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About me, Michael C. Tavenner, Jr.

Here is some Information about myself. I was born October 4, 1949, in Roanoke, Virginia, the third child (out of Five) and eldest son of Mary Ellen Parker Tavenner and Michael C. Tavenner, MD.

We lived in South Norfolk, now Chesapeake, Virginia (at 1150 Stewart Street - The homeplace of William Chester Tavenner and Agnes Maude Kuhn Tavenner - my paternal grandparents) before the beach house was built in 1953.

At That time, the area was called London Bridge (Princess Ann County later became Virginia Beach proper). If I remember correctly, we bought a new house in Thoroughgood Housing Development (the area was called Bayside) when I was in the third grade attending John B. Dey Elementary School.

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Then, in 1958, we moved to Dublin, Georgia. We stayed there for one year and I finished the fourth grade. We lived in the "Quarters" on the Post - we are posing in front of our home.

Returning from Georgia, I continued on at the Thoroughgood Elementary School until graduating from the seventh grade. Then on to Frank W. Cox High School for the 8th and 9th grades.

My father changed stations from Hampton Rhodes Veterans Administration Hospital Hampton, Va. to Leech Farm Road V.A. Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. I graduated from Penn Hills High School in Pennsylvania in 1967.

Not really having decided on a college, I took the Navy up on their offer of a full ride to the Naval Academy. Of course, I had to qualify, So I went to their Prep School, Bainbridge Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Md. for a year. I Joined the Naval Reserve. At the time, Mike Jacobson had become their new head Gymnastics coach and he had won the NCAA All-Around Men's Gymnastics Championships in 1965, I believe.

In 1968, I applied To several colleges for a Gymnastics scholarship. The one that I liked was Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana where I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry - 1972. While applying to several Dental Schools, I worked on a Masters Degree in Inorganic Chemistry. At the same time, My father was stationed in Marion, Indiana at the Veterans Administration Hospital. In the summer of 1973 I was accepted to Indiana University School of Dentistry and received my DDS in May of 1977.

After taking all of the exams and getting licensed to practice Dentistry in Indiana and Virginia, I investigated Northwest Indiana, Merrillville for a possible associateship in General Dentistry. I associated for three years and started my own practice in Hebron, Indiana in 1981. While on a Club Med Vacation in Martinique, I met my soon to be wife, Kathy Lantz. We were married on January 16, 1982. We have one Son, Jordan, who is now 20 years old (as of Feb 28, 2004 (His birthday)). I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990, was fortunate to practice 6 more years, and retired from Dentistry on September 30, 1996. We moved to the Daytona Beach, Florida area and lived happily ever-after.