In Memorial of Michael Matthew Casey
In Memorial of Michael Matthew Casey
July 7, 1934 - Apr 7, 2023
Service: Sunday, May 7 at 3pm
Michael Matthew Casey passed away quietly in Portland, Oregon on Friday, April 7 after a fascinating life of 88 years in which he made a tremendous impact on many people.
Born in Parshall, North Dakota in 1934 to parents Matthew and Margaret Casey, Mike and his three siblings, brother Dominic and sisters Margaret and Patricia lived with their parents through the Great Depression without indoor plumbing in a one-room granary converted to a house. Mike’s father was a farmer and his mother a schoolteacher who founded the first hot lunch program in Parshall. Mike learned to read from the Sears Catalog from which the family ordered chicks to raise for eggs to eat and sell. The children collected cow pies in the fields for fuel to cook the chickens.
The family moved to Spokane in 1948 where Mike began the multi-year process of entering the Jesuit priesthood. He graduated from Gonzaga University and later was ordained a priest, taking assignments in Toronto, Jamaica and Seattle, where he taught Latin at Seattle Prep and later, philosophy at Seattle University.
After leaving the priesthood at the age of 35, he had two daughters, Kristina and Dawn, and taught philosophy at Mt. Hood Community college for over 25 years. Mike was a dynamic and engaging teacher; his classes consistently filled up long waiting lists.
During retirement, he curated a notable collection of vintage bakelite radios and wrote two memoirs: one of the North Dakotan impoverished childhood, “Where I Came From” and the other about his experiences as a Jesuit Priest, “Black Is White: My Experiences as a Jesuit Priest.” His books are available on Amazon under "Michael Matthew Casey."
In addition to writing and radio collecting, Mike was an accomplished woodworker and created countless tables, cabinets, stools and boxes, often incorporating bakelite handles to his creations. Michael was also an avid book reader, art collector, bamboo enthusiast, dog and cat lover, wine connoisseur, joke teller, antique hand plane collector and so much more. He made friends everywhere he went with his warm personality and good humor.
He enjoyed a close and loving relationship with his two daughters Kristina Poyner of Ridgefield, WA and Dawn Casey Friedland of Seattle, WA and his five grandchildren, Zoe, Walker, Finn, Kelsey and Piper. Surviving Mike are several nieces and nephews. Mike’s brother Dominic died at the age of 26, and his two sisters preceded him in death: Margaret Casey in 2021 and Patricia Buckmaster in 2022.
A gathering to celebrate Mike’s life will be held at his home in SE Portland on Sunday, May 2 at 3pm. If you would like to attend, please submit your contact info at www.postable.com/dawncasey. Memorial contributions may be made to the Northwest Vintage Radio Society at www.NWVRS.org.
BEAUTIFULLY written Dawn— this encompassed our Papa so wonderfully. His 88 years was so rich with accomplishments and stories. I remember as a young girl sitting in on one of his philosophy classes. I was in awe and he captured my attention the entire class❤️. I have so many memories and this is how Papa lives in my heart.
ReplyDeleteGreatest Teacher Ever! I learned so much from him at MHCC. His wisdom and teaching will be timeless. Thanks forever!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Would you mind sharing your name, please?
DeleteMr. Casey was my absolute favorite professor. He made us laugh and engaged us with his subtle jabs, sometimes at us and sometimes at himself. His office blew me away with his Richard Nixon and Raquel Welch photos. He missed the first week or so of classes due to a gallbladder surgery. I’ll never forget him telling us to not make him laugh or he’d fart! We just giggled and weren’t sure if he was serious. He loved licorice Luden’s and we would bring him some. He always said bribes wouldn’t help our grades but it could be taken under consideration. His stories of his daughters were often told and the one that stands out to this day, was the one where he told our class that the best way to get your kids to eat broccoli was to tell them it was boogers. I was 19 years old then and I’m 52 today, and I remember it like yesterday. I have shared his wisdom with my own children now. By far the greatest takeaway from Mr. Casey was that right and wrong are absolute and those terms are not applicable to sensory things, like good and bad are. His humor will forever be cherished and I hope his daughters know what a fantastic human being helped create them.
DeleteWith enormous respect,
Carmen Cooper-Martin
Thank you for your comments on my Dad..I loved it so much! Thank you for taking the time to write it.. it made me smile!
