Michael E Welch

Michael Edward Welch better known as “Big Mike”, Dad and Pop. Although a quiet man for the most part, when he spoke it was something that you probably didn’t want to miss. On March 3, 1953 he came into this world. He was the first-born son of Betty and Edgar Welch of Dallas who received him in heaven on December 31,2020 along with so many others, mother and father in law, brother in laws, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and Mason brothers. He became the big brother to Steve Welch of Dallas and he got him a sister Denise Welch of Dallas. Growing up he played baseball and basketball. At the age of 18, on November 5, 1971 he married the love of his life Lisa Welch of Kemp that he has been with for 50 years but married to for 49 years. They quickly started a family having a son Michael Welch Jr. and a daughter Kimberly Carder both who live in Kemp. Dad was a man of strong work ethics and always had to be busy doing something all the time. He never did anything halfway. Even through his battle of lung cancer he excelled. He not only beat lung cancer he lasted years longer than expected. The Dr. would tell him and Mom that he is a medical miracle. He was a well-known field mechanic and ended his career in management and sales. He always had his hands busy working building motors, working on race cars or motorcycles and coaching my brothers’ sports. This is where my brother took after him being able to work on just about anything that held together with nuts and bolts and his athletic ability. Once we moved to Kemp he quickly started being a farm man. We got to grow up watching him raise pretty much all kinds of animals. Boy oh boy, he didn’t realize, that now he not only had a son that he helped with expensive hobbies of the racecars and motorcycles, he now has a daughter that has hobbies of riding horses. He never failed to support us in any experiences that we were interested in. He gave us the drive to not be scared of anything in our careers or in our personal lives. Once he got us through those teenage years, he had lots of time to spend building the house that they wanted, exactly the way they wanted. He stayed on tractors and four wheelers always keeping the yard and flower beds the way Mom wanted. He and Mom made a great team working on their place. If you ever heard them working together it is the funniest thing ever. He had a sarcastic sense of humor and always had something smart to say, either to make you laugh or teach you a life lesson. There was never a time that his only grandchildren KC Carder of Kemp and Macey Carder of Sherman wouldn’t leave the house where they weren’t laughing at something Pop said. I can say as an adult I watched my parents as empty nesters doing their own things in life. Dad was a big golfer. He was always on the course with his buddies, little Mike and even alone. I would always wonder how golf balls got into my yard, until I found out he would go out in the yard and hit balls. He was a proud Texas Master Mason. The bond he has with his brothers in the lodge was something he thought and talked about even in the last months and years that his health would not allow him to attend the lodge, these men weren’t friends they were family to him. He is an endowed member and Past Master of the Kaufman Lodge #726 in Scurry and Kemp Lodge #528 in Kemp. The memories he leaves behind is a man that speaks the truth, shows tough love and never gives up on doing a great job in anything he does. He left this world laughing at Mom, looking at angels, breathing easy with all his loved ones also resting easy around him which is exactly what he wanted.

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