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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Jun '85
Milton Albert Strain No.15288 Class of 1946 Died
2 October 1981 at Woolocombe, Devon, England, aged 55 years.
Interment: Woolocombe, Devon, England
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Milton Albert Strain was born 17 November 1925
in Manila, Philippine Islands, where his father was stationed
with the 31st Infantry. His siblings used to tease him when he
was young that he could never become president because of being
horn in the Philippines. Even as a youngster, Mickey/Mike had
an easy, quiet confidence in his abilities, and this teasing
never perturbed him. A classrnate later explained Mike's philosophy:
"It was not that he fought the system, even the military
aspects of West Point..., rather, it was that Mike always had
another perspective and an independent view about what was going
on."
He spent a normal Army brat life traveling with
his family around the United States, finally ending up at Fort
Benning, Georgia, where he graduated from Columbus High School.
After one year at Auburn University in Alabama, he entered the
Military Academy in July 1943, wore stars three years, and was
on the Honor Committee his last two years. A classmate remembers
"the humanity, fairness, and respect for the Academy's traditions
that he brought to his service" in that position. His classmates
are unanimous in their praise of his intellect.
"He was the most academically brilliant person that I have
ever known."
"His intellect was even more formidable than his stars would
indicate. Ten minutes study per night assured a 'max' and then
he would turn to something more challenging from astronomy to
Zen.
" When the lights in the cadet barracks were changed from
bulbs to fluorescence, Mike made the discovery, "I can turn
the lights on and jump into bed before they come on. That makes
me faster than light." And all his classmates who knew him
suspected he practically was, mentally.
"His academic coaching of his classmates was legendary."
"He was a friend of all his classmates, especially the goats
whom he coached an immeasurable number of hours. He strived to
see that none of his company classmates who requested his assistance
ever failed academics.
"If the other roommate and I faced a lesson unprepared,
he would make us proficient with a five-minute review of what
the questions had to be and the shortest route to the correct
answers."
"While he was conscious of his ability, he never let it
interfere with any associations. He never was the least bit pretentious
or ostentatious in personality."
In addition to the debate club and the ski club,
Mike was also a member of the plebe boxing squad. This latter
experience left him a slightly enlarged and misaligned nose which
was a great source of satisfaction to him because he thought
it made him look old enough to be a lieutenant.
He graduated second in his class of 875 and chose
Engineers. After courses at the Infantry School and the Engineer
School, he spent a year and a half on Guam. A classmate remembers
sharing Bachelor Officers quarters there with Mike and two other
lieutenants: "One thing that drove the rest of us crazy
was to watch Mike read. He would lie on his bunk and turn the
pages of the book he was reading so quickly that you would swear
he couldn't possibly be reading it. Every once in a while one
of us would grab the book away from him, turn back 20 pages or
so, and question him about what it said. Invariably, he would
repeat exactly what the book said.
Subsequently, Mike was selected as a Rhodes Scholar
at Oxford University. He used to recall, with some relish, his
comment to the selection committee during his interview. The
number one and three graduates in his class had previously been
selected Rhodes Scholars, and Mike's advice to the committee
was, "Gentlemen, you've had an over and a short. Now is
your chance to be on target," and so they were.
He studied at Brasenose College at Oxford during
the period 1949-1952, earning his Master's degree with honors,
in politics, philosophy, and economics. During his studies he
met and married Cynthia Bowers, an English girl. A Brasenose
classmate remembers: "He was a stalwart on the lacrosse
field, and he worked conscientiously at his studies, but, in
a way, it seemed his greatest efforts were expended in pursuing
Cynthia. She was a classic, black-haired, English beauty who
enthralled everyone, but Mike most of all." Mike forever
considered his marriage to Cynthia his greatest accomplishment,
After completion of his course, he and Cynthia
returned to the United States where Mike was assigned to an engineer
construction battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1952-1953.
He then attended the Advanced Course at the Engineer School,
graduating in 1954. After an unaccompanied tour in Korea, he
resigned his commission in 1958 to take a position with Procter
& Gamble in England.
He became a brand manager in record time, and a
group product manager in less than five years, being assigned
both in England and Germany. In these positions, he developed
selling strategies which boosted the Procter & Gamble share
of the market by 35% for one product and by 5O% for another.
He was promoted to marketing services manager for all of Scandinavia.
Here his marketing strategies produced a 100% increase in sales
in Finland and a 60% increase in Sweden. How much his Procter
& Gamble responsibilities challenged him we will never know,
but he certainly contributed to the sale of a lot of soap.
When he retired in 1972, he and Cynthia built a
home in Devon, England. However, he did not fully retire but
kept partially busy as a free-lance writer. In 1981, he and Cynthia
attended the 35th Reunion of his Class at West Point. During
this visit he expressed regret that he had never become involved
in the NASA program because he had been interested in outer space
and science fiction since childhood. And a roommate remembers
Mike as a plebe doing calculations for landing a spacecraft on
the moon. Contacts he made at this reunion got him interested
in returning to the States to live, and he was actively investigating
several prospects for jobs in the United States when he died
of a sudden heart attack. In addition to Cynthia, who still lives
in Devon; he is survived by a daughter, Cyndy, who is married
to an officer in the British Royal Air Force; one grandson; two
sisters and two brothers.
His brother.
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