Michael Elihue Throneberry's Obituary
Michael Elihue "Mike" Throneberry
"Big Mike," "Big Thorn," "Daddy-O," "Gentle Giant," "Bop"
March 20, 1955 - November 11, 2025
Michael Elihue Throneberry, 70, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away peacefully at his home on November 11, 2025. Born in Roswell, New Mexico to Clifton Jr. and Emma (Sherrill) Throneberry, Mike lived a life defined by boldness, generosity, resourcefulness, and a heart far bigger than his body ever was.
If you never met Mike and someone asked what he was like, the truth is simple: he was bold. Bold in the way he loved, bold in the way he talked, bold in the way he lived. He'd give you the shirt off his back, and once you met him, you never forgot him.
Mike spent only a few of his early years traveling between New Mexico, Tennessee, and Oklahoma before the Throneberry family settled in Tulsa when his father was elected into office at Local Union 798. They lived first in a trailer, then in a house on Joplin Street. Mike attended Byrd Middle School and Tulsa Memorial High School until age 16, when the family moved to a ranch house in Haskell after acquiring a racehorse, a move that shaped much of his future.
At Haskell High School, Mike truly came into his own. He was selected for Boys State (chosen by the mothers of students) and was named Lineman of the Year for the Haymaker football team his senior year. He later attended Oklahoma State University briefly before returning home. Mike gave college a shot, but ultimately found his path in the pipeline, as a brother of the 798ers, where he truly belonged. He learned to weld and took great pride in a trade he carried throughout his life. He worked major pipeline jobs across the country, including the Alaskan Pipeline, where he sustained the injury that would lead to decades of surgeries. His family lovingly called him "the bionic man," and although much of his body ended up fused, nothing ever fused his spirit. When welding took too much of a toll on his body, Mike returned to Oklahoma and poured himself into managing Mighty Acres Horse Ranch. He cared for mares, learned to handle breeding and stud work, and looked after the racehorses connected to his family's ventures.
Mike obeyed the gospel early in life and was baptized at Park Plaza Church of Christ. He attended there as a child and returned periodically throughout his adulthood.
Even as a kid, adults loved him, though not always for the reasons his parents hoped. Once entrusted with a neighbor's pool while they were out of town, he threw a party and didn't quite get the cleanup done in time. He took full accountability, as he always did. As a teenager, he once packed a roll of toilet paper and his Bible and hitchhiked to Texas with a buddy to "live off the fat of the land," only to get picked up by his very unhappy father at a hotel.
Throughout his life, Mike surrounded himself with animals: raccoons, flying squirrels, hawks, many beloved dogs. He had three named Yogi, Bear, Lucy, Lola, and Ben the cat. His heart had room for every creature.
An avid outdoorsman, Mike filled his life with hunting and fishing. He was an excellent marksman with many trophy deer, and an accomplished fisherman with award-winning catches, whether bass fishing from a boat, striper fishing in the river, or hunting from one of his handcrafted deer stands.
If Mike was known for anything, it was his unmatched resourcefulness. He loved dumpster diving, scrap collecting, and building things from nothing. He crafted multi-functional picnic tables, benches, grills, cookers, swing sets, monkey bars, vehicle accessories, and anything else a person could imagine. With a welder, pipe, and a creative spark, he could make magic out of junk.
But his greatest acts of creation were not the things he built, they were the lives he helped rebuild. After entering recovery, Mike became deeply involved in AA. He played a meaningful role in AA efforts locally, extending support to individuals both in his local community and within the Hominy prison system, teaching and sponsoring inmates, spending countless hours driving back and forth, preparing lessons, making coffee, and sitting at kitchen tables supporting people through the steps. His kitchen table saw countless men learning the truth, hearing it straight, and finding hope again. He offered honest, no-nonsense compassion, and he changed lives because of it.
As a father, Mike was pure adventure. To his children, Amy and Jon-Michael, he was the dad who never said "no." He woke them each morning with coffee and breakfast, oatmeal or bacon and eggs, and he kept them on the go: fairs, zoos, dinosaur exhibits, batting cages, arcades, roller rinks, movies, anywhere they wanted to be. The door was always open for their friends. At home, he built tracks for go-karts and four-wheelers on his land, and when those inevitably ended up sunk in the strip pits, he was a master at fishing them out. He taught his kids to drive a stick shift, back a trailer, drive a boat, handle equipment, and trust themselves. He raised them outdoors, raised them brave, and raised them with freedom. As he grew older, his grandchildren became the light of his life: Elliott, Emmalynn, Everly, and Lydia.
Mike met his beloved wife, Mickie (Barton), 51 years ago when her cousin introduced them, as teenagers, in Haskell. He was 19 and she was 14. He instantly had her heart. They reconnected 14 years ago and for the past 11 years, Mickie has stood lovingly by his side through sickness and health, joy and adventure. She brought him out of his shell in later life, and together they embraced retirement with jet skis, travel trailers, Florida fishing trips, and countless days adventures at home with the grandchildren. The two were married in Las Vegas and shared a partnership full of love, laughter, and the kind of companionship that made every day brighter.
Mike loved breakfast, loved early mornings, loved German chocolate cake and old-fashioned donuts, loved TV shows and movies, loved giving compliments (especially to the ladies), and loved shaking things up with humor that balanced somewhere between shocking and endearing. You did not want to be on his bad side, but you always wanted to be in his circle. He gave gifts, treasures, surprises, and love freely. He made things better - metal, machines, people. He left everything and everyone changed.
Mike is survived by his devoted wife, Mickie Throneberry; his mother, Emma Throneberry; his children, Amy Neely (Ryan) and Jon-Michael Throneberry (Lacy); his grandchildren, Elliott, Emmalynn, Everly, and Lydia; and his sister, Cheryl McCloud (Jeffrey). He was preceded in death by his father, Clifton Throneberry Jr., and his brother, Stephen Dwight Throneberry.
He leaves behind a legacy of grit, generosity, humor, boldness, creativity, recovery, and a love that was never small.
Services will be held at 10:00 AM on Friday, November 21, 2025, at Rivercrest Chapel, Bixby, OK with visitation from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 20 also at Rivercrest Chapel, Bixby, Ok.
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