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Michael Ryan Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Michael Ryan
paul and Polly ferrise
May 16, 2025
Michael spent his winters in Palm Desert. We miss him so much. I can hardly wait to see him again. We lost our son to cancer in 2010. I am sure they are together with smiles on their faces. I can still see him their on the alter at daily mass. A joy.
Jim Patch
June 3, 2024
10 years have past. Pray for me Mike.
Jim Patch
May 16, 2019
Missing your friendship more each year. Pray for me.
r p
December 28, 2014
What a dear sweet man and what a sense of humor. Selfless.
September 3, 2014
I am sure God will truly appreciate your humor. Your friendship will live forever. Looking forward to celebrating the Liturgy with you on the last day. Jim Patch '68
July 3, 2014
oh Michael, i miss you dearly, even though, i know you are in great hands. you have done your best. we will all miss you at Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert where you touched so many of us. I look forward to our reunion at some point, knowing that you are looking down on all of us. To Tim and family our deepest sympathy. paul and polly ferrise
Patrick Koenig
June 29, 2014
Wow! Fr. Ryan was one of my all time favorite priests in Monroe. My family will be forever grateful for the funeral mass he did for my mother's passing last December. My thoughts and prayers for his entire family.
Richard and Carolyn Albert
June 3, 2014
It is with great sadness that we heard of Fr. Michael's passing while we've been gone. He was such a wonderful inspiration to us. He never missed a moment to show his humor and we loved him for it. Richard always tapped his watch during the procession to begin Mass. It was a reminder to Father that no one listens to a homily beyond 10 minutes. Father always smiled and then tapped the hymnal to remind Richard that it was time to sing. He will always be in our hearts.
Tim & Rose Blumenstein
June 2, 2014
Dear Family of Fr.Mike,
Father Mike was a lovely man. Not only was he our pastor for a time at St.Paul's Parish in Seattle, he was also our Cursillo Priest and our Marriage Encounter Priest. We feel so blessed to have known him. We treasure the time we had with him. And we were delighted to have seen him at our parish, Holy Family in Auburn in the last year. His warmth and kindness will always be remembered.
Our deepest condolences to all of your dear family. He spoke with great love of his family quite often. God bless & comfort you.
June 2, 2014
Fr. Ryan was a blessing! He helped our parish, St. Anthony, continue to thrive when he visited. He fit in beautifully and we were always happy to have his presence.
Fr. Ryan was a great credit to humanity, we shall miss him.
Denise & Tom
Love, Sandy
June 1, 2014
Father, you can now tell us all about Heaven!
Sandy Brown
June 1, 2014
Although I haven't seen Fr. Ryan since I was a freshman at Blanchet, I really loved him. His sense of humor was so appreciated by the little delinquent that I was! He made me feel special. I know for sure that he made so many people feel special to him. He was so gifted, generous and kind. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. He was beloved by all who knew him and certainly by me.
June 1, 2014
Father Mike, You are one of those people that I call the sunshine of our lives! Your smile, your laughter and your love are contagious. Enthusiasm [ God Within] says it all. God bless you and all of your family.
Bill & Eleanor Raschkow
June 1, 2014
Dear Father Mike's family,
Bill and I met Father Mike 21 yrs. ago when our daughter Lisa married Mark Johnson. Also, Mark bought Father Mike's Grayland House. In August 1999, Bill, our son Kyle and I purchased the Grayland house from Mark and Lisa. For the past 15 yrs., our family has enjoyed many special week-ends at the Grayland house. Thanks to Father Mike for selling the house originally to Mark.
Father Mike will be greatly missed by our family.
May 31, 2014
Thank you for all you have done for everyone. Your work in Nyumba is unbelievable. You are an outstanding person, loved by all.
Eleanor Shepherd
colleen pettibone
May 29, 2014
Fr.Ryan was a true inspiration to all that he came in contact with. If there were ever a saintly humanitarian it was Mike. His comical ways, loving ways and goodness remain here....his fun ways will be shared with many in heaven especially with Jack and Katie!!! He will be sorely missed throughout the world.
