Michael Dean Shoemaker, Colonel, US Air Force (Retired), passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at the age of 77, on Saturday, February 15, 2025, in Nashville, TN. Mike was born October 20, 1947, in Kansas City, MO and was adopted by Carl and Wilma (Wallace) Shoemaker and raised in Minneapolis, Kansas.
He graduated from Minneapolis High School in 1965 and then from Kansas State University. He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force in the early 1970s and trained as a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) in the F-4 Phantom II. His first two operational assignments were in Taiwan and the Philippines. He met his wife of 48 years, Denice, when she visited her sister – a wife of Mike’s squadron mate – in Spain. They married in 1976. Around this time, Mike graduated from the US Air Force’s elite Fighter Weapons School and was stationed in the Netherlands and United Kingdom – flying from bases all over Europe and the Middle East.
Throughout his career, Mike and his family were stationed at the Air Force Academy; the Pentagon; Randolf AFB, TX; and Scott AFB, IL. After being promoted to “Full Bird” Colonel, Mike concluded his career commanding a NATO group in Paris, France. While in Paris, he often surprised the French with his thick accent and large Chevy Suburban. After he retired from the Air Force, he worked as a Sales Executive for Alloy Surfaces, near Philadelphia, until 2012, supplying missile-distracting flares to all branches of the U.S. military and its allies. During his fourteen-year career with Alloy Surfaces, he traveled the world, interacted with officials at the highest levels, and loved to hear from US aviators about how these flares “saved their lives.” In retirement, Mike was a lover of music, guitars, classic cars, Nashville, and his hometown of Minneapolis, KS.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his daughter Carrie Shoemaker, an Ensign in the US Navy who was tragically killed by a drunk driver, and son-in-law, Ronald Luce, a US Army Special Forces officer, who lost his life in combat in Afghanistan.
Mike Shoemaker is survived by his wife of 48 years, DeeDee; children, Michael, Matthew, Kendahl, and Ashley; brother, Charles “Chuck” Shoemaker; grandchildren, Carrie Ella, Aidan, and Theodore.
The family will receive friends from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., Friday, March 7, at Wilson Family Funeral Home, 405 Argyle Ave., Minneapolis, KS 67467. Funeral services will be at 11:00 A.M., Saturday, March 8, at the First Presbyterian Church, 102 E. Second St., Minneapolis, KS 67467. The burial with full military honors will be in Highland Cemetery, Minneapolis. Memorials may be made to Mothers Against Drunk Driving and may be left in the care of the funeral home.