Mike, or Mikey as many of us called him, touched all of our lives in many ways. We each have our own fond memories of Mike that we can draw upon, which will always keep him near us.

I wanted to share some of my memories with you all. Mikey was 12 years old when I was born.  He always was and will always will be my big brother. I am the youngest of three kids. Mikey, my sister Deborah and I grew up in Baytown, TX together. Mike and Deb always had a very close relationship. Each of them relied heavily on the other for support and were really more friends than brother and sister. From as far back as I can remember, and until Mike’s last days, Mike and Deb were always very close. I was only about 4-years old, but I remember helping Mike rake up leaves out of the yard from our large oak trees in Baytown. Of course, we both grumbled about having to do that.

I remember going to Baytown Sterling High School football games at Stallworth Stadium and watching Mikey play football.  He played center for the Sterling Rangers from 1968 to 1970, and graduated from Sterling 1970. In 1972 he married Ginger Foxworth, and shortly after that, they moved to San Antonio when he began his career working for Burrus and Matthews. Soon after that, they started their family, having a son, Jonathan, and daughter, Lindsey.

For many years, when I was young, my family and I had many fun family times visiting Mike and Ginger at their house in San Antonio on weekends. There were several summers that I spent a week there. Mikey and I would usually do something car related. Whether it was washing cars, working on cars, or going to car dealerships “sniffing out” the latest performance car, we were always busy. During the weekdays, Mikey would keep me busy filing and cleaning up at his office. This is where I first got a taste of what it was like to be in sales, which is my career today. Mike was always a top notch salesman – hard working, very organized, very knowledgeable, very persistent, very dependable, and always followed up on opportunities. Many of those things, which by his example, are things that I use today in sales because of him.

Also, I’ll always fondly remember the family hunting trips in the Hill Country with Mike and Ginger, our dad, mom (Mary Miller) and later my son, Branndon, when became old enough to hunt. We shared many fun times, great camaraderie, stories, great meals prepared by mom and the beauty of the Hill Country.

Mike was a car guy to put it mildly. He and I had many fun times talking about cars, working on our cars together and going to the race track together in our adult years. I’ll never forget he and I going to many Fun Ford Weekends together. We both participated in the car shows there and he was there supporting me when I raced several years as well. Also, we made it an annual thing to go to NHRA in Baytown, and many times Cliff Barmore would join us. We all shared many good times and lots of laughs together. Two of my favorite things we did together were going to Dallas-Fort Worth for NASCAR races and Cowboys games.  

For many years we shared a room when we went out of town to DFW for the races. For some odd reason, he always slept well and I didn’t. Must have been because he snored so loud that the pictures rattled off the walls. In years going forward, separate rooms were in order.

Mikey was big fan of classic rock. He loved to sing along with his favorite tunes and called himself “golden throat”. Some of his favorite bands were the Beach Boys, the Eagles, ZZ Top, the Doobie Brothers, Chicago, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but his favorite band was the Doobies. Before he fell ill, a couple of years ago, we went to the Woodlands Pavilion to see the Doobie Brothers and Journey and had a great time! I had never seen the Doobie Brothers before and I’m glad that I got to see them with HIM. That will be a memory that I’ll always cherish. 

There were many wonderful aspects to Mike’s life, and many ways that he touched our lives. He will be remembered as a wonderful husband, father, son, brother, a generous uncle, and a great friend. In all these ways and more, he made our lives richer and fuller. Now with his passing, of course there is emptiness and pain. There are things that we don’t always understand with his death coming at only 66 years of age, but in many ways, the gift of Mike’s life is still here with us. He lives on in our memories and stories. So I encourage you to share –today, tomorrow and in the years to come- your memories and stories, and to share the pain of your loss as well. In this way we will keep the gift of Mike’s life alive. 

This isn’t really a goodbye. It’s a “see you later”. Until we meet on the other side. Rest in peace, Mikey. We all love you and you will be greatly missed!