Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
From Military to Mentorship: Dave Bittel's Life Journey
Dave Battelle's life story reads like a roadmap of divine intervention and purpose-driven choices. Born on December 7, 1932, in Lansing, Michigan—exactly nine years before Pearl Harbor—Dave shares a childhood memory that still sends chills: at just three and a half years old, an inexplicable feeling prompted him to run home rather than wait for a stranger who had lured him to a park. This "little angel" likely saved his life and foreshadowed a lifetime of pivotal moments where instinct and faith would guide him.
When drafted at 21, Dave faced grueling conditions at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. During a twelve-mile forced march in 120-degree heat, only 40 of 225 soldiers finished—Dave among them. His military journey took unexpected turns, leading him to Percy Jones Hospital in Michigan rather than the Korean frontlines. Later, as a chaplain's assistant at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, he found purpose showing Moody Science films and ministering to troops. These experiences instilled discipline and clarity that transformed his approach to education when he returned to civilian life.
The GI Bill became Dave's gateway to a 31-year teaching career across Lansing schools. Unlike his earlier unfocused attempt at college, Dave returned with veteran's determination: "Get an education and get a job." This mission-oriented approach served him well as he taught seventh grade, led a police program, and became the only male teacher of human growth and development in his district. Perhaps his greatest legacy emerged years later when former students—including one who became a bank president—approached him to share how he had changed their lives.
Throughout his story, Dave returns to one consistent theme: "The Lord is going to direct you where He wants you." From narrowly avoiding dangerous combat roles to finding his calling in education, Dave sees divine guidance in every chapter of his journey. His testimony reminds us that our lives touch others in ways we may never fully know, and that purpose often reveals itself through the rearview mirror of time.
Have you considered how seemingly small decisions might be shaping your greater purpose? Listen to Dave's full interview to discover how faith and service created his extraordinary legacy.
Today is Thursday, april 10th. We're talking with Dave Battelle, who served in the United States Army. So good afternoon Dave, good afternoon. It's great to see you today. Oh, thank you, good to see you, good to be seen, I think. Well, we'll start out pretty easy. When and where were you born?
Speaker 2:I was born 1816 Vermont Avenue, Lansing, Michigan, December 7, 1932.
Speaker 1:So nine full years before World War II broke out then really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was nine on Pearl Harbor Day. Yeah, I had a cousin up in Sheridan and we were celebrating a mutual birthday. He had a December 7th. A mutual birthday, he had a December 7th. My uncle went over to get my grandmother to come and take care of his daughter and my dad had gone up and beat him, and so he brought grandma home and uh, yeah, so what was it like growing up in Lansing at that time?
Speaker 1:What do you kind of remember about your childhood? Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Let me just tell you an experience I had.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:I was three and a half. I walked up the corner of White Street in Vermont and a man came by and he said corner of White Street and Vermont. And a man came by and he said how would you like to go to the park and swing? Three and a half Right, oh, sounds like fun. So he took me over to the park. He said I'm going to go get my car. He said you wait here. And a little angel told me to get my tail home. I was only three and a half, but I hadn't enough sense to sense what was going to happen. I just have a hunch. I probably wouldn't be here today if I had waited for him to come back with the car. Wow.
Speaker 1:Wow, at three years old, that's Three and a half.
Speaker 2:Jeez, I hadn't even gone to High Street yet until four and a half. So Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:But he oh, I'll take you over in the swing and we'll have a good time. And it's funny. I taught a criminal justice program in the Lansing schools for about 20 years and we talked about not going with strangers and submitting the authority that's been placed over you. And you know I, just as I look back on it, my mom and dad probably should have told me to not go with a stranger. But back then they, you know, we went to Stanton my grandma lived in Stanton near McBride, yeah, and we didn't even lock the door. We drove up and drove through Ionia and went up the hill and made it.
Speaker 1:It was a safe time, or at least we thought it was Well compared to now.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what it was paradise.
Speaker 2:I hate to say it, but I would hate to be teaching today. I'm not sure I could take it. I had a kid tell me I didn't like him because he was black. Well, two days later there was a race riot in battle, and I'll never forget it because my daughter was born on the 21st of August of 59. So, anyway, we were in the car, we were downtown and somebody started pounding on my window. You SOB, get your out of the car. I'm going to beat the. I rolled the window, mr Battelle. I'm gonna beat the. I rolled the window, mr Battelle.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry what are your students?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, yeah, he and his brother. But I told him to grow up and go home, and they did yeah, so they listened to you they did? Yeah, well, I'll tell you what I had some thoughts. A two-year-old well a two-month-old in the car what could they have done for crying out loud? Yeah well, it wouldn't have been pleasant, let's put it that way.
