Michael Reed:
CLASS OF 1973
Duncan High SchoolClass of 1973
Duncan, OK
Georgetown University - Graduate SchoolClass of 1984
Washington, DC
U.S. Naval AcademyClass of 1977
Annapolis, MD
Michael's Story
Life
"Life Bio"? Well, it was tough losing Mom & Dad so close together, at such an early age, but Susan's brain tumor surgeries piled on top of it all meant that there were some dark times. Suffering does begat wisdom. You want more of that, you'll just have to wait for the book.... Here's what I've been up to on the less personal front....
I spent nearly 7 years in the Surface Navy and did my sea duty out of Charleston, SC., with half of that at sea in the Med, Carribbean and North Atlantic. Earned my Masters in Natl Secutity at Georgetown, where I met Susan Callahan from Mobile, AL. We married in 84 after I got out of the Navy and Patrick joined us in 1985. Spent time in Texas at TI before getting tranferred to Chicago in '88. Catherine joined the team in 1990. We live a mostly quiet life in the far North Suburbs. Patrick graduated from Arizona State, and Catherine is a new Senior at Mundelein High school where she swims and plays water polo on the HS team. We are active in the local Lutheran Church and play with our Black Lab. Pretty boring, but we are a close-knit family and love to travel together, when we can.
College
Four years at the Naval Academy doesn't really count as "college" in the traditional sense. It was extremely challenging academically. I enjoyed playing a variety of intramural sports and became the President of the Pop Concert Committee for my senior year. My claim to fame would be that the bookends for my concert season were Bruce Springsteen (Born to Run tour) and Fleetwood Mac's last US appearance on their Rumors tour. More importantly, I graduated ahead of 200 other guys. What I recall the most are the great friends and brothers with whom I shared my most formative foundation years. We are still great friends and comrades and communicate regularly.
Workplace
So many jobs, so little time.... Civilians job, first at Texas Instruments in Dallas at the Semi-Conductor Div. Then Recognition Equipment in Finance and they moved me to Chicago for a Customer Service management job. I knew I wanted to be in sales, so I was eager to sell for Northwestern Mu...Expand for more
tual when they recruited me. Later moved to CUNA mutual as a financial services rep. Then, (jeez) to the Institute of Fin Ed as a salemen and Director of Sales. After I got mergered-out, joined United Airlines as the Nat'l manager of the 19 credit union branches. Now I'm with American Chartered as an Operations VP running wires, debit cards and online banking. Hope that's it LOL!
Military
After Annapolis, I spent 16 weeks in Newport during the America's Cup in '77, attending Surface Warfare School. 8 weeks in Philly at Damage Control School, and finally to the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Richmond K. Turner (CG-20), the "Roaring 20". Served as Electrical Officer, Damage Control Asst, and First Lt. Worked with a great bunch of guys. Gitmo, Panama Canal, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Virgin Islands, and the Carib. Med cruise of 79, where we got the best port calls of any ship in the Battle Group. Athens, San Remo, Constanta, Romania, St. Tropez, Barcelona, Valencia, Allasio, Bizerte, Napoli, and my favorite, Palma, Mallorca. Split-toured to the Cruiser USS Wainwright (CG-28) in 80 as Combat Info Center Officer. North Atlantic cruise to Portsmouth, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Helsinki. Another Med in 81 to many of the same spots, plus Marseille and Genoa.
Along the way, I fought real fires, waded into flooded pumprooms, swam to recover torpedoes, landed helos, jumped out of helos, got tear-gassed, spat on, and cussed at. It was great. I got to Conn and Command the ship through some pretty tough waters: Panama Canal, the Straits of Gilbraltar, Messina, the Bosporus and Dardanelles, Boston Harbor, Miami, the English Channel and the Skagerrak where we could have lost the ship. North Atlantic heels to 45 degrees and riding out the Hurricanes. Dolphins, Whales, Sharks, Biolumenesence, and the little Flying Fish. Laying on the flight deck at night and watching the sattelites pass overhead. All the stars.... I miss the sea. Shore duty in Arlington at Recruiting Command doing Marketing where I went to school nights and weekends at Georgetown. National Secuity Program. Masters in 84. Go Hoyas!
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