Michael Patrick Carroll, the last surviving child of Tom and Gertrude Carroll died August 26, 2025, at Ivinson Memorial Hospital. He was 94 years old.
Mike was born on July 22, 1931, at Ivinson Memorial Hospital, the youngest of 8 children. His birth certificate read “unnamed Carroll” and was finally amended with his name on it in 1951.
He attended grade school at the Carroll Ranch on the Little Laramie River and graduated from Laramie High School in 1948. He was a football player his freshman and sophomore years. He was involved in FFA and livestock judging teams during his junior and senior high school years.
After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Wyoming, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in 1952.
Mike joined the U.S. Army in 1953. After completing basic training, he was sent to Camp Pickett, VA to train as a medic. He was stationed in Missouri, Texas, Illinois, and Washington for short periods, then to San Francisco and Tokyo before being sent to Korea in 1954. In a letter home to his mother, he said the Korean landscape reminded him of the drive between Laramie and Fort Collins with Mountains and pine forests. He was honorably discharged in 1955. He became a member of the Army Reserve Wyoming Military District until September 10, 1961.
After his army discharge Mike took advantage of the GI bill and earned a Master of Science degree in animal nutrition from Colorado State university. Upon graduation he spent a year in Australia before he returned to the family ranch and was active in cattle management and all aspects of the ranch.
He was an excellent horseman and always rode top quality Quarter Horses and was known for finishing “green-broke” horses. He roped calves in rodeos all over the region- including Cheyenne Frontier Days. His nieces remember him winning the calf roping at the Saratoga 4th of July rodeo.
In recent years Mike liked to put up hay in the summer. He said haying was now sitting in an air-conditioned tractor cab and listening to Colorado Rockies baseball. He wrote a monthly column for the Fence Post magazine called “The Old Hand Sez”.
Recently Mike was involved in daily coffee groups with an assortment of friends from around town, daily visits to the rec. center and daily grocery shopping. He was a UW women’s basketball fan, went to Colorado Rockies games with his nephew Kerry Greaser and kept touch with his nieces and nephews.
His favorite author was Robert Service and could recite many poems from memory. His favorite was “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”. Family called him McGrew, and his nieces and nephews called him “Dooney”.
He was preceded in death by his parents Tom and Gertrude, his siblings Howard, Marie, Frank, Theresa, Eugenia, Margaret and Jeanne. He is Survived by his nieces and nephews, extended family and his many friends.
Mike was a lifelong faithful member of Saint Laurence O’Toole Catholic Church. A mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated September 15, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. 617 S. 4th in Laramie. Inurnment will follow at Greenhill Cemetery.
Mike was a nice man with always a smile on his face. He always a had word to say about the UW Women’s Basketball team and how much he liked Fr. Dominic from St. Laurence O’Toole Catholic Church. Rest in peace Mike.