Debra Ancheta (Canedy)

Mike was my first high school boyfriend and my first kiss.  Our lives were mirrors of each other in the musicals we both participated in, our later work lives at Motorola, and our class reunions that brought back all those memories.  He had a wonderful voice and he was a genuinely nice person.  I will truly miss him.

Ruth Gross

Mike's passing is a real shock. I knew him from elementary at Lincoln to Nichols to High School. What a sweet guy he was and how beautiful his voice! His rosy cheeks are totally memorable. I was happy to have seen him at a couple of the reunions.  He was just an all round nice person.  This one is hard.

Charles Whitcomb

I am extremely saddened by Mike's death.We have communicated off and on for years hoping to meet up and talk about our lives but sadly it never happened. We became friends during the production of Carousel and after high school we met up only once at one of the reunions.

Mike was a bright and fun guy to be around and he will be missed.

Nancy Schroeder

So sorry to hear about Mikes passing. I knew him well at Lincoln School. I didn't go to Nichols so did meet up again with him at ETHS. He did have a great voice. Sorry to see another friend pass. We  are all getting older and drifting away RIP Mike and my condolences to his family.

Vernon Neece

So sad to learn of Mike's passing.  I think there is a picture of hin in 1 of his musical performances in 1 of our yearbooks.

Paula Massey

I remember Mike from my costume crew experiences with the musicals. So sorry to hear about his passing.

Jeffrey M Liebman

When I moved to Evanston at the beginning of freshman year, it just so happened that Mike and his younger siblings resided in the same apartment building on Judson avenue, one floor above me.  Mike was the first classmate to reach out to me, helping me to integrate into a huge new social environment and feel less intimidated.  Typically we would be at the same lunch table with Fred Brostoff, Rick Reitze, Marty Campbell, Barry Bedrick, and others.  Mike was always cheerful and a fountain of conversation about a wide variety of topics.  Later on, it was always a pleasure to meet up with him at reunions. Now he is gone, and our ranks continue to diminish

William Wanlund

Like everyone, very sorry to hear of his passing. A good, cheerful, and talented guy

Phil Noble

Gonna miss Mike - during the build up to our class of '64's first reunion and the fab website, we got in touch and had some good talks reminiscing on the many musicals we both sang in. Those were some of the best times ever and we had some good laughs. As has been mentioned, he was smart, cheerful and sang the sox off the rest of us! RIP, Mike.

Robert Lindner

Once Upon A Carousel

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark,
At the end of the storm there's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind.

Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone.

You'll never walk alone

You'll Never Walk Alone

From Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

He’s gone, there’s no more song,

But our carousel keeps turning along

With golden memories

Of his voice that would please

Our young ears. But now he’s

Gone. And all the songs he once sang seem wrong

Without his voice to sing.

But his passing beyond the storm will bring

Back songs that he sang to

Us, in times, we went through

Together. Just a few

Years ago (maybe more), we were doing

Our thing, and sweet Michael

Could be Billy, singing in Carousel.

But earth turned and the storm

We all expect, did form,

As storms do on the warm

Winds that blow, as the musical will tell

Us in our memory

And when the storm comes as it must, we

Will hold our heads up high

To watch the lark fly by

When there’s the golden sky

At the end of the storm, where Mike will be,

Arm outstretched and showing

Us, he’s there in the rain, with wind blowing

Through the dreams that we find,

When we are so inclined,

In pictures in our mind,

In memories that like us are slowing

Down. But people we’ve known

And liked will come back and I hear the tone

Of the Carousel theme

As I ride on a moonbeam

And a world I still dream

Of, sings like Mike, “You'll never walk alone.”