MNS - Rest In Peace

He died? Wow. I didn't realize that he was in any sort of peril. Nice guy. I met him once or twice.

RIP. I hope there is actually beer in Heaven. We will drink it here in your rememberence.

One of the best UND guys out there… RIP.

I’m stunned.

He was a prince of a man.

Met him once at a Final Five gathering, one of the few I attended. Nice guy and friend to many on GPL. RIP.

Shocked. Him, Rube, and I have still been doing that Saturday night video call and he was on it just a couple days ago with us. Was in good spirits. Massive loss.

Complete shock. He was doing so well this summer and now he's gone. Always a great guy, he'll definitely be missed.

My heart is broken. He was a kind soul and part of our GPL family. RIP Mike....you will be missed.

Good Lord. I met him a few times - last time might have been at a watch party for BSU's FF semi or in later years at the GPL lot.

Was a great guy from those interactions. Very sad to hear this.

RIP

This is not okay.

To a true brother in arms, a part of the "Real Life 'Hangover' Crew," 1/3 of the Toby Keith's Bar Trio, the *ONE* Whioux fan that was always at the gatherings, a member of the ORIGINAL "tInvasion..." I already miss you, my brotha. RIP, MNS.

Oh Wow. Sorry to hear.

Sad news. So sorry.

This is the first time in my adult life I’ve lost someone other than a family member. Although I didn’t know MNS as well as some others here, he was always a great person to be around. He was gracious when we’d rib him about his poor choice in college hockey teams, and he never minded hanging out with a herd of Gopher fans.

He wasn’t a man of many words, but when he did speak, he made them count, some of which we’ll remember forever! He was a staple in our group at Final Five tailgates, Frozen Four trips, and our summer group trips to the Keweenaw. He even came with a bunch of Gopher fans to tech for a random weekend that was just an excuse to go up and cheer for hockey when our teams weren’t even playing. You could always count on MNS to spice up the group photos with a little green!

I know this won’t get easier as we get older but man this sucks. I’m thankful for so many friends I’ve met through hockey, many of them are on here. We’ve shared some of the best times of our lives together. It will be bittersweet getting to see many of them at his service, but thankfully we have one another to go through this with.

It’s been a rough day with tears randomly falling when texting with friends or just remembering good times we shared. It’s hard to put into words and nothing seems like enough.

Mike was a stand up guy, and it was an honor for those of us that had the privilege of calling him a friend.

We are going to miss you Mike, even in that damn shiny green $ioux jersey. We love you buddy. :angel:

To paraphrase the movie "Swingers" he was the PG13 Guy everyone rooted for. F* man...this is a tough loss.

Does anyone have a link to MNS’s funeral and obituary? I haven’t seen anything on his fb profile.

I haven’t heard anything yet. Hoping we do before the weekend.

It's going to take a bit. They have to get him back to MN, and then make arrangements and such. Guessing it will be in the next few days.

So sorry to hear.

Sorry for the dumb question here, but he was the air traffic controller?

IIRC he was the guy that told what air-lanes were open/optimal so that the air traffic controllers could direct the planes to the correct lanes.

He was a dispatcher for American. So, he was the guy for the airline that helped juggle schedules/delays/re-routings around weather, how much fuel was needed, stuff like that.

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_dispatcher

Mike’s obit:

https://m.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000407381/?fullname=michael-patrick-flaherty

This is for real life, isn’t it? ?

No, it doesn’t seem real yet. Wednesday it will. Thankyou for the update. I hope anyone that knew MNS can come help us celebrate what a great man he was.

I'm not even a little bit certain that it will feel real on Wednesday. Just hope I can be there for a chance to make it feel real.

One of my roommates while at the U passed away unexpectedly 6 years ago earlier this week. It takes a long time for the reality sink in

I graduated with 60 some. One classmate died our Jr. in an avalanche snowmobiling. We sat next to each other in class. It took awhile for it to sink in.

Just saw this on FB....reality hits again...beautifully done

Last night we had one job. That job was to send Mike back home to his family so they could prepare to lay him to rest. The service Father Greg lead, was nothing short of amazing. The Final Flight poem (pasted below) he read was perfect and seemed so fitting. We had a chance to meet his immediate family. We all left as a fAAmily.

We shared stories of our times together, some brought tears and some brought on laughs, nonetheless, all we have are fond memories of Mike. It's comforting for us to know that his family is comforted knowing that WE HAD HIM & HE HAD US! He was not alone here in Texas! WE WERE FAMILY!

Please pray for his family & friends! ??

#fAAmily #MikeMikeMike ?? #FinalFlightAA1578 #19-03

MY FINAL FLIGHT

Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free,

I’m following the flight plan God filed for me.

I took his hand when I heard his call,

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,

To laugh, to love, to work, or play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way,

I found God’s peace at the end of the day.

If my departure, has left a void,

Then fill it, with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,

Ah, yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow,

I pray for you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My Life’s been full, I savored much,

Good friends, good times, your loving touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,

Don’t lengthen it now…with undue grief.

Lift up your heart and share with me,

God wanted me now, so He set me free!

Fr. Greg McBrayer

Chief Flight Controller

Corporate Chaplain

American Airlines

Thinking of the MNS family today. Couldn’t make his funeral due to work. MNS will be missed, an actual UND fan you could hand out with, without being annoyed with in 30 seconds.

The service was beautiful, though (obviously) incredibly sad. Those of us who went to the gravesite wore our various team's jerseys, and the family was very appreciative of that. Dude's going to be missed to an unfathomable level, but he'll never be forgotten.

Rest In Peace, MNS.

Never had the pleasure of meeting MNS, but all I can say is that it speaks volumes about a person if they can be remembered this way. Thinking of his family and all of ya that were close to him