Aaron Comes Home From the Navy
From James Donahue’s Journal
After completing a two-year stint as a corpsman at Long Beach, Aaron was discharged but came home still attached as a member of the Navy Reserve. He was given the rear bedroom in the main house to stay in. He had been inspired by one of his commanding officers to go to college and consider a career in medicine.
We took Aaron to Saginaw Valley Community College where he talked to the people in admittance. They looked at his high school grades, and his naval records, and decided to admit him on a conditional basis. He was required to take specific classes in English, mathematics and other basic skills that he should have received while in high school. Once graduating from these classes the door would be open for Aaron to attend college level classes.
Aaron moved into a campus dormitory and began his college career. He completed that basic training and at least one semester of regular college study before he was called by the Navy for duty aboard a mine sweeper at sea. Aaron resisted the call and threatened not to show. He was warned that failure to return to Navy duty as ordered would be a court martial offense. Thus Aaron went to sea.
He returned strangely changed. He later spoke of being involved in the 1992 naval attack on Panama and the arrest of President Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering. He told of how dangerous the situation was, and spoke of going in with the Marines for the assault. He never gave any details and we always thought he was ordered to remain quiet about much of what he saw and did in that campaign.
Aaron moved back into the rear bedroom of the main house and took a job for a while at a Cass City nursing home. He came out of the Navy as a licensed practical nurse. He also was a trained medical technician for ambulance duty. He didn’t like the nursing home and did not stay on that job very long.
Somewhere during this time Aaron acquired an old store manikin that he dressed up and put in the passenger seat of the car when he drove around. The manikin often frightened people that saw it, much to Aaron’s delight. At one time he left the manikin, unclothed, in the back yard. Someone thought it was a dead body and called the police.
He worked long enough at the nursing home to buy an extended used van from Bub. Bub and Rosemary had used it for flea marketing. Aaron decided to customize the interior of the van for his use as a mobile home. He said he wanted to drive it back to California and live in it. He spent weeks building a bed frame, table and getting the van ready for what was to be his next big adventure. Aaron didn’t seem to have any specific plan for what he would do when he reached California. He implied that he was just going to live in the van and live on the street for a while. We tried to discourage him but as ever, Aaron had a mind of his own.
Before he left someone dropped a batch of about three kittens on our corner. Cats never did well along Deckerville Road. The fast-moving cars got them sooner or later. Mostly sooner. Aaron liked cats and he doted over the kittens. Before he left for California, he built a strange box-like structure that he said was a “cat house” for the kittens to live in. Before he finished it one of the kittens wandered on the road and was killed. The other two were gone within days after Aaron left.
That was the last we would see of Aaron for the next few years. He did live for a while in the van. We learned in later years that Susan, who was still trying to find her way in California, found herself homeless and briefly moved into the van with Aaron. They were constantly harassed by the police if they left the vehicle parked too long in one place. Eventually they both got jobs and moved out of the van.
Aaron went to work as an emergency room nurse in a Bay Area hospital. I think he worked for a company that provided part-time staffers, so he moved around from hospital to hospital during this period. He also enrolled in UC Davis where he began studying on a pre-medicine course.
Susan hooked up with Dave, a base player for a punk rock band. She developed her own business as a promoter for this band and other music groups performing in the Bay Area.
After Aaron moved out of the rear bedroom, we persuaded Gladys to let Jennifer move into that room. That opened more room for us in the little house. We maintained an extra bed in that little bedroom for guests, and I put a desk and my computer there. It thus became my office at home.
From James Donahue’s Journal
After completing a two-year stint as a corpsman at Long Beach, Aaron was discharged but came home still attached as a member of the Navy Reserve. He was given the rear bedroom in the main house to stay in. He had been inspired by one of his commanding officers to go to college and consider a career in medicine.
We took Aaron to Saginaw Valley Community College where he talked to the people in admittance. They looked at his high school grades, and his naval records, and decided to admit him on a conditional basis. He was required to take specific classes in English, mathematics and other basic skills that he should have received while in high school. Once graduating from these classes the door would be open for Aaron to attend college level classes.
Aaron moved into a campus dormitory and began his college career. He completed that basic training and at least one semester of regular college study before he was called by the Navy for duty aboard a mine sweeper at sea. Aaron resisted the call and threatened not to show. He was warned that failure to return to Navy duty as ordered would be a court martial offense. Thus Aaron went to sea.
He returned strangely changed. He later spoke of being involved in the 1992 naval attack on Panama and the arrest of President Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering. He told of how dangerous the situation was, and spoke of going in with the Marines for the assault. He never gave any details and we always thought he was ordered to remain quiet about much of what he saw and did in that campaign.
Aaron moved back into the rear bedroom of the main house and took a job for a while at a Cass City nursing home. He came out of the Navy as a licensed practical nurse. He also was a trained medical technician for ambulance duty. He didn’t like the nursing home and did not stay on that job very long.
Somewhere during this time Aaron acquired an old store manikin that he dressed up and put in the passenger seat of the car when he drove around. The manikin often frightened people that saw it, much to Aaron’s delight. At one time he left the manikin, unclothed, in the back yard. Someone thought it was a dead body and called the police.
He worked long enough at the nursing home to buy an extended used van from Bub. Bub and Rosemary had used it for flea marketing. Aaron decided to customize the interior of the van for his use as a mobile home. He said he wanted to drive it back to California and live in it. He spent weeks building a bed frame, table and getting the van ready for what was to be his next big adventure. Aaron didn’t seem to have any specific plan for what he would do when he reached California. He implied that he was just going to live in the van and live on the street for a while. We tried to discourage him but as ever, Aaron had a mind of his own.
Before he left someone dropped a batch of about three kittens on our corner. Cats never did well along Deckerville Road. The fast-moving cars got them sooner or later. Mostly sooner. Aaron liked cats and he doted over the kittens. Before he left for California, he built a strange box-like structure that he said was a “cat house” for the kittens to live in. Before he finished it one of the kittens wandered on the road and was killed. The other two were gone within days after Aaron left.
That was the last we would see of Aaron for the next few years. He did live for a while in the van. We learned in later years that Susan, who was still trying to find her way in California, found herself homeless and briefly moved into the van with Aaron. They were constantly harassed by the police if they left the vehicle parked too long in one place. Eventually they both got jobs and moved out of the van.
Aaron went to work as an emergency room nurse in a Bay Area hospital. I think he worked for a company that provided part-time staffers, so he moved around from hospital to hospital during this period. He also enrolled in UC Davis where he began studying on a pre-medicine course.
Susan hooked up with Dave, a base player for a punk rock band. She developed her own business as a promoter for this band and other music groups performing in the Bay Area.
After Aaron moved out of the rear bedroom, we persuaded Gladys to let Jennifer move into that room. That opened more room for us in the little house. We maintained an extra bed in that little bedroom for guests, and I put a desk and my computer there. It thus became my office at home.