Being the middle child of 5 kids of Ray & Bonnie Scheerer, Mike grew up in Lakeside during the summer months of his youth. His mom and dad owned a house on Third Street and they would always go to Lakeside every summer. As a kid, he always enjoyed swimming and fishing on the pier, putt putt golf and playing basketball with other kids on the playground. It was at Lakeside the he first learned how to play shuffle board.
As Mike's childhood years slipped into his teens, and his summers were filled with sports camps, jobs to pay for gas for his car, he always found one week each summer to go back to Lakeside with his parents to enjoy the fun.
When Mike went to college to play football at Baldwin Wallace college, we met our sophomore year. We got married in 1980 and I was introduced to this special community called "The Little Chautauqua, Lakeside."
His parents sold the house on Third and bought our cottage at 317 Central. It was a wonderful upgrade for them as they had both worked so hard all their lives as a school teacher and a principal. As adult kids, we were so happy that Mom and Dad enjoyed their retired time together at Lakeside where Dad loved to sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and watch the many people walk by Hoover Auditorium on their way to the lake or Lakeside town center. While Dad was reading (or sleeping) on the front porch, Mom would love to bake pies, cookies and make homemade meals every day and night for her, Dad and any of the children and their friends who would join them. Mike began to help his parents take care of the Lakeside cottage here on Central. To Mike, it was not a chore, but a chance to pay back his Mom and Dad for all they had done for him and to continue to be involved in Lakeside. Mike soon found himself as the caretaker and maintenance guy.
Eventually we became the owners of this special cottage and continue the legacy of making sure our 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren get the same experience as Mike.