Down the steps and around the corner in the basement of the convent stands the office of a man of many talents, stories, and traits. Mr. Mike Woodruff, McNicholas’ maintenance man, will be celebrating twenty-five years at McNicholas this year. Woodruff spends his time moving about the halls of McNick ready to take action of things that may go wrong as well as repairing, replacing, and handling crises as needed.
Although his work at McNick is a huge part of his life, there are many other pieces that make up Mike Woodruff as a person. Having his previous occupation consist of construction, he uses these skills to his advantage to help others with construction work, electrical work, drywall repair, and many other skills that he has learned over the years. He also works on his mini-farm raising chickens along with growing food his family eats throughout the year.
He incorporates these skills into his service. Woodruff has traveled to Mexico on mission trips several times in his lifetime with his church, Ambassador’s Pointe, near Newtown, Ohio. On these journeys, he has built orphanages and assisted the underprivileged. Woodruff is in the process of saving up to take a mission trip to Kyrgyzstan, a country located in Asia. He hopes to be able to complete service and use his handy work to help the people in this country.
“I consider myself to be a homesteader,” Woodruff said. In his spare time, he spends time with his family of three daughters and five grandchildren. One of his daughters has a different background than most, which has afforded him a few unique experiences. “My daughter is a 2000 graduate of McNick and was in the U.S. Marine Corps stationed at Quantico, Virginia, with the ‘HMX’ Helicopter Squadron assigned to protect President Bush in 2001,” Woodruff said. He visited the White House in Washington DC several times.
Although we see Woodruff throughout the day with his drill or hammer, there is more to the man — a father, a grandfather, a farmer, and even a guitar player.
The McNicholas Milestone 