A LA DOUCE MÉMOIRE DE Michael (Mike) Dunne
Michael John Dunne, 63, passed away on October 30th, 2022, in Ottawa, Ontario surrounded by his family holding his hand.
Mikey’s Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00pm until 4:00pm on November 6th, 2022, at the Heritage Funeral Complex at 1250 Trim Road, Orleans Ontario.
He is survived by his loving wife Louise Dunne, his two sons Wesley and Dallas Dunne (Aina Tell) and his sister Maureen Dunne.
Mike was an eccentric guy who was defined by his many idiosyncrasies. He was an avid player of the violin (only by ear and over music that played louder than he could play), an avid car fixer upper (no formal mechanical training), an athlete who played as competitively in beer leagues against old men and on the ODR against children, as he did playing against his peers in Junior hockey and a creative genius in his own right that couldn’t find an unsolvable problem, even if that meant creating 5 more problems while fixing it. What defined Mike were these traits and unique qualities, but most importantly was his work ethic. Mike had been working in Interlok since 1984 with his very own company ‘Mr. Interlok’. His memory is all around us, in his lifetime he had completed over 1000 projects. He had an incredible capability for hard labor. Despite working from morning till night on a job site, he would still find the time to work out or go play hockey. He was in incredible shape; he could be described as a “specimen”. To be as unique as Mike, you need to be stubborn, and certain of who you are. Mike was very sure of who he was. If he could work on cars, build stuff, eat Johnny Canucks for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in addition to playing hockey at least once a week, that would have been perfect for him. In addition to his special qualities, he was creative. Mike was an inventor, he had a million ideas, if he had been business centric, he may have created an empire. Finally, and for me personally (his son), the best part about my dad was his humor. Mike could joke about anything under the sun, always looking for an opportunity to crack a wise one; he had such a rich personality that centered on trying to make you laugh.
Mike was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, an uncle, an entrepreneur, a coach, a trainer, an inventor, an artist, a mechanic, a salesman, an athlete, a musician, a psychologist and very strong individual. My family and I will miss him dearly.
Well many people know my story of RESILIENCE and that two years ago I co-authored a best selling book « 30 + 1 Resilient Stories »
Forty years ago this year I started in a wonderful relationship with a veterinarian, who only had one sibling, a brother Mike. He was 45 days younger than me.
We had so much in common, a love of sports, golfing, James Bond, entrepreneurism.
At Christmas 1982 I remember playing Trivial Pursuit with Mike and family the for the first time. Well eight months later he became my brother in-law and was matrimonially connected for 15 years. In fact 32 years ago I was the emcee at Mike and Louise’s wedding. Then sadly, a travesty destroyed a marriage and two careers and disconnected our relationship.
Mike started an interlock paving stone business in Orleans Ontario in the early 1980’s, doing driveways, patios, walkways, swimming pools etc. He taught me how to construct patios and helped me with some at our home in Belleville. He was very muscled and physical in his work and an excellent athlete in hockey, car racing skiing etc. He invented a product called a « Sportslide » that simulated skating on ice. He once took a weedeater engine and attached it to a skateboard and while demonstrating he got a traffic citation while visiting me.
Earlier this week I found out that Mike passed away last Sunday. The last time I saw Mike was when I was living in California and he came out and stayed with me while researching leading edge landscaping concepts utilizing rock etc. Mike always wanted to be on the leading edge of his industry.
A few years ago I came across a piece of prose entitled « A Reason, A Season and a Lifetime » https://eap.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2020/05/Season-Reason-Lifetime-for-Friendships.pdf Thank you Mike for the memories we shared. You are gone far too soon !
He and I were closer than I ever was with my biological brother. He became a proud father to two sons in the late 1990’s, Wesley and Dallas. He also leaves behind his beautiful wife Louise « Weez » Roy Dunne, sister Maureen Dunne and Mother In-law Rita Roy.
Unfortunately I am on the east coast and am unable to attend the gathering for Mike. However I am sure that the celebration of life will be a full house because of the sphere of lives that Mike touched.
I hope that heaven is ready for you Mike and that you are now happily reunited with your parents Mark and Cathy.
I have missed you !
What can I say…Mike was one of the good guys you meet in life. I’ll cherish the many times we had discussing everything under the sun over a beer at JC’s. I’ll miss my friend dearly! Hope you are in a better place driving a cool car with the wind blowing through your hair and not a care in the world. Love you Mike.
Your friend Gary