Obituary of Mike Harrison

If you had a chance to meet Ol’ Mikey, you would have been charmed by his charisma, his gentle soul, his brilliant blue eyes and his warm character that would immediately put you at ease. Every conversation began with “How She Go’in, eh?” and this made us, his family, laugh as ‘eh’ was his common expression in most conversations. Dana (his daughter) secretly tallied one conversation, and he laughingly said “eh” a total of 35 times.

Ol' Mikey, was born in Kimberley on December 2, 1936 and was active in outdoor adventures throughout his long life. Even though his mobility changed in his early 80’s, he was always interested to know what was going on around town: like how much snow was at the resort, how were the skiing conditions, who caught the biggest fish at which local lake, where’s the best huckleberry crop and who got the biggest 6-point during hunting season.

His love for skiing began at the age of 10. With his brother David, Dad would climb Northstar Mountain to ski a few runs on those extra-long wooden boards they called skis. It was dad’s love for skiing that we all became weekend ski bums. We loved our family weekend routine, from eating a hot bowl of Cream of Wheat that Dad prepared for us, to trying to be the first vehicle in the prestigious line of parked cars in the Buckhorn parking area.

He met mom (Pat Jones) when she was 15 and he was 20 but it was a few years later when sparks flew, and they both knew they had found the love of their lives. They married on August 26, 1961, and had three children, Shannon, Robyn and Dana. From skiing, camping, swim meets, to summer vacations at Christina Lake - we did so many fun outdoor experiences as a family.

He volunteered with the North Star Ski Club and helped out with the installation of the Buckhorn chair & maintenance of T-Bar on the Main. After many years of skiing with Pat, he volunteered as a ‘Guest Guide’ for many, many seasons at the Kimberley Alpine Resort.

During the summer months it was all about fly-fishing and camping at Premier & Whiteswan Lake with three best buds, Wayne Trinder, John Daigle “Digger” and Dad’s honorary son Mike Daigle. Each morning, while camping, our Dad crept silently out of the trailer hell-bent on being the one who caught the first trout of the day. In the fall it was all about hunting season, and getting a delicious venison to share with his family & friends.

Our Dad was well respected by his co-workers at the Cominco Concentrator. At the dinner table, he spoke about them and we loved hearing the crazy nicknames. He excelled in his job, but he worked "to live” for his passion of the outdoors and honing his skills. Dad volunteered with Kimberley Ambulance Society and competed in many First Aid Competitions, even representing Canada at the Worlds in the UK two times, in the 1980’s.

Dad’s second childhood kicked-in when his only grand-daughter Kaitlyn was born. He absolutely loved spending time with Kaitlyn, such as playing soccer in the backyard, trips to the dump, walks uptown, and of course watching such brilliant movies such as Barney and Lion King at least 100 times.

Ol' Mikey would have loved to know that he may have touched your life in a happy way. He will be dearly missed by his wife Pat, daughters Shannon, Robyn (son-in-law Walter), Dana, and grand-daughter Kaitlyn.

We can’t believe we got to be a part of his long, extraordinary life. He was deeply loved and he’ll be missed. We hope he was met with a cold beer from John Craig and is now fishing with Digger and Wayne. We love you Ol’ Mikey!

(We ask that you do not send flowers. If possible, we would like you to donated to Parkinson Society of British Columbia - https://parkinson.bc.ca/ways-to-give/one-time-donation.)

A Celebration of Life is planned for Saturday, January 18, 2025 from 1pm to 3pm at Kimberley Centennial Centre (100 - 4th Avenue, Kimberley BC). Please bring your stories to share about Ol’ Mikey.