01/08/2025
In Escanaba, located in da U.P. of Michigan, here is our Volunteer Spotlight: Don Sayklly started as a Senior Companion in February of 1998. He has volunteered at over 5 sites and has served 6 in-home clients in his 26 years of volunteering. Before he became a Senior Companion, he lived a very interesting life.
Don Sayklly was born in Escanaba, MI in 1934 and he was an immigrant son as his parents were from Lebanon. After high school, Don attended college at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee He went there for a degree in Art Education. After attending college, Don volunteered to join the army. For the two years that he served, Don was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. After his two years of service, he returned home and got a teaching job at Gladstone High School as the art teacher for kids from second grade to eighth grade. Don taught art for 12 years. After his teaching experience, Don became a chef at many different locations, starting in Arizona. He was a chef at a Canadian owned hotel that had over 300 rooms. After 10 years in Arizona, he then was a chef in Milwaukee for another four years. In the 1970s, Don owned “The Prophet Restaurant” in Escanaba which served Lebanese cuisine, according to a newspaper article in 1982 that featured Don it stated, “His ethnic restaurant had evolved into one of the most unusual in the Upper Peninsula.”
We are happy and honored to have Don Sayklly on our team!
