Dallas (Mike) Charles McMichael was born September 16, 1933, in Lamar CO to Charles & Donna (Jefferies) McMichael. He departed this life at his home in Laurel Hill, FL on June 25, 2023.
His early years were spent in Brandon, CO where he started school. When the war started his folks moved to La Junta so his Dad could work at the air base. They lived there a few years, before moving back to Brandon. He graduated from Sheridan Lake High School in 1951.
He joined the Navy in 1952. While stationed in Florida he met a beautiful dark-haired beauty named Mary Kathleen (Kathy) Courtney. They were married on June 6, 1954, and were together the next 62 years. He served two more years in the Navy and after his discharge he joined the reserves where they flew 8-to-16-hour submarine patrols one weekend a month. He stayed in the reserves 12 years.
He and Kathy moved to Wichita where he worked at Beechcraft in the experimental flight test department. Florida beckoned and they moved back to Gainesville where he worked as an insurance investigator for 6 years. He then started working for Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. where he remained for 25 years. A promotion warranted a move to Jacksonville where they lived until he retired. At that time, they chose to move to Laurel Hill to be closer to Kathy’s family.
After his father and brother-in-law died in a car accident, he became a believer in donating blood, which he faithfully continued doing until December of last year. He donated twenty-five gallons over his lifetime.
He was an avid gun collector and liked to reload his own ammunition. He enjoyed spending time at a place he had in Lake City, near the Osceola Forest, where he could hunt deer.
He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the AT&T Pioneer Network.
He and Kathy believed in family and made the long drive to Colorado about every year. For some reason after getting out of the reserves he had no desire to fly. We always wondered if he knew something and wasn’t telling us. They made it a point to be at as many family weddings, reunions and activities as they could. They were always good sports if someone visited them and wanted to go to the beach or to Disney World. One summer Tina, Mike and Michele spent a week with them, this was their first experience feeding teenagers and they were amazed at the amount of food leaving the refrigerator.
We were fortunate that all our siblings were able to celebrate their 50th and 60th anniversaries with them. We also had a fun trip to Branson, MO with them and several other family members.
He was preceded in death by his wife Kathy, his parents, his brother Bob, his mother and father-in-law Eurma & Olan Courtney, brothers-in-laws David Courtney, Dick Moore and Robert Hopkins and sister-in-law Cathy McMichael. He is survived by his brother Harold of Oregon, IL, sisters Marilyn Hopkins of Dodge City, KS, Shirley Moore (Ken Specht), and Sherill Hofmeister of Lamar, CO. He is also survived by nephews Rodney McMichael and Michael Hopkins and nieces Cindy Cordova, Carrie Snider-McMichael, Donna Maestas, Tina Leggett, Michele Hopkins-Ibarra and Stephanie Hofmeister as well as several great and great-great nieces and nephews and cousins.
“He whom we love and lose is no longer where he was before. He is now wherever we are.” St. John Chrysostom
