At 95 years young, Michael Pope has lived a lifetime filled with the joy of learning new things. Whether attending school, taking classes and earning advanced degrees after retirement, and reading daily newspapers, accumulating knowledge always was and remains important.
Born in Manhattan in 1924, Pope grew up in Brooklyn, graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1940. Even before he finished high school, he knew exactly what he wanted to do — study electrical engineering at the City College of New York. He remembers when electricity was still new. At the age of six or seven, he was intrigued with electricity after discovering it using a hand-crank telephone mechanism.
World War II started two years after he entered college, and his three older brothers were drafted shortly after Pearl Harbor. Pope wanted to finish college and made a deal with his draft board that if permitted to complete college, he would enlist on the last day of classes. Because he enlisted, Pope had the option of selecting his branch of service, and he chose the U. S. Merchant Marines. After his last college class on a Friday in early May 1944, he was aboard a ship on the following Sunday on the way to the Normandy beachhead. After a second round trip, he became an officer, and the engine room was where he stayed for seven round trips across the North Atlantic. He was in the Pacific, en route to Okinawa, when the war ended.
He enjoyed being in the engine room. He had a great variety of tasks and met interesting people throughout the world. His desire to get news from the outside world led him to hook up a speaker in his cabin on a wire to the radio room, and on most of his ships he heard the BBC news.
Although the Merchant Marine had the highest casualty rate of the World War II services, he was lucky to have only a few close calls. One was when his convoy was attacked off the coast of Newfoundland and another in the port of Antwerp during the Battle of the Bulge when a V2 rocket bomb caused some damage to his ship. What he remembers most about his service was the weather on the ocean. “The North Atlantic is not a great place to be in cold weather and in storms,” he said.
Pope was officially discharged, Lieut.(sg) in 1946, and headed back to New York, where he began work with a consulting engineering company. There, he worked on power plant designs and became a
junior partner in five years. When he turned 30, he started his own consulting company, Pope Evans and Robbins, Inc.
After selling his company, retirement was not an option, so he went back to school, first obtaining a law degree, and then, at the age of 92, a B.A. in Humanities from St. Joseph’s College on Long Island. He was recently recognized by City College of New York with an honorary doctorate of science.
The Remsenberg resident says he is now studying how to stay healthy and involved in life and what courses to take next. He is the proud father of four children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, with connections to Norway, France, and China. He claims he is not a hero! He says his wife, Sally, is the hero, for putting up with him for almost 45 years!