Michael Eberhard Obituary (2021) – Missoula, MT

Michael Eberhard

On June 23, Mike was called home while doing what he loved, fly fishing on Rock Creek. Mike had fished from the Florida coast, off the coast of Mexico and all over the Northwest. He has many friends in the Missoula area from his many trips to snowmobile with people he truly enjoyed being around, especially Bill Evans. As a hunter he spent most of his recent years in Colorado but had successful trips from Texas to Montana. A compulsive golfer, he had the privilege of playing all of the British Open venues and many of the historical courses in the US. His final treat to himself was to golf 36 holes a day for two months a year for the past several years in Palm Springs at the PGA West complex. He was very generous and invited many of his friends to stay with him and enjoy the courses. The consistent theme in the activities Mike liked was being outdoors.

Mike was born in Butte on August 13, 1957 to Buck and Helen Eberhard but only lived there for a few weeks before moving to Thompson Falls for a year then Glasgow and finally settling in Missoula in 1959. It was there that his brother Keith came along and the family was complete. Mike attended Russell grade school, Sentinel High School (1975) and graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Montana State (1980). He was a die hard Bobcat fan and was dismayed when his own son went to the UM. Mike married Janet in 1987 and embraced her two daughters Kimberly and Amber as his own. Mike and Janet had two more children John and Torrie. Mike was very proud of his children and believed in them. Mike and Janet divorced; however they remained friends until the end. Mike started working for Haliburton in 1981 and held many different positions until he retired after 30 years. After a couple years with a few other companies he went to work as the Chief Operations Officer for SRC Energy and held that position until the company was sold a few years ago. He holds patents and was well respected by all of his colleagues. Mike did retirement right, he would travel to friends and golf, snowmobile, hunt or fish. When he wasn’t going, the friends were coming and he enjoyed showing them a good time in Denver or Palm Springs. He was greatly respected by all who knew him and was regarded as an all around great guy.

Mike is preceded in death by his grandparents and father (Buck), Those surviving him are his mother Helen Evans (Eberhard) and her husband Bill, children Kimberley, Amber, Torrie, and John his wife Kallie. His grandchildren Estella, Farah and Zoey and brother Keith and his wife Sue.

There are no services planned at this time however, Mike supported many charities and donations to those would be his preference: The American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project, The Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society for its local programs of general purposes. We would like to add one more from the family, The American Heart Association since heart disease was the reason for his passing.