Michael Dean Hadley

Michael Dean Hadley was born to Dr. Alonzo L. Hadley and Hattie Evelyn Cunningham at Williamsport, IN Community Hospital on October 03, 1948. He left this earthly existence on January 15, 2020. In 1957, the family moved to Dowagiac, MI where his father opened a Chiropractic Office. Mike attended Dowagiac Union Schools to Graduation in 1967. After High School, he enrolled in Southwestern Michigan College where he studied for two years in the sciences and met the pretty young lady who was to become his life mate, his soulmate for the entirety of his life – Judy Ann Weber. She worked in the College library AND sold AMWAY products. This caused two things to happen: he never spent more time in the library “studying” and he had enough AMWAY products to start a dealership. They both transferred to WMU in the fall of 1969, married in August of 1970 and graduated from WMU in 1971 both with teaching degrees. Their “student teaching”, as it was known at the time, was in Vicksburg Community Schools. Judy was able to get her teaching job very quickly in her hometown of Edwardsburg and they rented a home there. Mike’s teaching assignment came just a week and a half before the fall start and it was in Coldwater teaching biology, replacing a teacher on sabattical. It was 60 miles from the front door in Edwardsburg to the front door of the HS in Coldwater. He always remarked that his Plymouth Fury made good time and thankfully the police were apparently nearsighted! They moved to Vicksburg, MI in the Summer of 1972 where Mike had been hired to teach 8th grade general science and 7th grade math in the Junior High. He never moved from there for 31 years, retiring in 2003. Many changes occurred in the Science Department during those years and he was Department Chair for about 20 of them. He completed his MA in Middle School Education in 1979 and went on to participate in many workshops and earn 24 college credits after. After his retirement from K-12 education, he spent 8 years as a part time instructor in the WMU Education Department working with intern teachers in their assigned schools. The 70s produced another crowning achievement to add to the list of accomplishments of both Mike and Judy – the birth of their only child, Sarah. Sarah was a pleasant infant, sleeping through the night and tugging at her Dad’s heartstrings. Over the years, we spent a great deal of time teasing each other. Sarah has promised to watch documentaries on Gettysburg at least once a month. Mike and Judy are very proud of Sarah’s achievements. She holds a BA in education from WMU and a MA in Education from Walden University. She also has earned an Administrative Certificate. Currently, she works as an Assistant Principal at Dunlap Elementary in the Pennfield School district. She and her husband have provided many hours of inservice training at various conventions and workshops in the field of education. Mike and Judy were so very pleased that Marvin was Sarah’s choice for her spouse. He is an honest, hard-working gem. Mike was recognized as a “Significant Educator” twice by a graduating Senior and appeared in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers for 4 editions. He received the honor of being Vicksburg’s Teacher of the Year in 1996. He was selected to participate in WMU’s “Exemplars of Excellence” (Binda Project) where a cadre of area teachers videotaped themselves delivering lessons which were to be used to serve as teaching examples in the Education Department classes for future teachers. Being an active band member in high school, Mike carried on this skill and played the trombone for many years in the Kalamazoo Concert Band. He could also be seen playing his instrument with his coworkers for students in the hallways on special occasions. Mike was diagnosed with Prostate cancer in December of 2009 and spent all the time from then to his death obstinately fighting this disease. He could not have done so without the loving care and support of his beloved Judy who was with him every step of the way, giving up a great deal to care for his needs. He wishes to give special thanks to the Lord and to Drs. E. Kwon of Mayo Clinic and Sabat Siddiqui of DeKalb, IL., for fighting the good fight right along beside him Mike has been cremated and a memorial service will be held later. In lieu of flowers, please donate if you wish to an endowment scholarship that has been set up at Southwestern Michigan College- the Michael D. Hadley Education Scholarship. This is where he met Judy and their story began. Finally, I want to thank those who have taken time out of their lives to be here. I hope I was as good a friend as each of you were to me. I thought of having a larger visitation and so forth. I figured former students ought to have the opportunity to come and gaze upon me so they could be satisfied that the old bastard was really dead. But after pricing it out, I decided they would just have to take my word for it! Michael D. Hadley passed away on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at the age of 71. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Judy; his daughter Sarah Taylor. The family will receive friends on Sunday from 1-2pm at the McCowen & Secord Funeral Home, Rupert-Durham Chapel, 409 S. Main Vicksburg, MI. The memorial service will be held on Sunday at 2pm at the funeral home. Please take time to visit www.mccowensecord.com where you can sign the guestbook and light a candle, share photos and memories with the family. Those who wish may make contributions payable to Judy Hadley for an Endowment Fund being setup at the Southwestern Michigan College. The family is being assisted by the McCowen & Secord Funeral Home, Rupert-Durham Chapel, 409 S. Main, Vicksburg, MI 49097 269-649-1697.