John Dewar Michael (Mike), 90, of Montgomery Texas passed away peacefully after a brief illness on May 29, 2025. He was born in Barnesville, Ohio on August 23, 1934, to Hollis Bernard Michael and Margaret May Dewar.    He learned technical and entrepreneurial skills in his father's machine shop and pursued these interests throughout his life.

John was happily married for nearly 66 years to Mary Joy (nee Hipley) and was the patriarch of a loving and lively family including children Mary Beth Villalpando, Susan Michael Sorensen, and John David Michael (Jill Michael). He enjoyed being "Pop" to his grandchildren (Michael Villalpando, Bjorn Sorensen, Meagan Harp, Ashlyn Michael, John Thomas Michael and great-grandchildren Augustus, Gwen, and Harry Riggs.  John is survived by his sister, Caroline Self, brother-in-law Robert Hipley, as well as many nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his son, George Thomas Michael, grandson Martin Harp, and sons-in-law Alex Villalpando and Harold Sorensen.

John honorably served in the Navy.  He attended Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, where he was set up with Mary Joy on a blind date. As they were both redheads, they balked at first, then quickly fell for each other. The family lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, then moved to Texas to pursue warm weather and engineering career opportunities.

John's engineering degree allowed him to work as a Numerical Control Engineer for General Electric, Warner & Swasey, Bendix and others. John co-founded Great Southern Machine Tool Service Company with his business partner and close family friend Joe Pliska (Deborah). After years of successful growth and happy clients, John retired while Joe continued to run the business until recently. They were known for their skill, responsiveness, and ethical business practices —as well as for a vulture company logo and the humorous tag line "Your Dead Machine is our Lunch".

In his active retirement, John built an a lake house, volunteered, traveled, invented/built numerous problem-solving gadgets, and pursued diverse interests in areas such as keeping up with his grandchildren, cats, bassett hounds, Egyptian pyramid history, polka music, BBQ, motorcycles, boating, firearms, and aircraft.    Mike had a wry sense of humor and could keep his family and friends laughing with his quick wit.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Klein Funeral Home, 14711 FM 1488, Magnolia, TX 77354 at 2:00pm on Friday June 20, 2025.   In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in John D. Michael's name.