March 11, 1964 to July 12, 2017
Still so young, with so much more life he wanted to live and love he wanted to give, Mike ended his courageous battle with cancer on July 12th. He passed away peacefully in his home, surrounded by love.
Survived by his wife Bonnie, his daughter Jessica, his sister Tina (Cathy Gale), his father Dale (Dianne) McConnell, and many cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and acquaintances. Predeceased by his mother Margaret McConnell and both of his grandmothers, Margaret Livesey and Mildred Orr.
If you ever met Mike, you instantly liked him. He could always make you laugh with his unique sense of humor and unusually quick mind. He kept his sense of humor right to the end, asking a doctor to crawl into bed with him once!! (lol)
Mike spent most of his life in the Comox Valley from the age of 14. He was always tinkering with old cars and motorcycles. Mike started his working career on Mount Washington at 16 years old as a parking lot attendant. He moved up to chairlift operator then finally into the shop, where they sponsored him to get his heavy duty mechanics license. After a long career on the mountain, he changed jobs and started at Fields Sawmill, then to Hyland Precast, then worked briefly at Tayco Paving. His last job was working for Steve Roberts at Innovative Pressure Systems.
Mike loved camping, quadding and boating, where he met his wife Bonnie. He was a member of the Campbell River ATV Club, and if you didn’t know where he was, you could always find him at the Strathcona Dam, or floating out in the lake on his Zodiac Boat with his Gilligan hat on and a couple of twisted ones in his pocket.
Mike will be laid to rest by his family and there will be a celebration of his life on Saturday, July 29th, starting at 1:00pm. It will be held at the family home at 4142 Barclay Road, Campbell River. Feel free to bring any pictures and stories to share. There will be appys and light refreshments served. Bring a lawn chair if you have one.