To honor his service to the City of St. Ignace as the chairman of the planning commission, the City Council officially designated Monday, May 24, as “Art Underwood Day.”

Mr. Underwood, 79, resigned his position as chairman, which he had held since 2002, owing to ill health. He played a key role in most of the City's major projects over the past decade, including updating its master plan in 2005, and securing 9-1-1 service for Mackinac County.

As a journalist with a niche for politics, Mr. Underwood lived in several metropolitan cities during his career -- Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Lansing -- but he said he's always been the most devoted to St. Ignace, where he's lived now for more than 30 years. He was a writer for seven years at The St. Ignace News.

When he was appointed to the planning commission in 2000, Mr. Underwood helped write part of the city's master plan with former chairman Don Weeks.

“They had a master plan prior to the one Don Weeks and I put together,” he said, “but it was a very bare bones document. He and I ended up writing a fair amount of what is still in the master plan.

Protecting the city's waterfront was another goal of the commission during his tenure, he said.

“We were able over the years to develop a pretty good waterfront plan,” he said. “We’ve incorporated some things in the city ordinances to protect our waterfront, to keep it open and available for public use.”

The legislation, he noted, has help projects like the boardwalk move forward and supported applications for state and federal grants.

He is most proud of planning commission's eagerness to involve the public as much as possible in the decision-making process.

“We were able to involve the public in answering questions that people had about various actions, lakeshore conditions, and building locations,” he said. “I've always liked to involve as many people as possible when it's a question that affects us all. I've been fortunate to do that. That's how you keep a community happy.”

He added that he's seen the city open up to outside ideas in the past decade, which he believes will make it a better place.

After graduation from Michigan State University with a degree in journalism in 1956, Mr. Underwood landed his first job as a reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Chicago, a national wire service, where he wrote national headlines working on the crime beat. He later worked as a reporter for UPI in Detroit, and held several government positions at the Capitol in Lansing, including assistant press secretary and chief of the Capitol Bureau.

Mr. Underwood met his second wife, Barbara Powers, originally from St. Ignace, in Lansing. She was terminally ill with cancer, so the couple decided to move to St. Ignace, near her family. Mr. Underwood said he soon fell in love with the town, and remains to this day.

Married to his wife, Paula McNamara, now for three years, Mr. Underwood plans to live the rest of his life in St. Ignace. His son from his first marriage, Steve, is the senior editor for Dye Stat, an Internet publication in Grand Ledge, and daughter, Susan, works for the local government in Wilson, Wyoming.

While he may be retired, Mr. Underwood said he plans, when possible, to assist the planning commission, which is reviewing the city's master plan.

A long-standing member of the St. Ignace Lions Club, he said that he has tried to live his life by the club's motto: “The more you serve in life, the more you get out of it.”

“I hope that's been true in my life,” he said. “It's been my goal to make the work in my life count, and I hope that's how people view me, for what I've done.”