Thinking of Mike today. It's amazing how time progresses and often involves sadness.
Requiesce in pace, Mike..
Tim & Rhonda Driver

I moved to Houston in July 1973 to accept a job with Texaco after doing MS degree work in geology at the University of Connecticut.  Already an experienced caver from the Northeast, I wanted to get in touch with Texas cavers and get introduced to caving in the state.  I attended meetings of the Greater Houston Grotto and soon went on caving trips with Mike and Theresa (and Charles Fromen and Jim McLane).  After two years in Houston, I moved to Austin to begin my PhD program, including dissertation work on the caves and karst of the Edwards Plateau extending west from San Antonio and Austin.  Thanks to Mike and Theresa, I already had a great introduction to Texas and Mexico caves, and to Texas cavers, when I embarked on my research.  Although I did not see them much after getting to Austin, they were pivotal to transitioning to the Texas caving scene.  In 1979, I left Texas for Kentucky, New England, and Virginia where I taught geology at universities for 28 years and used my knowledge of Texas caves and karst in my teaching and research.  Most folks can point to some pivotal people who made a difference in their careers.  Mike and Theresa were two friends who influenced me in this way about 48 years ago.  Thank you for the memories, camaraderie, and guidance!

As you may have figured out by now, Mike had a lot of first cousins.  The vast majority grew up in Minnesota.  I am one of his Houston cousins who saw him regularly in those foundational, younger years.  I have many fond and humorous memories from that time.  However, I feel most fortunate that I was able to see him grow into the role of ‘family man’.  Theresa and their three terrific daughters were his primary mentors in that process, and he flourished.
For me, my childhood cousin became my adult friend.  I miss him.


Mike and I shared an office for a few years when I first began with HL&P in the electrical systems department. As a young engineer I will be grateful for the technical knowledge I gained from him . I was always excited to hear of his caving experiences and his knowledge of the stock market. Rest in peace Mike and I look forward to seeing you again and all of the people whose lives you touched.

Tina and your sister’s

Our most deepest condolences and prayers for the loss of  your dear dad. 
May the perpetual light shine upon him. 
💐Rest In Peace Mr Connolly.💐

From: Toni and Izzy Benavides 
               Cypress, Tx

I had the opportunity and the privilege to know and work with Mike. He was a brilliant engineer, one of the most knowledgeable I have ever met, great mentor and a good friend. He will be dearly missed by all who had an honor to know him. 

Mike was a wonderful person. I enjoyed visiting with him when he and Teresa made it to the labor day campouts in northern Minnesota. RIP.

I was fortunate to meet Mike 41 years ago, when I was a summer intern at HL&P.  He has been a tremendous mentor and friend to me all the years since we met.  Mike's engineering knowledge, and his ability to teach that knowledge, is well known to all the folks who had the opportunity to work with Mike.  But Mike was so much more than an incredible technical expert. Mike was fun!! I remember so many parties at the Connolly home and all the adventures he had with Theresa and friends.  Fortunately my wife, Lizzy, and I were able to go with Mike and Theresa on countless bowling tournament trips. It won't be the same without him. He was a good man and lived a good life, and I'm so glad to have known him as a colleague and friend for so many years.

I worked with Mike at HL&P/CenterPoint throughout my career.  When I hired on, I joined in the same work group as Mike, where, as a young engineer I learned a great deal from him and got to share the experience of some very interesting and high-profile projects with him.  
Years later, after I left the group, we served together on a restructuring team.  By Mike’s own words, he did not suffer fools gladly.  On this team he occasionally had to demonstrate that with some of the team members, and he did so more effectively than I could have.  Those were some of the most memorable, albeit necessary and valuable, recollections I have from that project.  I greatly appreciated his contributions then and still do today.   
Toward the end of Mike’s tenure with the Company, reorganizations brought us back together again in the same department.  Here, his extensive knowledge of power system voltage became even more evident.  Mike probably understood better than most electrical engineering PhDs how a generator provides and projects voltage onto a power system; and if he did not know it better, he certainly could explain it better so others could comprehend it as well.  Mike understood not just what setpoints to enter on some control, but the physics of what was really happening.  His knowledge was particularly valuable at this time because the generating companies were no longer under the Company’s control and they sometimes needed convincing of their responsibilities.  
Aside from being a brilliant engineer, Mike was knowledgeable about a wide variety of other topics: politics, economics, and finance.  Many in our group sought his sound advice on investing, which was appreciated by all.  And of course, he was a great raconteur:  on breaks he would regale his co-workers with hilarious tales of some episode on a caving trip to Mexico or some scandal in the daily news.  We’ll miss him.  


Mike and I were close. We worked together in Electrical Systems on the 11 floor at the Electric tower for many years. We had coffee together on the 14th floor where we planned our caving trips to Mexico. We had so many adventures together I could talk about them all night and into the next day. Copper Canyon on motorcycles, Baha California before the road was paved, ……but most of the trips were to the Eastern Sierra Madre Mountains of Nothern Mexico where we found Systema Purificacion which was for a time the longest and deepest cave in Mexico. 90km long and 900meters deep….
Mike was a great friend and fellow adventurer….Charles Fromen

Rhonda and I know Mike through the outdoor sport, Geocaching. The first time we met Mike and Theresa was during the game and at later player events. Every time we were around them, we enjoyed their company.
The news of Mike's passing really saddens us and we pass along our condolences to his family during this very sad time.

My big brother Mike was 5 years older than me & he was always thinking up something.  When he was 12, he played a joke on the twins, friends of the family.  He wired up a microphone to a radio.  A song played which was interrupted by an alert that a gorilla had escaped from the zoo. The announcer, Mike, said the gorilla was getting closer and closer to the house until he was on the corner outside.  The twins were terrified.  One of them decided to call the police.  That's when I had to tell them Mike had played a joke!  That memory still makes me smile.  The twins dad is the one who gave Mike a recommendation to the light company several years later. 

Mike and I were close boyhood pals.  We were first cousins and spent a lot of time together riding our bikes and getting into mischief!  He was also a very intellgent man and I was his sidekick! As we grew older, we lost touch but the memories are still there! He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.  Love you Mike!

Mike will be greatly missed! A few years ago, a friend and I were in Las Vegas. Mike and Theresa met us for dinner. It was a great time and wonderful to see them and get to know them a little better. (I live in Minnesota, so only met him a hand full of times that I can remember.) Sending love and hugs and prayers from Minnesota! ❤️

OBITUARIO

Michael Edward Connolly

28 julio, 1947 – 8 julio, 2021

Earthman Southwest Funeral Home

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