Michael McLaughlin Gervais' Obituary
Michael McLaughlin Gervais, age 61, died by suicide on Sunday, July 28, 2024, ending his story arc here on Earth. He was born January 17, 1963, in Sacramento, California. Mike moved to Lindon, Utah at age twelve and was raised in the home of Elmon and Elmeda Christensen. Despite the neglect, abuse, and abandonment inflicted by his biological parents in the early part of his life, Mike found safety and a home with the Christensen family. He was welcomed and accepted by all the Christensen family, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandparents, for which he was forever grateful.
He graduated from Pleasant Grove High school in 1981 and earned his associates degree from the University of Utah. Mike married his high school sweetheart, Rosalie Montgomery in 1984. They moved to East Millcreek in 1993, and together they were married for thirty three years and had two daughters, Lauren and Lindsay.
Mike had many careers including woodworking, cabinet and furniture making, custom gun making, and industrial sales.
He loved cycling and riding motorcycles, hiking, collecting and smoking pipes, roasting coffee, grilling, cooking new foods, designing his own landscaping and doing home improvement projects, feeding the neighborhood birds, watching the sunset from his balcony, playing scrabble, listening to NPR and Utah Jazz games on the radio, and solving the New York Times crossword puzzle. He enthusiastically embraced trying new foods, things, and experiences, challenged himself to continue learning throughout his life, and was a WWII history and aviation enthusiast.
His daughters both inherited his skill in writing and language, his love of music, and a sharp wit and unfailing sense of humor. They also share good memories of camping, boating, fishing, mountain drives, and taking road trips together.
Mike was honest, loyal, and lived his life with integrity. He was also industrious and resourceful, and creatively expressed himself through the works of art he designed and built by hand. Despite his early hardships, Mike lived these values every day and strived to pass them on to his daughters and others that he mentored.
Mike is survived by daughters Lauren and Lindsay Gervais, brothers Adam (Lashele) and Bruce (Nancy) Gervais, Aunt Sylvia Zuck, and the Christensen family. With gratitude, we would like to thank his friends Rick Webster, George Fisher, and Sean Reum for standing by him to the end, as well as the friendship of his neighbors over the years.
Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial in remembrance of Mike’s life. Please contact his daughters for details. Those wishing to honor him may donate to a cause of their choice, as he has done.
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