Speaker 1:Right right, that was some pretty tough times all over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, race riots were not uncommon. My uncle and aunt lived in Detroit near Livernois and Fenco and they had a race riot down there. They were dragging people out of the car and beating the crap out of them, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, let's back up a little bit, because there's a lot of stuff that happens in between there, right?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah. So you I wonder if that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of stuff that happened between growing up. Now did you have brothers and sisters.
Speaker 2:I had one brother. He was born in 21. Okay, the poor guy took organic chemistry in his junior year at Michigan State was the only B that he got in school all the way through Eastern and Michigan State and he was going to drop out of college because he was so embarrassed. The poor guy got a B. I said, gee, I got a B once and it didn't faze me in the least. Of course he failed to see the humor, right yeah.
Speaker 1:So he was gosh what 12 years older than you. Yeah, so he was gosh what 12 years older than you.
Speaker 2:Well, he was born in 21, and I was born in 32, 11 years.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so 11 years difference.
Speaker 2:So you really didn't have a lot in common as you were growing up. Not really. Tom Sinus was part of the Sinus Dramus law firm. I guess they're still still in business, but he and my brother used to play chess every saturday morning at the union building. And would you like to go and see michigan state play today? Oh, love to. Well, here I was, probably if he was 18 or 19, I wasn't very old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 10, 11 years old.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so let's well. Anyway, I had to sit there for two and a half or three hours while those two guys played chess. When I heard checkmate, I nearly wet my pants. But he took me to see Charlie Bachman, coach, and Dick Kippe, the All-American play, and it was pretty exciting back then. Oh yeah, but to keep yourself busy at that age, even with the grill, of course, oh yeah, the concourse and set up parlors, and so it really well. It made going to college a lot more pleasant.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, now did you went to college after you got out of the military, yes, okay, so let's let's talk a little bit about is there anything you want to talk about with school prior to enlisting or prior to being drafted?
Speaker 2:Well, I tried Michigan State right fresh out of high school, uh-huh, and I discovered the billiard room down in the basement and that seemed to be more fun than going to class. So I have to admit, I didn't get a good start Now, not bad enough to flunk out, but I surely wasn't setting any world records for it that way, or put it that way. So, anyway, I got to the point in my life. Well, there again, let's go the way you want to go, because I finally made up my mind that, come hell or high water, I was going to make it. And when you were a veteran, you had two things in mind Get an education and get a job Right, not tap a keg a day, and not all the social baloney.
Speaker 2:I never got involved in that. I had a 7 to 10 class in Berkey Hall and I had a flat tire in the way and I walked into class about 10 minutes late and the instructor tried to welcome me and he embarrassed me more than I'd ever been embarrassed in my lifetime. And for our final exam we had an oral interview with him and he said do you remember the night you walked into class late and I embarrassed you? I said do I remember it? I said how could I forget it? Now, if I'd been 18, I probably would have cried and walked out of the class. But I had other things in mind.
Speaker 1:Well, you were older, you were more mature, you had some time under your belt.
Speaker 2:Just a little bit of maturity and after being in the military, I thought the first two direct orders were negotiable. Once I found out they weren't, I got along a lot better. I tried to change the Army and they tried to change me, and I'll never so how old were you when you got drafted then? Well, let's see in 53, forward to 51. I would have been 21.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you weren't in school, or were you in school, but your grades had dipped. How did that happen?
Speaker 2:Oh, that it was just Well one quarter, so it wasn't long. And don't ask me why I wasn't more serious about school. It's just one of those things that I watched my brother do his calculus every night at 10, 30 before he went to bed, and the poor guy got to be in organic chemistry and well, I got it. I told him I got to pee once and it didn't faze me in the least. And it didn't phase me in the least.
Speaker 1:Right. So where did you go? To basic training? At Fort Lauderdale and Missouri, okay. And was this in the summertime? Yes, so it was warm there, well yeah, warm Red clay.
Speaker 2:And we took a force march 12 miles one way, 120 in the shade, with no shade. There were 225 of us in our outfit D of the 231st. So anyway, we went on the march and out of 225, 40 of us finished. And I was one of the 40 that finished. Don't ask me why I didn't. A little bit of pride, I'm sure. Well, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2:We had two guys that tried to fall out four or five times and a deuce and a half went by and the field first had a stick about well, and if you dropped out, he jabbed you in the ribs a couple of times. And well, you resumed your marching even though you didn't either feel like you could or shouldn't. Right, to make a long story short, as I say I made it, and as I say I made it. And well, the one guy died when he turned the company, straight from a cook brain. The other guy died later that night.
