Michael Edward Oak

Story

Cornell

Mike studied at Cornell University, class of 2007, majoring in statistics and biometry, and took a master's degree (MPS) there in 2009. He and Jen Riley, Cornell class of 2009, met on the Hill as members of Alpha Zeta, the co-ed honorary fraternity for students in agriculture and the life sciences, and began dating after college. He went on to work in compensation consulting in the investment management industry.

A log cabin in Berryville

In 2019 Mike and Jen, who earned a veterinary degree at Tufts and is director and veterinarian at a wildlife center in Northern Virginia, bought a 450-square-foot log cabin in the Shenandoah Valley town of Berryville, about five miles from West Virginia, thought to have been built in the mid-1800s. Cornell's alumni magazine told its story in October 2026 as "This Cornellian Couple Is Living Large—In Their 'Tiny House.'"

Fire and rescue

Mike began volunteering with the John H. Enders Fire Company in Berryville as an ambulance driver, then trained as an EMT and, during the pandemic, as a paramedic. He served the company as its president for two years and on its board for a year after that. He has said he "wanted to give back to the community."

As Enders president he is pictured in the Winchester Star with the Clarke County Ruritans' check of $3,000 to the company, dated November 18, 2021: $1,000 from the Ruritan Horse Council's benefit horse show and $2,000 from the Ruritan Club in thanks for the company's help at the county fair.

The company named him its Rescue Squad Person of the Year for 2021, on a carved wooden flag plaque inscribed "Michael Oak, Rescue Squad Person of the Year, 2021, John H. Enders Fire Company," and at its annual volunteer banquet, held on a Saturday, June 18, named him EMT of the Year.

He now volunteers as a paramedic with Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire Rescue in Bluemont, Virginia, and keeps up his training in Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support.

A children's book

Mike wrote Teagan's Wild Adventures: Biking through Sanibel Island, a picture book illustrated by Elena Harman and published as an ebook.

The family's history

Mike began the research behind this website: the Oak family from the cabin-boy immigrant Nathaniel Oak, who died at Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1721, down through Captain Nathaniel Oak of Chelsea, Vermont, and the Maine Oaks of Exeter and Skowhegan; and his mother's Clarkson family of Texas. The stories are the result.

In Mike's words

This part of the page is waiting for Mike's own memories. The questions below may help; anything he shares can be added through the family's private memory form.

Any answer is welcome, including “I don't remember.”

• What first brought you to the Enders Fire Company, and which call do you remember most?
• Who is Teagan, and how did the Sanibel book come about?
• What started you on the family history, and which ancestor surprised you most?

Share a story or photo about Mike No sign-in needed: send this link to relatives and friends. What they send is saved privately and read by the family historian before anything is added here, and words are kept exactly as they are given.

Family members who are signed in can also add a memory from the family area.

Evidence

Where each part of this page comes from.

1. Linda Copman, "The Good Cornellians Can Do: Michael Oak '07," Cornell Alumni Association
   Supports: Cornell, Fire and rescue
2. Joe Wilensky, "This Cornellian Couple Is Living Large—In Their 'Tiny House,'" Cornellians, October 9, 2026
   Supports: Cornell, A log cabin in Berryville
3. "Check presented to Enders Fire & Rescue Company," Winchester Star (photograph and caption)
   Supports: Fire and rescue
4. John H. Enders Fire Company, annual banquet announcement (Facebook), and the award plaque in a family photograph
   Supports: Fire and rescue
5. Michael E. Oak, Teagan's Wild Adventures: Biking through Sanibel Island, illustrated by Elena Harman (ebook)
   Supports: A children's book