Along with many other friends today, I am stunned at the news of Mike Meador's untimely death yesterday. Mike was the owner, or rather the instigator, of the artistic craziness that was Coffee Break Design. With humble beginnings as a rubber stamp company, peddling images that were so not cute from the back of RubberStampMadness magazine, Mike moved on to products that would soon change the world .... small colored eyelets in every possible color, stencils that came with the admonition to use them responsibly, and the world's best double stick tape. Mike was a show man, a great think on his feet comedian, a musician who wrote about us. Who can forget the Ode to Keith LoBue? Or the exploding Peeps in Ginny's classroom, and the stencil barista who worked for tips? His delight in coaxing his wonderful wife, Chris, to do her imitation of Dorothy Hamill skating backwards into a room. Those late, late nights at Ginny's during ArtFul April weekends with MaryJo and Gayle, where we never stopped laughing with Mike. I will miss him dearly, but I can only imagine the tremendous vacancy that Chris and Andy feel in their lives.
I can see him now, working on that next stencil: This is heaven, this is not heaven .....
I am so sad to read this. Mike was such a kind and giving person. Such an original. My daughter and I loved going to their annual warehouse sale here in Indy. We never knew what quirky, off-beat, but wonderful things we would put into our baskets. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Mike's wife and son.
ReplyDeleteSo many good memories of Mike. Who could ask for better than that? We have all know him for many years and shared such fun together. And as far as memories go, I will never forget how funny it was when he sang the song about Keith. Tears were running down my cheek, He was just the best.!
ReplyDeleteHow perfect - This is heaven, This is not Heaven...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting that picture. I had forgotten about a lot of those things. Seeing them grouped together brought back lots of memories!
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