William Michael Mann

William “Mike” Mann was born August 18, 1938 to William “Howard” and Mary Emily Mann in Colfax, Washington. He was the oldest of three children. As a youngster he spent his first and second grades in a Japanese internment camp where his father was stationed. During this time he developed the notion that he was a cowboy that was born a century too late. He later worked for the forest service doing the glamorous job of counting trees to determine the forest’s health. He soon realized the fallacy of his cowboy dream, but still thought that the cowboy boots were cool because they finally made him over 6 feet tall and besides, who doesn’t love a great hat! After graduating from high school, Mike was married to Janis Essig and together they raised two sons. They were together for over a quarter of a century before deciding to go their separate ways.

Mike worked for L3 Communications for over 40 years and made numerous friends along the way. One stood out in particular, Beverly Ogden, to whom he would eventually marry in 1992. While Mike usually had a gruff exterior it was Beverly’s grandchildren that brought out the seldom seen soft side in Mike. They also paved the way for Mike’s true Kryptonite – that of his granddaughter. One pretty please and a batting of her eyelashes would melt any resolve that Mike may have had. It was in these interactions with his grandchildren that the true Mike could be seen, even if only for a brief minute.

Mike’s favorite pastime was working on cars, both restoring and creating cars entirely from scratch. Some of his best friends started out as fellow car club members and even to the end he would spent most of his free time trying to get 50 year old parts to work like they were brand new.

His beloved Beverly preceded him in death and will surely be waiting on the other side to be reunited with him once again. His brother David and sister Rosemary survive him, as do his children: Clint (Melody), David (Nina), Mike (Trish), and Lisa (Valerie). Seven grandchildren are also left to remember the fun grandpa that the rest of the world rarely was privileged to see.

In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations to be made to the Keepers of the Wild Nature Park at 13441 East Highway 66 Valentine, Arizona 86437 or www.keepersofthewild.org