Address: 1325 30th St. SW
Rochester, MN 55902
E-mail Address:
Home Phone / Cell Phone: 507-282-2094 / I may be the only Class of ’66 member who doesn’t have a cell phone
Marital Status / Partner’s Name: Married 36 years / Jeanine
Children / Grandchildren: Ben
Work Experiences (past and/or present):
IBM Rochester, MN, 1970 –1995. Candle Software Corporation Santa Monica, CA, 1995 – 1999. Imation Oakdale, MN, 1999-2000. Returned to IBM as a retiree in 2000. Today I work four days a week from home for an IBM group based in Raleigh NC. I’ve spent most of my time with these companies as a technical writer, people manager, and project manager. Beginning in 1999, in my “spare time” I began writing memoirs for clients, human-interest articles for a regional magazine, and corporate newsletters. Soon I will complete my fifteenth memoir. If you’re interested in learning more about this writing phase of my life, check out www.mikeransom.com.
Other Comments (memories of school days / hobbies / favorite music / etc.):
Jeanine and I enjoy times with our son, Ben, who lives in St. Paul and works for a wind energy corporation (National Wind) in Minneapolis. We love concerts, movies, fun restaurants, and getaways on Minnesota’s north shore. We boat on Lake Pepin in Lake City, MN, and on Clear Lake. I’m a fitness fanatic. I jog (though I think I’m running), play squash (the racquet sport not the vegetable), golf (during the six months in Rochester that snow isn’t covering the fairways), and bicycle (Ben and I biked the first three days of RAGBRAI this summer). I also enjoy reading – mostly memoir and historical non-fiction.
I feel fortunate that Clear Lake is my hometown. It’s a one-of-a-kind place. I also feel fortunate to have attended Clear Lake high school in the 1960s: just the right number of students, great teachers, excellent sports and music programs, fun classmates. To this day, I remember playing 2nd base for our baseball team and our winning the North Central Conference baseball championship my junior year. (It was the first time CL had won the conference championship – and may have been the only time.) Coach Gus Brandt taught us to play the game the right way. And that year, we beat Sheffield 2-1 in the district (I think) tournament. Sheffield’s starter was lefthander Don Eddy, who would go on to pitch for the Chicago White Sox in the big leagues. Our secret to success that year? We had a great bunch of seniors on the team!
Looking forward to a best-ever turnout of classmates at our 2011 reunion!
