I met Cathy back in 1969 when our fathers were stationed at Ft Sill military base in Oklahoma. Boy oh boy what a great friendship we have continued all these years. No distance between Oklahoma and Tennessee could end that original friendship bond. Then she met this guy - Mike. She wrote me letter after letter about him and all that gushy love talk that girls share when they have found " The One"!!!! Sure enuf they got married. Then I got married. I decided it was time to make a TN visit and get everyone acquainted. I never felt nervous or awkward as some might introducing our two love of our lives guys to each other. Some how I just knew it was all gonna turn out perfect and it did! Almost as soon as we arrived Cathy and I went one way and the guys went the other! We didn't meet back up till early evening. Mike and David walked in both carrying their beers and laughing. David said you are never gonna believe what I did today! I thot well as long as you two didn't get into any trouble with the law or otherwise I cud handle any story! So David continued and said he had eaten a pig out of a dumpster! So just imagine the look on my face and what I might have said! I thot what the heck did Mike just do to my husband!!! Was this some TN tradition initiation to outsiders or what!!!! The short of the long was that Mike's friends killed a pig and we're having a party out in the sticks of TN and they roasted the big in a dumpster. Oh my husband was totally impressed as this was right up his outdoors alley. David said all those guys shared great hunting stories and they just had one heck of a fun day. David said it was the best pig that ever touched his lips. I don't know how many times David has told this story to folks here as I have lost count but Mike created quite a memory for David. And he is still shopping for a small dumpster to buy! So Mike's antics didn't stop there. Mike said the next day you all load up we are going fishing. Ok we like to fish. Got a beautiful lake right out front of Mike and Cathys home, let's do this! And David wanted to show Mike how to fish with yo-yo lures you bait and hang in trees along the banks of water. So off we all go. Big Mike, Cathy, little Michael, me and David. Got all those yo-yo's hung and Mike said let me show you all the big water. Now there were 5 of us in Mikes little 14 foot John boat with his tiny little engine not much bigger then a trolling motor headed to a big water sight- seeing adventure. And all of a sudden just past all the coves with the big beautiful TN trees there was this huge wide body of river that just opened up before our eyes. We just sat there looking and a lot of WOW 's were coming outta our mouths and all of a sudden we hear Mike say UH-OH! So we look at Mike and say HUH? And Mike says " we got a big barge coming"!!!!! Yep a big " blankety blank" barge heading right our way!!! Mike says we gotta get outta here quick and turns the tiny little fishing boat around. To this Day my husband still makes the sound of that little engine struggling wide open as Mike tries to save our lives and get us back to the inside safety of a little cove we had passed!!!! Just another great adventure with Big Mike! So that evening David said we gotta go back and run those yo-yo lines and get our fish and Cathy said not me, she was gonna stay right where she was sitting and Big Mike says believe I will stay here with Cathy. So off David and I go. I had to hold the lantern while David maneuverd the Jon boat thru and under all those thick TN water bank tree limbs. Plus you TN people have a lot of summer bugs at nite that like lanterns and I was sucking them in and spitting them out and not a happy camper at that point but worse then that....you've got a whole lotta snakes that like yo-yo bait and that's when the bugs tasted good and I went to screaming bloody murder cuz I had the lantern and I was in the front of the boat! Well we finally got back to the house and Cathy and Mike said they heard a lot of cussing and screaming coming from the water and wanted to know what it was all about. I said oh my gosh snakes were every where and Mike stretches his arms back on the couch and says yeah I never much liked those snakes at night and then we knew why he didn't get his feet wet and we all died laffing!!! And that was Mike! Fun to be with, had great stories, always a smile on his face, easy going, friendly and just plain funny!!!! We had one great time there that summer and when I told David on Wednesday that Mike has passed away on Monday I cud hear it in his voice that he knew we had lost a good one. A one of a kind man that anyone would have loved to have known. Every year we kept up with our deer hunting harvests and TN and Oklahoma sports. Today in Oklahoma we really will be mourning With all of you at Mike's memorial service. We will be there in spirit, with tears and sadness but we will forever be blessed by having known Mike and please know that there will always be a smile on our faces when we hear his name. We truly love this family and our friendship will always continue. With love to you all, Sherrie and David Schluchter