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Today's Featured Biography

 
Michael Pole

I have been very happily married to BCC Classmate Jane Hundevadt since 1970. We have two children. Andrew heads a team of statisticians and market analysts at Target Corp HQ and Kate is a teacher at Illinois State University HS in Bloomington. Both turned out to be great people, mostly due to Jane's excellent parenting. My contributions were as kids soccer coach, later ref until I got too old and slow to keep up with the kids, and other typical parent and community activities. We have two terrific grandchildren. In retirement, I am involved in a volunteer tax preparation program and lead field trips for children at the nearby U of M Arboretum as well as other volunteer activities. We didn't travel much until retirement and enjoy making up for that now. I also love to ride my bicycle, read (especially history), garden, and spend time with friends and family. We both enjoy living in a Minneapolis suburb, with great bike trails, a boat on Lake Waconia, grandkids nearby, Twin Cities theater, and cheering on the Minnesota Twins.

I graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1969, and served from 1969 to 1974 on ships in the Pacific. After leaving active duty, I earned an MS in Forest Hydrology at Washington State University and got job in North Dakota where there are no trees. I worked for the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station from 1977 to 1979 on coal mine reclamation projects during the "energy crisis" when coal was supposed to be the fuel of the future. I held various engineering, environmental, and management positions with energy, surface mining, and construction companies from 1979 through 2006. My career kind of developed along with the implementation of environmental laws and regulations. I worked on reclamation plans for thousands of acres of mined land which are now productive agricultural lands and on air and water pollution control projects for electric power plants. That work was fun and interesting. I later worked on due diligence for the acquisition of mineral lands and related facilities, mostly in the Western United States. That work was somewhat less fun and interesting. My last job was VP of Engineering and Environment for MDU Resources' mining and construction division. That job was mostly no fun, but was by far the most financially rewarding job I ever had. It enabled me to retire early in 2006.

I have very fond memories of my BCC years and friends. I think often of Mrs. Day and the other great teachers we had. Also, I will always remember one of my first days at BCC when John Carter talked to me in the hall, befriending the new kid from a small Pennsylvania mill town who was looking for a friendly face. It was all uphill from there. Thanks, John.

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