User:mfeany

Michael Shawn Feany

I was born on May 9th, 1961, during the age of camelot, in Marshalltown, IA, the fifth child and first boy of Leo Stehpen Feany and Mary Janice (Hildebrand) Feany. I lived from 1961 to 1965 in Toledo Heights outside of Tama/Toledo, Iowa where my father taught at the local high school. The large, comfortable home we lived in in Toledo Heights was originally built for the former director the tuburculosis sanitarium that was the original purpose and function of the building in what was subsequently called Toledo Heights. In 1966 we moved to Estherville, IA on the MN border where my father got a job teaching at the local community college. In the spring of 1967 we moved to Fort Madison, IA on the banks of the Mississipi River twently miles north of the Missouri border, where my father had gotten a job teaching at the local junior high. I attended school there in Fort Madison from first grade through high school graduation from FMHS.I also attended a local community college for two years while living in Fort Madison after high school ( South Eastern Community College in West Burlington, IA). I then spent 3 semesters at Iowa State University in Ames, IA pursuing courses in the engineering field. At that point I decided that I was more interested in philosophy and transferred to the University of Iowa. After 3 semesters there, I ran out of funds and decided to join the Iowa Army National Guard unit in Iowa City, IA for financial reasons. That required my going off to basic training at Fort Jackson, SC in May of 1985 and then to Fort Sam Houston and Brookes Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX for advanced individual training as a combat medic / medical assistant. Upon returning to Iowa City, IA in September of 1985 I decided that I really didn't want to be in the Iowa Army National Guard for the next six years so I opted to do two years in the Regular Army. Toward that goal I was off to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, located just outside of Washington D.C.. I arrived there at the beginning of September, 1986. I attended a ten week course to become a Power Generation Repair Specialist. I was the top student in my class of around thirty students despite having developed walking pneumonia around the end of October. I was assigned to serve at Fort Campbell, KY for my two year hitch, home of the 101st Airborne Division and the Screaming Eagles. Hollywood just loves that arm patch. I did my two years there, working in the motor pool of HHC DISCOM ( Headquarters Unit of the Division Support Command) and living in the barracks. It was a long, slow two years. I did manage to become Air Assault Qualified. Which means I was trained to repel with full gear, out of hovering helicopters, while they hovered some fifty or so feet above the ground. Toward the end of my two year hitch, I managed to trade off my $25 1977 Chrysler Cordoba and my 1972 V-8 Vega Station Wagon for a 1984 Mazda B-2000 pickup truck with camper shell and 55,000 miles on it. During my two years at Fort Campbell, I spent a good deal of time thinking about what I wanted to to and where I wanted to go after getting out of the army.

The Plan:

I would spend a good deal of time at the local post library, reading and thinking on my time off. At some point in my ruminations I came up with a list of the qualities or attributes that I would like my community of relocation to have. What I was looking for was: it had to be on the ocean; coastal mountains would be cool; it needed to have a moderate climate, not too hot, not too cold; a good university; not too big, not too small; these were the qualities I had formulated. While looking through college catalogues at the library, I happened upon one from UCSB, the University of California at Santa Barbara, California. The cover of this catalogue had this amazing picture taken from the air, probably five to then thousand feet in the air, showing Santa Barbara from the air, nestled between the blue pacific ocean and the Santa Ynez coastal mountains. The picture was truly amazing. I fell in love, on the spot. After a little further research into how Santa Barbara matched up against my wish list I was sold. So on the sixth of September, 1988, I headed out of the gates Fort Campbell, KY with a fellow former soldier in tow and on towards St. Louis, MO, where his parents lived. After dropping him off in the afternoon and having some dinner and watching Ice Station Zebra, starring Rock Hudson, I said my goodbyes and headed up highway 61 towards my hometown, Fort Madison, IA and my mom. I spent about a month there with her, organizing my stuff/ junk, preparing my Mazda for my next big adventure, a trip/relocation to Santa Barbara, CA. A place I had never been before, where I knew not a single soul. I fixed up my truck, put in a new stereo, put curtains in the camper shell windows for privacy at night, got a sleeping bag, an air mattress, and a cooler for food and beverages. I hooked up a small U-haul trailer to bring out some of my belongings. At the end of September or beginning of October I kissed and hugged my mom goodbye and headed off on my great adventure....