I was the last person to see Mike, Gloria Spurgeon and Donnie Becker before their car accident. They had stopped by Bill Elliott's Champlin station on Humbert and Alby where I was working the night shift. (A car wash is in that spot now.) I was in the cooler taking inventory when Mike opened up the cooler door and told me he was waiting to get gas. I walked out and saw Donnie and Gloria and we started talking while Mike was filling up the car. I'll always wonder if I was a little quicker with turning on the gas pump, or if Donnie and I talked a little longer would they have missed having that fateful accident? After all this time I have finally written it off to fate, reguardless of my actions. I miss all three of my friends, especially Mike.
My favorite memory of Mike goes back to fifth grade at Lewis & Clark Elementary in Mr. Hardaway's class. It was the end of the school year and Mike, Joe Cates, Bob Rhodes and I were picked by Mr. Hardaway to be the tug of war guys for his class. I'll never forget Mr. Hardaway's pep talk about the four of us being the biggest guys in school (Mike and I were both self concious of that fact.) and if we worked together, we could beat Mr. Gosa's and Mr. Bentley's teams hands down! Well, we not only beat everybody else, but I remember Mr Gosa demanding a re match as he said we cheated, so we beat his class twice! It was the one day I think Mike and I were proud to be the big guys in class. I missYou Mike!
James Thompson
I was the last person to see Mike, Gloria Spurgeon and Donnie Becker before their car accident. They had stopped by Bill Elliott's Champlin station on Humbert and Alby where I was working the night shift. (A car wash is in that spot now.) I was in the cooler taking inventory when Mike opened up the cooler door and told me he was waiting to get gas. I walked out and saw Donnie and Gloria and we started talking while Mike was filling up the car. I'll always wonder if I was a little quicker with turning on the gas pump, or if Donnie and I talked a little longer would they have missed having that fateful accident? After all this time I have finally written it off to fate, reguardless of my actions. I miss all three of my friends, especially Mike.
My favorite memory of Mike goes back to fifth grade at Lewis & Clark Elementary in Mr. Hardaway's class. It was the end of the school year and Mike, Joe Cates, Bob Rhodes and I were picked by Mr. Hardaway to be the tug of war guys for his class. I'll never forget Mr. Hardaway's pep talk about the four of us being the biggest guys in school (Mike and I were both self concious of that fact.) and if we worked together, we could beat Mr. Gosa's and Mr. Bentley's teams hands down! Well, we not only beat everybody else, but I remember Mr Gosa demanding a re match as he said we cheated, so we beat his class twice! It was the one day I think Mike and I were proud to be the big guys in class. I missYou Mike!