Speaker 2:Battelle, yeah, aren't you from Michigan? I said yes, sir. He said well, how would you like to go to Flint and talk to so-and-so's parents? And I said I'd love to. Well, we better not send you. Then I said that's probably the wisest decision you made. Then I said that's probably the wisest decision you made, because I would have told them well, you know, here they tried to fall out four or five. Now, don't get me wrong. I felt like falling out too, but I had just enough pride by golly.
Speaker 1:I was going to make it one way or another, but I didn't have to have a stick jabbed in my ribs to keep me going either yeah, so you were in basic training and then did you go to your schooling MOS school after that.
Speaker 2:When I finished basic training, we waited for our orders and I thought it would be Korea, because I was an A1 profile and tested pretty well. You know what it's funny? We went to Detroit and had our exam and we had two lines One line they could spell and pronounce their names and the other line that couldn't. I said these guys aren't going to Korea, are they? And no comment. Well, to make a long story short, guess who went to Korea.
Speaker 1:All the guys that couldn't spell their names.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and those that could. But now, there again, I got my orders and it was from Fort Custer oh my gosh, the Federal Center right there in Battle Creek.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, fort Custer Training Center there no no, that was a ways away from it.
Speaker 2:This was Percy Jones Hospital, so I had an exciting experience with that. The guys that I was stationed with weren't too impressed when they found out that I was going to Battle Creek, 48 miles from home. Right, they were going to Fort Lewis, washington for a couple of weeks and going home and on their way to Korea and probably not coming back. Well, when they found where I was going, they were so impressed that they took my footlocker, all of my clothes, and took them out in the woods and hid them. I had a feeling they were a little bitter. Oh yeah, and there again.
Speaker 2:If I were going to go to Korea and they wanted to send me to leadership school, which you were a head man on a rifle team, there was an eight-man rifle team. They gave you a BAR and a wide helmet and you're the lead man and you're out in front oh, my gosh Officer. Well, anyway, some real experiences. That would have been pleasant. But I said what's the catch? Well, the life expectancy of the lead man on a rifle team is 90 seconds. I said you know what? I think I've changed my mind. I don't think I'll go. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it probably saved my life, or it could have.
Speaker 1:Right. So what did you do at Percy Jones then?
Speaker 2:I mothballed all the equipment because we were getting rid of Percy Jones, who was becoming the federal center there in Battle Creek.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So I put cosmoline on all of the equipment and called all the hospitals and asked them whether they needed whatever we had hospitals, and asked them whether they needed whatever we had. And I think the thing that hurt me more than anything we had an x-ray cable. They were about four inches in diameter and I tried to call Percy Jones and, well, five or six of the Army hospitals and none of them needed an x-ray machine. And I thought to myself, well, in order to get rid of the x-ray machine, they had to put it in salvage. And I had to saw that thing in two with a hacksaw and I thought to myself what a waste. Yeah, but there again, it took me a while to wake up, but I, when they gave me this order, I just felt like I had to do it right so I was there six months and I got some new orders for Fitzsimmons Army Hospital out in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. As the chaplain's assistant there in Aurora, where all of the rascals are breaking in. And I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Well, anyway, yeah, so you're out in Aurora, colorado, now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Fitzsimmons. Well, this is my brother and my dad. My dad was in World War I. My brother made it through Normandy. They were going to commission him in the Navy and found out he had asthma so the Navy wouldn't take him. So they handed him a flamethrower and sent him over to Normandy and he made it through. Wow, my dad rode a horse back during World War I.
Speaker 1:So you have a family history of being in the military, then oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It was in the family.
Speaker 1:Definitely so. How long were you at Fitzsimmons then?
Speaker 2:I went there January 1st of 54, so not quite a year.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I showed Moody's Science Films up on the floors and witnessed to the troops and kept the chapel. There's a picture.
Speaker 1:Let me see here, this is the chapel right there. Yeah, okay, yeah, I see that Okay.
Speaker 2:So I kept that clean and was responsible for the choir. As I say showed Moody Science films up on the floors there at the hospital and I have to admit it was, you know, good duty. Yeah. And sure beat Korea. So yeah.
Speaker 1:And then where did you go after Fitzsimmons Home, so you got discharged from there? Yeah, okay. And was your family still here in Lansing then? Yeah, okay, all right. What was your family still here in Lansing then? Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 2:What was it like coming home, exciting. I love my mom. Well, if you had no call like father, like I did, my mother and I were like this. Yeah, she stayed home and took care of me every day, and I don't mean to be unkind, but when you have to take your dad on a heads bar two or three times out of the month, it wasn't a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:No, it had to be really hard.
