Where did you meet him?
I met him from my Dad Steve
Memory of Mickey
So I met with Mickey at his home to talk to him about my alcoholism. I expected to her a lot of the same but what I got was a miracle from God through Mickey. I have not taken a sip of alcohol since our meeting and am happy to share with you and Mickeys spirit, my 4th year of not drinking on July 31 2017. Thank you Mickey. Our meeting will be etched in my memory for ever, thank you again, my life will never be the same.
Jeff S.
Memory of Mickey
I had a difficult time narrowing my memories of Mickey down to one incident. In the 40 years I knew him there is a long stream of memories. When we met around 1975, we were having egg hunts at our house in Morningside. When we moved to Talbot County, those egg hunts became Egg Roasts at The Farm. Over the years we had over 40 people coming for the weekend before Easter to enjoy BBQ by Andy, Mickey and Al and egg hunts with over 300 eggs. Children grew up coming and then bringing their college friends and later their families.
I think of Mickey as a ‘quiet presence’. He was usually not loud or boastful, but just there. In a large group, he would often be off on the side listening or talking to someone of playing with a child.
One of the Egg Roast weekends was different. He had a new jeep from Jasper Jeep and wanted to show it off. He loudly invited folks to a ride down the dirt road. This led to several trips with a jeep load of kids and brave adults racing down the bumpy road. He broke his axle and folks, along with Sharon, always reminded him of that crazy night.
We had a prizes and trophies for the weekend. They included the BBQ and Bourbon Society and Pig’n’Puke award. That weekend we added another called 6 Flags Over Mickey. This memory was not of the ‘quiet presence’, but of the instigator of ‘fun things to do’.
Memory of Mickey
I think of Mickey as being a ‘quiet presence’. He was not loud or boastful, but just there. In a large group, he would be off on the side listening or talking to someone or playing with a child. Unless you were the one in the corner with him, you may not have noticed him. He did make his opinions known with letters to the editor in the AJC and Pickens Progress.
Andy met Mickey around 1975 while working on the roof of our friends house in Morningside. This was a problem with his acrophobia and he wasn’t seen up high very often.
Morningside years were filled with many different memories:
Planning and shopping for all night pig roasts in the park with Andy and Bob
Cooking and preparing the food which involved picking pig eyeballs out of the stew (already shared by Mary Ann Gaunt)
All night in the park with stories, drinking and breakfast of Moon over Miami
Helping us insulate and sheetrock our upstairs room
Andy working on their homes on University and Rock Springs
Our baby sitting coop with Mickey, the favorite sitter for the kids, especially my son Adam
Sharon and I going back to school in architecture and nursing with our husbands blessings and support
Making pasta and sausage with friends at their house
Many shared meals and a listening ear when needed
After we moved to the farm, we kept up long distance with visits and the annual egg roasts:
Mickey completely rewired our first old home in Woodland – later discovering the color of the wires were crossed, but everything worked, so we always had a laugh over it
Their Atlanta home was always open to us and shared with our daughter-in-law, Suzannah, while she was in law school and our son, Micah, while he was working in Atlanta
Egg roasts involved long distance planning and he and Al along with Sharon and Mary Ann coming early to get everything ready – he was often seen sitting by the fire smoking while everyone hunted eggs
One particular Egg Roast he took everyone on wild rides in his jeep over the dirt roads – a more boisterous Mickey and the beginning of the award called “6 Flags over Mickey”
When computers came, he and Ken Cook built and kept computers working at our home and Andy’s Housing Authority office, and he wrote very simple booklets to teach you how to work with the computers
Later visits to Al and Mary Ann and then Sharon and Mickey in Jasper which prompted our retirement there
Jasper years:
Mickey in a rocker on the porch or sitting in front of his computers with a cigarette and cup of coffee
Interacting with my grandchildren whenever they were in town – usually having a toy or project out for them
BBQ’s at Grandview Lake
