Las Vegas Sun

December 6, 2009

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Letter: Mike influenced many students

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan's passing is greatly mourned by a huge number of citizens of this country. I remember him from 1962, when he was a teacher of government and history at Basic High School in Henderson. As a teacher, Mike O'Callaghan molded the lives of his students into better and more learned citizens. He was a pleasant and brilliant man. He made his classes entertaining and interesting. He would tell us war stories about his military career in the Korean War, where he lost a limb near O'Callaghan Ridge, named after him. He was a war hero.

His face would light up with his beautiful smile when he talked with you. He reached the heights of success when he was elected governor of Nevada for two terms and then became the executive editor of the Sun. He was very sympathetic and sensitive. He would always call on the phone or in some way get in touch with his acquaintances who had just lost a loved one. He would always send flowers.

As a former student of Mike O'Callaghan's, I will remember him as easy going, highly intelligent, very kind and a true friend.

KAREN H. MACK

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