Editor Note: It is with great personal sadness we note his passing, Mike was so involved with building the new library and city offices and spent many, many volunteer hours making it a wonderful project for Garden City.
MICHAEL LYNN DEBLOOIS
24 Dec 1940 – 9 Feb 2019
Mike was born
December 24, 1940 in North Ogden, Utah to William Jr. and Pearl Holmes
DeBloois. He swore that since he never had a birthday party because of his
Christmas Eve arrival date, he’d instead made a daily celebration of life.
As a boy he
learned construction skills from his father, a builder, which he utilized many
times by building beautiful homes for his family at various stages of their
life together, culminating in a wonderful home overlooking Bear Lake where he
lived the final twenty years of his life. He had a powerful work ethic and
claimed that he weeded rows of onions to the horizon as a youth. He passed this
ethic to his children, much to their childhood chagrin.
Mike was an athlete.
He played basketball at Weber High and went with his team to the State
Championship playoffs in 1959. He was also a member of the All Church
Basketball College Division Championship team in 1966. When older, he loved
skiing and was a member of the ski patrol at Beaver Mountain for several years.
His skiing highlight was a trip to Canada where he went heli-skiing for several
days, an event he loved to recount. At age 60 he earned his PADI Scuba
certification in southern Thailand.
After serving
a church mission to the Netherlands in the early ‘60s, Mike returned to Utah
State University where he completed his bachelors and obtained a master’s
degree in history, a lifelong passion. Following
a year teaching history at Church College of Hawaii he attended University of
Massachusetts Amherst, earning an EdD in education. In time, he returned to the
Utah mountains and USU where he taught instructional technology and was an
early innovator in computerized self-learning. His greatest professional delight
was a Kellogg Fellowship that gave him access to like minds and new frontiers.
Following his years at USU, he cofounded the Miken Corporation which developed
computerized training programs for companies such as ESSO, IBM, the US military
and others.
While
studying at USU, Mike married Judy McFarland and together they raised four
children. The family moved to Hawaii to Massachusetts to Florida as Mike
pursued his education and professional goals. They finally settled in Hyde Park
in a home built by Mike and raised their children there through their teenage
years. During that time, the family enjoyed summers at the family cabin in
Island Park, Idaho; spent six months in Germany and hiked in Switzerland. He
and Judy were later divorced.
In 1995 he
married Marty Adams and they lived their life together with a mantra of
creating and sharing adventure. Their early years were spent hiking Utah trails
and camping with family and friends. A chance encounter in 1997 with one of his
Pi Kappa Alpha brothers led to a three-year, part-time, joint USU/Thai Ministry
of Labor contract that sparked a 20-year love affair with southeast Asia and
Thailand. They explored the wonders of Bali, Hanoi, Angkor Wat, Singapore,
Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In Bangkok they found a second family of assorted
expats and Thais who expanded their world view and provided countless days of
conversation, humor, and questionable exploits.
On February 9th,
after enduring years of diabetes and later, congestive heart failure, without
complaint, Mike yielded up this life to pursue his next great adventure. He
died peacefully with his wife, family members, and good friends at his side.
He is
survived by his wife, Marty Adams; children Traci Hanzalik (Sutton), Krista
Taylor (Chris), Todd DeBloois (Nicole), and Nicole Iniesta DeBloois (Antonio);
stepchildren Kris Mitchell, Jennifer Seljestad (Dave), and James Hebdon (Amy);
10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Also survived by his sisters Joan
Whittaker and Toni Dougherty (Jerry).
Mike was a
man of probing intellect, wry humor, bodacious exaggeration, kindness and
uncompromising loyalty. He was a good man.
A celebration
of his life was held at The Falls at Trolley Square (580 S. 600 E) on Friday February 15th.
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