Handsome, loved, creative, gentle, fun
Growing up in Texas with his parents and his sister Nikki, Mickey was your typical American boy. He had a vivid and active imagination and loved the fictional worlds of superheroes. Mickey spent a lot of time drawing, and superheroes filled most of the pages in his sketchbooks. He loved giving his favorite drawings to his cousins as birthday gifts. As he got older, he developed a love for baseball, bikes, and skateboards, spending countless hours riding around his neighborhood and doing tricks on his bike and board. At the age of 14, he broke his arm in a skateboarding accident, but he never let that slow him down.
Mickey was a people person and had an uncanny way of being able to capture people’s attention. His mother, Judy, recalls that the kids at school loved him, “He once came home from a school dance to tell me about how the kids carried him around the dancefloor singing, ‘Hey Mickey.’” Mickey’s love of people spilled over into a love of travel and adventure, and he was fortunate to have been able to travel quite a bit as a young adult. His grandparents took him and his sister Nikki on several cruises as they were growing up. One of Mickey’s favorite trips was when they went to Las Vegas. His mom says the artwork at Caesar’s Palace really intrigued him. But his favorite trip was when his entire family went to Mexico in 2004 to meet their extended family and learn about the culture.
Even as an adult, Mickey loved superheroes. He spent countless hours building Lego sets and making stop motion videos with the characters on his phone. Aside from his creative hobbies, Mickey’s family was his main priority. He loved getting together at family gatherings. And even more so, he loved spending time with his beloved daughter, Mickenzie, who was the light of his life. He would help her practice volleyball and always helped her stay close to her family. He was the life of every party, and this meant he always ensured his daughter had the best birthday parties.
Mickey didn’t have big dreams, he simply wanted to remain sober and watch his daughter graduate and grow into a beautiful young woman. His substance use disorder (SUD) took his future from him. It took the cheerful person he was and turned him into someone who struggled with mood swings and anxiety. His mother, Judy, shared that he was very good at hiding his addiction until it was too late. She spent several years grieving for him before he passed. Since Mickey’s death, Judy has joined several grief support groups to increase her and others awareness of SUD and the effects it has on families. Judy says that more than anything, she misses Mickey’s smile, his hugs, and the jokes they shared between them.
Mikey’s mother, Judy Perez, provided the information for this narrative.
June 26, 1987–June 15, 2022-Age 34
Portrait Artist: Jeremy Hebbel
Narrative Writer: Victoria Estes
