Lee wrote his life story between 2001 and 2003, at 83 and 84 years old. It is published here chapter by chapter — in his words, as he wrote it. The cover page of his manuscript gave it his own title: “His Amazing Grace.”

I have this urge to some how let my children and grandchildren know how it was in my past. I feel it’s important to let them know where I am coming from so they may have some way into their own future… I feel the need to let my children know some of the things I did in my past with the hope that this may help them build their future. So here goes………….

Chapters

Chapter 1Where I Am Coming FromLee explains why he began writing at 83 — and starts at the beginning, with the Micks and Johnsons of Flint. Chapter 2Bud and Allen’s Little BrotherThe youngest of three boys, five and six years behind his brothers — teasing, report cards, Scouts, and the C.M.T.C. Chapter 3Lois1940, with war rumbling far away and Lee’s mind elsewhere: “her name was Lois.” Chapter 4Our Little School HouseAfter the war, ten acres in the country near Rankin — the Brewer Road years begin. Chapter 5My Brother AllenDr. Allen H. Mick — ROTC officer, a Bronze Star in Europe, and the move that took his family to Alaska. Chapter 6Grandpa Johnson“Goggie” — Elmer A. Johnson, the Bad Axe harness-maker — and the family letters reaching back to 1880. Chapter 7The Train to “Sageena”Old friends from the Brewer Road days, and the story of the train to “Sageena.” Chapter 8ToysA sandbox under the apple tree, cast-metal trucks, and the toys of a 1920s boyhood. Chapter 9When I Lived on Nebraska Ave.The two-bedroom bungalow his dad built from the bottom up — and how a coal-heated house worked. Chapter 10My Army ExperiencesCalled up in June 1944, a married father of two: Camp Wolters, rifleman instructor, T/Sgt Mick. Chapter 11About My DadJohn D. Mick of Buick — including the 1938 letter he wrote after his very first airplane ride. Chapter 12Kenny and Rod’s First TeachersJohnson School on Brewer Road and the young teacher Lois Hosie — with the letter she wrote years later. Chapter 13Our Cottage at OakhurstThirty-five acres on Saginaw Bay: the cottage summers at Oakhurst. Chapter 14About InfluenzaBorn in 1918, the year the pandemic killed twenty million — one page placing his arrival in its time. Chapter 15Our Dogs — and the Family YearsIt begins with Blacky the Springer — and becomes the whole story of the family years, including the hardest of them. Chapter 16Turning PointsThe changes that turn a life — “some are very dramatic and others are very subtle.” Chapter 17Attitude Toward DeathA single page, written at 84, that begins with the feeling of arriving home. Chapter 18A True StoryThe pheasant story — printed in the book, and the very first page of this website back in 2013. Chapter 19As I Remember ItThe source of this site’s epigraph — “the artist’s existence is a mosaic of memories” — with Lee’s paintings of the places he remembered. Chapter 20ParentingMarried in June of 1940, “much like any other young family starting out” — Lee’s closing words on raising their children.