Michael Gordon Hensley

Michael Gordon Hensley December 23, 1933 - December 19, 2013 Michael Hensley, longtime resident of Rock Springs and Farson, Wyoming, found his freedom from Alzheimer†™s December 19, 2013 at Mountain Vista Care Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. The son of Victoria Dawson and Ludwig Charles Hensley, Michael was born in San Antonio, Texas on December 23, 1933. He grew up in Leadville, Colorado, where his father taught him to hunt and fish. He learned to ski on Cooper Hill with help from members of the 10th Mountain Division who had trained in Leadville. He graduated from Leadville High School in 1951 where he played clarinet and saxophone in the school band and a dance band, was photographer for the school newspaper and yearbook and acted in school plays. He attended Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado where he was music major and active in theater productions, both acting and designing sets. He also was a photographer for school events. In 1955 he received his B.S. degree from WSC and was awarded a graduate fellowship to study theater at the University of Wyoming, where he earned his master†™s degree in 1956. Michael served in the U.S Army at a missile base near Berkeley, California from 1956 to 1958. There he continued to act in Community Theater in the San Francisco area. He married Patricia Macy in 1958 in Leadville, Colorado. They had three children: Kathleen, Kurt and Gretchen. Michael taught English and Drama at Leadville High School until 1966 when he was hired to teach at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming. At WWCC, Michael taught courses in English and Drama, directed college theater productions and later became Director of Media Services for the college. During this time he continued to pursue his talent in photography, starting the photography department at WWCC and accumulating an impressive collection of antique cameras and camera equipment. Mike also became an accomplished sculptor and a creator of dioramas. He was in demand as a dramatic reader, especially of poetry. Mike developed an interest in international travel, leading educational trips for students to Hawaii and accompanying his WWCC colleague Charlie Love as photographer on research trips to the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti and Fiji. He traveled with his family to Hawaii and Europe. In 1981 Michael and Patricia divorced and Mike moved to Farson, Wyoming. In 1983, Michael married Marcia Berry in Eden, Wyoming and moved back to Rock Springs where both taught at WWCC. They spent summers and weekends at their Farson home, the Hensley homestead, until moving there in 1991. Mike loved their historic home with its panoramic view of the Wind River Mountains and enjoyed the rustic lifestyle he and Marcia shared with their dogs, cats, and horses. He liked to entertain visitors around campfires with his stories and to feed them his specialty, milk can stew. Mike loved the outdoors, especially the mountains and high plains desert of Wyoming where he hunted, camped and hiked with family and friends. He was an expert skier and fly fisherman. Friends described him as a Renaissance man because of his diverse talents and enthusiasm for life. Mike is survived by his wife of 29 years, Marcia, of Westminster, CO, his children Kathleen (Hiner) of Rock Springs, WY, Kurt Hensley (Denver, CO) and Gretchen (Warner) and her husband Terry (Albertville, MN), his step-daughters Robyn Meredith (Hong Kong) and Wendy Berry (Pahoa, HI), cousins Eleanor Staab and husband Charles (Arvada, CO) and Barbara Berry and husband Les (Lafayette, CO). Mike has fourteen grandchildren: Jamie Dodd and Lindsay Hiner, Kaleigh Laleman and husband Ryan, Kelsey Hensley, Kaden and Karson Hensley, Sarah Pepin and husband Nate, Stefani Waters, Mandy Valiquette and husband Michael, Michael, Becky, Brianna and Brittany Eid, and Christopher Bradsher. He has fourteen great grandchildren: Hayli Wall-Pepin, Sterling Christen, Skylar, Aviana, and Aria Pepin, Peyton, Brooks Valiquette, Peyton and Braden Davison, Ricky and Michael Provence, Skye and Billy Dodd, and Maesyn Laleman. A memorial service will be held Dec. 28th in Arvada, CO at 1:00 at the Arvada United Methodist Church. A celebration of life will be held this summer in Farson, Wyoming.