Michael Bequette:
CLASS OF 1966
Carter Lake Elementary SchoolClass of 1966
Carter lake, IA
Thomas Jefferson High SchoolClass of 1970
Council bluffs, IA
Michael's Story
Michael is from Carter Lake, Iowa. Michael's schools include Carter Lake Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson High School. Michael later attended University of Nebraska at Omaha (Structural Engineering) . Michael works(ed) at U.s. Army Corps Of Engineers.
One of Michael's favorite quotes is:""Quotations are for those who can't come up with something clever on their own." Hey, wait a minute...".
More about Michael:"Part I
Grew up in Carter Lake, IA, and attended Thomas Jefferson HS in Council Bluffs where I succeeded in not doing anything noteworthy.
After graduating from TJ I went to IWCC. That's where I met my then-future wife, Kristi, who was going to school to be a medical assitant. I graduated from IWCC, comfortably in the middle of my class. I then worked briefly for Sky Harbor at Eppley Airfield repairing avionic equipment. It was a bit over my head, so after about four months my boss and I arrived at a mutual agreement wherein they would stop paying me and I would stop coming in.
I then went to work at Dale Electronics in Columbus, NE, maintaining their resistor winders. Our son, Jason, was born there (in Columbus, not at Dale) on a cold and snowy January morning. It was really cold. And snowy.
While in Columbus I got my pilot's license, then Kristi and I decided to move back to Council Bluffs so I could go to school for aircraft mechanics and she could go to nursing school. I got a job in Omaha at Tip Top (manufacturer of the world's finest hair curlers and hair brushes, as well as hair clips and rubber bands) maintaining the production equipment. I worked the night shift and went to school dur...Expand for more
ing the day. About that time I also took up hang gliding, which would later turn out to be a bad idea.
After graduating IWCC I continued to work at Tip Top and also got a part time as an aircraft mechanic at the Council Bluffs airport. A few months later the shop was sold to another operator, and my position was excessed. Shortly after that I was hang gliding from Murray Hill (near Little Sioux, IA, about 40miles north of CB) when, due to pilot error, my glider crashed into the hillside. They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. This was not a good one. The sudden stop broke my neck and a few other less important bones. (I should mention that in the months leading up to this, three of my hang gliding buddies had worse accidents with worse outcomes, so it was pretty stupid of me to have been up there that day. Especially since I had a wife and son at home.) I spent the next 6mos at Immanual Medical Center in Omaha, ending up as a low quad, confined to a wheelchair. Not as bad as it sounds. At least it's better than the alternative. I think.
Since our house in CB was not accessible, we moved back to Carter Lake and lived in a garage that my dad and brothers converted into a small but really nice house for us. My dad also decided to start a business (Handicap Mobility) installing wheelchair lifts and hand controls in handicap vehicles. I worked with him for a while but eventually decided to go to school for engineering.
Part 2:
Next thing I knew I had an engineering degree! (Yeah, that's right, me, Mr. "Needs to apply himself".)
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this exciting 10 part series.".
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