J. Michael Reilly

1950 - 2021

J. Michael Reilly
"IS THE SHOW OVER?"
Regrettably, it is. J. Michael Reilly, the beloved speech and drama teacher in the Midland Public Schools, mentor, and friend, took to the stage on September 3, 1950, and made his last curtain call on March 13, 2021, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico after a battle with bladder cancer.
We, "Coach" Reilly's former students and fans, regret the delay in the publication of this notice. We all imagine him shouting "is the show over?" from the darkness of the auditorium, as he often did whenever there was an unexplained lull in the run-through of a show during rehearsals.
Coach Reilly leaves behind his partner Jose "Louie" Duran, and hundreds of students and colleagues whom he influenced and inspired. His students became theater directors, professional actors and/or musicians, music teachers, and communications professors. His legacy, though, is thousands of people, spanning generations, who have a deeper appreciation of art and its abilities to transform people.
His students gained a greater appreciation of themselves. A recurring sentiment among his grieving former students is "he really believed in me, and he let me know it." He challenged his public speaking students to break free of their insecurities and believe in themselves. He engaged his "at-risk" students by hopping up and stepping from desktop to desktop, extolling the importance of speaking with confidence and projection. He committed to his students' success in ways few of his students can recall any other teacher doing in their lives.
Coach Reilly received the Carl and Esther Gerstacker Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1989, two-thirds of the way through his 25-year career teaching at Plymouth Elementary, Northeast Intermediate, and H.H. Dow High School in the Midland Public Schools. In addition, he actively performed and directed at Midland's Center for the Arts. After leaving Midland, he coached performers at Florida's Walt Disney World and at universities and community colleges in Michigan, New Mexico, Utah, and Delaware.
A memorial scholarship fund will be created in his memory. Please visit jmichaelreilly.org for details regarding donations.