Speaker 2:Well, I have to say this, that when I was 12, I mixed apple leaves and tobacco in a pipe. My mother walked through the front door and she said David Claude, my dad's name was Claude. David Claude, I want to see you in my bedroom. Well, I didn't have to ask her what she meant, because she had a yardstick in there not one of those little flimsy ones built on a bottom like this and I still got a slight indentation in my left cheek. That's been there for quite a while. But guess what? I haven't smoked since. Right when I was nine, we were up in Stanton with my grandparents and my grandfather asked me if I wanted to taste a beer, and I said yeah, I guess. Well, I took it and spit it out. That's the last time I drank too. So I'm a slow learner, but I learned a few things from life's experiences that encouraged me to be a little bit more responsible. And well, clean cut, let's put it that way, right.
Speaker 1:Don't do things you shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So after you got home, is that, when you went to seminary, then what did you do between? No, when you went to seminary, then what did you do between?
Speaker 2:No, I went to seminary before I went to college.
Speaker 1:Yeah, In 56, you went to seminary right yeah?
Speaker 2:In Chicago, uh-huh 30, 40 West.
Speaker 1:So that would have been on Washington Boulevard, washington Boulevard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember it well. We used to meet our wives at the dorm every night at 615 to make sure they made it in safely. It was Lake Street. It all was one block north and Madison Avenue was two blocks south. We were in a real good area of Chicago. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember a friend of mine, fred Raft. He was a guard downtown and he got out of work at 2.30, was getting off the L and three guys accosted him, wanted to steal from him and probably I don't know what they would have done to him, but anyway he had his books in a folder. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he started to swing those around. He knocked two of them off the train rail and they kind of took the message that maybe they better leave him alone. Well, he feared for his life for a long time. He just didn't figure he'd get away with that. Yeah. But he did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'll put some fear into you, for sure, oh in that area.
Speaker 2:I remember I spoke at the mission the gospel mission there on Madison Avenue one night. It seated 500 people and they all were alcoholics. You walked in and you got a cheap drunk, whether you wanted to or not, but they couldn't eat until they listened to the sermon. So I had a captive audience and so I spoke and left and well, I was impressed. I wasn't impressed with the alcohol because I'd grown up with it and yeah, some pretty bad memories too about that.
Speaker 2:Well, my brother had a chance to go to. Well, anyway, end up going to secret 7 crown.
Speaker 2:He had a chance to go to Midland Dow okay as a chemist and he had a chance to go to Seagram's sub-town of Lawrenceburg in Anna as a chemist. Well, he had nine kids. He knew how to make kids, but the problem was that he sampled the product, destroyed his marriage, destroyed his family. After having an alcoholic father, he had a chance to go to Midland Hill and he chose Seagram Seven Crown. Now, my brother was brilliant, but not smart. Now I would have had more sense than that. But there again, obviously he felt the need to drain the sorrows. I guess, I don't know. Yeah, but after having an alcoholic father he should have learned a few things. But after having an alcoholic father he should have learned a few things. But obviously it must have looked more attractive to him than it did to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think people in that situation go one of two ways they either stay away from it or they give in to it.
Speaker 2:Jim Stiles, a guy in our church gave me a book. We were in spuds one morning. In our church gave me a book. We were in spuds one morning. The youngest son of an alcoholic father has a 90% chance of becoming an alcoholic and I wasn't interested in drinking. But I read that book and I said no. I said I'm not gonna run into the same thing that the family ran into. So I made a choice and I'm not sorry.
Speaker 2:I was in the Army, I was ready to get out and a girl I was writing called me and said Dave, your dad became a Christian yesterday and doesn't drink anymore. And I told you what. I said that, yeah, but does he drink at any less? And the last 23 years of his life he didn't drink and didn't smoke. Now he still died of emphysema from the. He smoked Kools inside of the house. My mom died of lung cancer. To watch your mom die of lung cancer there's any any more devastating than watching that. I'll tell you she, yeah, she was in constant pain and complained and you tried to soothe her, but you just loved her and she loved you and that was about the extent of it it's all you could do at that point, right, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So you left seminary then, though after about a year, right, yeah yeah?
Speaker 2:One year I went to seminary.
Speaker 1:Did you just decide that that wasn't the life for you?
Speaker 2:Well, no, I was going to go to Michigan State. I didn't have my undergraduate degree, so it was going to be seven years of schooling. Okay. And otherwise it's four. You know, with your college.
Speaker 1:So you had just reached the point where you had to get your degree before you could.
Speaker 2:I had to get a degree before I could do what I wanted to do After the second quarter.
