Michael Shelton McGehee
December 21, 1952 - March 13, 2025
Michael Shelton McGehee, age 72, of Freeport, Florida, passed from this life and into the loving arms of our Lord and Savior on March 13, 2025. Heaven has called back its earth angel.
Born December 21, 1952, in Oakland, California (on the solstice), the son of Shelton Wayne McGehee and Eve (West) McGehee, he was a military son and lived in various places after the passing of his mother in 1955. Michael was happy to grow up in Bogalusa, Louisiana, with his grandparents Dera and Ezekiel McGehee and his loving family. He then lived in Dover, Delaware and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He met and married Patricia Ann (Parry) McGehee while in Fort Walton Beach. She was his whole heart, and they had 54 years of a love story worth writing about. Michael and Patricia relocated to Marietta, Georgia; Angleton, Texas; and Wasilla, Alaska, where they raised their family of three children along the way, a boy and two girls. Michael and Patricia moved back to Florida in 2015 and settled in Santa Rosa Beach and Freeport, Florida, where he passed.
Michael spent his life trying to make the best life possible for his family and everyone he met; trained in numerous areas of expertise and held a long career as a Planning Engineer in the oil industry in Alaska. Michael’s career was held at Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (1980 to 1995) and then for various Northshore construction contractors, providing service to British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil. Major projects included Pump Station 1 Fire Mainline Check Valve Actuator Upgrade; Ballast Water Re-line (institute-form); Mile Post 200 Reroute Atigun Pass Tie Ins; Mainline Replacement North Side Atigun Pass; Pump Station 10 Check Valve Replacement; Valdez Loading Arm Replacements; Pump Station 6 Topping Unit Turnaround; Pump Station 1 Smokeless Flare Installation; miscellaneous shutdowns for pipeline and pump station repairs; Northstar; Alpine; and Point Thompson; was the Maintenance Planner for Milne Point; worked on Heavy Oil Installation at Milne Point; and was the Construction Planner for Norcon. He retired in 2015. Michael’s legacy left in the State of Alaska will forever be the foundation for all work in the industry to come. He was a mentor and inspiration to many. Prior to his career in the oil industry, Michael was employed by Gulf Chemical and Brown and Root with the roles of operator/maintainer and boilermaker, as he transitioned into his long-term career role as maintenance, shutdown, and turnaround Planner.
Michael loved everyone and everything – music, nature, his furbabies (Sadie and Rosie) and most of all, his family. He was the best father, grandfather, brother, nephew, and cousin anyone could ever ask for and his wife, children, and grandchildren (who he adored) were showered with never-ending love and support. He was their rock, their Northstar. Michael was a fierce provider, protector, and advisor for them all. His love and guidance will be forever missed. Michael enjoyed riding his motorcycles and spending hours fishing on the river; and he was a proud American, with unwavering love for God and Country. Adding to his life and legacy – Michael was just a cool guy, and he loved life.
Michael is pre-deceased by his son, Eric Michael McGehee. Surviving are his wife, Patricia Ann McGehee and his daughters Dahila (McGehee) Diselrod and Michellen(McGehee) Hart (Brett Hart); granddaughters Chloe Ann McGehee, Isabelle Agatha Burris, Lilliahna Lauren Diselrod (Blayze McBrayer), and Alora Noelle Diselrod; uncle Gene McGehee; aunt LaJune Parker; sisters Adrienne McGehee, Carmen Turnage; and
Ann Kain; and his cousins Doug Parker (Lelia), Donna Blackwell (David), and Denise Parker, James Allen McGehee (Elaine), and Ken McGehee (Karen).
A celebration of life will be later held in Bogalusa, Louisiana, where his family will join in honoring and remembering his legacy and eternal love. Michael will be interred with his ancestors and loved ones, located at his family McGehee Cemetery in Bogalusa.
Obituary from Clary-Glenn Funeral Home & Crematory,
George Heywood
Oh my god what devastating news I received while I was in the hospital for some aging health problems at 92. Too think Mike was only 72.
My daughter Gayle and I send our prayers to Pat and the family and wish them well in their time of need.
I have so many great memories of Mike over the years in work and socializing, mainly at the Alyeska and Hawk parties.
