David McMacken
Dave has been teaching English and journalism at Alma High School for 39 years. No decision on retirement. He’s having too much fun.
For thirty years David has been married to Virginia Helman, of Ithaca, MI, who was the librarian at Alma High School. They have three children. Megan is a technical writer for Fanuc Robotics and married to John Rock. They will present their parents with their first grandchild in February 2004. Gavin is a graduate of Alma College and is working at Alma Products Company as well as coaching football at AC. Jordan, their 20-year-old daughter, is designing her life.
Virginia and David were in the home schooling movement early on, and home schooled all three of their children for part or all of their pre-college education.
They are active in their church, the First Church of God, in Alma. They also have a prison ministry. Each Monday evening they take a religious video into Mid-Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis and meet with about 20 men. Some interesting discussions ensue. They have been doing this for fourteen years.
Locally, David is best known as the Gratiot County historian. He says he achieved this position by default—all the others died. McMacken has produced four books. These include a pictorial history of Alma; a book on the famous mineral springs of St. Louis; this last summer the 150-page sesquicentennial history of St. Louis, and most recently—December 2003—the 200-page Built on Pines, the story of Ammi Wright, the Saginaw lumberman and business tycoon. Although the man was Alma’s greatest benefactor, he is really a significant Michigan figure, and the book reflects how a man of the Gilded Age achieved a sizable fortune.
As an historian David has given more than 100 presentations to various groups in central Michigan and statewide—everything from mansion-tours to illustrated talks on cemetery art.
Recently he wrote the scripts for “Tales from the Cemetery,” a presentation by five costumed impersonators at Alma’s Riverside Cemetery, who told their life-stories at their gravesites. The audience was bused to the cemetery for the “tour.” It was a sold-out money-raiser for the Alma Public Library. McMacken is also on the St. Louis Library board.
As you can see, David and Virginia stay quite busy. They fight to keep our lives simple, though. They don’t have an answering machine, cell-phone, or cable. When his students hear how “deprived” they are, they wonder if the McMackens are Amish. “I ask them if they’ve noticed my horse and buggy in the teachers’ parking lot,” he jokes. |