Speaker 2:I took a writing class. That instructor got up and gave the introduction to this writing class. English had never been one of my favorites, but I took Hazel Lowry at Eastern and World and we had Beowulf and Catcher in the Rye and in fact I thought Crimson Letter was a dirty book. So I took it home and hid it under my pillow. Well, guess where it was? When I got home that night, on the pillow, my mother wasn't as naive as I thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, moms figure us out pretty good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you got into Michigan State then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got into Michigan State and I tried to get my classes and I got everything but algebra tools, something or other. I couldn't get it and I tried for a couple of hours. And.
Speaker 2:I was ready to go home and give the whole mess up and say too bad. And there was a tower guard. She was fairly decent looking. She said you know what? I think I can get you an algebra class. I said, would you? Yes, so she did so I can thank her for quite a few things I because had I not been able to get it?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'd be having a whole different conversation. Oh yeah, we would have, because I probably would have gone home and said well, I made my effort, but it didn't work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but instead you got your classes. And how was college for you?
Speaker 2:It was, I'll tell you. When you got new books, tuition and $150 a month spending money, it wasn't a bad deal really Right.
Speaker 1:The world's your oyster at that point, right?
Speaker 2:Well, when I got my job there in Battle Creek at $4,700, I took a pay cut, so that tells you something about what the JI Bill was worth. But to get new books, get your tuition paid. I could have gotten room and board, but I lived at home and that was fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and how long did you go to Michigan State? Was that four years? Yeah, so you would have graduated what like in 1959? Fifty-nine, fifty-nine, okay, and then your first teaching job. So let me ask you this you went to michigan state and you got your degree and and you never went back to seminary then no right you became a teacher.
Speaker 2:I became a teacher. I had my mind high student taught at grand rapids Central and Grand Rapids, if it makes sense, grand Rapids Central, right. And so, anyway, I got job offers and one of them was Grand Ledge and I was going to take it because it was close to my mom and dad and they were up in age and I thought it would be kind of nice to be there and take care of them. But when Battle Creek called me a couple weeks later and offered me $700 more with a baby coming, I said you know what I think I'm going to take it.
Speaker 1:Now, when did you?
Speaker 2:get married June 8th of 56.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've been married for a couple of years, then, yeah, yeah, and how did you meet your wife?
Speaker 2:She went to Penn Avenue Baptist Church. Uh-huh, when we got married, her mom lost her husband when Sandra was nine and she lived with us for 40 and a half years. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's unbelievable, but believe it or not, in 40 years. We had one disagreement she wanted to discipline the kids and I told her time out. I said if mom and dad are home, they'll take care of the discipline. If you're babysitting for them and they need something, then you give it to them. You know Right?
Speaker 1:So anyway, Well, that's pretty incredible, though in 40 years, just one disagreement. Oh, that's a pretty good track record.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, that's unheard of. Yeah, it's a miracle really. I had a guy down in Florida. We went there, I think, in 2007 or something, something like that. Anyway, he said he'd been married for four years and never had a disagreement with his wife. Well, after getting to know him a little bit, I don't know whether he argued or not, but you talk about an unbelievable or yeah, not believable.
Speaker 1:I think if you're married and you don't get in a disagreement once in a while, you're probably not communicating well, you know my wife's not always right, but you've never been wrong.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:You have to be a smart man to stay married as long as you've been married. So you, uh, you took first teaching job at.
Speaker 2:You initially were at Grand Ledge and then this no, I went to Grand Ledge and they offered me a job.
Speaker 1:Oh, they made this offer right.
Speaker 2:But then you got a but. Then two weeks later, I got a call from Battle Creek offering me $700 more than what Grand Ledge was willing to pay me. So I went to see who was there, Superintendent at Grand Ledge. Well, anyway, he practically hugged me. He said you know, if they offered me $500 more next year, I'd probably take it. Yeah. So he completely let me break contract and go to Battle Creek, which I thought was more than generous because he didn't have to.
Speaker 1:Right, right. He allowed you to take care of your family, though, so that was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and really we got into a good church, got a new home there. We lived in an Army housing for about a year. Cement slab no basement. Body, ear, mm-hmm. Cement slab no basement basic shelter.
Speaker 1:Right, that's about it. Yeah, well, and how long did you? How long were you at Battle Creek then? How long did you teach there?
Speaker 2:five years okay then I got. I got my master's in counseling in Petersburg, michigan. The superintendent called me and he said I'd like you to be the guide instructor for grades kindergarten through 12. Are you interested? Well, I had a good church and a good home and I thought about it, but I said you know, what I'm interested. So we went to Petersburg, right next to Deerfield, where Danny Thomas was raised.
