Michael John Carvan Jr.

Michael, better known as Mike, passed away peacefully at KC Hospice House. Mr. Carvan formerly lived in Kansas City Missouri, and was proceded in death by his lovely wife of 48 years, Sheila Bond Carvan, and his parents, Michael and Sylvia Fryer Carvan.

Michael was born on November 1, 1939, at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. His father and his mother's father was in the U.S. Navy and stations came to the Kansas City Area in 1944 when his father, a Aviation Ordinance Chief, was transferred with his group to the Olathe Naval Air Station in Olathe, KS. His group was commanded by Captain Flatley, later to be Admiral Flatley.

The family, including his younger brother Douglas, lived on 42nd and Paseo, and he attended St. James Grade School, Rockhurst High School and Rockhurst College before getting his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas. Mike was also a member of a Fraternity at K.U.

His first engineering job was as an intern with Burns and McDonnell engineering company in the summer of 1960. He inspected construction at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Kansas City. Summer of 1961 was spot surveying on Southern Illinois Power Coup Plant site. He graduated in January of 1962 and began his career at Burns and McDonnell.

In the fall of 1956, he has met Sheila Bond, a student at Loretto Academy, at a Rockhurst High School Game. In September of 1962, Mike and Sheila were married. Sheila had graduated from Providence Hospital School of Nursing. They were married at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

Two different doctors had told Sheila that she would not be able to have children so the couple were planning to adopt later. Sheila had been doing volunteer work at St. Anthony's orphanage. However, 9 months and 3 weeks after they were married, Sheila gave birth to their first child, Mary Elizabeth. Sheila was told that she could not become pregnant while she was nursing Mary. Wrong again. Michael John III followed Mary and Mathew Robert and Paul David followed Michael.

The family grew up in south Kansas City, with horse-back riding, baseball, football, bicycles, motorcycles. They were also skiing in Colorado; skiing and boating in Dauphin Island, Alabama, camping in Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. Subsequently there were scholastic adventures at the University of North Carolina, University of Miami, Texas A&M, Park University and Avila University.

Dr. Michael's responsibilities grew at Burns and McDonnell, he also earned a Master's of Science degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Missouri and a Master's of Business Administration degree from Rockhurst University.

After 38 years at Burns and McDonnell, he pursued an opportunity with constructive engineering design, and later with HNTB, where he retired in 2009. Mr. Carvan had a very rewarding professional career which complimented his super private life. He worked on local projects, such as the Grandview City Hall, aircraft hangars at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, and Kansas City International Airport. He had projects in the United States ranging from an IBM plant in New York, a BART Terminal in San Francisco, Minuteman Missile site in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Aviation Maitenence Hangars in Norfall, Virginia. He also did numerous foreign projects including new aircraft hangars on a Egyptian Air Force base and an airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a jet engine test in Lisbon, Portugal, and Cairo, Egypt, and a power plant in Santiago, Chile.

After his retirement, he and Sheila were planning a celebration trip to Ireland when she returned to her manner. Subsequently, he worked with Catholic charities and Jewish family services transporting those with needs to Doctors or shopping. Most recently, he worked for Oats Transportation, delivering Meals on Wheels and transporting people to the seniors center in Harrisonville , Missouri. He was also active in his church, an usher for Saturday Mass, and an officer in the Knights of Columbus. 

Visitation Services for Michael will be Monday, March 23, from 5-7pm at Longview Funeral Home. There will be a Rosary on Tuesday March 24, at 8:30am followed by a 9am Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Harrisonville Missouri. The burial will be at Longview Cemetery at 11am.

In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made out to Kansas City Hospice House