Mike Vouri to retire December 31; Retirement Party set December 15

Lt. Col. Hank De Jager of the Royal Marines and Park Ranger Mike at the Royal Marine Cemetery during the dedication of the English Camp flagpole in 1998 – Contributed photo

Mike Vouri shares this retirement announcement with you…

This is Mike. I’ll be frank. I’m writing about my own retirement coming up December 31. Who else would write it? I’m the one who’s been doing the press releases for the park for 20 years.

That’s right, after 20 years, nine months and 26 days I’m going to Disneyland (just kidding).

Mark your calendars for the farewell party, scheduled 6 p.m., Tuesday, December 15 at the Rumor Mill in Friday Harbor. Should be a killer. You’re all invited to attend and stay as long as the food holds out or you have to catch the ferry. The bar will be no-host (after all I’ll be living on a fixed income shortly thereafter) and we’re hoping everyone who plays an instrument will bring it along. That should be interesting. And by the way, we’ve combined this event with the Holiday Social, so if you want to come in period dress that’s OK. (I won’t be.)

For those coming from off-island, and don’t want to spend the night, you can walk on the 4:15 ferry from Anacortes. The last boat leaves the island at 10 p.m. That should be time enough to enjoy some good finger food, some tunes, have a beverage and share old (or new) times.

Mike Vouri as George Pickett in the Life and Times of General George Pickett, which ran for 17 years on San Juan island and throughout the Pacific Northwest – Contributed photo

I’ve also scheduled sort of a wrap-up PowerPoint program entitled “Twenty Years at San Juan Island NHP: A Retrospective,” scheduled 7 p.m., December 2 at the San Juan island Library. You’re all invited to that one as well. Come early…or not. Should be fun with lots of photos dating from 1995 to last summer. What me age before your eyes. Unfortunately, the photo of my petulant teenage son marching as a Royal Marine (with shocking pink hair and earrings) is missing. But there are plenty more where that came from, so don’t worry.

I arrived here in March 1995 after serving six years as a public affairs officer and history curator at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art in Bellingham, WA. Before that I worked as a newspaper reporter, a public affairs officer for the Air Force Reserve and as assistant director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. And before that… there was the invention of the wheel (just kidding); no… it was nearly nine years in the Air Force, including a tour in Vietnam as the crew chief of an O-1 Bird Dog at a tiny airstrip in the Mekong Delta.

Mike Vouri with Gordon and Elly Smith of Congress, AZ, volunteer park hosts for 14 summers and one fall for San Juan Island National Historical Park. “They were quite simply the best ever, and when you consider how many wonderful people we’ve had, that’s saying a lot,” Mike said – Contributed photo

The latter experience is why my NPS job here has given me more satisfaction than any of the others. Where else could a veteran write and speak with conviction about the merits of “peace over war” almost everyday and get paid for it? Even more, the NPS mission of preservation and protection for the benefit of future generations is one that anyone can regard with pride. I will always consider myself a ranger… corny as that may sound. But corny is what we interpreters are all about.

I will have a lot more to say about all of these things later. Just wanted to make sure you mark your calendars. Please let me know if you’re going to make it so I can tell Oren and Peggy how much food to lay on.

Very best,
Mike

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