Speaker 1:Oh. I didn't know that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, yeah, he St Jude.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right. That's right, he was.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:He was like their ambassador. He was the guy yeah. And his daughter Marlo Thomas kind of took over for that after he stopped.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Marlo was his daughter. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, it can jerk some tears. Yeah. So it was a little boring, but I enjoyed it and it was different, though, right, because you weren't teaching.
Speaker 1:Now you were basically supervising the staff. Is that what you?
Speaker 2:did? I taught 7th grade ok for 5 years in Battle Creek. I had 6 classes of the 33 kids. I'll tell you an experience I had with Phil Handy. I had a seventh grader that couldn't read, couldn't write, couldn't spell and couldn't do math. Other than that he was a whiz.
Speaker 1:Good student, other than that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I got the job down in Petersburg, about 18 miles from Toledo, off from 23. Yeah so anyway, I had to go back to Battle Creek and get the house ready to sell. So I got a friend of mine, he and I helped me paint it and we got it ready to sell and it sold right away, which I wasn't surprised.
Speaker 2:So anyway, the third day we worked I went to the bank and it was downtown, on the corner of Capitol and Michigan Avenue there in Battle Creek, so I thought I'd walk. What's the sense of taking a car for eight blocks or whatever. All at once this big black kid comes up and are you, Mr Patel?
Speaker 2:I said yeah, I have been for quite a while. He said do you know who I am? Well, I had him in seventh grade when he was about 3'6" and weighed 115 pounds. That day he was about 6 feet and weighed 200 pounds. He's a little bigger. Just a little. Yeah. He said you know who I am, and I said no, I don't have the. I'm Phil Handy. I said Phil Handy didn't have them. I'm Phil.
Speaker 2:Handy. I said Phil Handy, didn't I have you in seventh grade? He said yeah, mr Patel, I've been wanting to talk to you. You changed my life. He said. I finally decided I wanted to amount to something. You were helpful in getting me to do that. He said you know what I did? I said no, I went to Western Michigan University and got my degree in finance and I'm the president of the Michigan National Bank downtown. And I grabbed him and hugged him National.
Speaker 1:Bank downtown and I grabbed him and hugged him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you put him on a different path than he was on, that's for sure. Well, I was in Fitzsimmons, panera's one morning, panera's one morning. A black lady walked in, came over and grabbed me and hugged me and I said you know, this doesn't happen very often. She said well, do you know who I? Am and.
Speaker 2:I said I don't have the fog. Well, I had you back in 1961, which would have been my second year of teaching. I said you remember me from. Then she said, mr Pindell, how could I forget you? And there again, when you teach, you see the immediate but you very seldom see the long term. So you don't really see the accomplishments that take place after a person decides to get with it and mature.
Speaker 1:You sowed some seeds and they grew right. Yeah, yeah, so anyway. You sowed some seeds and they grew right? Yeah, yeah, so anyway. So you get your house all fixed up and ready to sell? Oh yeah don't go.
Speaker 2:What was the name so you?
Speaker 1:were, you were working down in, you said Petersburg, petersburg, yeah, petersburg. Right next to. Right next to Deerfield.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Deerfield.
Speaker 1:And how long were you in Petersburg?
Speaker 2:We came back to Lansing in 66. But my dad was interesting, to say the least, and I figured I'd better get back. So I sent out fielders, and Oakmas offered me a job and Walter French offered me a job. Well, if all things were equal.
Speaker 2:I would have chosen Ocmus, because I know it's more blue-collar or white-collar yeah. More blue collar or white collar yeah. But something just told me that I should choose Walter French. And well, I had the police program for 20 years, taught human growth and development for about five years. Work boys stayed out at Brody for 40 years, so I didn't sit around much.
Speaker 1:No, you were one of the first men to teach human growth and development, weren't you?
Speaker 2:I was the only. You were the only man to teach that yeah, yeah, that was, I was yep, yeah that's interesting and I thought, let me think about it, you know, because I'd heard so many bad experiences. Right.
Speaker 2:But you know what I taught for five years and counseled the other half day, and I taught in good taste. Neil Hansen was a teacher over at West Junior. I went into his classroom and was teaching growth and development. One of the boys said by the way, can you have sex after 60? I said boy, I'd like to answer that but I'm not that old yet. But I'll budget Mr Hanson to answer that. And Mr Hanson was usually full of it clear up to his ears. He just about dropped it. Go bats.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. So you were in the Lansing School District for quite a while then. 31 years my gosh, and so you taught at.
Speaker 2:Walter French Auto Administration Building downtown Everett and Sexton.
Speaker 1:You never taught at Dwight Rich though.
