MIKE’S LIFE BEFORE CNC

           Mike was born Miguel Cazares on April 25, 1913, in a small border town called Eagle Pass, Texas, the first of three children and the only son of Spanish-speaking parents of Indian-Mexican heritage. To support his family, Mike’s father often worked away from home, primarily in bridge construction. When Mike was 14 or 15 years old, his father died from blood poisoning caused from stepping on a nail. Overnight, Mike became the breadwinner. He had to leave school and start working full-time to support his mother and two young sisters.

          Young Mike took any kind of job he could find during those years of the Great Depression (1929-39). He worked for awhile in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), Roosevelt’s public work relief program for unemployed single men aged 18-25.  He labored in construction, railroad work, and copper mining.  Like his father, he went where the work was and sent money back to the family.  Hard work in various fields was to his benefit, however, because he acquired many skills that would serve him well throughout his life. 

          Like many young men seeking job security in the 1930s, Mike tried to join the Army, but was turned down because the Army needed no more soldiers then. That situation quickly changed with World War II, however. Mike was drafted in 1942, at age 29, and two years later was at the Anzio invasion in Italy. He served elsewhere in both Italy and Africa until that war ended. Then he was with the Occupation Forces in Austria, where he met Austrian Anna Kaufman, who became his wife. Making the Army his career, Mike served also in the Korean War with a Supply Company stationed in Suwon, a village near Seoul. There he spent much of his free time helping with an orphanage, for which he was honored by the village mayor.

           After 22 years of service with distinction, Mike retired from the Army as a Master Sergeant in June 1964, at Fort Eustis. Then 51, he and Anna were living in the cinderblock house he had built on Menchville Road in Newport News, with their young children: Michael, Ricardo, and Sandra. Mike went for an interview at CNC with then Director (later President)  H. Westcott Cunningham, who hired him immediately. As Mrs. Cunningham recently recalled, “Scott was so pleased to have someone as reliable and competent as Mike,” who also “was a really nice person.” The fact that both men were WW2 veterans possibly helped create a bond between them. Cunningham had commanded a PT Boat in the Pacific.

MIKE’S GREENHOUSE

           In 1970, when the Biology Department hired Dr. Dave Bankes, CNC’s first botanist and horticulturalist, the College had no greenhouse. Dave, of course, wanted a greenhouse for plant propagation and so forth, but his chance of getting a real greenhouse from the state was less than zero. Dr. Harold Cones remembers how “Mike’s Greenhouse” began:  Biology chairman Dr. Jean Pugh talked to Mike Cazares and they agreed that Mike would do the work as he had time (including Saturdays) and would get the bricks (with his own truck) for the head house from the state penitentiary, which had provided the bricks for the other three buildings on campus, and Jean would buy the other building materials. CNC either paid for the bricks or got the state to donate them and also paid for the six or eight metal trusses for the head house roof.  Jean bought the rest of the materials, including concrete for the floor.

          Consulting with Dave Bankes, Mike drew up the design. He did not need blueprints. After all, as his daughter Sandy Allard recalls, he had built his own cinderblock house on Menchfield Road, from the foundation to the roof, with the help of no one except his wife. He had done everything himself, including carpentry, plumbing and electrical wiring, and had also built his own detached garage, which served as his workshop.  

          Most members of the Biology Department pitched in to help Mike with this CNC project, as did some students, working mainly on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. Biology professors Dave Bankes and Ron Mollick helped, and of course Jean Pugh and Harold Cones were there regularly.  Not everything the novices did was always done perfectly of course. Harold remembers that when the concrete (paid for by Jean Pugh) was delivered for the floor, he was one of those who helped to smooth it after it was dumped, but, as he recalls, “It was never really smooth, I’m afraid.”

            Laying bricks for the head house was a major challenge, even under Mike’s well intentioned instruction. Harold laid most of the bricks, but says that task “is not as easy as it looks” and he’s not laid another brick since.  He remembers the bricks were “beautiful, handmade, with lots of interesting color and quality variations, and no two alike.” Student Tom Sobieski (BS, 1973) remembers that “one of the CNC students convinced someone that he could lay bricks,” but his brickwork “resembled more a wave than a straight line,” so he was asked to resign from that task.  

          To save money, the department decided to put a flat roof on the head house. Consequently, although the finished brick head house was very attractive, Harold recalls that it “leaked badly—but it stayed functional until torn down a few years ago for the new Forbes Hall.”

          “The construction of the Greenhouse was a stop and start project,” Dr. Sam Bauer recently wrote.  The same is true of this Tribute to Mike Cazares.  Part 3 will start with phase 2 of the greenhouse project, building the actual greenhouse. Then it will cover how CNC honored Mike in 1975, what happened after his retirement, and acknowledgement of sources. Stay tuned! And send us your memories of Mike Cazares, if you’ve not already done so.  

CNC’s Super Efficient Superintendent,

Mike Cazares:

Conclusion

 By A. Jane Chambers

 I think Mike spent most of his Saturdays at CNC working on projects, for free,

because of his desire to see us have the best we could have

 with very little money.

 --Dr. Harold Cones, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology

MIKE’S GREENHOUSE: Phase 2

                     Once Mike Cazares and his volunteer crew had completed what turned out to be a rather attractive brick head house, they tackled phase two: building the actual greenhouse. Using glass for it was out of the question, recalls Dr. Harold Cones, because glass was extremely expensive. Mike soon found a fiberglass product that could be used on greenhouse sidewalls. He concluded the same greenish-yellow fiberglass sheets would work for the roof too. Dr. Jean Pugh, as usual, generously provided the money to buy this material.