Research and excitement over his work on the Bent Tree project with Don and Bob
Working at Good Sam with him
Support in many ways when Andy was sick and after his death – Mickey sat for hours in our driveway awaiting the arrival of a hospital bed from Hospice, so Andy could come home from the hospital
Mickey was there with his medical and counseling skills wherever and whenever needed:
We were comfortable, as were many others, calling with personal, family or friends issues and getting advice, explanations or referrals for medical, addiction or mental health problems or whatever was bothering you
Andy was always relieved to talk to Mickey and get complicated things explained in laymen’s terms that he could understand – Abby mentioned in her father’s obituary his skill in “turning complex concepts into memorable vignettes”
Along with his ‘quiet presence’, my memories of Mickey are as a ‘serial hobbyist’, a term that was mentioned in one of his obituaries. With each, he may have started a novice, but delved into it and became expert, then went on to something else. A few of his skills and hobbies were:
Tailoring
Sailing
Building a wooden canoe in his basement – Andy and Bob helping him figure how to get it out
Astronomy
Building and finishing out pole barn structures with the 3 old men
Hand tying fishing flies
Collecting dulcimers and learning to play
Decorating his cabin with Inuit art
Blacksmithing
Last, and certainly not least, delving into the pharmaceutical industry and drug trials, reanalyzing data, and working with researchers over the world to publish findings
GOODNIGHT MICKEY!
Miss your quiet presence. Would love to know what you, Andy and Al are up to now.
Memory of Mickey
Reading all of the stories about Mickey makes me wish we had known him longer. “Don and I are so sorry for your loss.” Those words can’t begin to express the reality of how we feel, but they are the words we have. Mickey enriched our lives in many ways – mostly just by BEING Mickey but also by sharing his time and talents with us. He volunteered to “fix” the Mountain Steward’s web page, which turned into over a decade of “fixing” it. He introduced us to Bob Wells when he insisted that Bob come up and learn about the marker trees. That led to Mickey, Bob, Don and I traveling around Georgia, Arkansas, and Missouri filming those trees. Don and Bob would hike off into the wilderness and Mickey and I would wait by the car. Our conversations while waiting allowed me to began to see a bit of the amazing man everyone knew he was. Mountain Stewards would not be the Mountain Stewards of today without all of Mickey’s contributions.
The second story I want to share is short. Because of Mickey – who said to Don “Do not pass go! Go to the hospital now.” I still have a husband. I know Don was near death after 13 solid days and nights of horrible hiccups after he returned home from having his appendix removed. Mickey came up to the house (about a 14 mile trip), prescribed some medication, drove into town to pick it up and then drove back up the mountain to deliver it. It took several times and a couple of days before Mickey found the medication that worked. And, Mickey just kept driving up and down the mountain until Don quit hiccuping. (I should probably mention here that I had a broken leg and could not drive) Mickey’s concern, compassion, caring (and words that other have already used) were evident in our lives and, I believe, in the lives of everyone he met.
Goodnight Mickey, we shall remember you with love and miss you greatly.
Where did you meet him?
Good Samaritan Health & Wellness Center
Memory of Mickey
I had the honor of working with Mickey for almost 8 years. I saw him perform miracles with patients who had been sentenced to the hell of imprisonment in mental illness. They broke free of their bonds and learned what joy could feel like. Some of that was due to his great intellect and understanding of psycho-pharmaceuticals—both how to use them and when not to. But most of that was that the patients truly knew that he cared, wasn’t judging them, and would advocate for them.
In the world that Good Samaritan serves, non-judgmental caring and advocacy can be rare—especially among the poor and mentally ill. I think few of us can imagine what a light-filled God-send that is to our patients. They will all miss him very much.
As will I. I have lost a great partner in the fight to bring good health and quality of life to the people we serve. Someone who got it. I don’t know what we will do without him.
