John Michel Obituary

After a battle with cancer, John Frederick Michel died on June 20th, 2016 in Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Son of John Adam (1897-1984) and Elizabeth Schell Michel (1904-2001), John was born in Columbus, Ohio on June 21st, 1933. John served in the U.S. Army (1955-1956). As a Corporal, he was stationed in Germany and enjoyed participation on the Army Rifle Team. He re-entered The Ohio State University and earned his B.A. (1959) and M.A. (1960) in Speech Science. He received his Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from the University of Florida (1964) and completed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (1965). His area of study was laryngeal function, voice quality, and the professional voice. Initially a Research Associate in the Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas (1965-1990), John joined the faculty in 1970 in Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders and was promoted to Professor in 1974. He retired in 2003 and was awarded emeritus status. John was the recipient of the 1973 HOPE Award (Honor to Outstanding Progressive Educator) presented by the student body of K.U. He was awarded Fellow of the American Speech and Hearing Association (1975) and was a member of the International Society of Phonetic Sciences, the American Association of Phonetic Sciences and the Academy for the Forensic Application of Communication Sciences. He was an editorial reviewer for several professional journals and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Voice. He was the recipient of numerous grants, author of numerous publications, and presented numerous papers including an annual presentation at the Voice Foundation Symposia (1973-1994). He served on K.U. administrative committees at the Intercampus, Department and University levels (1968-2015). Many college careers were greatly influenced by his academic advising. On September 10, 1960, in Flushing, N.Y., John married Lorraine (Lori) June Ivison who survives of the home. Other survivors include daughter Dr. Sharon Green and Doug Green; daughter Leslie Michel and Roger Lippert; grandchildren Karson, John, Kaysha and Jesse Green, Julie Lippert Watkins and Kenny Lippert, and four great-grandchildren. Family in Ohio includes his sister Marilyn and Mark Cordova. John was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church and a charter member of the Lawrence Breakfast Cosmos (1968-2016). He was chair of a Lawrence task force on Community and Human Relations (1972), member of the Lawrence Traffic and Safety Commission (1979-1986), Lawrence Human Relations Commission (1985-1991), Community Task force on Racism, Discrimination and Human Diversity (1990-1992), and recent member of the Golf Tournament Committee for Family Promise. John enjoyed golfing, playing racquetball and cribbage, watching his grandtwins play, reading, listening to violin music, traveling, and gatherings of family and friends. Inurnment will be at Memorial Park in Lawrence. A Celebration of Life will be held Thursday, August 25, 2016 at Plymouth Congregational Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Family Promise, Lawrence Breakfast Cosmos, or Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment – Oncology Department and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary. Online condolences may be sent to warrenmcelwain.com. In John's memory, his family invites all to raise a mug of beer to toast his life.