By Emme Hornung
When visitors, volunteers, or staffers celebrate a milestone year of attendance, we usually gloss over the inconvenient truth that the milestone does not include the forsaken year of 2020 when there was no AirVenture. But for Mike Suess, EAA Lifetime 97039, who is celebrating his 50th Oshkosh this year, he can actually say he was on the convention grounds in 2020.
Mike joined the team in Oshkosh in 1976 before EAA’s headquarters had even moved here from Hales Corner. His best friend, Larry Last, was the assistant to Vern Lichtenberg, the grounds facilities manager at the time. He started coming to help out on just Fridays, but once he was out of school, he came four days a week.
Some years later, Mike joined the Oshkosh Auxiliary Police, which managed convention security. He was part of that team for 43 years until EAA decided to form their own security team. Mike was tasked with setting up the security dispatch group, which today is based in Camp Scholler.
With about 270 portable radios and 400 security staff during AirVenture, the dispatch group works in three shifts each day, receiving and routing calls all over the grounds to provide quick and reliable service to ensure the safest experience possible.
“Every year is kind of unique,” Mike said. “2020, believe it or not, that was the year of no AirVenture, but I was still here. There was a handful of us that were patrolling around the grounds.”
To celebrate his 50th anniversary this year, he welcomed back Vern, now in his late 80s, and Larry to take a special tour of the grounds before convention started, and his team even surprised him with a celebratory cake.
Making sure a convention of this size is safe and enjoyable is no small feat, but with a great team, it makes it worth it for Mike.
“It was actually one of Paul’s favorite sayings, ‘You come for the airplanes, but you come back for the people,’ and that pretty much sums it up,” he said. “I’ll keep doing this as long as I’m able.”
Caption: EAA’s Jim Busha, vice president of security, helped celebrate Mike’s 50 years of dedicated service.