Mike

On August 6, 2022, Michael Robert McAfee was set free after a long struggle with illness. Now he is running on the beach, dodging the surf, and chasing the sandpipers with his beloved puppy pal JJ. Or perhaps sitting down with long-lost friends and family to enjoy a root beer float, a Johnnie's #9 with extra Johnnie's sauce, and onion rings.

Mike was born in Velasco (Freeport), Texas in 1948. He went on to live large in Houston, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mesa, Arizona; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Edmond, Oklahoma; San Bernadino, California; La Porte, Texas; Des Moines, New Mexico; Yachats, Oregon; and Albany, Oregon. He earned a BA from Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma, and an MA from the University of Houston.

If ever there was a gentle giant, it was Mike— a big man with a big heart. As a father, husband, son, brother, friend, teacher, and coach, he was a calm and steadying presence. To be christened with a nickname by him was a special badge of endearment, as Cowboy, Hauncey, Slobber Pot, and Pokita can attest. He was not only a giver of names, but also a recipient. In his many roles, he rose to such a level that only a colorful moniker would capture the essence of his performance: Big Mac, Kingfish, The Dude, Coach Mac, and Papa Bear to name a few.

Mike enjoyed a 45-year career as a teacher and coach. More than half of that career was spent in special education, which suited him well, because he had a knack for making people feel very special. His intuitive capacity to reach students that others couldn't changed the trajectory of many young lives. The more a student struggled, the more his interest in them grew.

His religion was basketball. His heroes were Bill Russell, Tex Winter, John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Barack Obama (who was admired both for his politics and his game). As a coach, basketball was an arena for developing character and leadership, and Mike took a fatherly pride in all the young men who played for him. In basketball, as in life, he was an unflappable optimist. No matter the opponent, he gave no quarter to the thought of defeat. Later in life, he became a hard-core Oregon State Beaver's basketball fan, once again revealing his heart for long-suffering underdogs.

His optimism occasionally skewed his judgment. This was most evident with his children and grandchildren, who in his mind's eye were perfect creatures etched out of stone by Michelangelo himself.

He was a soft-spoken, humble man, with a cheeky self-confidence. Once he gave his summer-school kids T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "I know Mike McAfee personally" to help them by-pass security on the way to his classroom. Before long, word got around and all the cool kids wanted one. The shirts became a bona-fide teen status symbol. He tried and failed to conceal his delight at this turn of events.

He was an unapologetic packrat. Books, magazines, photos, greeting cards, antique radios, old cameras, DVDs, albums, clothes - anything imbued with a cherished memory simply could not be parted with. Sadly, the six-inch-wide neckties and velour shirts he stashed away in the 80's never came back in style.

In 1987, he met his beloved Sally Beth in Albuquerque. It was a case of mistaken identity. Searching for another person she had an appointment with that day, Sally walked right up to him and said, "Are you someone I should know?" Ever the ladies’ man, Mike assumed this was a come-on, and he followed up energetically. He didn't have to try too hard; she was smitten from the word go. They became an inseparable unit, and for the next 35 years they embarked on many adventures together, caring for one another through thick and thin. He leaves his children and grandchildren with an enduring example of how a woman should be treated, honored, and loved.

It seemed he always had a camera in his hand. His life is amply documented in the tens of thousands of digital images he left behind. In viewing them, one apprehends the extraordinary beauty that is latent in ordinary things and ordinary people. In fact, through his lens there was nothing ordinary about anything or anyone. The eyes are connected to the heart, and they can only see what the heart discerns. Mike's heart understood and yearned for beauty, and he found it everywhere he looked. If you happened to fall under his kind and attentive gaze, you felt appreciated, encouraged, and loved.

He enjoyed sending hand-made, hand-written cards, each adorned with one of his photographs. Many of his loved ones have a shoe box stuffed with them. He always concluded with the same words, shimmering in their simplicity, necessity, and truth: "Always know that you are loved."

Mike is survived by his wife, Sally; his children, Lisa Hunt; Rob McAfee and his wife Louisa; Emily Brewer and her husband Matt; and Bob Ewing and his wife Lauren; his 13 grandchildren Brandon Bryan and his wife Jessica, Robert McAfee, Nathan Bryan, Cecilia McAfee, Andrew Bryan, Ashton Sampson, Evan McAfee, Aidan McAfee, Jax McAfee, John Hollis Ewing, Lily Brewer, George Ewing, and Juliette Brewer; 1 great grandchild, Janet Bryan; and his 3 siblings, Martha Bitter and her husband Paul, Sharon Ammon and her husband Mike, and Nancy Thompson and her husband Mark. Mike was preceded in death by his father, Robert Louis McAfee; his mother Henrietta Louise McAfee; and his siblings Roberta Sullivan and Patrick McAfee.

All who loved and admired Mike are invited to good food and sweet sharing at a Celebration of Life on September 18, 2022, at 2:00 PM at the Philomath Scout Lodge, 660 Clemens Mill Road in Philomath, Oregon.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Mike’s name to the Lewy Body Dementia Association.

(https://www.lbda.org/donate/)