March 22, 1944 ~
May 5, 2015
Mike passed away peacefully in St. Joseph's Hospice on May 4th, after a five year battle with prostate cancer. He was the youngest of three sons born to Marie and R. D. Koppenhaver in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He met and married the love of his life, the former Barbara K Climie, at U.N.D. in 1969. After working in New York and California, they moved to Thunder Bay in 1977 to raise their two children. When Mike crossed the border he couldn't speak a word of Canadian but quickly picked up the lingo working for George Hill and Intercity Supply. Mike loved his job as Sales Manager and many of his customers became his life-long friends; Tom Trizpit, Dave Gracey, Peter Simpson, Jack Shedden and Owen Littlefield. After retiring from Intercity he looked forward to spending summers at Silver Islet with his family and travelling with Barb in the winter. Mike was passionate about racquetball and football and his Number #1 NFL Team was the Green Bay Packers. Thanks to our neighbours, the Samuelson's, he was able to fulfill a life-long dream of watching his beloved Packers thoroughly trounce the Lions on Lambeau Field. Mike loved egg salad sandwiches, 60's music, live theatre, golf, scrabble , bocce, and words with friends which he loved to play on-line with his son Chris in Calgary. He entertained all his friends with his silly songs, jingles and puns. Obtaining his Canadian citizenship was especially meaningful to him. His children were his pride and joy, especially his 5 year old granddaughter Sydnee, who was the apple of his eye. He will be sadly missed by his loving wife, Barb, his children Kirstin and granddaughter, Sydnee (at home), son Chris (Calgary) and brother-in-law, Bill (Thunder Bay) brother Bruce (Mary) Thief River Falls, MN, brother Dick (Donna) Lenexa, KS and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins in the United States. In keeping with Mike's wishes, there will be no formal funeral service, but a celebration of his life will be held at the Jaun Camp at Silver Islet on Saturday, June 27th at 2:00pm. If so desired, donations may be made to St. Joseph's Hospice, TBRHSC Cancer Foundation or the National Prostate Network (Thunder Bay).
Pamela Krueger (Fink)
Rest in peace Mike, your time here is over and the joys of Our Lord are now yours. We ask The Lord to comfort your loved ones and know you will all be reunited one day. Hugs, Pam and Jerry Fink
Wayne Allard
Back in the day (1961 - 62), I had just switched high schools in "The Forks", moving from St. James, to Central, and being a "newbie" at Central, I was hoping to gain acceptance. Within days of walking through the doors at Central, I met a guy I would come to know as "Kope", and he saw to it that I would become part of his established friend group - It is a blessing in life to acquire friendships with people of quality like "Kope"!