Memory of Mickey
Mickey was our Grandview Lake Corporation chair when we met him during our Georgia Adopt-A-Lake monthly monitoring project. I didn’t know he was a physician for a long time as he didn’t fit the mold. I got to know his wit and commitment to our BBQ socials as he and Al Clayton matched wit, stories, and tall tales – Alan was privileged to spend hours listening to the “old guys” watching the fires, drinking coffee, and just being with each other. I learned how highly Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center valued his service there – his patients loved him – and it was my job to figure out his writing on the Patient Assistance Program scripts and follow up with his patients to make sure I was interpreting the scripts/directions in my volunteer capacity in PDAP.
Sharon and I began a twice a week exercise program at the YMCA in Canton, and I learned that Mickey and Sharon were liberal democrats, just like us, in a sea of conservatives! Even many of their Morningside friends were democrats in Pickens County!
Alan helped Mickey set up a scientific weather station, as the researcher in Mickey enjoyed checking the measurements.
My last Mickey story was at the end of January 2017 when I called Sharon to confirm I was picking her up that Friday. She was obviously busy getting ready, but Mickey answered the phone not with a “Hello,” but “Build the Wall, Build the Wall, Build the Wall!” I laughed for a week with that answer, as Trump had just been inaugurated, and the idea was so incredible.
I know there were other stories, but until recently, Mickey was a larger than life character so full of life and perspective that I couldn’t imagine such a vibrant personality leaving us so soon! All I can say is that his work must have been done, and he was allowed to leave his bad back on earth, and perhaps mentor another personality to continue his work from another realm.
Where did you meet him?
Through my parents. Egg Roast!
Memory of Mickey
Starting at the beginning. Mid 70’s. Mickey and Sharon. I remember Abby from Inman Middle School where I worked with Mrs. Suchanek and the children in the band. Spunky little blonde girl. So talented. Dad talked about Mickey being a shrink. That’s about all I knew.
The egg roasts with Grandy, Mickey, and the rest of the folks, were a huge highlight of the year for our family. I went to be with all the other kids, but my father went to be with Andy and Mickey. Our conversations usually revolved around where Andy would hide the egg this year. Which team we’d be on, etc… Dad loved to go several days before to get everything ready. The 3 old men had their great time together around that firepit. Wonderful company. Food. Baptisms. Music. Camping. Memories.
I remember Sharon being in charge of keeping up with how many eggs were remaining, counting the donations for the prizes and reminding us when a clue would be coming up. All of my boys were baptized down in Shiloh with these people who have become family. We all signed a document acknowledging our presence at this important event.
Years later, I would be baptized at Lake Grandview by Andy. This same core group of people attended. Signed as witnesses. Mickey gave me a book that was an important one for him. He signed it “Got me through 10 years – Love,
Mickey”
He left a couple of papers in the book for me.
One read: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. – Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
While Dad and Mickey had been friends for decades, I’d say the last few years of their friendship were the most treasured for me. Dad’s health declined significantly. Mickey was there for him the entire way. Both Mickey and Sharon came to stay in Nashville while testing was going on at Vanderbilt. Dad had difficulty walking and this hindered their mid-morning lunch time. Mickey would drive to the back of the house so Dad could make it to his Jeep for the ride. This went on until Dad couldn’t make it to the Jeep at all. Mickey visited daily. A true example of friendship. He spent the afternoon with Dad on the day before Dad died. They were able to be with me the morning Dad passed away. As I’m writing this, it doesn’t feel like justice is being done to this person and the relationship he had with my father. I bet they’ll be fine with it, though.
I’ve told my boys one of the most important things in life is to create a ripple effect. When you can help someone you need to help them, and that goodness will go on and on. I’m so fortunate to have been a part of Mickey and Sharon’s ripple in this world.
Memory of Mickey
His wisdom, his genuine caring spirit was always felt regardless of a professional opinion or a personal one. Mickey made me laugh especially when he was with Andy and Al – The Three Amigo’s. Mostly I always knew he had a deep love for Sharon. Often seeing him and Al and Andy in the Hummer as they drove across Main Street. I could picture a movie with those three. You know there are so many times that my path crossed with Mickey’s, and every time was always a pleasant one. He will always be remembered. His richness touched my life!
