Tight lines my friend. You will be missed.

Vic

First Class and he will be missed terribly. Tight lines Mike
Scott Parsons

Scott Parsons
919-900-8998
[www.roddancer.com]
[www.fishhawkthreads.com]

His passing will be a loss to the Rod Building community as a whole. Prayers Sent

It seems like everyone knew Mike, or at least Mike knew or communicated with so many builders. Mike was the first builder I met at my first ICRBE. Right off the bat he began sharing his knowledge as we sat in the lobby in High Point.
When I mentioned about the first gathering of Ohio Rod Builders, Mike was the first to respond to it also. He offered to do a demo on labels. I was overwhelmed, I met him only once and he was wanting to help us when he was four hours away. He was a great man and a friend to all rod builders.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

I met Mike several years ago. He taught me more about rod building than I ever imagined. He helped me grow as a builder and helped out at our gatherings tremendously. I honestly do not think he thought very high of himself. He is humble man. He is a great guy in every way and I always looked forward to his visits with us here in Ohio and at the Expos.
The demos he did on decal making were excellent and easy to learn from him. I will truly miss him. He always answered my emails when I had questions about decals, grips, guides, etc. Great guy.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Mike was a very humble guy - when I put him on the Expo program he seemed taken aback that anyone would care what he had to say or show. And yet his seminars drew a high level of interest and many, many positive comments afterwards.

.............

I met Mike at several Rod Expos. I will always remember his jovial attitude and eagerness to be of assistance with any rod building question.
His absence will leave a huge void both on this Forum and at all future Expos.

Mike was sitting in the lobby with a half dozen people sitting around and another half dozen standing around and he was explaining some technique or another, and was asking people how they did the same thing, and why they did it that way and everyone was putting in their $.02 and a lot of the time he would take what everyone said and add it to his knowledge after awhile the conversation would start to die then he would take all the suggestions and put forth a new procedure from a culmination of all the ideas during the conversation.

YES HE WILL BE MISSED!

Goodbye FRIEND.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

I hope that someone from his family sees this post/ It's nice to see so many people that Mike inspired in one way or another.

Billy, I will made sure the family gets these posts.

I am deeply saddened by the news. Mike is a great Builder and an even better man. A mentor to many and never selfish. He will truly be missed. God Bless you Mike!!

Great man willing to share his wealth of information. Met him cpl times at ICRBE and gave me some good info on a lathe. The rod building community won't be the same. I feel honored to have met him.

Our time is not a dress rehersal. So make sure that you live everyday to the fullest

Mike is truley a class act and I'm sadened beyond words to hear that he is not doing well. Mike has been an insperation to be for quite a few years and he is one of the folks I was so excited to finally meet at the one Expo I was able to attend in 2010. It was he who got me started creating & distrbuting rod building tutorials and gave me the idea for my Library website.

I am going to spend some time celibrating his accomplishments and the time I have been very fortunate to have with him even if it was mostly on-line. I tip my hat & raise my class to a shining star!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Mike was always ready to help with advice and suggestions whenever I posted here. Really sad to hear of his struggle. God bless him and his family.

One time I was having trouble with the Paint program. I sent Mike am email. When he answered he asked for me to give him access to my computer here in Ohio. Of course I granted it and he made my label as we spoke on the phone.

I suppose Mike was like that through out his life, whether it be rod building,his fishing club, or what ever he was involved in. I am sure he knew everybody by name long before the end of the day..

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

While not a close friend of Mike's, I did work with him on the first Mi Rodbuilders meeting and found him true to what all the others here have said. It is sad to hear about him suffering. In addition to what has been written, he was a very practical rod-builder, designing and buiding very efficient rods with respect to the money spent. He also used a very old version of Paint Shop Pro for decals because that job didn't require all the updates to the program that had been offerred over the years.

The 'after hours' rod building meetings in the bar will be less interesting. It was always a great time to sit & chat with Mike after a day at the ICRBE.

I met Mike at one of the shows at High Point. He answered everyones questions with a smile. Sorry to hear he is having a rough time. He surely wil be missed. He will be in my prayers.

Mike was very influential in me starting my work on custom rods. He offered up his help via posts and we traded emails for sometime before I was able to meet him face to face at the first Ohio rod builders meeting. He is first and formost a great man and person and a darn great rod builder to boot. Thank you Mike for your controbutions to our great shared hobby. May your heaven be filled with monster fish and screaming drags.