Colleen and Richard Pettibone
May 29, 2014
You were always a joy to be around.
Thank you for being such. I appreciated your special insights
John Carroll(semi-cousin)
Linda Hancock
May 29, 2014
Father Mike, thank you for being there for me especially during the past two years. You were a Godsend showing up when my family and I needed you.
God give you His eternal rest.
May 29, 2014
Mike and I were fellow grads(1955) at Seattle Prep. My wife Kathy and I have enjoyed many opportunities of visiting with him over the years. What a sense of humor and what a fine example of a life of faith. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was one of a kind. Ed Brillault
Anne Wotring
May 29, 2014
May you rest in peace, Father Mike.
Sue Johnson
May 29, 2014
Father Ryan was my all time favorite priest. He is one of Karl 's, my son, godfathers. He warmed my heart and showed me the way.
Allen Miller and Maureen Callaghan
May 29, 2014
Father Mike was a great priest, friend, and neighbor to us in Olympia. He baptized our three children, Brendan, Patrick, and Brigit, the patron Saints of Ireland as he called them. We will remember him when he lived up Sylvester Street from us and we shared conversation and Jamieson's on our respective front porches. He was generous to allow us to stay at his house near the beach in Grayland. We will never forget skiing at Crystal with him when he predicted that we would have someone like Pope Francis leading the church into the 21st Century. He spread the Gospel at the Olympia Rotary club about his mission school in Rwanda. We will never forget Father Mike and may he rest in peace.
Miguel Pérez-Gibson
May 28, 2014
Father Ryan, you were an inspiration to me when I needed it most. I will see you on the other side-
May 28, 2014
Dear Family of Fr. Michael "J" Ryan.
Oh, how we know he was not Fr. Michael "G" Ryan - and God love him for that!. I met Fr. Ryan when he was the chaplain at Bishop Blanchet in the 70's and I was a student teacher, though he was known to the Goodwin family for many prior years. He married Bill and me almost 38 years ago and we were go glad to see him in the last few years, especially. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you at this time when we know memories of him will bring smiles to your faces. His funeral today was a beautiful tribute to a life well lived for a person well loved.
Bill and Molly Goodwin Hastings
Kathleen Cannon
May 28, 2014
To Fr.Ryan's family.
Oh, how he loved you all. I attended a Mission that he gave at Sacred Heart Parish in Lacey a couple years ago and heard stories of his beloved brother and sister, his nieces, nephews and cousins.
My parents and brother knew him from his years at Blanchet. Fifteen years later, when he commissioned me as a Stephen Minister at St. Michael's in Olympia, he picked my parents out in the crowd and mentioned them by name. Sometimes, I would not see him for 8-9 years but when I did see him he always called me by name which felt so good. His homilies were down to earth and related to daily life. His sense of humor kept us laughing.
I liked and and saved an article that he wrote for the St.Michael's bulletin decades ago. It seems appropriate now so I am enclosing it below. He has and is now seeing and hearing what God has prepared for those who love Him. I will miss him.
Kathleen Cannon, also Capitol Hill, St. Joseph's and Seattle U>
Dear Parishioners,
Seven in ten Americans believe in heaven "where
people who have led good lives are eternally
rewarded." The same Gallup poll reports that the
percentages haven't' changed much in thirty years.
A recent Newsweek, however, notes that ministers
are considerably more skeptical about heaven than
the laity; and so we seldom hear sermons about
heaven. I'm not at all skeptical about heaven
but I find it difficult to preach about. We are dealing
with something that lies completely out of our
experience. How do we discuss something for
which we have no frame of reference? Theologian
Ladislas Boros suggests that we get hints of heaven
from the pattern of human life itself.
