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Baron Scrioll Fall 2005 page 10
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I am sitting off the island of Alor in Indonesia as the Chief Mate on the Navy Hospital Ship MERCY. I just left the USNS COMFORT last week where I was the Captain. The ship I am on just came from Tsunami assistance in Banda Acheh, Sumatra and is headed back to San Diego. On the return trip we are taking Project Hope Doctors and nurses to Alor, East Timor, New Guinea and the Island of Majoro in the Marshall Islands. On the overall Mike story I have been working at sea since February of 1977. Lots of water under the bridge since then, both good and bad, but thank God mostly good. My wife Jani is a counselor for Kids at Risk in the high school my daughters graduated from in Thomaston, Maine. My daughter Kelly will graduate from Virginia Tech this year, and my daughter Holly is a sophomore at Johnson and Wales in Providence, R.I. A day does not go by that I don't reflect on my experience at Bitburg. We are truly a lucky lot of men and women. There are very few high schools where 35 years after you graduate one is in daily contact with old classmates. Danny McGowan 68 and Mark Wilt 68 send me corny jokes on a weekly basis. Cam Strong 66 gives me the gouge on Washington State. Over the years I have eaten dinner in Guam with Jim Slaughter 66, lunch with Sonny Rasar 68 and his wife in New Orleans, dinner in Boston and DC with Pat Guy 68 and numerous California visits with Danny McGowan 68,Tony Alves 67, Mike Stewart 66, Bill Tiny Wiehl 67, and Gerry.Lagish Hilliard. I live in a beautiful area in Maine and invite anyone in the area to drop by for a cup of coffee. |
