Mike Rowson is this year's Kingdom of Callaway Supper guest of honor. He was chosen by current President Doc Kritzer.
"I selected Mike," Kritzer said, "because Mike was a classmate of mine, and he's had a unique experience with flying planes in Antarctica and around the world. And I wanted someone that had a unique background. He just kind of stood out, not with one thing but numerous things he's done."
Rowson was born on a cattle ranch in western Nebraska, but moved with his family to Fulton in 1957.
During high school, he started thinking about going into the ROTC program. His dad, Charlie Rowson, said, "Son, I liked the Navy but the officers ate a lot better than the enlisted men."
He received a NROTC scholarship to the University of Missouri-Columbia and also earned his private pilots license at the Columbia Regional Airport.
During his sophomore year, he met his wife, Becky, and they have been married for nearly 50 years and have two children, Scott and Amy.
In 1973, he went to Pensacola for Navy flight school. His first tour was flying the ASW P-3B aircraft from Brunswick, Maine to deployments in Bermuda, Azores, Spain and the entire Mediterranean. While in Spain, Rowson and his crew flew to London to represent the U.S. Navy at the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
During a tour as a pilot recruited in St. Louis, he considered leaving the Navy for Ozark Airlines. But he was encouraged to stay in the Navy where he then became a flight instructor in Corpus Christi.
He and his family moved to Adak in the Aleutian Islands, where he flew P-3s again. After Adak, they moved to Monterey where he studied at Navy PG School. He then went to VXE-6 to fly the LC-130 in Pt. Mugu, California with deployments in Antarctica. His last tour was his second as flight instructor in Corpus Christi.
In 1992, he flew to the Salute to Veterans Airshow in a Navy King Air as a static display aircraft. Years later he was assistant and then Air Boss for the airshow for five years.
With his retirement coming up, the family returned to Columbia where Rowson became a math teacher. He substituted for several teachers at Fulton Middle School as well as student-taught at Hickman High School. He later taught math for 20 years, mostly at West Junior High.
"I was quite shocked but pleasantly surprised," Rowson said. "I've known Doc since we were in grade school. I'm very happy but pretty shocked. One of the reasons is, I thought you had to be born in Callaway County but they changed that, and I didn't know that. I thought you had to be a native, so I was never worried about it. So, that's why I was surprised."
The 116th annual Kingdom of Callaway Supper will be 5-8:30 p.m. Sept. 21 from 5-8:30 p.m. at 54 Country, 550 Gaylord Drive.
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