Speaker 2:Well, I had the police program and growth and development, so I traveled really to all those schools.
Speaker 1:Because I noticed you named almost every school in Lansing but not Dwight Rich, so I was just curious if you taught there too. Oh no that's where, neil.
Speaker 2:Hansen was.
Speaker 1:Oh, is that where you got asked that question, gosh, so this whole time you're teaching, though you're also raising a family. Oh yeah, how many children did you have? Three, three, you know.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about them okay, I had two girls and a boy, and my last one was my. My oldest daughter was born in 59. I had a daughter born in 62, and Todd was born in 63.
Speaker 1:Sort of just one right after the other. Then Well pretty much yeah. And what did they end up doing? Well Becoming.
Speaker 2:I wish I could tell you the good news about him. But when he was in high school he was cutting through there by Waverly High School and fell and hit his head and got a brain tumor. Oh, and he struggled most of his life since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's too bad. Karen, let's see, she worked at Did any of your kids go into teaching at all? No, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, they probably saw me and said, gee, why would I want to do that? No, I have to admit, we go to the South Baptist and South Church. Oh, they took Baptist out of the name, didn't they? It's go to the South Baptist and South.
Speaker 1:Church. Oh, they took Baptist out of the name, didn't they? It's South Church now. Yep, my kids used to go to the summer Bible school.
Speaker 2:Oh did they.
Speaker 1:Yep, when they were little.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, we've been going there for quite a while.
Speaker 1:So what was it like to, after 31 years of teaching, to retire?
Speaker 2:You know, I was scared to death. Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:And I had a minor sinus infection. So I went to my doctor and he's in with another doctor and he recommended Augmentin. Well, I didn't know I was allergic to it, but it oxidized my liver. I lost 14 pounds, had a hive salt for my body, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. I wasn't afraid I was going to die, I was afraid I was going to live. And my principal called me and he said are you sure you want to keep teaching? I had 31 years. I said, gee, I want to go 35. Well, what's the big deal? So when we talked he convinced me that it was time. When you get that near permanence, I'll tell you yeah, I lost 14 pounds, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. The funny thing about it is I was working at the student services downtown with Pat Farrell, pat Isom. Student.
Speaker 2:Services downtown with Pat Farrell, pat Isom, and if you missed seven days of work you had to bring a doctor's excuse. So I walked in with the doctor's excuse and Pat Isom took it, tore it in two, said if you say you're sick, I know you are.
Speaker 1:Because you're an honest man and they knew that. That's pretty incredible. Well.
Speaker 2:I have to admit that. Well, I have to admit that. And what was the big deal about having 35 years? Because I bought 2.4, ten years of military and I worked at the alumni relations office out in the Union building up on the fourth floor. We sent out mailings to All the graduates, yeah. So anyway, I decided that was it so did you do anything after that?
Speaker 2:I was a security guard at East Lansing High School, Waverly Junior High, the library and museum downtown. I work Polaris Club, the golf course on Canal, so I didn't sit around.
Speaker 1:Oh no, and how long did you work there? Where now?
Speaker 2:The Polaris Club I was there five years, okay. And down to the museum and library. I was there about five years too Okay.
Speaker 1:So about ten years altogether. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:When you add that to 31 years of military and well, even Boy State, I loved that program and that was 40 years, so I didn't sit around.
Speaker 1:No, it sounds like you kept pretty busy.
Speaker 2:Well, I had a paper out. I got it when I was nine, gave it up when I was 18. Yeah, I had to collect every week, and whether they paid me or not, I still had to go to the journal and pay my paper bill. And so I learned a few things about people. I had a couple that didn't want to pay me when I would go there. I'd have to go on a Sunday. To how much did you say it was? And it went all the way up to 35 cents. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and they'd reach their hand in their pocket and hand me 35 cents and I'd punch the card, you know. And I thought to myself well, I said, whether you pay me or not, I have to go to the journal every Saturday morning and pay my paper bill. Well, how much did you say? It was 35 cents. And they'd reach their hand in their pocket and hand me 35 cents and I'd punch their card, you know.
Speaker 1:And I yeah, I had a. I remember I had a like a black book with two rings on it and all my customers were in there, and then you had. You had a white card for Saturday and Sunday. You had a green card for Sunday only, and then you had like a yellow card or something for people who took it all week.
Speaker 2:Well, I remember Sundays. The papers were about like this and you had to fold 118 and those things.
