Michael Mercer

Michael John Mercer was born on July 12, 1944 at home, near Pumpkin Center, Oklahoma. He was the second child and only son of Etta Estelle (Posey) and John Mercer.
Michael grew up in Bryan, Texas. Vacations were spent in Oklahoma visiting his mother’s relatives and working on his uncle’s farm, where he learned to drive tractors and bale hay. He joined the United States Navy before graduating from Stephen F. Austin high school in Bryan, and later earned a GED. While in the Navy, Michael served on the U.S.S. Coral Sea in the Pacific. Spending leave in Australia, he discovered that he loved the country and Australian people. After the Navy, Michael returned to Australia to travel, live and work.
Michael eventually made Norman, Oklahoma, where his mother lived, his home town. He enjoyed cycling Norman’s expanded bike trails and was a huge fan of the OU Sooner football team. Thunderbird Lake and the ponds around Norman were favorite fishing spots. At home, he was a gardener and cultivated a large plot of vegetables. Michael retired from the University of Oklahoma, where he worked as a librarian for the Oklahoma Geological Survey’s core sample library. He was fortunate to have a close-knit circle of Norman friends who he met up with weekly to laugh, share views about the world, and celebrate birthdays and holidays.
He will be deeply missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his sisters, Letha McIntire of Blanco, Texas, and Norma Beirne of River Pines, California. Michael was preceded in death by both parents and his oldest sister, Janice Piccolo.

His older sister, Janice Piccolo, died just the month before in Conroe, Texas.