When did you get your first car?

 I bought my first car in 1965 when I was 12 years old, it was a 1965 Plymouth 4 door sedan.  I bought the car for 35 dollars from either my brother or some neighbors, can’t remember which.  I could only drive the car in the fields around our house and NOT on the road…right!  I put seat belts in the car and would pick up the neighbor boys, Tub and Ike Bonsen and go racing through the fields… It was fun.  When I would get stuck, which was very often my Grandpa would take the John Deere tractor and pull me out.  We lived next to a marsh and there was always places that were wet.  Funny thing I don’t remember asking if I could buy the car, I just did it.  Can’t remember getting in trouble with Mom and Dad but the neighbor’s Mom raised holy hell when I had her boys with me…. Dust flying as we zoomed through the fields… It was an automatic with push buttons on the upper left side, man I loved that car…





What qualities do you most value in your friends?

 My guidance on what qualities I value in people is extensive and for the most part what I try to live by.  I must say I have failed on occasion and it haunts me for years when I don’t follow my own rules.   Case in point, when I was an undergraduate I needed money and borrowed some money from my high school football coach, Jerry Ayres.  I cannot remember how much it was but when I borrowed the money Jerry told me that he would lend me the money but I needed to keep track and pay him back as I could because he had children that needed to go to college as well.  I paid him back but I did not keep good records and cannot be sure I paid him all of it and since I was suppose to keep track I could not ask him if I paid it all, this crosses my mind more often as I get older.  

Do what you say you are going to do… if you tell me you are going to do something, get it done, if something changes let me know. 

If you borrow something return it, if it breaks you pay to have it fixed and return it the way it was when you borrowed it.  

If you use my truck put gas in it before returning it and don’t Cowboy the equipment.  What this means is treat my stuff with tender loving care.  My Dad is the one who coined the phrase “Don’t Cowboy the equipment.” It means go easy on equipment and don’t push it to the point of breaking. 

Always pick up the phone when I call or send me a text that says, “I can’t talk right now.” 

Call sometimes just to check in and say hey, don’t only call when you need something.  

Respect for each others opinions and beliefs… don’t tell me that there are topics “political, religious or social” that are off limits.  

Pay your way, when we eat out I will always pay if that is what you want but it goes a longways with me when the costs are shared but I will never expect you to pay.

Have empathy for those that do not have as much as you do,  help them and don’t judge them.

What is one of the best shows you've ever been to?

 The best show I have ever seen is River Dance.  I was traveling from Hawaii to Auckland, New Zealand on a TDY from the United States Air Force and went by myself one night.  That in itself was very unusual for me because I am not very big into shows of any kind.  I remember it like it was yesterday… the dancing and music were phenomenal.  The actresses all had red hair and could they dance… It has stayed with me all these years and from time to time I see the show advertised and think it would be fun to go see it again.  As of this writing I have not, simply because the memory of that performance was so good that anything that follows would let me down, so for now I will cling to the memories.

How did your parents pick your name?

 The story that was relayed to me by my Mother was that she saw the name in a news paper and liked it.  There were five kids in our family,  Tracy Lee, Sharon Lee, Peggy Lee, Terry Lee and Michel Lee.  Not sure how they picked out our middle names as Lee but the first names except for mine are very common and typical for that era.  My name is actually pronounced like Michelle.  My name is a typical French spelling of the name Michael.  My whole life my name has been an issue, everyone changes the spelling to Michael which causes many problems, so I changed it to simply Mike…  

When I was in elementary school on the first day of school the teacher would call out the students names and we would raise our hands. When the teacher got to me, she would always say “is Michelle Bunning here?”  Everyone was expecting a girl and when I would reply and the laughing would start… So not much history on my name, as I look back, any family with five kids doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about names and picking it out of the newspaper seems to make sense!   I have one person thus far named after me, Michael Dude!  Son to John and Amy Dudte, friends of Jennifer and I from Iraq.  Sweet fella



Did you receive special recognition for your time in the military, or were you awarded any medals?

 PROFESSIONAL MILITARY HONORS:

- Company Grade Officer of the Quarter
Vandenberg AFB, California (January - March 1990)
- Company Grade Officer of the Year
16th Air Force (1991)
- Company Grade Officer of the Year
Zaragoza Air Base, Spain (1991)
- Company Grade Officer of the Year
406 TFTW Clinics, Zaragoza, Spain (1991)
- Public Health Officer of the Year
United States Air Force (1993)

MILITARY AWARDS AND DECORATIONS:

- Meritorious Service Medal with five devices
- Air Force Commendation Medal
- Air Force Achievement Medal with two devices
- Joint Service Commendation Metal
- Army Achievement Metal 
- Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon with Star
- National Defense Service Medal
- Southwest Asian Medal with Star
- Air Force Training Ribbon
- Air Force Longevity Ribbon
- Outstanding Unit with two clusters 
- Kuwait Liberation Medal
- Foreign Duty Award
- Outstanding Unit Citation with the Department of Health and Human Services 

CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES AND HONORS: 

- Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities (1975 and 1976
- Four-Year Athletic Scholarship to Cameron University (Football) 
- Chi Lambda Upsilon, Honor Fraternity, Cameron University
- Senior Class President, Cameron University (1975-1976)
- Junior Class President, Cameron University (1974-1975)
- Alpha Phi, Honor Fraternity, Oklahoma State University
- Board Member of Veterinary Teaching Committee, Oklahoma Veterinary
- Medical Association
- Lay Ministry Coordinator for Western Oklahoma District
- Founding member of Clinton Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- Oklahoma State University Alumni Association
- Clinton, Oklahoma United Way Board of Directors (1983 – 1988)
- Boy Scouts of America, Webelos Den Leader (1993 and 1994)
- Coach, National Science Olympiad (1995)
- Coach, Little League Baseball (1996)
- Coach, Minor League Baseball (1997)
- Secretary of Health’s, Outstanding Service Award, Nipah Virus Investigation (2000) 
- James H. Steele Veterinary Public Health Officer of Year for the Department of Health and Human Services (2000) 
- Secretary of Health’s, Outstanding Service Award, West Nile Investigation (2001) 
- Charles C. Sheppard Science Awards Winner (1999/2001/2002) for scientific writing
- Expeditionary Service Award from the Secretary of State, for service in Iraq 2008-10

As of 2015

What is one of the most expensive things that you've every bought?

 I think we can set aside buying houses and explore other personal purchases.   This is a sort of a timely question, as I get older and have a little more disposable income, I tend to buy more of things I want.  So the most expensive single item I have ever purchased is a 2016 Toyota Tacoma pickup.  I have been driving a 96 Ford Ranger pickup for the better part of 20 years.  The seats were tore up by Jada looking for a ball, the ceiling looks like a wild cat got loose and clawed it up.  So I thought what the heck, I am going to get a new truck…and went out and found what I wanted and bought a great truck.  I spent 35K and this is a tricked out truck, navigation, cameras and all kinds of extras… best truck I have ever owned…  About a couple of days later, I went to get in and felt like my head was hitting the ceiling and the truck had seemed so big.  The seat was not as comfortable as my Ford Ranger either.  So after about a week, I went back to my Ford Ranger and that’s what I prefer to drive.  If we take a long trip we take the Toyota and I am ok with it but it is just to much…  In my Ford, I can take the dogs running in it and I know every noise and quirk it has and know what to expect.  So my biggest purchase in my life time was a bust… go figure.







Which Sports did you play in High School?

 As a young boy I knew I was going to play football.  My older brother, Tracy played football and was very good at it.  It was the one thing in life that really seemed to make my Mom and Dad proud of us.  I am sure Freud would have something to say about this… At an early age I would play out in the yard with a football, throwing it and then chasing it down like it was a fumble and recover it.  Friday nights we would all go to town to watch Tracy play football.  As I grew older, I knew I would play football and had hoped early on to play for “The Ohio State.” I also wrestled and ran track but did those to stay in shape for football.  After my Freshmen year playing for the Port Clinton, (Ohio) Redskins, population around 6k,  my family moved to Snyder, Oklahoma home of the Cyclones. (1971)  (population 12 hundred).  What a change… my brother Terry and I played for them, he played offensive linemen and I played linebacker and fullback.  Football was big in Snyder and we were immediately popular.  Again, my parents really got into it and we very active in the community.  On one Friday when I was at school and were to have a game that night, a funeral wreath arrived at our school from the team we were to play that night, Tipton Tigers, our rival.  It really got the team fired up and we won the game…come to find out my Mom had sent it! My Dad was the guy firing the shot gun after we scored, very happy time in my life.  So I was semi-successful playing football and was lucky enough to get a full ride scholarship to Cameron College, now Cameron University, Aggies.  I played all four years and was a starter after my freshmen year.  Football allowed me to go to college, my parents could not afford it and I would not have let them try.  In looking back, when I started college it was so I could continue to play football but slowly changed to getting an education.  My parents were not as involved when I played college ball and moved to Colorado to chase their own dreams.  They moved to Colorado and lived on a ranch in the back country.  Mom cooked and Dad trapped, some of the happiest times of their lives….

Going to Cameron University and playing football on a full ride scholarship College seems to be a big deal for a while.  Other people in high school had partial rides but I was the only one with a full ride.  (everything paid for) For the first year or two I was all in and football had all my attention and I attended my classes and completed my studies so I could play football.  In my second year we were watching films from the game the night before.  Coach Lavender was my coach and during the filming he said, “Bunning if you would get your God Damn nose out of your school books and into the play books you would not make mistakes like that!” I was floored, it was clear to me from that point forward that my coach did not care about me or my future.  So from that point forward football was important for a very different reason, it was a stepping stone to an education.