DeleteKristina
DeleteOh, I adored him. It was the easiest thing for me to
DeleteWrite and an honor to pay my respects in a way that you can relate to. I would love to attend his service. He was just so impactful.
I forwarded this site to others that knew him. I hope they share their memories, as well.
~Carmen Cooper-Martin
Thank you so much for sharing, Carmen. It means the world to us ❤️
DeleteCasey was by far my favorite college professor. I continued to learn from him for the many decades after leaving his class. However, my favorite memory does not involve me as a student but decades later, witnessing my teen son and his friends caught in the magic of Casey's knowledge and oratory skills.
ReplyDeleteBoth my son and his friends are incredibly smart, well-read and were honor students with a keen sense of inquiry. They all attended Central Catholic High School and had many concerns and questions regarding religion that were not satisfied at school. I asked Casey if he would speak with them. He enthusiastically agreed. I took them to Casey's home and told them to ask away. As I sat there quietly watching, Casey mesmerized within minutes. It was obvious he had taken them in an unexpected direction. They were completely engaged. For over two hours, they peppered him with questions and took voluminous notes of his replies. Sitting there listening and watching, I could not help but marvel Casey's command of knowledge and his gift for teaching. He was born to teach. We are all so fortunate he embraced his talent.
Thank you for sharing this! I’m so proud of what a great and engaging teacher my dad was.. it is wonderful to hear these stories❤️
DeleteThank you so much for sharing, Teresa. It means the world to us ❤️ -- Dawn
DeleteI met Mike when he was 80 years old. My dear friend, Frank Wesley and Mike were friends. Occasionally, Frank would ask me to walk with him the half-mile to Mike's house. At the time, Frank was 94 years old and liked to stop and examine every flower, so a trip to Mike's took most of an afternoon. When we got to Mike's house, the driveway was so steep that I had to get behind Frank and push him and his walker up to the porch. When we left, I stood in front of the walker and backed Frank down. This became considerably harder after Mike shared his good wine with me, but no accidents occurred.
ReplyDeleteMany happy afternoons I had in this house, listening to Mike and Frank hold forth. Mike told jokes and stories about Parshall, or the priesthood. He made me laugh, because I grew up Irish Catholic and I enjoyed his perspectives. Mike liked me because I could make him laugh, too. Frank was a retired professor emeritus at PSU in psychology and a German-born survivor of Buchenwald camp. They each had recent books. They gave me the books, I read them and then we had very lively lunches at Mike's house to talk about them. I was in my mid-forties then, many decades younger than either of them and I learned a lot. I enjoyed every minute. We ate delicious fish and potatoes that Mike cooked in his pressure cooker. When we left, Mike always loaded me up with small gifts for my kids.
Strangely enough, my maternal grandfather and other relatives grew up in Plaza, ND- the next town over from Parshall. What are the odds in such a sparsely populated area?
Mike lived a full and beautiful life. He was very private but also very generous and I know he felt things deeply. I feel fortunate to have known him. Thank you.
Jennifer
I was so sad to hear that Mike had passed, but then so satisfied to see the fine comments his family, friends and students made about him. They coincide perfectly with my own memories of him.
ReplyDeleteI met Mike when I taught at Mt. Hood Community College. We became friends, mainly because of his sense of humor. He wrote one of the best reviews I ever received of my history classes, insightful and honest. Years later he came up to me on a bus in Portland after I returned from Toronto for the summer. Our friendship instantly revived and in the following years I visited him at his lovely home near Laurelhurst Park. He regaled me with his passion for radios, his dislike for the more modern ones, his political views, a fine soup he cooked up one day as we talked, and the shady back yard he had plans for. The last time I saw him I was at a bakery choosing a wedding cake with my fiancee. He was in a hurry, as usual, but I was glad to introduce him to her. She liked him and will be sad to hear that he is gone.
One interesting note: long before the issue of rigged elections became prominent, Mike looked seriously at me one day in his back yard and said, "How do we know what goes on behind closed doors with all those votes?" His penetrating mind was one of his most memorable characteristics.
I will read his books, which he never told me he had written or wanted to write, but mostly I will miss him. He was one of the most genuine people I ever knew. Often, when we had reached a serious point in our discussion, when he was most intense, he would crack a smile and start laughing. Since we both taught Latin, I will say, "Salue, amice!" Goodbye friend. I will see you with Jesus one day.