Michael Etchison

Michael Edward Etchison, 69, passed away on March 26, 2013. He was born on December 6, 1943 to Frank Nelson Ashley and Margaret Jane Sohmer in Mankato, Minnesota. He spent summer afternoons watching Gene Autry movies, and spent winters sledding with his brother, Scott, down their grandfathers hill. He saw Buddy Holly perform there, which started him on a lifelong love of music.

His mother, a schoolteacher, said he taught himself to read at the age of 4 by sitting down with a dictionary. His first storybook was Winnie the Pooh. Later he would read that book dozens of times to his children, and in his last days a kind hospice volunteer read it again to him.

As a youth, he moved to Brownsville, Texas, where he graduated from high school in 1961, and where his mother remarried Alfred Edward Etchison. He had fond memories of spending summers on Padre Island, running a concession stand with Scott, sleeping on the beach on warm, breezy nights, and spending days eating hot dogs and drinking root beer. He sang in the school choir, was in a folk music group, and played bass guitar in a rock band. He earned a scholarship to Claremont Mens College in California, from which he graduated in 1965. There he studied philosophy, French language and literature, and economics, and he readily admitted he spent more time singing in the choir and playing in a rock band than he spent studying.

After college, he was an ordnance officer in the US Army in South Korea along the demilitarized zone after the Korean War. Returning stateside, he lived in Los Angeles for several years, where he was the entertainment editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He had the good fortune to get paid to travel widely and interview many of the stars of rock musics Golden Age in the 1960s.

Realizing that attending concerts and reviewing musical performances paid barely more than gas money, he later moved to Austin, and graduated from The University of Texas School of Law in 1974. As a lawyer, he was especially concerned about protecting the civil rights of the poor and minorities, and he took on many pro bono cases.

He managed Waldenbooks stores in Austin, San Antonio, and Kerrville in the 1980s. In Kerrville, he met his wife, and together they enjoyed hiking, canoeing, camping, and traveling throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

In the 1990s he practiced utilities law for the Public Utilities Commission of Texas in Austin, leaving to move with his family back to Kerrville to care for his motherinlaw, who was in declining health. In Kerrville, he spent his last years as a website design consultant, and working as a greeter at WalMart, where he enjoyed meeting hundreds of people daily.

He loved to read, and was a contributor to several economics textbooks. He loved to cook, and his family rarely ate out as a result, because few restaurants could match his skill. In his later years, he cared for his motherinlaw, Louise Guill, with tender devotion during her struggle with Parkinsons disease.

He loved music, a trait he passed down to his children. He and his son played guitar and violin concerts at Louise Hays Park for several summers, and played throughout the year for local nursing homes. During his daughters early years, he composed and sang to her a new song nearly every day, until failing health began to rob him of his creativity.

He was a kind, thoughtful, sweet man, and he will be greatly missed.

He is survived by his wife Mary Louise Guill Etchison and by their children, William and Emily, who were the greatest joys of his life. He is also survived by brother and sisterinlaw Scott and Judy Etchison of Dallas, whose stead faith encouraged him during his declining health, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

The family especially wishes to thank Monsignor Michael Boulette, and the many friends and family members who made his last days easier, especially Marci Vehon and brotherinlaw Steve Guill and his wife Cindy. The loving care given by Dr. W. C. ODonnell, Dr. Linette Melcher, Dr. Charles Machell, The Haven, Peterson Regional Medical Center, and Peterson Hospice were a blessing and will never be forgotten.

ation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25, 2013, at Kerrville Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday, April 26, 2013, at Notre Dame Catholic Church, with Msgr. Michael Boulette officiating. Burial services will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, with the Rev. Sam Ligon officiating at 3 p.m.

Memorials may be made to the Hill Country Youth Orchestras, the Dietert Senior Center, the American Heart Association, or the charity of ones choice.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory at www.kerrvillefuneralhometx.com by selecting Obituaries. Select Sign Guestbook at the top right of the individual memorial.

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Kerrville Funeral Home. 8308955111

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