Life begins in the small dark aquatic world of the
womb. For nine months it's the only world the baby
knows; and, given a choice, I'm sure she would opt
for staying right where she is. We older, wiser folk
know, however, that she must break from her tiny
world if she is to grow. At birth, the infant enters an
immensely larger world; its indignant little howls are
softened in the arms of its mother. It is introduced
slowly to its father, its brothers and sisters. And the
pattern is established. Again and again as it grows,
the child will leave a smaller world for a larger; and
each time it will encounter the possibility of loving
and being loved. As it responds to the possibility, it
grows and develops.
It happens at five, when the child leaves the little
world of its own back yard and ventures into the
larger world of the school. Something similar
happens when the young person enters high school
or college, chooses a career or a spouse. Each time
there is a rupture, sometimes a very painful one,
that allows her to enter a larger context, a larger
world; and each time there is a new possibility of
loving and being loved, a new possibitity of growth
and development.
At some point in time, however, it seems as though
the familiar process slows down and even begins to
reverse itself. As our body ages and strength
declines, the horizons of our world draw in on us.
We find ourselves confined first to our
neighborhood, then to our home, our room, our bed.
In a curious sort of way, we have come full circle.
Our body and our world have become a womb from
which we must burst if we are to go on growing, if
the pattern is to continue. Death, as Christians see
it, is that second birthing. It opens on an immensely
larger world, the Kingdom of God. Here the
possibilities of loving and being loved open up
beyond measure. How do we describe it? How
does the infant describe the world beyond the
womb? As Paul said: "Eye has not seen nor ear
heard the good things God has prepared for those
who love him."
Sincerely,
Michael J Ryan
Pastor
J.L. Drouhard
May 28, 2014
“Joy is a sign of generosity. When you are full of joy, you move faster and you want to go about doing good to everyone.” ? Mother Teresa. God speed, Michael J.
Max Macias
May 28, 2014
Father Ryan, I will always remember your humorous and heart felt homilies. You made me feel joyfully proud to be Catholic. Thank You for your ministry and use of Gods grace.
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
May 28, 2014
Dear Members of the Ryan Family,
The Sisters of the Holy Names are holding all of you in their thoughts and prayers. We know your dear Fr. Michael will always smile upon you and bless you. God bless each of you in all the ways you most desire. Lovingly,
Ned Flohr
May 28, 2014
Dear Family of Michael,
I have known him since we went to St. Joseph grade school together,and then again at Seattle University. Over these many years I would see him at St. James Cathedral from time to time, and those meeting were always a pleasure. He will be missed by many, and he had a great sense of humor. He is in my prayers, and may God bless him, and all of you.
Ned Flohr
Sylvia Sarver
May 28, 2014
Dear Family of Fr. Michael J.
I enjoyed his humor and wonderful homilies when he was here at Sacred Heart Parish in Palm Desert CA. He introduced this parish to some wonderful priests that gave us our Lenten and Advent missions. He always called me Bremerton because that was where I had lived when I first met him. What a joy. May he rest in peace. God bless you.
May 28, 2014
Father Michael your infectious smile and
laughter will be greatly missed.
You will be sorely missed within our family.
God bless you. Gerald and Agnes Katherine Geer. Olympia, Wa.
Candy Adams
May 28, 2014
I'll miss your humor and the 8 minute sermons!
cynthia Geer
May 27, 2014
Cynthia Marie Geer - Father, you will always be remembered. You were a huge support to me and my family during a very difficult time in our lives. Bless you and God be with you.
Bud and Joan Ferrari
May 27, 2014
Joan and I had the wonderful experience of knowing Fr. Michael Ryan in recent years. He had a fabulous sense of humor, was a great priest, and we will miss him.
Paula McBrady
May 26, 2014
My husband and I loved seeing him and hearing his sermons when he filled in at Mass at St Anthony in Renton. I can still hear his voice...a little bit of a rasp and a hint of laughter. What a great picture for his obituary. It depicts his spirit and what you would always see when you met him at Mass and after. We are so sorry for his loss and extend to his family sincere condolences. He was a great man and servant not only of God but all of us.