          The Cazares Crew all met to build the frame for the greenhouse. The frame included wooden roof rafters (see photo, right) that Harold recalls as not only very expensive, but also very long and very heavy. Once the framing was completed, the workers covered it with the fiberglass sheets “and voila,” Harold recalls, “we had a green (actually a yellowish-green) house.” Mike then built plant tables, installed lighting and plumbing, and turned it over to the College. It was named “Cazares Greenhouse.”

           Mike was interviewed later by a reporter from either the Daily Press or the Times-Herald. The subsequent article, “Supervisor leaves his mark on CNC,” saved by Mike’s family, but unidentified and undated, appeared in a “Peninsula People” section. It included the photo shown here to the left. The reporter wrote that although the Cazares Greenhouse was only “about the size of a small house, …to the biology department, and the CNC employee who built it, the structure is an important part of the Shoe Lane campus.” Mike’s sense of humor is evident in his reply to the question “What’s grown in the greenhouse?”  He said, “I call them weeds, but the professors call them all sorts of exotic things.”

          The reporter stated that Mike had “an architect’s drawing of the campus in his office, identifying the building as Cazares Greenhouse” and that Mike pointed to the location of “his” building “in close proximity to Christopher Newport Hall and Capt. John Smith Library” and said, “I’m in good company.” The greenhouse was actually to the right of Gosnold Hall, CNC’s first science building. I remember viewing it from classrooms on the second floor of Newport Hall. Between the back of Newport and the greenhouse was a large expanse of lawn later occupied by the new Science Building, and behind the greenhouse was a thick patch of woods.

           As time passed, the greenhouse developed some problems. The flat roof of the head house often leaked and the roof rafters, as Harold Cones remembers, “were so heavy that they sagged, giving the greenish-yellow house a bowed back.” However, improvements were made to the head house from time to time. Then the greenish-yellow greenhouse was replaced by a glass greenhouse, under physics professor  Dr. George Webb, who headed that project—getting the money for it, approving the plans, and so forth.  Professional builders added on to the greenhouse structure already there but the head house was kept. The Cazares Greenhouse thus served the College, particularly the botany students, very well until it was razed, like the other original Shoe Lane buildings.

RECOGNITION and RETIREMENT

           After 11 years at CNC, in charge of maintaining not only 73 acres of buildings and grounds (lawn and woods) but also campus security, Mike decided it was time to retire—at age 62. Nobody was glad to see him go. In 1973 CNC had established a Distinguished Service Award to be given to people who had made an outstanding contribution to the development of the College. The award was a bronze medallion with a replica of the College seal (the second seal, adopted in 1970) suspended from a blue and white ribbon. The first recipients of this award, at 1973’s Spring Commencement, were CNC’S first president, H. Westcott Cunningham and Virginia delegate Lewis A. McMurran, Jr., called by some the “Father” of CNC because of his significant political support of the College in the General Assembly from its beginning.

          Shortly before CNC’S December 21, 1975 Commencement, an article (“CNC Graduation Set Sunday”) appeared in either the Daily Press or the Times-Herald.  It opened with a statement that Mike Cazares would “receive the Distinguished Service Award at CNC’S Graduation Ceremony” and included this photo of Mike. It also quoted these words from CNC’s then-president, Dr. James Windsor: “Christopher Newport has been fortunate in having Mike Cazares as a member of its staff. He served with distinction during the 11 years he has been with the college. He has been a dedicated civil servant and is admired and respected by students, staff and faculty. We regret that he is leaving the college due to retirement.” 

          Virginia Delegate Lewis A. McMurran, Jr., wearing this same CNC Distinguished Service medallion, was on the commencement program that Sunday afternoon, as the dignitary who introduced the speaker, U. S. Congressman Thomas N. Downing.  Below are (left) page 2 of the 4-page program (there were 97 graduates) and (right) a photo of Congressman Tom Downing looking on while President Jim Windsor placed the medallion around the neck of a smiling Mike Cazares. Like so many of the photos in this 3-part article, these were provided by Sandra Cazares Allard.

          In 1981 Mike and Anna moved to Kissimmee, Florida, where he continued doing what he loved: building, maintaining and repairing things as long as he was able. He died at age 81, on December 28, 1994, from complications related to Diabetes.  Mike’s wife, Anna, moved back to the Peninsula and lived close to their youngest child, Sandra ( Sandy ) Allard, in Yorktown, VA. until her death in December of 2016 at age 93. Sons Michael (Mike) and Ricardo (Ric) live in Costa Rica. Mike’s daughter from a previous marriage, Gloria Tunning, lives in San Antonio, TX. Mike had eight grandchildren. 

Acknowledgements

             A very special Thank You to Sandra Cazares Allard, my major source for much information about her father. Sandy provided personal memories as well as photos, newspaper articles, and other documents which were vital to the writing of this Tribute.  A big Thank You also to Dr. Harold Cones, who provided most of the information about Mike’s Greenhouse. Thanks  also to Dr. Jane Webb for locating the 1994 obituary for Mike, Dr. David Game for leading me to Mike’s son Michael on Facebook, Michael, who then connected me with his sister Sandy, and the former students, especially Dave Bessom, who shared with me their memories of Mike. I appreciate the help of all of you.