Please consider making a donation to Mike's wonderful family. Brenda and the kids are facing so many expenses, not just from the funeral, but also travel, student loans and other college expenses, and all those deferred maintenance projects for the house that Mike was going to get to someday (we can all relate). This all has to be done on a single income now. This family has given so much to our community; let's show them how much we appreciate them by giving back. Donovan Wheeler, Mike's co-worker and friend, wrote a beautiful description of Mike, which put into words the depth of Mike's character. He wrote: I suppose there was always a part of Mike Meyer that thought he was born to be a linebacker. First impressions being what they are, Mike was always the guy who gave you a first impression which said, “I’m being serious.” I remember the first time I met Mike. He was applying for the open football job at Greencastle High School in the winter of 1999. He was escorted into my room, introduced to me, and we proceeded to stare at each other. Mike looked at me with an expression that said, “Who is this guy, and why am I looking at him?” I looked at Mike with a gaze that probably said, “…uhhhhhhh… hi…?” Mike wouldn’t actually arrive at GHS for another five years. But when he did show up in the fall of 2004, he embraced his new role… well… ROLES, actually. Yes, he was the football coach, but if you walked through the hallways of the high school, you figured out pretty quickly that he was a lot more than that. Teaching English to a horde of mostly tenth and eleventh-graders, Mike was the guy who corralled kids in the hallway, asking them why they hadn’t come to school… asking them when they were going to get their work done… He knew their stories. He knew that he was one of the few adults who invested the kind of care into their lives which they needed. For a man who gave everyone the impression that the only thing he cared about was athletics, his day-to-day work life bore proof that what he really cared about were people. He and his wife, Brenda, raised five children, sending most of them to college. He got up every morning, usually the first member of the staff to arrive at work. During the football season, he was often the last to leave. In the off-season, he still spent many hours in his room, long after the hallways had gone dark. To say he was dedicated to his work…? That’s easy. To say he was dedicated to young people…? That’s the true testament to his life. And even after tragically losing his first-born daughter on the first day of the 2018 school year, he proceeded to saddle his burdens, show up for work, and give what he had of himself to those young people who needed an adult to invest in them. Mike leaves behind a large family, all of them shouldering college debts as they transition to adult life. And he leaves a dedicated wife in Brenda, herself a tireless servant to the Greencastle student body, working for years to secure college admissions and scholarships for countless kids who lacked the means and the connections to make those monetary benefits happen on their own. Any help you could offer to this deserving family is a gift that will not only be welcomed by the family, but a gesture that will honor the efforts that Mike and Brenda Meyer have given to the people of Greencastle. Donovan Wheeler Mike’s fellow English teacher from across the hallway
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