Michael Geary McMahon July 3, 1930 – October 21, 2024
Michael Geary McMahon, “Mike”, age 94, passed away of complications from Covid-19 on October 21, 2024 at his home in South Ogden, Utah. Mike was born in Bozeman, Montana and raised in the rural community of Helmville, Montana, where his father operated the general store. He began his education in a one-room schoolhouse before moving to Deer Lodge with his family and graduating from Powell County High School in 1948. He attended college at Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and a master’s degree in Education.
Mike met his beloved wife, Elizabeth Lucille Frank, “Betty”, while attending summer school at Western. They were married in Dillon, Montana on May 30, 1958.
Mike taught school in Anaconda, Montana for 33 years, starting with sixth grade at Lincoln Elementary School and teaching Art at the Junior and Senior High levels. He was an active member of the Anaconda Teachers Union. Mike loved the outdoors and enjoyed working for the US Forest Service and the Anaconda Company during the summer months, fighting forest fires and performing trail and campground maintenance. Mike and Betty retired to Lander, Wyoming, in 1995 and lived there for 26 years before moving to Utah in 2021.
Mike was preceded in death by his parents, John and Ita Geary McMahon, a brother, John Peter McMahon and an infant sister, Elizabeth Ann McMahon. He is survived by his wife, Betty; three children, John William McMahon, Laurie Clark, and Mary Ellen McMahon; three grandchildren, Holly (Peter) Jensen, Erin (Jordan) Fowles, and Brian Clark; and five great-grandsons, Nathan, Elias, and Caleb Jensen, and Max and Clark Fowles.
Mike was a life-long member of the Roman Catholic Church. Funeral services and interment will be in Lander, Wyoming on October 30.