Dr. Jerry B. Michel's Obituary
Dr. Jerry B. Michel met his Lord and Savior peacefully on December 23. Jerry was born to the late Gus B. Michel and Lillian B. Michel on August 15, 1933. His older brother, Doug, now deceased, played an influential and guiding role in his life. He enjoyed a spirited but loving relationship with his younger sister, Nancy, his entire life.Though born in the Rio Grande Valley, Jerry spent his childhood in Marble Falls, a small town in the Texas Hill Country on the Colorado River, now Lake Marble Falls. His dad owned and worked in the town drug store. His mom worked in the store, and Jerry, Doug, and Nancy enjoyed growing up in small-town Texas in the 1930s and 40s.In 1950, Jerry graduated from Marble Falls High School, enrolled in Texas A&M College, and joined the TAMC Corps of Cadets. During his years at A&M, Jerry formed lasting bonds— both through friendships with his Aggie Chain classmates and through a life-long devotion to the University, its alumni institutions, and the Aggie Baptist Student Mission. Jerry was a devoted Aggie fan until the end, following Aggie football, basketball, baseball, and anything else Aggie he could find to watch or read about. A maroon-walled room in his home, called the “Aggie Room,” displays his degree, his Corps of Cadet pictures, and other Aggie memorabilia.After graduating in 1954, Jerry began active duty in the U.S. Army. He said he wasn’t really sure why he volunteered for Ranger School, but once he started, he knew he couldn’t quit. He always said completing Ranger School was the hardest thing he ever did. After Ranger School, he was stationed in Germany until his discharge in 1956. As the grandson of a German immigrant, he enjoyed immersing himself in German culture and exploring his family history.He returned from Germany to Fort Worth, Texas, where he enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with the expectation of becoming a Southern Baptist minister. After two years of study, he felt the he wasn’t called to the ministry. On the advice of a seminary professor, he began taking graduate courses in sociology at TCU across town. Of course, because it was Jerry Michel, he completed his third and final year at Southwestern and earned his Master’s of Divinity degree.But something much more important than academics happened at the seminary. In the fall of 1956, Jerry went to a social event on a blind date. At the event, he and his date spent time with another seminarian and his date, an attractive, vivacious elementary school teacher named Peggy Morris. Jerry and Peggy spent more time talking to each other than to their dates. At the end of the night, he told his life-long friend and family member-to-be, Reverend Paul Stockemer, that he was set up with the wrong girl that night.Jerry’s romance with Peggy could only be described as “whirlwind.” They saw each other as often as possible, meeting multiple times a week over the next month before Jerry proposed. The wedding was held five months later, June 5, 1957, in Lampasas, Texas, where Peggy finished high school.Jerry and Peggy had their first child, Jana Liese, in October 1958 while still in Fort Worth with Jerry in his last year in seminary and first year at TCU. When he earned his Master’s in Sociology in 1960, they moved to Austin where Jerry was accepted into the PhD program. Not long after, in September 1960, Juli Ann was born, and a memorable stint raising kids in Brackenridge married student housing began. Kyle Goodson joined the family in November 1962. Jerry and Peggy were in Austin until early 1964 when they returned to Fort Worth to accept his first professorship at TCU, after graduating with his PhD from the University of Texas.Jerry and Peggy raised their young family in Fort Worth, blocks from the TCU campus, until 1970 when Jerry accepted a professorship at Memphis State University, now University of Memphis. Anticipating a two-to-four year sojourn outside of his beloved Texas to bolster his professional resume, the Michels settled at the corner of Princeton and Mendenhall, the first home they owned. A year later, Jerry was offered, and he accepted, the Chairmanship of the Department of Sociology. He remained Chair for twelve years, touching the lives of many professionals in addition to the students he continued to teach.Also in 1970, Jerry and Peggy joined Second Baptist Church, one mile from their new home. At Second Baptist, they made life-long friends, raised their children in a Christian environment, engaged in community missions, and worshipped the Lord. It is hard to overstate the role of Second Baptist and its people in Jerry’s life. It was the center around which his social, spiritual, and community life revolved. He served Second Baptist for 48 years, and Second Baptist served him for 48 years.As the years rolled by, the sociology professor grew professionally and his children went out on their own into the world. It became apparent that the temporary sojourn to Memphis would become permanent. Jerry and Peggy never found an opportunity to return to Texas that offered anything remotely comparable to the rich trove of friends, the professional opportunities, and the overall quality of life they had in Memphis. Nevertheless, until the very end, Jerry Michel made sure everyone knew he was a proud Texan.Also, as the years rolled by, Jerry’s children started families of their own and gave Jerry and Peggy nine grandchildren. Jana married Don Arwood. They settled in Knoxville and gave birth to Sam and Molly. Juli married Ben Harmon. They gave birth to Josiah, Seth, and Michel and settled in Seattle. Kyle married the former Melanie McLean, and after a few years in Washington, DC, they moved to Columbia, SC to raise their children, Bridges, Goodson, Marco, and Canaan. Grandson Sam and wife Tiffany gave Jerry and Peggy two great-grandchildren, Everett and Griffin. Jerry was proud of his children and grandchildren and their many accomplishments.Jerry was never one to spend a lot of money. He liked to say that he could put a $10 bill in his pocket on Monday and have at least $5 still there on Friday. But in the years after his kids were finally finished with the last of their education, which he and Peggy supported financially, Jerry and Peggy had a little jingle in their pockets. They took cruises, traveled the world with friends, visited their children and grandchildren, and gave generously to those in need. Those more relaxed times continued into Jerry’s 2003 retirement, with him still very active into the early years of his fifteen-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.Jerry Michel was one of the toughest people you’d ever meet. In addition to Parkinson’s, in the final years of his life, he had open heart surgery, cancer, a recurrence of cancer, a pacemaker, and dementia. He muscled through it all with the grit and determination of an Army Ranger. He was determined to push the limits of what he could do to preserve his ability to keep on doing it – whatever “it” was. He was an example and an inspiration to his children, his grandchildren, his friends, and to many, many people with whom he came in contact. Through it all, he never lost his wry, unique sense of humor, the twinkle in his eye when he wanted you to smile, his out-sized generosity, and his optimistic outlook on life.Jerry will be remembered for these attributes, for his 61 years of marriage and dedication to Peggy, for his devotion to Jesus Christ-the Lord he served, for his love and support of his children and extended family, for his undying loyalty to Texas A&M, and for being a genuinely good man through and through. Arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 767-8930. “Celebrating Life… Behind the Stone Wall”.
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