He began his government career with the U.S. Army, serving as a private from April 1942 through May 1943. Michael chuckles when asked whether his name, Lois, isn't something like being A Boy Named Sue. "Yes," he says, "that was a tough one. I was named after a very good friend of my father's. I always tried to go by my middle name, Russell, but I never could get the teachers to go along with it."

He joined the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in 1949, where he worked until 1964. That year, he transferred to the old Bureau of Customs, starting as a clerk. When asked about why he was interested in the Customs Service/Bureau, you can hear the smile in his voice as he explains, "My brother, Don, worked for Customs, and he had the most beautiful uniform. In those days, Customs caps had that silver 'scrambled-egg' pattern on the front, and he looked so nice that I thought I'd like to work there myself."

Michael receives 20-year service pin from wife, Tootie, in May 1968.

We congratulate Senior Inspector Lois Michael on his public service career, more than half a century long. Of the U.S. Customs Service, Michael says, with almost three-dimensional feeling, "Whatta wonderful bunch of folks."

During his first year at Customs, Michael transferred to Galveston, Tex., as a documents examiner. He told his supervisor that he really wanted to be an inspector, and the supervisor promised to promote Michael after he put in a year in his current position. And, literally one year to the month after he'd started work in Galveston, he became an inspector.

Not too long after making inspector, "I put on that beautiful uniform and went down to the waterfront to view the ships," recalls Michael. "A man happened to drive by, and he leaned out the car window and yelled, 'Hello, you ugly-lookin' son of a gun.' That really hurt my feelings because I thought I looked gorgeous. A few minutes later, he came back and apologized. 'I thought you were [another inspector].' That man turned out to be the port authority from Galveston."

He transferred back to Dallas in 1967, when the Dallas port of entry had just ten employees: the port director, a chief inspector, entry officer, teller, documents examiner, four inspectors, and a package examiner. The Ft. Worth port of entry employed only one person, who served as both the inspector and the port director, and who was, incidentally, that same brother -- Don.

In those days, the office for the Dallas port of entry was located downtown. Inspectors would drive the 10 or so miles from the office to Dallas Love Field Airport to clear one flight each for Mexicana, American, and the old Braniff Airlines. The Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport opened in January 1974. The following year, Michael was promoted to senior inspector.

Over his career, Michael worked a variety of temporary duty assignments in such faraway places as the Rainbow and Peace Bridges that connect upstate New York to Ontario, Ca., and a six-month stint in Washington, D.C., with Project EXODUS.

He won 13 awards over his career, but the one that makes him most proud is a bronze plaque from Commissioner Bonner, presented to him by Robert Trotter, Director of the East Texas Customs Management Center, on the day of his retirement.