Boone & Cooke, Inc. Funeral Home & Crematory - Eden7671 N.C. 770 WestEden, NC

William (Bill) Arthur Mike was born on November 22, 1929, in Biwabik, Minnesota, because it boasted a hospital, but he grew up in nearby Aurora, an equally small town nudging the northern ridge of the state's Iron Range, just down the road from Embarrass. Proud of both his Finnish heritage and natural-born American citizenship Bill grew into manhood within a small, close-knit community while reveling in football, basketball, and baseball, as well as other, more introspective interests, namely, cross-country skiing and hunting. His dad, a pharmacist and owner of the town's sole pharmacy, a family operation, immersed Bill in thrift and hard work, a fatherly tutelage eclipsed, possibly but not assuredly, by the impartation of an exquisite skill in bundling purchased store goods in kraft paper without the benefit of adhesive tape. Each assembly constituted an artisan's montage of drill instructor creases, pointed corners, and razor seams. That skill later transcended to holiday presents and then to loaves of sweetbread that Bill baked in his retirement years by employing a 'starter'-the 'scratch' of such baking. Bill graduated with a forestry degree from the University of Minnesota in 1951, and thereafter spent two years in the army during the Korean War. He subsequently secured a position at the Western Electric Company, which employment afforded him the latitude to earn an MBA from Northwestern University with its campus in Evanston, Illinois. He specialized in telephonic cable quality control, an avenue that led him to several far-flung sites including Iran just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Bill lived in New Jersey for many years with his first wife, Catherine (nee Chase) Mike, and his two children Linda (nee Mike) Walsh and James (Jim) Mike. Night fell upon Bill in his marriage, but daylight reappeared when on a business trip he met Alice Forrest who worked at Anaconda Cable Company in Eden. Engaged by Alice's buoyant verve it was through her that he first heard of the pathway to eternal life through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God the Father's Son, for people who choose to accept by faith Jesus' vicarious, substitutionary payment for their sins. At some point, in those exchanges about basic scriptural truth, Bill surrendered his life to the Savior. Soon thereafter he and Alice were married on February 7, 1981. Numbed by the near-daily commute from northern New Jersey into New York City, in 1983, Bill petitioned and received a transfer to the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina where he continued his QA work with Western Electric but under the AT&T Technologies moniker. After retiring in 1991, Bill and Alice sold their Cary residence and relocated to Eden, her hometown. Bill expressed a proper enjoyment of God's creation by starting a Christmas tree farm that necessitated several years of waiting before sales commenced-his seedlings needed time to grow. But turning a profit wasn't foremost. He simply enjoyed his outdoors work throughout the years, the growth of his nurtured seedlings, and his later association with shoppers some of whom came from considerable distance to cut their own Christmas tree. As he aged, Bill lessened his daily farm presence until he largely resorted to posting instructions about leaving tree payments in his adjoining father-in-law's rural mailbox. Thieves were a minor problem, but Bill took it philosophically admitting privately that anyone unable to afford a tree would have received one free for the asking. Perhaps because of that philosophical bent, Bill served for many years as a well-regarded Eden Tree Board chairman who led a volunteer group expertly counseling the city on arboriculture. Bill was a loving and devoted husband to Alice for 41 years. The couple worked tirelessly together to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ principally through personal witnessing and in concert with The Gideons International, its jail ministry in Rockingham County, Awana, a non-Gideons ministry to youths, and the Mikes' many church activities. In that context, Bill was elected by the North Carolina Gideons as treasurer for three successive years (term limited) from 1993 till 1996. After three subsequent elections to vice president from 1996 till 1999, he became the state president from 1999 till 2002. He then reengaged with the Eden Camp of the North Carolina Gideons to set his voice for encountering people with the good news of Jesus Christ, distributing printed Scriptures, and mentoring younger Gideons to help them meet their Christian responsibilities. Bill's soul and spirit departed at 12:30 pm on May 21, 2022-a lifetime falling just hours short of 92 and one-half years. What he did in that sojourn can be summed by saying his accomplishments will be tested. It's a certain appointment, inexorable, and indisputable though legions will struggle to dispute. One day Bill will stand before Jesus Christ as the omniscient Judge to receive rewards for what he did in his mortal life to advance the cause for Christ. Nothing else will matter; nothing else will withstand the examination. Bill won't concern himself with the sins of his mortal life-their recorded debt was fully satisfied by Jesus' payment at the cross when Bill accepted Him as Lord and Savior. What Bill will be faced with is how he invested his life in what mattered after he became a Christian. There won't be any mistake in the awarding, a private judging-no loss of proper acknowledgment and no receipt of an unearned reward. And while the rewards will come as crowns to be returned (cast) at Jesus' feet, they will remain credited to Bill for eternity, obvious indicators of the extent he served not himself but the one true God. Bill grimaced when he traversed the earth after his salvation to find people wasting their life on temporal activities while ignoring their destiny. He grimaced at the contemplation of what lies ahead for such individuals-the hopelessness of outer deep darkness, the continual pain in a lake of fire and brimstone, and aloneness forever with the realization of their respective name extinguished from remembrance by anyone. All that and more drove him on until cancer shredded his vitality and he had to rest. Bill was preceded in death by his father, Charles Mike, mother, Selma (Sally) Mike, his sister, Char (nee Mike) Hatton, and wife, Alice (nee Forrest) Mike, who predeceased Bill by just 19 days. Bill is survived by his children James Mike of Denver, Colorado, Linda (nee Mike) Walsh and husband, James, of Bernardsville Township, New Jersey, stepdaughter, Cindy Silvey and husband, Pastor Chuck Silvey, of Moore Haven, Florida, and seven grandchildren: Ryan Silvey and wife, Andrea, Justin Silvey and wife, Lynda, Elijah Walsh and fiancée, Lora Layton, Jonah Walsh, Elisha Walsh, Josiah Walsh, and Jeremiah Walsh. Bill is also survived by five great-grandchildren: Zachary Silvey, Harrison Silvey, Victoria Silvey, Cooper Silvey, Isaiah Walsh, and many nieces and nephews. The family wishes to acknowledge Bill's caregivers, the same individuals who assisted Alice concurrent with Bill's needs: Carolyn, Michelle, Priscilla, Susie, and Tina with each entirely emblematic of godly concern, charity, and compassion. No finer group of good Samaritans could be imagined. Visitation and Service are planned to be held on Friday, May 27, at Freedom Baptist Church, 471 Stone Rd, Reidsville, NC 27320. Visitation at 1 PM; Service at 2 PM. Officiating: Pastor Clyde Gwin, Sod, WV, and Pastor Ronnie Warner, Senior Pastor, Freedom Baptist. Graveside service at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Rockingham County. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to either The Gideons International, Eden Camp, PO Box 383, Eden, NC 27289-0383 or Rockingham County Hospice, 2150 NC-65, Reidsville, NC 27320. Boone & Cooke, Inc. Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the family. To send a flower arrangement or to plant trees in memory of William "Bill" Arthur Mike, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.

©2022 Legacy.com All rights reserved.