
A hui hou..... and aho....
I went through a lot of tissues wiping my eyes as we chatted. I may have a tough exterior here at times, but things that bring out integrity, patriotism, love, shared values, and character make me tear up every single time.
At this point, he'd have to dictate it.
Never-the-less, what a great read it would be!
He seems like someone who could do anything they thought was important enough to do.
I remember Mike from his 'Hudson "Mike" Hascall' days on the Bowsite. He's a great guy with a great sense of humor and I miss his posts.
For what it's worth, I don't think that it's necessary to refrain from speaking well of someone until they can't hear it.
I don't know Lynn and Mike like many of you do, but I recall the timbre of his posts and salient points he made.
So, Lynn, if you're reading this or Kyle, if you go visit, please pass along well wishes and let Mike know that there are many of us that have a good impression of him. Please give him a hearty handshake.
If that irritates him, please smile and let him know that's common. I irritate my wife too.
Just Do It!
Kyle, any headway on the book?
May he ride out this storm and his Phoenix rise again! hehehe
The last I heard, Jack had not gotten any response from Mike or Lynne.
Dang!
Haven't heard from them, but should call just to say hi and check up on them. On my "to-do" list.
However, I do have a lot of material from the Bowsite and will try to put together it in some sort of order this winter when I spend more time inside. What I have will probably be not enough to print a book, but I will try to make it available as an ebook for those who appreciated his comments and tales. Unfortunately, in our house fire, I lost all of the communications I had with his brother Clarence before he died.
Don't think there should be any fees for downloading, but might accept donations and send Mike and Lynn a gift from his friends here...
Look for an update sometime late December. I have a lot on my plate now as my wife retires next year and we are relocating to WY. Lots to do.
