We received the following information about Mike and his sudden passing from his sister, Gloria Stuart (ISRHS1961). Gloria also sent a picture of Mike with these words "He probably wouldn't like me to send the picture.  I did but it was taken about a week before he passed and he always dressed that way because of the hot weather so had a year round tan on the high desert."

Deceased Classmate: Michael McFarland
Date Deceased: April-21-2009
Age at Death: 64
Cause of Death: Atherosclerotic cardovascular disease
Classmate City: Twentynine Palms
Classmate State: CA
Classmate Country: USA
Survived By: Phillip A. McFarland,son: Melanie McFarland,daughter. 3 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Brother Albert McFarland and sister Gloria Stuart.

Michael worked for the DOT of WA as an engineer and was able to retire at 49 with 30 years. He was in charge of several important jobs including work on the Hood Canal Bridge after the storm in '79. You can blame him when they close the bridge after sustained winds of 40 mph. He did alot of lighting work on several of the major roadways in western WA. He moved to CA to warmer weather because of arthritis and allergies and raised his grandaughter the last ten years and seen her almost to graduation. He lost his home in Jan '09 to fire and was working hard to get it ready to have a modular brought in before the heat set in and never got a chance to live in his new home. I blame the stress of it all plus the hard work for his death. He was a good person always helping others including me, his sister, out. Sorry its taken me so long to report this but when you lose your best friend and brother it takes time to heal and its getting better daily. Please let everyone know. Thank you. Gloria (McFarland) Stuart. I ask one of my class mates (Ken Kessel) how to get a hold of some one from your class.