While growing up, all Dr. John Todd wanted to do was become a house contractor and pilot after helping his father, who was a building contractor.
Before Todd could begin to build his career on hammer and nails, he joined the armed forces in Vietnam as a pilot. In 1960, Todd was shot down and blinded by a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun while piloting a Cobra gunship during a mission.
While in the hospital, Todd became a Christian after realizing he needed something bigger than himself.
After the hospital stint that was filled with numerous surgeries, he was released and received the Purple Heart for his injuries and the Distinguished Flying Cross for Valor because of his bravery during a previous mission.
Todd then proceeded to New York and became a spokesman for President Nixon.
He founded the Vietnam Veteran’s for Just Peace.
‘We thought we were doing a good job for a good cause…I worked for Nixon for about a year-and-a-half. I did speeches, radio and TV editorials and debated the anti-war people,? said Todd.
He later met his wife Joyce on a ‘blind date? and they were married within four months. They went to Georgetown University Law School together, where he earned his Juris Doctor upon completion.
He then took on Washington DC for three years. While there, he worked as a lobbyist for veterans, where he wrote and passed a bill through Congress to benefit widows and orphans of disabled veterans.
Later, he moved to Michigan and has been teaching Political Science and Legal classes at Rochester College for the past 30 years.
All without the ability to see.
‘I am lucky to be alive. I was shot down twice and survived two cancers, so I am the luckiest man alive,? Todd said.
He came to Oxford with his wife, and together they are accomplishing something that he has aspired to do since he was younger ? working on a house.
The project started when his daughter and son-in-law bought a house in Oxford Lakes. Once they found their dream house, Todd and his wife started looking for houses in Oxford. They selected a two-story house on Ora.
‘The day before Christmas was two feet of snow and maybe 10 degrees, we drove out here just to look at it. Joyce ran around and looked in the windows and came back and hopped in the car and said we are buying this house…it’s the house you designed,? Todd said.
Todd has designed a couple of houses in the past, and this particular house matched the design he had for when his kids moved out of the house.
‘It was exactly this house. It had an open first floor and three big bedrooms upstairs,? said Todd. He was able to purchase the house at an auction.
What caught his attention about Oxford was the small town feel. ‘This is smaller and nicer than Rochester…we have a lake view, which is nice…we just couldn’t resist buying it.?
Since then, he and his wife have spent the last eight to 10 months remodeling. ‘What usually happens is we’ll get an idea and kick it around and I might start it and she will come and say it might not be as big as you thought, so we do have some flexibility in it and she talks me through it,? said Todd.
‘She is the quality control person and the interior decorator, and I am the builder and architect.?
Once completed, they are going to rent the house out for two-to-three years before they move in after he retires from teaching at Rochester.
The process that Todd uses to build and construct pieces for his house is unique.
Since he cannot see how long to cut a piece, he uses his hands to get a rough estimate.
He then takes his tape measure and locks it into the desired length, aligning the end of the wood with the tape measure before he cuts it.
One of the first things he does is figure out where the rooms sits in regard to the front and the back of the house. ‘We measure it, then Joyce takes me through the house and I look at each wall and I get a view in my mind about the size of the room,? said Todd. ‘Then I do the rough work and she touches up.?
At his house in Rochester Hills, he has taken out a wall in all ten rooms of his house.
‘I feel for the studs in the wall, I feel for the rafter above me and I know how the house is built,? said Todd, describing how he is able to remove walls without serious injury.
He has also constructed an octagonal gazebo in his backyard at his Rochester home and has built some set pieces for the Rochester College theatre.