Michael Ray Burcham was born on June 22, 1967 to Carl Ray and Frances Marie Burcham in Irving, Texas. Michael attended Mac Arthur High School but under certain circumstances he was unable to graduate and later went on to Northlake and got his G.E.D.. Michael was growing up he wanted to work at General Motors with his father and occasionally did from time to time. This is where Michael saw a sight in his dad that encouraged him to work hard to take care of his family and Michael wanted to follow in his father footsteps. He not only worked with his father but took up a passion for fishing due to the fact that General Motors had fishing tournaments and he later became his fishing buddy. Michael never left home without a fishing rod in the back of his car because he could never pass up a pond or lake without figuring out if there was fish in it for him. He always wanted to go fishing when he had a spare moment. Michael had several other jobs as he was growing up and figuring out what he wanted to become later on in life. As time and the years passed Michael met his girlfriend through a mutual friend. He later started dating Frances and was very determined to stand by her and spend the rest of his life with her, until she finally gave in after 8 long grueling years. When they met, Michael was living at home, there he helped his parents where it was just running out to get something for dinner or picking up his niece Cara from Private School. He was on a bowling team that bowled every Tuesday night in Irving and many other activities. Frances was always next to him in any activity or outing he did with his friends. In 2002, Frances and Michael decided to finally tie the knot and make a life together. As you all know, No marriage goes without mountains to climb and get over but with devotion you can make it and continue to grow. We had our ups and downs but now can only remember all the good times together. Michael never had children of his own but when he married Frances, he said, Stephanie was his daughter. He was always there for all of Stephanie’s activates after school and programs when Frances had to work late. He took great pride in his grandchildren Aron Junior and Lorenzo and valued and cherished each moment with them. Frances and Michael would be celebrating 21 years of marriage next month. During the time Michael and Frances were married he took a job with a company called Maverick Transportation in Little Rock, Arkansas. While working with this company he grew a love and a passion for his job. He made numerous friends, he got to see various states and got to get away from Frances because he drove her nuts about not helping around the house. This was a good excuse for him to have to leave town. Frances was asked by the secretary of the company he worked for known to him and other drivers as “Mama K” to write something unique about Mike that no one would ever suspect about him that would leave people scratching their head and saying, “Wow, I never knew that about Mike!” Come to think about it, I don’t think I ever came up with anything because what you see is what you get. Mike is an open book and you could ask him a question and 45 minutes later you might even know how many toes are on a cat that lives in the barn on a farm in Canton, Texas where his Uncle Booger Man lives. With Michael what you see is what you get. He always took pride and joy with helping others, dropping what he was doing just to make sure you were okay. On Monday, July 13 at 7:03, Michael called Frances to let her know that he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to get to Irving from a Weatherford truck stop. He told her that he wasn’t feeling well and that he might have had a heat stroke but also thought it could possibly be a heart attack. He was determined to get to Frances who was at their home in Irving while the student driver who was with him drove while he laid in the back bunk. When they arrived to Irving the student driver then noticed that Michael was not breathing right and proceeded to call 9-1-1. Later that day, the Irving police informed Frances that they were rushing Michael to Baylor hospital and for her to make her way up there as fast as she could. Once Frances arrived to the hospital she was informed that Michael had suffered a heart attack and had to be resuscitated for 45 minutes after 9-1-1 was called. He was on life support and she was told they would do everything they could do. He took his final breath on Thursday, July 16th. He is survived by his wife France Burcham of 21 year, daughter Stephanie and son-n-law Aron Ibarra and grandchildren, Aaron Jr and Lorenzo, Brother Craig and sister-n-law Melissa Burcham and nieces and nephew Brittany, Kara, Ryan, Stephanie and Elizabeth. He was a husband, dad, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, brother-n-law and a friend to many. He will be greatly missed!

• I will forever miss you Michael more than I could have ever imagined, for I’ve loved you so long that I can hardly remember what it was like or will be like not to have you hear with me anymore.

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