Mike was born and immediately dubbed "our favorite child" to Mike and Diane Parkhill in April of 1974. Their constant love, support, and giving of basketballs far exceeded anything Mike deserved.
He is survived by his hillbilly wife of 17 years, the overly devoted Angela, his proudest accomplishments being Calvin Michael, Abigail Laurin, and Andrea Elizabet. Additionally he is survived by his loving, older sister Paula Martin, and husband Edward. A variety of nieces and nephews with mediocre upbringing would complete the list of those left to embellish his memory including: Samantha and Cameron Martin, Tristan, Collin, and Oliver Nyland, Jennifer, Christopher, Alexander Berry. He came by his sense of sarcasm and humor rightly from his grandparents C.B. Parkhill, Irving Geer, Hugh Peake, Mary Parkhill and his uncle David Parkhill, all whom proceeded him in death, and his surviving, admirable grandmother, Eleanor Geer Peake.
Mike’s employment history was standard, Tree Trimmer, Bill Knapp Dishwasher, Sears Deliveryman, Youth Pastor, and for the past 10 years Field Service Engineer for Medical Imaging. He had three basic philosophies regarding work "school of fish," "surround yourself with great people and stay out of their way," and “anything worth doing is worth over doing.”
His 20 plus years as a volunteer youth leader and teacher at New Richmond Baptist Church from the kindergarten to High school level afforded hundreds of children and parents exposure to Mike’s unique personality. Half a dozen or so of these folks might speak of him fondly if pressed.
Mike died knowing that Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the best movie ever, J.J. Cale being the best recording artist, Sean Connery the baddest man on the planet, and that chicks dig ‘37 Pontiacs.
His regrets were few but include: unplugging his parent’s deep freeze to plug in amps in the summer of 1991, not training his faithful dog Lucy to detect cancer, and that no video evidence exists of his prowess on the game “Music Scene It” or useless trivia facts.
Although a less than average life span, Mike did not live an average life. He had a vast array of hobbies from apiarist, cooking, football, hockey, and weather watching, laughed inappropriately at every chance, learned what he wanted to learn, fixed what he wanted to fix, and loved who he wanted to love.
He left behind a lot of electronic junk to his family that have no idea what to do with it. So if you are looking for VCR players, HD players, old satellite dishes, cables galore, and Atari and Sega games, you should wait the appropriate amount of time to get in touch. Tomorrow would be fine.
Visitation will begin on Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 6:00pm until 8:00pm at Lakeshore Memorial with a Memorial Service on Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 10:00am at New Richmond Baptist Church. Free food to follow with thanks from the great people of New Richmond!
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to New Richmond Baptist Church, 1909 Transport Lane, Holland, MI 49423. Anyone whining will not be admitted to the memorial; Mike would want us to celebrate with him as he joins His Savior in Heaven and hopes to see you all there some day too!
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