Michael Robert Volpe Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Michael Robert Volpe, steadfast pillar of inclusive community and tenacious advocate for people with disabilities, passed from this life, surrounded by family and friends at his home in CoHo EcoVillage in Corvallis, Oregon, on Sunday, June 19, 2022. He was born to Doris J. and Samuel V. Volpe in Lake Forest, Illinois, on July 18, 1954. After graduating from Lake Forest High School, he earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and forestry from St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. He then moved west and took a master’s degree in ESL at Oregon State University. The Corvallis area was to remain his home thereafter. Mike’s inner strength and commitment to ambitious goals showed even in his younger years. He was a highly trained wrestler, a hiker, canoer and skier. Attaining the rank of Eagle Scout, he became a member of the Order of the Arrow. Then, as a young man gifted with such resolve, he faced and traveled a course of progressive MS for nearly half a century. His steady determination to live in an inclusive world made him a champion of equal access for all, regardless of ability. He focused especially on housing within community and on universal accessibility to outdoor spaces, buildings and transportation. It became his life’s work to identify and remove structures that exclude and inhibit people from these necessities. He volunteered steadily and lobbied relentlessly on their behalf, to agencies at both local and state levels. Mike got things changed. He got things done. And his accomplishments and long service did not go unnoticed. He received numerous recognitions and distinguished awards, including the Scott Lay Memorial Award, Eugene Organ Lifetime Achievement Award, Lee Hazelwood Advocacy Award, and an award presented by the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services in appreciation for his “tireless and caring advocacy.” But throughout his years of civic activism, Mike also savored a full life beyond that work, letting his health challenges direct him without defining him. He regularly traveled to see family and friends and to attend reunions. He was briefly married to his dear friend, Glenna. He enjoyed evenings sharing historical books or movies with friends (and chowing down on pizza, with Chocolate Anything for dessert). He loved going to live music concerts, many in the local Corvallis folk scene. He followed a spectrum of sports (but especially the Packers and White Sox), recalling an amazing volume of statistics—both well-known and obscure. He danced to the Beatles and blissed to the Moody Blues. He enjoyed the works of many folk musicians, including Fred Small and Eva Cassidy, John Doan and John McCutcheon. And his infectious grin was at its fullest when recounting tales of youthful mishaps and thoroughly ill-advised feats of derring-do: college goldfish, cheap beer, Columbian jails. Mike’s heart, though, was always in the natural world and the longer view. He followed and supported kinder politics and sustainable environmental paths. He knew and bonded with the Oregon Coast, with Opal Creek and Mt. Rainier, and with the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. And he surrounded his every home with a garden, complete with trees, in quiet testimony. By empowering other causes and voices, Mike found his own, and it spoke volumes. His favorite access into community, preservation and progress was by sharing authentic stories. Through the hearing and telling of such stories—intimate or mundane, serious or silly, gut-busting humorous or acutely emotional—he sowed patient understanding and nurtured perennial friendships. Now the very best story is his own life, fully lived, on a path he pioneered. And it was the privilege of many to walk along with him to the next bend. Mike is survived by his mother Doris Volpe, his sister Peg Posnick (Rick) of Longmont Colorado, niece Rachel Posnick of Salem Oregon, and nephew Sam Posnick of Denver Colorado. Mike’s father, Sam, preceded him in death. A celebration of Mike’s life will be held on Sunday, August 7, 2:00-4:00 p.m., at Avery Park (Lions Shelter), in Corvallis. Online condolences may be left at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com. Memoria in Mike’s name are also welcomed by any of the following. A believer in their work, he was grateful for their support. AHIC - www.AHomeInCommunity.org CoHo EcoVillage - https://www.cohoecovillage.org/ Salem Public Library - https://www.cityofsalem.net/community/library (or any public library offering books on tape or alternate formats) Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center (HBSFRC) http://brainbank.ucla.edu/ . Please share your thoughts and memories for the family at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com

Tributes

Michael Robert Volpe

July 18, 1954 - June 19, 2022