Friday, December 22, 2023
“What!?” That’s how Mike answered the phone, often followed by “I’m coming over”. Mike, Mike, Mike…how you will be missed. In the twenty-one years living next to Mike, there was so many instances where we called him for advice on how to do something or for help with something and he always said, “I’m coming over”.
When we first moved here and all our lawns were new, he would drive his lawnmower over to our yard and aerate our lawn. We never asked, he just did it.
He was always available to help us with anything and everything we needed. He helped Bernie set the drive belt back onto our lawnmower and would always tell him, “Hey, whenever you want your blades sharpened, just bring it over”.
I don’t think there was anything Mike could not do. He even showed us how to change our shower handle recently.
Even when we didn’t ask for advice or help, Mike always offered his generous heart to us. The year we got our Sheltie, Henry, we were in the garage getting the crate cleaned and Mike walked in with a ShamWow cloth. He said “use this to dry your new puppy, I have one for Casey and it works great! It will soak up the water quickly so you can dry him faster”.
Another time, he saw Bernie trying to dig out a stump and he drove over with his truck, tied a rope to the stump and truck and tried to drive off to pull the stump out. The stump won, but nevertheless, Mike was there, lending his hand.
We will miss Mike and Rose quibbling too. They were so funny. Rose would come over and say “Oh Bernie, I can’t stand it anymore. This neighborhood…I have to move.” And Mike would say, “Hey, there’s the door. Where you gonna go?” Even with all the bickering we can see the love for each other in their eyes.
We were so truly blessed to have Mike and Rose as next door neighbors.
He is truly missed.
In lieu of flowers we have made a donation to the Valerie Fund.
With love and deepest condolences,
Ines and Bernie Embler