I knew from our interview that we would get on well because his and my backgrounds in detailed project planning which we had gone through, all manual and no computer help. All pen and pencil, CPM diagrams , logic of how work tasks were connected, etc.
I am having a real problem comprehending that Mike has gone along with Charlie Edmiston and Dave Owen's, the original crew. At least they are together again.
We,as any other groups, had our ups and downs but had one thing in mind and that was to do our best for Alyeska. Not always liked for what we trying to do, especially as we went from Construction to Operations.
Mike I know helped in the first Pipeline Shutdown and showed what detailed planning was really all about. I know he and I had great help from our similar backgrounds of being the background boys to help the leaders. Always knew I didn't need to check on Mike to see what and how was doing. Great comments' from the project leaders were always positive.
After we both left Alyeska in 1995 we both continued to work and the obituary for Mike gives a summary of what he did. For myself I went to work for Hawk, originally set for 3 months but went on for about 23 years. In actual fact my son, Craig, was my boss while I was working on the Northstar project. I think Mike worked with my son at one time.
Again I want to send our love to Pat and family and thoughts as my family was in a similar position when my wife died passed away sime 24 years ago. Everyone says it gets easier over time, only partly true, the loved ones never leave you.
God bless you Pat and family,
George and family
Dave Norton
Mike was a valued colleague and he set the bar for detailed shut-down planning. He was extremely detailed and competent, while always seeing the big picture. I enjoyed my time with him. RIP
Mel Jessee
My sincere condolences to Mike's wife Pat for her loss. Mike and I first worked together when Mike started with Alyeska in 1980. Back then there were three of us who car pooled in from the Dimond and Jewel Lake area. Originally myself, Dan Devereax, and Alan Albright, until 1980 when we added Mike to the group. You get to know people pretty well when you spend everyday riding back and forth to work with them. You also trusted them to show up on time every morning, so these were people I trusted.
We also used to get together socially at each others house for an evening of darts. So I also knew Pat and their kids...so this is personal and it hurts.
Mike also had a great work ethic and was someone you could always count on when you needed the facts on a project. He was great to work with and always kept a positive attitude. I will miss his big smile!
All of us who car pooled also loved to fish, so that was often something we shared and talked about.
God bless you and be with you during this time of personal loss Pat. I will pray for you and Mike.
Your friend, Mel
Elden Johnson
Mike with an understanding of the big picture, could break it down into small steps so that all on the team could share the same sucessful vision. A good man who worked with joy, enthusiasm and positive attitude. Always a pleasure to work with. I look forward to seeing him again ... where the good pipeliners go.
Greg Kinney
I had the good fortune of working with Mike during his last two years at Alyeska. We were working at the office trailer next to the PS01 PLQ in the Northern Business Unit (NBU) Regional Maintenance group, and Mike was Regional Maintenance Planner opposite Dan Wilkins. We had just gone through the major 1994 Business Process Redesign reorganization, and were picking up the pieces on the north end; it was chaotic, particularly for projects like the PS01 Flare Tip Replacement, because the project management structure had shifted away from Alyeska and toward our engineering and implementation contractors, who were actively contesting each other's influence, while being told that essentially Alyeska was to take direction from them. The adverse implications of this were obvious even then. Mike would have preferred to have stayed in Projects, but in his reassignment, he shined; when it came time to salvage the project, he and Dan Devereaux got busy on defining the critical path and identifying the path forward. Everything noticeably went better afterward. He also understood work management as few others did at the time. Working with the primitive, homegrown IBM Focus based Pipeline Operations Work Order Reporting (POWOR) system,which only allowed one task and therefore one craft per work order, he set up master-sibling work order system that enabled tracking, and it was the best thing going until Passport enabled multiple tasks and crafts on the same work order. This wasn't his favorite kind of work by any means, but he was good at it and helped us a lot. He did leave Alyeska and went back to work on projects elsewhere in the end. I remember him most of all as a great guy, with a great sense of humor, strong opinions, and who would always call it as he saw it. Rest in peace, Mike.
Larry Blachut
I'm sorry to hear of Mike's passing. I worked with him on the Atigun Reroute project and he was always helpful and treated me like I wasn't in quality.
Rest in peace Mike.