December 23, 1969 - May 26, 1988
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I lost my son to adoption immediately after he was born, on December 23, 1969. I named him James Paul Marconi after one of The Beatles, Paul McCartney - appropriate for the time.
After the legally mandated period he was adopted by Joseph and Louise Woll, who changed his name to Michael Joseph Woll. He was fortunate to grow up with the Wolls; they loved him very much. They lived in a beautiful, rural area of Pennsylvania, Danboro, a small suburb of Doylestown, which is in Bucks County, PA. Michael attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grade school. Jennifer, who was in a gifted class at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with Michael, remembers him as "very bright, somewhat shy, quiet, extremely deep and intelligent for his age."
A fellow classmate, Nicole, who was in the same class as Michael from 1st thru 8th grade recalls Michael in the 7th grade, she said, "he started the Michael Woll Detective Agency, he would find anything you lost at school for .25˘." Nicole also remembers; "In 8th grade we started learning computers. The RAM and ROM totally confused me. Michael stayed in from recess to help me and many other computer challenged individuals."
He attended Archbishop Wood High School. He was a Student Council member in his sophomore and junior years and belonged to the schools chapter of Students Against Drunk Drivers for three years.
His best friend throughout high school, David, remembers him fondly, he said, "Michael was one of the nicest and kindest people I ever knew, he was also one of the smartest. Michael was a very weird guy, but in a funny way, it defined his personality. Either you got Michael or you didn't. If you did you'd know how funny he was. If you didn't you'd still like him anyway."
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Michael loved music; in his early years he liked the sounds of the big band era, he didn't start listening to rock 'n' roll until high school. However, what he lacked for in time, he made up for in taste...like mother, like son, he loved Led Zeppelin (now that's my boy!!) As a fan of rock, he decided to teach himself how to play the guitar and started his own band. Henry, another friend of Michael's throughout high school said, "He discovered Led Zeppelin around 10th or 11th grade and soon knew every song and bit of trivia about them." Henry also mentioned that Michael loved science fiction, it fueled Michael's imagination; especially the PBS series Dr. Who. His favorite books came from the science fiction genres; the five books written by Douglas Adams from the series called "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." Henry remembers, "Mike used to wear a button with the number 42 on it; in the book "42" was the answer to life, the universe and everything. I'm sure this seemed strange to those who were not in on the joke."
As I began to learn about Michael through his adoptive parents, his favorite teacher and his friends I got a strong sense of how intelligent he was and also how quirky or odd he was. In one way or another everyone said he danced to the beat of a different drummer, however, this was not seen as a detriment to his personality. Although he didn't have an enemy in the world Michael sometimes got picked on; his best friend David said it didn't bother him. Michael possessed enough self-confidence to let it just roll off his back and he was cocky. David also said they considered themselves 'geeks,' they would cut class to go down to either the computer or physics lab. When the fashion was to "dress down", Michael didn't go along with the trend, he adapted his own style. He usually wore black pants, a buttoned down shirt and tie topped off with his favorite black leather jacket.
David also said Michael wasn't a class clown but he use to cut up in class a lot because he would get bored, he only needed to hear a lesson once to retain it, however he was still popular with the teachers even though he disrupted their classes. Joseph, Michael's adoptive father said that Michael applied himself to subjects that interested him but he needed to be encouraged in other subjects. Joseph also couldn't understand Michael's propensity to procrastinate; Michael seemed to be a procrastinator by nature and this trait concerned Joseph but I told him it wasn't Michael's fault - he definitely got that from me.
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Michael didn't smoke, drink, or do drugs. His adoptive parents were tolerant and accepted the fact that he was going to make mistakes. He wasn't perfect and got into some trouble but nothing serious, so on the rare occasion when he did something wrong his adoptive parents listened to his side of the story; they respected him. Once, as a teenager, Michael found an old abandoned house that was back off of a road somewhere near his house, it had broken windows and was very dirty inside but Michael thought it would be a great place to have a party. He went inside and cleaned up all the broken glass and trash, he brought old blankets, a portable radio/tape player, a bunch of flash lights; he strung up balloons and brought snacks and soda. The party was in full swing when the police arrived and took the whole group into the local police station. When Joseph arrived at the station to pick up Michael the police assured him there were no drugs or alcohol found and they weren't charging Michael with breaking and entering because, technically, he didn't break in...he just entered. When Joseph asked Michael what he was thinking by throwing the party, Michael just shrugged his shoulder and said he thought it would be a good place to make-out with girls. I asked Joseph if they punished Michael, he smiled and said, "No, there was no harm done." That made me feel really good, they were good to him, they were fair and for that I am grateful.
Michael showed an early aptitude for computers; he first became interested in them while he was still in grade school. His adoptive parents purchased him his own computer in 1982, when home computers were not the norm, he put it together himself and created all sorts of special hookups enabling him to create programs. Mrs. Pignatelli, Michael's computer teacher, said he was "an extraordinary computer whiz who spent all his free time mastering programming and computer languages." He once wrote a program that purposely crashed the main frame of the schools computer system...why? Because he could. The computers were down for most of the day; when Mrs. Pignatelli found out that Michael was the cause of the crash she gave him a grade credit for writing the program.
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She called him a genius and said she almost didn't accept him into the class because she was worried he knew more than she did. However, Michael turned out to be a great help to her; it was the first year the class was being offered, many kids knew nothing about computers at that time and Michael would help out all the other students with their projects. She told me that he reminded her of Michael J. Fox in the show, Family Ties, she said Michael was like a son to her.
Michael was suppose to graduate from high school in June of 1988 and along with his best friend David, he was planning to attend Lock Haven University, however his life was cut short two weeks before his high school graduation. David told me after Michael's death he couldn't go to Loch Haven, they were suppose to room together and they had too many plans, he just couldn't go there without Michael.
On May 26, 1988, Michael was running late, as usual, when school let out; as he emerged from the building he noticed his school bus pulling away from the curb. Apparently he missed the bus quite often and we assume he probably didn't want to call his adoptive parents to pick him up again, so on this day he started to run in an attempt to catch it before it left him behind. Henry remembers that day; he said, "I think he (Michael) had "Houses of the Holy" (by Led Zeppelin) playing in his walkman when the accident happened." The accident' he was referring to is this; as Michael approached the bus a student, who didn't see him running towards her, stepped back. They collided and Michael tripped. He was propelled forward, landing him under the rear wheels of the bus. The driver was unaware of what happened and only stopped when she heard the screams of the other students. Michael was pronounced dead at the scene; he died from massive injuries to his torso and head. He now lays in rest at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel cemetery, however, he lives in the hearts of all who knew and loved him, as well as living in the hearts of some who didn't know him but love him all the same.
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I'm on a constant quest to learn new information about my son Michael; each bit of information helps me to paint a more complete picture of who he was, so, whenever I hear from one of his old friends, or whenever his adoptive parents tell me a new story, I will probably add the new insight to this page. Therefore, "My Son, Michael" is a work in progress; if you are interested check back. I will note the date I make any changes. Thank you.
Last Update: July 13, 2007 |
In your memory my sweet Michael, with all my love,
I dedicate this site.
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| Here is a picture of Michael and myself at approximately the same age; since he was my only child, I find it amazing to see my face reflected in his - leaves no doubt that he was MY son. |
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Michael's page featured seashell: Spotted Tun, Tonna Dolium (Linné, 1758)
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