Thank you for the opportunity to have cared for Mike.  Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

My condolences to his wife and family. Mike was a customer that I had the pleasure to call on for many years! I will miss Mike, he was a great guy to know and was a man of integrity. I wish I had words that could help ease the pain of your loss.  May God give you his peace and his love during this difficult time. Praying for you!

Hey brother,
I know God had to have let you seen your going home celebration on Monday.  He had to have let you see how many lives you touched in the time he allowed you in this temporary home.  Everyone got the chance to see how talented you really were.  It also let everyone see how you and Julie have raised a son like Andy that was just as talented with the videos that he had put to your vocals.  As you could see Julie did a great job planning the entire celebration.  You could not have done a better job if you had planned it yourself.  This may sound crazy to some but I believe God allows us to see some of the good things that take place after we have gone to our eternal home.  Just want to say you will be missed, but we all know you are with your Mom and Dad, and all the others that had gone on before you. Say hey to everyone for us.  Rest in peace.

Dear Mike,
it was not so long ago we talked on Skype, you told me about the x rays and what it meant, but none of us could foresee it would all happen so quickly.
I just went to your music page on Facebook, and re read your account of my visit in 2014 and how we met up, you and Julie came to see Junie Billings and me in Boomer North Carolina. 
An unforgettable memory! 
When I got word you had passed on I was about to go to bed but that night turned into a wake for one who feels as close as a brother - and on your page I was reminded again these feelings are mutual. 
It was your idea to get together on line and work on some of my tracks, we started off with "RED" and surely it would never have turned out that way without your input, inviting Robert Machado and Peter Sackmann to team up - we had a lot of plans for the future. 
Some time later you surprised me by working on the song "Mary Calls", you added a background voice that gives me goosebumps up to this day every time I play it. 
God knows how important our contact was to me, having serious health issues since decades it was great to have someone as energetic and talented as you, and every time we met on Skype we forgot time. 
Thanks bro, there are now words except Thank God we did these things together, you're in my music and that way I'll never be able to forget you or even let the memory slip away. 
I play these tracks often, and you're always there even if others don't know - and I will continue doing this as long as I have breath. 
We are living proof that there is no such thing as virtual friendship - it's real and will be so for all time.
Godspeed Mike. We'll meet again <3 


I am honored to say that I am one of Mike’s sisters, Debbie Serrano!  Mike was so special to all of us!  He was such a loving husband to Julie and a great father to Andy.  I was always amazed at Mike’s amazing musical talent too!  He could play so many instruments and his music was so important to him!  And I love the beautiful song he wrote for our wonderful Mother, “Words Unspoken”.   I am so proud of Mike and all of his accomplishments!  I Love Mike with all of my heart and I will forever miss my awesome Brother, Michael T Vinson!!

Mike you will be missed more than I can ever say. Now you can sing your song to your mom everyday. You were the true meaning of what family is about and I was so fortunate to have you as my cousin but really thought of you as my brother. We came from a strong praying family and God placed us with loving parents. Julie,Thank you again for allowing me to spend time with Mike in his last weeks. They are memories that I will hold dear to my heart everyday. My God give you peace as you walk through each day. Love always your cousin Charlene 

Mike and I met in 1987 when I was bartending at the Julian Inn in Dubuque, IA.  His co-worker had been staying at the hotel for quite some time, when he called Mike off another job site for an "emergency" in IA.  The "emergency" turned out to me, although neither one us knew it at the time.  At the end of my shift, me and another bartender, along with Mike and a different co-worker, went out on the town.  At the end of the night, Mike asked me if I would go out with him alone the following night.  I said "Yes".  The night went really good and he asked me out the next night.  On the 2nd night, Mike asked me to marry him and I told him he was crazy.  I had to work the remainder of the week and he had to go back to Georgia, but we wrote and called each other for the next 3 months.  I went down to Georgia to visit him for a week and at the end of the week, he asked me to marry him again.  This time I said "Yes".  I went back to Iowa, put in my 2 weeks notice, and he and a friend drove up to Iowa and moved me to Georgia on Labor Day weekend.  We married 1 month later at his mother's house.  After the wedding, we drove back to his house, which was a couple of blocks away, and dined on an extravagant dinner of fried bologna sandwiches.  There was no formal honeymoon, we didn't need one.  We had each other and that was the important thing.  Mike was a very talented artist, musician, carpenter, electrician, computer programmer, and a "jack of all trades".  There wasn't anything that he couldn't do.  I will forever miss his beautiful blue eyes and dark brown hair.  Mike was generous and loving, a good husband and a good father.  We were married 30 years and I wish we had another 30 years together.  He was my soul mate and I will miss him deeply.  Rest in peace, my love.  Until we meet again.....

So sorry for the passing of Cousin Mike.  Over the last few years we only talked occasionally he will be missed.  I remember him as a teenager playing the guitar like Ted Nugent and really upsetting  his dad.

Julie I never had the chance to meet Mike from what I am reading it sounds like he was a very gentle caring gentleman. It also sounds like you had a great marriage with Mike that is a very rare thing.  I love you Julie.  

Julie, Andy and family.... Fletch and I will be praying for the healing of your broken hearts. We are deeply saddened for the loss of your beloved, may God wrap you in his embrace and comfort you all the days of your lives knowing Mike is walking streets of gold and making the Best music Ever. <3

I went to elementary school with Mike.  Four years ago, Mike saw a video of me singingin my car on Facebook and invited me to his studio. At 55 years old I had given up on music, but Mike told me,  "you can never escape music when it lives in your soul". He was right! I was scared that my voice was too old. But after hearing me sing harmonies with his brother, he had me at a microphone recording. Kind. Encouraging. Talented. Sharing his talent and his confidence with others. I'm grateful and thankful for being able to work with Mike on some original songs. In many ways, he gave me back my voice. He made me believe in music again.   

Cats. Diet Pepsi. Talent. Music.  What more could you need? 

Every note I sing will be honoring you Mike,  for encouraging me to give music another try.  God blessed us with you.  

We take life for granted
Driving the city streets, silent walks in the park
Cold wind in our face and clouds part
It’s the warmth from the sun, which comes
From those pennies from heaven.

We take life for granted
Pollutants, poisons and toxins in the air
Violence and tragedy, it seems is everywhere
But, we find shelter, and we find peace, its
From those pennies from heaven.

We take life for granted
Birth, graduation, marriage, and life
It goes by so fast and seems so right
But as we turn, and look, something is missing, tears
From those pennies from heaven.


May God Bless, 
Mike, Julie and Andy






Julie, I am in shock at the passing of Mike.  We truly are sorry for your tremendous loss.  May the Lord reach out his hand to comfort you and your son at this time.  No words can express how you feel.  Please take heart that there are folks who care.  

Michael "Mike" Vinson

Memorial Service

Loving husband for over 30 years to Julie D. Vinson passed away, Thursday, March 22, 2018.  
He is also survived by his beloved son, Andrew Vinson, two sisters Teresa Mason and husband, Mike, Deborah Serrano and husband, Jim, and a host of loving family and friends.

OBITUARY

Michael Theodore Vinson

October 31, 1959 – March 22, 2018

Horis A. Ward - Fairview Chapel

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