Speaker 1:Went through a lot of rubber bands back in those days.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't know the unity, but on Vermont Street or not. Jerry Christopher was in my class, he lived there. Dwayne Evans, he lived there. Louise Drooping, she lived there. Viola Dane, she lived right there. Bob Schroeder Bob and Eddie Schroeder, they lived there. So I delivered papers for close to nine years. And my friend Johnson. He said how would you like to come and pitch for my 10th grade baseball team? I said boy, I'd love to, but I hate to give up my paper route. So I kept my paper route, I figured well, you got your priorities right.
Speaker 2:Well, he kind of put me through the paces so I figured it wouldn't hurt me to do the same. Give a little bit back. But I'll tell you once I came back to Lansing in 66, every time he saw me he made a big deal out of it. I'm trying to think who was the principal at Eastern. Not him, but Eleanor Ellie Dorsum.
Speaker 1:Yes, Miss Dorsum. Yeah, I remember Miss Dorsum. Yes, miss Dorsum. Yeah, I remember Miss Dorsum. I think she taught English at Pattengill for a while too. She might have. Well, her and my sister used to lock horns all the time.
Speaker 2:Miss Dorsum was no joke. Well, she was a good friend of mine. She grew up there in Vermont Street and she said, dave, I want you to be a counselor at Eastern, but I've got to have a female. I said, well, I don't qualify.
Speaker 1:Right, it doesn't work. Oh, my goodness, wow, I haven't heard her name in a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, LA Dorson. Yeah, tom. Fox, I think he was at Everett. Irvin was there the couple of years I was there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, my cousin went to school with Irvin Johnson.
Speaker 2:I walked into the mall one day and Mickey, his wife I didn't know her from Adam, but she said, would you help me pick out a shirt for Irvin? And yeah, I guess so. Well, I picked out a shirt, and he even liked it.
Speaker 1:so there's your claim to fame, right there. Right there. Well, we've talked a lot about your family and your career and growing up and getting to where you're at today. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you would like to mention or like to talk about?
Speaker 2:I was on Barakel's board church board for 12 years, but I think I'm about as proud of Boys' Day as anything that I did other than the military. My kids are proud of their dad that he was in the military. Well, my dad, let's see. He went in and 14, got out in 19. Well, right at the end of World War I, he, wanted to keep his horse and they wouldn't let him. But he wouldn't talk to me about his experiences. So I don't know. I don't have the longest idea of what my dad did. I know he rode a horse. I know he rode a horse and that's. I know. My brother said he'd never seen so many dead bodies in all his life when he went to Normandy.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I'm sure they both had some pretty rough experiences. I'm sure they did.
Speaker 2:Neither one of those wars were easy to fight. Yeah, my dad, I'm sure if it had all been pleasant he would have talked to me about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I thought to myself, gee Battelle point man on rifle team and OCS and promotionsCS and promotions. I said yeah, and four bullet holes in my forehead when I come to the train station down on Washington. Avenue. Oh, doesn't he look good yeah. I said no thanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Probably a smart decision on your point. Well, 92nd. Yeah, that's not very long.
Speaker 2:You know, missouri had their share of snakes, a lot of cotton rattlers, but the Rattlers but the yeah and Fort Leonard Wood had its fair share of snakes, that's for sure. What was the name of the?
Speaker 1:Diamondback or Cottonmouth or Water Moccasin no it was.
Speaker 2:We had a couple of guys. We were in combat in cities at night. And they went into a trench and met two friends in there. They were codmouth rattlers. There again, you had 90 seconds to take care of it, or you were gone. Right, it was only about two feet long, but deadly deadly mm-hmm so do you? Did you encounter one of those while you were there?
Speaker 1:no, no, they just talked about it yeah, I didn't even care to.
Speaker 2:I can't say that I blame you at all.
Speaker 1:Well, I think um you. As we kind of wrap up our conversation today, I got one more question to ask you, uh-oh.
Speaker 2:I've heard that story before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just one more. So the question is when someone's listening to your story years from now, what message would you like to leave for people?
Speaker 2:What message would you like to leave for people that the Lord is going to direct you where he wants you? Because so many times I had guys that I was working with that went someplace else and they kept me there or sent me someplace else. So I've been a Christian for a long time. I just feel that Lord knows best and he puts you in the direction where he wants you and keeps you there.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, thank you for that. Thanks for taking time out this afternoon to talk with me.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. Well, it's my pleasure. I had no idea what we were getting into, but here we are. What we were getting into, but here we are. Well, I have to admit that when I look back at the experiences that happened in my life, the military was one that was probably the most important. You know, when you figure it pays for five years of schooling and it allows you to teach for 31 years and get a pension every month and Social Security and security for the rest of your life, I mean, what complaints can you have? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if I hadn't liked it? I'm just the kind that wouldn't have kept it. Mm-hmm.
