Mike Bjorneby

Courtesy of Patty (Snider) Morgan & Buzz Bjorneby- March 2008

Mike's obituary from the Panama Canal Record

Mike was born in Bremerton, Washington on November 26, 1965. He went to Panama in 1961 and was part of a family that had been in the Canal Zone since 1907 and was a fourth generation Zonian. He graduated from Cristobal High School in 1973 and attended Canal Zone College for two years. He was a well-known motorcycle racer in Panama and Latin America. He was the Number One racer for several years. He was active in the Lions Club in Seattle for three years.

Written by Mike's Brother Buzz

Mike was born: Nov 26, 1955, and died on August 31, 1988 at the age of 32. The week before he died, he spent the weekend with me in Pullman, Wa. We spent the weekend down at the Snake River Canyon near Idaho, water skiing and fishing from my boat. I was glad we got to spend a wonderful weekend together on the river drinking and partying like old times. Later that winter, Jan, Marc, and Kristi came out to Pullman with some of Mikes ashes. We took them down to the Snake river, and I took us all out on the boat to scatter some of his ashes. It was a beautiful day, down on the Snake River Canyon. If you've never been there, it is the poor mans Grand Canyon. The river is in a wide canyon with abundant wildlife and old abandoned apple orchards, and we were the only humans for miles that day. In some areas it is as deep as the Grand Canyon. It was my sanctuary all through vet and grad school.