Every day since January 2008, Mike Dolan has tackled the day-to-day needs of security at LHS. He has watched the camera monitors at the front desk, supervised the lunch room, and patrolled the hallways. But what most students don’t know is that Dolan had a duty of an entirely different kind for more than three decades prior to coming to LHS.
Dolan was part of the fire service for an astounding 33 years. He first worked for the Lake Forest Fire Department for four years and then joined the Libertyville Fire Department in 1979, working as a firefighter, paramedic and, later, administrator.
Graduating from LHS in 1969 as an involved athlete and student, Dolan attended Illinois State University and received his Bachelor of Arts in Safety four years later. The job market was very similar to today, so he applied for a number of different jobs, some at private companies and some with public services. The fire department was the first to contact him, so he took the job.
“I fell in love with it. It was a career that offered me a lot of latitude in what I was able to do in my private life--since you work 24 hours on and then 48 hours off,” said Dolan.
Dolan also worked as an IHSA basketball referee for 20 years and enjoyed the ability “to be at home and take an active part in raising the kids, another big bonus of the job.”
Dolan participated in one of the first paramedic classes in Illinois and eventually became a lieutenant. He was further promoted to assistant chief (an administrative position) in 1997 and both visited classrooms to teach fire safety to kids and worked as a fire inspector as part of the job.
“I was the firefighter who went around to the grade schools,” Dolan remembers.
After several years on the job, Dolan was asked to go back to school to complete a series of four classes through a 4-year course of study called Executive Fire Officer at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He went to Emmitsburg two weeks at a time and took classes Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are approximately 10,000 firemen only who have completed the course.
“I was a little bit leery because, at the time, I was 50 years old and I hadn’t gone back to class actively for a long time,” said Dolan.
During his time at the Academy, Dolan achieved one of the greatest honors in his career. If a student received a score of 3.0 or higher on their applied research project paper, the paper was archived--in its entirety--at the Academy. Dolan got 3 out of his 4 papers archived. One scored a 2.9.
Over time, however, the stress and burden of working as an Executive Fire Officer became too much.
“Firefighting is a young person’s profession. It can be very physical, very taxing and very exhausting. That was one of the things I realized as I hit my mid-50’s. I just couldn’t get up in the middle of the night and recover like I used to,” Dolan recalled.
Dolan decided to retire.
“The time was right for me to leave the fire service. I had spent 33 years in it, and I was looking for something a little less stressful,” said Dolan.
Dolan started filling in at LHS as a temporary replacement for Harry Croon, a security guard who had become ill in late 2007. When Croon passed away due to cancer, Dolan took his late friend’s spot.
Although the high school may not be quite as exciting as the fire department, Dolan quickly came to appreciate working at his former high school.
“I really enjoy working with the students, teachers and staff here. For lack of a better word, I’m a bit of a high school junkie when it comes to the high school’s athletics and fine arts,” admitted Dolan.
He also mentioned that his "favorite hallway to walk through is the one with the practice rooms because you never know what you will hear.”
Dolan still checks in with the fire department from time to time.
“I still meet and have breakfast or a cup of coffee with a few of the guys I worked with once or twice a month. It’s something you never lose contact with,” he said.
With his wife, Sue Dolan working in the teacher center, Mike is quite pleased.
“[She] and I have the same schedule now for the first time in our lives, which allows us the freedom to travel--especially as we get older,” he said.
Dolan plans to stick around for another four or five years and then retire for good. He still plans on coming to see high school sporting and fine arts events after his retirement.
Read some of Dolan's stories from when he was in the fire service:
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Photo by L. San