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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Mike DeBloois 1940 - 2019


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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