Mike Dodge

What did you do right after we graduated?

I attended the University of Michigan briefly before joining the Army to

fulfill my military service obligation, serving in Germany and the Middle

East. I then returned to the University of Michigan and completed

degrees in Germanic Languages and Library Science. I later earned

degrees in business, accounting, and computer science while attending

East Carolina University while living and working in North Carolina.

What has been your occupation(s) over the past 50 years? Tell us

about any highlights or cool things that you’ve been a part of.

After graduation, I served as a college library director, a salesperson

and manager in the insurance industry, a faculty member of a medical

school, a college dean, and am currently teaching accounting, real

estate, financial planning, and miscellaneous business subjects until I

retire in about two years.

While serving as a registered representative and insurance

salesperson, I earned the C.L.U. designation (Chartered Life

Underwriter), the major professional designation in the life and health

insurance field. For years, I was active in my local association of life

underwriters, teaching a variety of courses for underwriters and sales

personnel in financial planning and agency management.

I continued to serve in the Army Reserve, retiring after a total of 35

years and 10 months service.

Where have you lived, and where do you live now?

After graduating from Michigan for the final time in 1973, my wife and I

moved to North Carolina, where I have lived since that time. We lived

for the first 10 years in Raleigh before moving to Greenville, where I

was on the staff of the medical school. Since 1992, we maintained two

households and a commuter marriage while my wife worked as a

counselor for special needs students in Raleigh, and I worked as a

dean at a community college in Jacksonville.

Are you retired? If so, what are you doing in retirement?

I am not yet fully retired, although I did ask to be relieved of my

administrative duties after my wife's death in 2006.

Please tell us about your family, spouse/s, children,

grandchildren, etc.

I married my first wife in 1972 while in graduate school. Our marriage

lasted 34.5 years until her untimely death. We had two sons. One is

married and has a 20 year-old stepson and a 14 month-old son. The

other son is soon to be married and will have a 16 year-old

stepdaughter.

I plan to remarry very soon to a lady, also widowed, with two children

and four grandchildren.

What interests/activities do you find most satisfying?

I am an active hiker, square dancer, and avid reader of a wide variety

of genres. I am a big movie fan and have an extensive DVD and VHS

collection of classic movies.

While in college, I worked at the now defunct Liberty Shop, and through

that experience I became addicted to a wide variety of musical genres.

To this day, I cannot live without music in my life!

My fiancee and I enjoy taking day trips, eating out at local restaurants,

visiting art galleries, going to movies,antique shops and craft festivals. I

also do pro bono financial counseling for a local not-for-profit

organization on occasion.

Did you have experiences in High School that influenced later

choices in your life?

I had many very valuable experiences in high school, particularly the

splendid humanities course I took in my senior year. To this day, I

believe that it was the most important course I have ever taken in my

entire academic career! I still pull out an edition of the major textbook

we used in the course, "Readings in Western Civilization," to recall

some of the fine moments of that class and play many of the musical

compositions we were exposed to in the course to include "Carmina

Burana" and "Symphonie Fantastique."

Do you have any memories from High School that you would like

to share?

I had great role models in the instructors I had at Ann Arbor High

School, and to this day, I recall and try to emulate their many fine

qualities.