Page 18 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2020- Online Magazine
P. 18

HONORING SENIORS
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          Senior                Senior






                                                        Mike Gilpin




                                                        What Matters Most










                                                         by Aurora Buchanan




                                                     with his siblings, enlisted in   hosted a program for single military
                                                     the Navy after Pearl Harbor.   men.  It was at this event that Mike
                                                     Once his father returned     met his future wife, Carol, whom he
                                                     from the war, he joined      courted for two years.
                                                     the highway patrol, which
                                                     relocated his family to the   After those two years, the Air Force
                                                     countryside.                 sent him to Japan.  Carol and Mike
                                                                                  decided they would get married as
                                                     Mike loved living in the     soon as he returned to the states.
                                                     country and missed it when   They were married November 6, 1968,
                  ith a high of -12 degrees          they moved to a city. He     one of the happiest days of his life.
                  Fahrenheit, in a small town   didn’t really like school, but after   Six months later, he was stationed
         Win northern Minnesota,              he graduated, he worked in a series   in Germany for the first time; Carol
         on November 19, 1940, Mike was       of maintenance jobs which he really   joined him and, for 18 months,
         born during an intense blizzard with   enjoyed. Then the                                they toured all of
         whiteout conditions and no refuge    early draft for the                                Europe together.
         from the bitter cold except for the   Vietnam War began.                                They experienced
         warmth of a fireplace and cups of hot                                                   many different
         chocolate being shared with friends   Before the draft could                            cultures, each with
         and family members near. Michael     place a rifle in his                               their own beautiful
         Gilpin, known to close family and    hand, he enlisted                                  uniqueness.  That
         friends as Mike, was a kind, warm,   in the Air Force,                                  period allowed
         gentle soul. Mike’s parents were both   becoming a heavy                                Mike and Carol’s
         second generation immigrants (his    equipment operator,                                bond to grow even
         dad’s family from Scotland, and his   working on aircraft as                            stronger, enhancing
         mother’s family from Poland) and     a mechanic. He was                                 their love for one
         were raised in two small towns in    sent to San Antonio for                            another. When he
         Minnesota. They met in college, fell in   14 weeks to get his basic training, then   was stationed in England, they toured
         love, got married, and his father gave   to Amarillo for technical training, then   much of the United Kingdom together
         up his dream of becoming a doctor    on to Ogden, Utah for specific training   for three wonderful years. It was a
         to take care of his new family. When   to be an aircraft mechanic. During his   precious time in his life; not only was
         Mike was a toddler, his father, along   training in Ogden, a church group   he getting to travel the world and






      18   Lubbock Senior Link
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