Michael Sullivan:  

I always wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. My family and friends thought that was a dumb, if noble, idea. As it turns out, they were right. At BUHS I worked on the school paper and I majored in Journalism in college largely because my friend Yvonne "Butch" Smyth was doing so. Butch wanted to be a female Ernie Pyle and should have been. We became friends in 8th grade after my family moved back to Burns. My family's restaurant and her family's grocery store were next door to each other and we got to know one another through daily contact during that first Summer of 1958. Later in high school, during our time on the school ppaer, she told me about journalism school at Pacific University. I started reading about it and decided to go in part because she was going there. (So did two others in our class -- Dick Tyler and Cal Mosely). But I got really interested after Cliff Rowe, my journlism professor at Pacific, told me he thought I had a future as a journalist. I got serious about it and transferred to the University of Oregon, which had a larger, better journalism program. Cliff was not happy with my decision. Butch transfered to the U of O a couple of years later and graduated there shortly after I did. Butch and I kept in contact for several years but lost contact in the 1980s. I did not even know of her death until I saw her grave when I was visiting my Dad's gravesite in the 1990s. I deeply regret that I didn't keep up our friendship. I also regret that her long-term illness prevented her from realizing her ambition. She would have been a great female Ernie Pyle. My career in journalism included working as a writer and editor for several business magazines, but I eventually moved into advertising and public relations and ended my career in charge of communications (PR, advertising, etc.) for a Fortune 500 company. I still write, but I like to do woodworking, computer CAD drawing, still photography and video. My writing is usually limited to letters to the editor and some fiction. I love outdoor sports, particularly biking, swimming and skiing. I also have two dogs that give me endless enjoyment and are a source of laughter almost anytime. Someday, my wife Maxine and I hope to have grandchildren that will do the same. My hero continues to be my father, who died elk hunting in the Strawberry Wilderness in 1977. I still measure myself by his yardstick in terms of honesty, integrity and charity. I aspire to be as uncomplicated, direct and honest as he was, but I have a ways to go. I have lived near big cities, including San Francisco, New York and Portland, to be near my work. When my kids were small I purposely made a decision to make career choices that allowed me to live in smaller towns, and I have done so for the past 20 years. I believe the smaller community atmosphere is better for family life, although I know many fine, successful families that live in cities. It's just not my choice. My biggest surprise in life has been me. I am not who or what I thought I would be as...Expand for more