Michael Dean Kallstrom

Mike was born to Thelma and Russell Kallstrom on August 4, 1953, in Bemidji, Minnesota and died on July 11, 2023, at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center due to complications from surgery. His parents moved from Minnesota to Dorris, California, while Mike was still very young, and he attended both grade school and high school there. After high school, he attended College of the Siskiyous for two years, and then moved to Klamath Falls and began working at Jeld-Wen. While living in Klamath Falls, he met his future wife, Cyndi, to whom he was married to for 46 years. He and Cyndi, while raising kids, both went back to college and Mike received both a bachelor's and master's degree in education. He primarily taught sixth grade at Ferguson elementary school and retired in 2012.
Of his life accomplishments, he would be most proud of his family. Soon after he and Cyndi were married, they had two sons, Nick and Adam. He loved his boys, the women they chose to marry, and of course, his grandkids. When the boys were small, he dutifully kept a book for each of them about cute things they said or did, their ball scores, what they got for Christmas and any other special event. He continued that practice until they were well out of school. He spent hours helping them practice sports, doing homework projects, or just having long discussions about life in general. He was not much of a talker with others, but when interacting with strangers he always found a way to brag about his kids. Sometimes totally out of context he would throw in that his older son and his wife were lawyers and his younger son, and his wife were teachers. And then there were those grandkids. Cyndi often caught him watching videos of the grandkids over and over. He made photo albums filled with family pictures and funny things the grandkids said.
Mike could be hysterically funny, but in a quiet way and often people would miss the joke. He was wry, sarcastic, and loved irony. His sense of humor was the first thing Cyndi noticed about him when they met. He could put up a great banter and she knew he was the guy for her. He could still make her belly laugh and did clear up until the very end.
He was a walking encyclopedia and could answer any question about science, math, or geography. And his writing was clever and funny. He was a voracious reader of literature, nature, science, and history. He was a natural teacher and still had students approach him when he and Cyndi were out and about to tell him he was their favorite teacher. If there was a family gathering, Mike could be found hanging out with the kids explaining a math problem or something about science.
He was artistic and painted beautiful paintings and loved to do wildlife photography. He took many trips to the Tulelake and Lower Klamath wildlife refuges, which was truly a refuge for him as well. He could sit for hours to get just the right shot and especially loved to photograph the bucks. He could spot an animal or bird going 60 miles per hour down the highway and would often turn around to photograph it. He and Cyndi had a trip planned for Africa in September for a photography safari. But prior to his death, they enjoyed many trips to Europe, Iceland, Hawaii, the Galapagos, and last fall, a trip to see polar bears in Canada. Following that, they did a road trip across the United States. Luckily for him and the rest of his family, he enjoyed a trip with Cyndi, his boys and their families to Disneyland just prior to his death. It brought him much pleasure to buy the granddaughters princess dresses and buy Weston a light saber.
He loved his doggies, especially his Maggie girl. He still had her ashes because he couldn't stand to let them go even though it's been three years since she died. Each night his current dogs Ginsy and Cooper had "cocktail" time with him at 4 p.m., unless they convinced him to do it earlier. He sat down and gave them way too many treats and barely made them sit to get them. He wasn't much of a dog disciplinarian. Cooper is losing his biggest champion, because whenever there was a disagreement between Cyndi and Coop, Mike always took his side. Cyndi plans to come back in her next life as one of Mike's dogs.
He loved the San Francisco Giants. He had a heart attack several years ago on the day of the fifth game of the World Series. Cyndi had to tell their friends they weren't allowed to visit him at the hospital because he wanted to watch the game. He was happy to survive the heart attack primarily to see the Giants win the World Series. He and his grandson, Weston, spent many hours on Facetime discussing their shared favorite team.
Mike had few friends so if you were one of them, you were among an elite club, because he was selective about who he let in. He probably never told you how much you meant to him. That wasn't his style. But he did care about you. He loved much more than he ever let on and was loved more than he ever knew.
Mike is survived by his wife, Cyndi, sons and daughters-in-law, Nick Kallstrom and Sarah Weston, and Adam and Calandra Kallstrom; his grandchildren, Weston, Renate, Layla and Theo; a brother and his wife, Pat and Mari-Ann Kallstrom; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Kristin Gellner.
A private celebration of life will be held later. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Badger Run Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
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