Mike Langley, A Euology

Mike and Patti Langley, and their daughter Beth, were my neighbors for 30 years. My daughter was often Beth’s baby sitter. And before Mike, Patty and Beth, Mike’s parents, Denver and Zola, had built a home at the north end of what had been a Shoenahl apple orchard. My long history with the Langleys explains what undoubtedly seems to some of you as the dismaying choice of me as Mike’s eulogist, but I’m grateful and honored, because, like all of you, I was very fond of Mike. My family could not have asked, would not dare ask, for better neighbors; the Langleys were certainly better neighbors than my raucous crew deserved. Mike, of course, enjoyed the daily show our neighborhood then presented, with Billy Owens’ family also our immediate neighbors, Billy being among the most entertaining guys in all of Mendocino County, and Lloyd Mason’s family across the street and, for stability, Carolyn Eigenman to the north, anchoring us all to larger realities.