I thought I would cry hard when I got this news, but I just hated to see Mike suffer, and like he told me last week...he'll always be nearby.
I met Mike during my first year shooting. I was trying to raise money for an antique HC championship medal for the Trapshooting Hall of Fame. We were short quite a bit of money, and he and Earl Fairman made up the difference and made the purchase possible. Mike and I started talking a lot after that, and then met up at the Alabama state shoot. From then on, we were fast friends, emailing and calling quite a bit, and visiting at shoots and at his place in New Orleans.
Wow, what a guy! So generous, intelligent, loving towards his wife, caring, and fun. Such an interesting life story, too. Many of you don't know, because he would never let on, but he was very well off. He was just so down to earth. I just loved that about him!
I'll miss making him breakfast at the Grand. I'll miss his smile. I'll miss his enthusiasm and generosity.
My favorite story about Mike that I can tell is that he took periodic smoking breaks outside his shop in downtown New Orleans. We were standing out there one particular boisterous night, and things were gearing up. A twenty-something fine young thing walked by with her jeans literally halfway down her butt and a midi top on. She really truly had most of her butt exposed, and what a fine butt it was, too (yeah, girls look at that stuff). I knew Mike had seen her, but his eyes never wavered from looking at me and our conversation continued on. He was extremely respectful of Betty, and it made me love him even more.
I can feel Mike here with us all as I write this. You can bet he'll know what we say, and he'll be on the trap line watching people. If you feel him...he's there. I beleive that.
Love you, Mike. We will most definitely miss you, and we will watch over Betty.