Michael Emmet Young

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March 15, 2022

I met Mike on fb as he was travelling to Australia in 2015 or 2016 and I was moving back to Laramie, Wyoming. We tried to hook up with his travel plans whilst he was here but it did not work out. - we Skyped every week and had such laughs with his... more

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January 30, 2021 · via mobile

I met Mike on a trip through French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Brazil in 2018. We had such fun and adventures. What struck me most about him was of course his wicked dry sense of humour, his big heart, generous spirit, but not forgetting his 'don't... more

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September 19, 2020

I thought of Mike as a friend during the many years at NITC. Most of the folks there were in it “for the long haul” (20-to-30 years of service), often working long, long hours, and under tight deadlines. But many balanced hard work with hard play,... moreI thought of Mike as a friend during the many years at NITC. Most of the folks there were in it “for the long haul” (20-to-30 years of service), often working long, long hours, and under tight deadlines. But many balanced hard work with hard play, laughter, parties, camaraderie, and lasting friendships. Mike had the capacity for all of that: He was great fun to talk to — well informed, quirky, with a wide smile and a wild idea that the world was just there for him to explore. Mike was my notion of hero, an “adventurer” par excellence, a traveler moving through the spaces of other peoples, through lands unknown and experiencing other ways of being. He brought back stories, which I sometime heard and always enjoyed, along with his wine making, his hospitality at home, and his super independent, ‘do-it-yourself attitude’—make and build. In 2007 I retired (the photos contributed of Mike came from that retirement party). Have not been in much contact with old friends in Fort Collins, especially since moving in 2012 to the Big Island, Hawaii, making a new friends there and enjoying so much my daughter, her husband and my grandson also living on the Big Island. Once In 1917 I made a pilgrimage, walking the Camino Frances from southern France to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, for me, a seven-week walk. The intention was to use that time to be thankful, to ramble along in mind, remembering friends and people who had touched my life in ways sometime unknown. Once, arriving at my destination for the day, I walked through the local plaza where a band played, and grownups and kids mingled and danced. Next to the plaza was a bridge, stone-smooth and arching over a river. There . . . boys at the top of the arch were sitting on pieces of cardboard and being pulled down part way the other side by grownups (some of them fathers I’m sure), fast enough to pick up speed, fast enough finish the glide by themselves, sometime tumbling at the bottom and laughing. In one of those moments of watching those boys I thought of Mike, and his love of his kids, remembering a time in my own back yard at Terry Lake when Mike had brought some the family to play along the lake. I remember it as an adventure. I remember them building a make-shift structure along the lake’s edge.

So now, holding that thought in mind, remembering the Way, I say to you, Mike, “Your new travels have begun, Buen Camino, Buen Camino, and may they be wonderful.” less

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September 18, 2020

Sending prayers and hugs for an extraordinary life well lived and an old friend gone too soon.

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Marianne Rieux reacted on this.
Marianne Rieux Jennifer, Your words true: His life, extraordinary, and he is gone too soon!
- September 19, 2020

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September 11, 2020

Dear Nick, Brendan and Family,
We are so sorry and saddened by the loss of your Dad. We enjoyed the time we spent with Mike. Football games, shared birthday wishes, Thanksgiving and smoking cigars in the garage, weddings and helping you move into your... more

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Marianne Rieux Nice remembrance of him.
- September 19, 2020

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September 10, 2020

Mike and I met 7 years ago when he was applying for a home loan at the company I worked for. He continually brought in paperwork and loathed any emails from me requesting additional documentation. I quickly picked up on his interesting personality and... more

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Marianne Rieux reacted on this.
Marianne Rieux Your is a nice piece of writing and a great memory of Mike. Thanks for sharing him with us.
- September 19, 2020

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September 10, 2020

Mike and I started working together 35 years ago. Our common interests in building things and travel made us immediate friends. Over that time we continually supported and prompted each other through good times and bad in our combined interest in... more