May 26, 2014
I have been so very blessed with knowing Michael J (as he called himself)and having his presence in my life. He shared his deep faith, compassion, depth of his inner soul and most cherished, his humor. We enjoyed many adventures together from golfing, skiing, travels, dinners, visits with my family and especially his sacred homilies that will be forever enshrined in our lives. We now have another Saint Michael taking his presence with the Communion of Saints and will ask for his ongoing intercessions for inner peace and service to others as demonstrated by his life here on earth. I am a better son, husband, father, uncle and person because of Micheal J's love, kindness, compassion and humor. His Spirit is alive and will be forever embraced.
Dick Ryder
Lisa Larcher
May 26, 2014
I am so grateful to have gotten to know Fr. Ryan over the last several years. His humor, kindness and compassion were such a gift. I feel so blessed that our paths crossed and enriched in faith by his beautiful example.
May 25, 2014
I was sorry to hear of Fr.Ryans death. I first met him when he was living at the Golf course in Burien. He was very kind to come and see my brother Philip who also lived at Glen Acres. My sincere condolences to his family. Rosemarie MacDonald---Kingston Ontario
May 25, 2014
Dear Family of Fr. Ryan:
What a gift he was to all of us.
This morning just prior to the 9:00a mass at St. Anthony's in Renton Fr. Ryan's passing was announced. This news hit the congregation hard and there were many tears as well as many smiles of rememberance.
He stepped in where there as a need and truly blessed us. We loved attending the masses at which he presided. They were always spiritfilled, lively, and you just never knew what he was going to say next,,,,but it usually had to do with one of our beloved priests and their absence.
Our daughter is an altar server at St. Anthony and served many masses with Fr. Ryan. His kindness to the servers was beautiful and appreciated. He had a way of thanking them for their service that was so kind, heartfelt and genuine the kids truly felt the joy of service and the love of God in his words.
We loved him. We will miss him. We delight in the perfect joy he now knows. We know Fr. Phil is happy to see him home.
God bless you all,
Barbara & Louie Wu
St. Anthony - Renton, WA
Pat Thenell
May 25, 2014
Mike was always the good and faithful servant of God. But of course he was just so much fun. I remember his student teaching time and best of all I remember him as a fellow teacher at Blanchet.
Terry & Marlene Yahn
May 25, 2014
I was saddened to read about Father Ryan's passing. A true man of god & a gentleman. While he was at Holy Spirit we
had many good talks, especially golf. As a funeral director I enjoyed working with him on a professional level, we had a mutual respect for each other. My sympathies to his family.
May 25, 2014
Dear Tim and Family,
In arriving back to Olympia in 1987 we discovered that Michael was an old classmate of ours at Seattle University. Since that time Michael has been a major part of our family: weddings, baptism, and sharing the joys of our children and grandchildren. Golfing was also a favorite activity. There are golf rules and then there was Michael's golf rules. He will always be missed and his laugh will never be far from our hearts.
Love,
Tom and Betty Hill
Lee Ann Scherman Fralick
May 24, 2014
Dear Family of Fr. Michael,
I was devasted to learn of Michael's passing - I am so sorry. Michael was my pastor and my boss for 10 years at St. Michael Parish in Olympia. He also presided at our wedding and has been a great friend. I will miss him so much.
Prayers and blessings for you! St. Michael Parish is also having a Memorial Mass for Michael on Saturday, May 31st at 9AM. I will be playing the piano and singing.
Blessings,
Lee Ann Scherman Fralick
May 24, 2014
Fr. Ryan baptized my son and five years later, officiated at my mother's funeral; he was unfailing in his support of that tragic time of my life. He found joy, compassion and understanding in everything. He was the least judgmental human being I have ever been graced to know and his sense of humor was out of this world. He changed my life, for which I will forever be grateful. Your earthly journey is over Father Ryan; may you find grace and love for all eternity with our heavenly Father.
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