Mike was born Dec. 16, 1958, in New Ulm, Minnesota, where he attended St. Mary’s Catholic School and graduated from Cathedral High School with the class of 1977. Mike began working for Hy-Vee full-time after high school, and continued in various roles over a 41-year career. He moved to Fairmont in 1980. It was at the Fairmont Hy-Vee where Mike met Denny, who later introduced him to his younger sister, Karla. From that relationship came a lifetime of love and companionship, interrupted only by the weeks Mike spent duck hunting each fall at the cabin his grandfather built on Swan Lake in Nicollet County.

Mike and Karla were married on June 27, 1981, in Charles City, Iowa, and started their family two years later with the birth of Eric Michael in 1983. They lost daughter, Jessica Ann, in 1987 and were blessed with another daughter, Erin Elizabeth, in 1988, with whom Mike shared a special bond. Mike cherished his time with his family and was proud to witness his children growing up. Over the past decade, Mike was especially good at being the “fun grandpa” — with a particular strength in getting the boys riled up just before bedtime with wrestling and raucous laughter. It was his deep love for family that led Mike to never give up on treating the cancer that took his life far too soon.

Mike was an avid outdoorsman and was happiest in a duck boat on Swan Lake or a fishing boat on Lake Ossawinnamakee, where he and Karla spent time in the summers at their trailer. A former president of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association and longtime supporter of the Martin County Conservation Club, Mike organized the club’s annual banquet for many years, raising funds to preserve and protect natural lands in his community. The 14-acre Ebert’s Prairie recognizes this legacy, having been named in Mike’s honor earlier this year–a gift for which Mike was truly honored. A man of great faith, Mike was a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church, and he loved reading, camping and traveling throughout the United States.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Fairmont at 10:30 a.m Friday, July 22. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, July 21, at Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont and will continue for an hour prior to the service at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Martin County Conservation Club.

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