BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 55 – Filling the Dash: The Legacy of Michael “Pappy” Quinn
Have you ever thought about that small line between the birth and death dates on a tombstone? That dash represents everything—your entire life, the people you loved, the choices you made, the legacy you left behind.
In this powerful episode of the BeTempered podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr invite you to reflect on what it means to live a life worthy of your dash. They share the extraordinary story of Michael "Pappy" Quinn, a humble tool and die maker from West Virginia whose legacy of love, faith, and servant leadership continues to inspire.
Mike’s life wasn’t measured by wealth or titles, but by how he made others feel. Kids from the neighborhood—many without father figures—walked miles just to play backyard football with him. When his brother was drafted for Vietnam, Mike asked to go in his place. He lived with wonder, joy, and unshakable faith—teaching life lessons through peanut butter bacon sandwiches, muddy puddle adventures, and quiet, intentional presence.
This episode will move you. It will challenge you. And it will ask the question: Are you living your dash with purpose? Are you showing up for the people who matter? Are you serving without expectation?
As the poem “The Dash” says:
“It matters not how much we own, the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.”
Take a moment today to reflect on what kind of story your dash is telling. Then share this episode with someone who needs the reminder—because while we don’t choose when our dash begins or ends, we do choose how we fill it.
Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt. This is my dad, Dan. He owns Catron's Glass.
Speaker 2:Thanks, allie. Things like doors and windows go into making a house, but when it's your home you expect more like the great service and selection you'll get from Catron's Glass Final replacement. Windows from Catron's come with a lifetime warranty, including accidental glass breakage replacement. Also ask for custom shower doors and many other products and services. Call 962-1636. Locally owned, with local employees for nearly 30 years.
Speaker 1:Kitchen class, the clear choice.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 4:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 3:We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives.
Speaker 4:This is Be Tempered.
Speaker 3:What's up everybody? Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 55.
Speaker 3:55. Here we go, rolling right along into season number two with the podcast. There's a line on every tombstone between the date you're born and the date you pass. It's just a dash, small, simple, almost unnoticed. But that dash, that's your entire life, everything you did, everything you loved, the joy, the sorrow, the laughter, the legacy it's all packed into that one little mark. Today we want to talk about what it means to live a life worthy of that dash, and we're going to do that by reading and reflecting on the incredible life of a man named Michael John Quinn, or Pappy as he was known to many. His obituary is just a notice, isn't just a notice. It's a love letter, a testimony, a legacy. It's the kind of dash we should all hope to leave behind. So here it is Michael John Quinn, fondly known as Pappy, age of Lewisburg, ohio, died Thursday May 1, 2025, at the Dayton VA Medical Center Hospice Unit in Dayton, ohio.
Speaker 3:Born May 4, 1944, in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of the late James Michael and Clara Quinn, he came into this world as a surprise to his mother. He had a twin brother in tow. Twin brother in tow. He grew up in the hills of wild and wonderful West Virginia enjoying time with his brothers and sisters picking strawberries. For 15 cents a pint. They needed 35 cents to get into the pool. Through high school, mike caddied the Ogle Bay and turned wrenches at Charlie Kramer's garage. Michael proudly served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968 during the Vietnam War. When he was drafted to the Army and his brother, bill, got orders to Vietnam, mike went to the Army and asked to go in his brother's place. He was denied the request. He and his twin brother, jim, were stationed in Germany.
Speaker 3:Mike's love of camping included many peanut butter and bacon sandwiches with his brothers and his dad, the OG Pappy. Throughout life and the many camping trips, mike was never without a pocket knife and a flashlight. After marrying Marianne, the love of his life, they spent their days dancing and celebrating, enjoying everything as if it was their first time, dancing and celebrating, enjoying everything as if it was their first time Along with his wife. He worked hard to raise three perfect kids. You could always catch him playing ball in the backyard until the sun went down and quite a few times way past sunset if the score was tied. Rainy days didn't stop him from playing outside with his kids. He would be found slipping, sliding or splashing in the puddles, never concerned with how muddy we got In the winter, outdoor antics did not cease. There was always a hill to sled down or a fort to build.
Speaker 3:Mike stayed at the finest campgrounds and two-star hotels because he never needed or wanted for more. His fancy attire included his bib overalls, always grease-stained and well-worn. He had worked as a tool and dye maker for many years at the General Motors and eventually was a general supervisor over the tool room in Dayton Ohio. He taught his family to grow vegetables and raise goats. It was also a necessity to him to make sure his kids knew how to change their own oil and change attire by themselves. He always wanted them to be able to enjoy the beauty of everyday life.
Speaker 3:Mike spent most of his summers at Lake St Mary's, where he would water, ski and boat until the sun went down, happy with anyone who wanted to come along. On Sundays, he'd find him at church. At church, he and his family would always go out for ice cream and he would talk about the gospel in a childlike way, so as the little kid could understand. Mike squeezed every last drop out of every day. He took nothing for granted and loved everyone. He had a laid-back attitude, which was due to his love for God. He always trusted him, even through the most difficult times. He was the best example of not sweating. The small stuff Rarely did things upset him.
Speaker 3:Mike enjoyed his grandchildren. In fact they were the highlight of his life. He was beyond proud watching them do their own things From Robbie joining the Army, savannah shining in cheerleading and academics, justin's love for cars and hot rods, savannah shining in cheerleading and academics, justin's love for cars and hot rods. There was a Guinness love of sports, working hard and huge hugs for his Pappy that were given almost every day. Bailey's artistic talents that Pappy would say were better than any of the world's most famous artists. He always admired James' work, ethic, healthy eating and habits and workouts which back in the day were similar to his own healthy lifestyle. He loved watching James play football.
Speaker 3:Maggie was a member of her high school cheer team and cheered for her brother's team all through high school. Pappy looked forward to the updates, her college life and her sorority, alpha Gamma Delta. He was the best teller of the worst dad jokes. Mike enjoyed talking to his brothers and sisters almost every day and those conversations most definitely would include frog follies, derby days and whatever was new and happy in his life. He enjoyed lunches at the bullpen and occasionally getting to see one of his favorite people, mariana steves, at dot Market. It would be the highlight of his day.
Speaker 3:Mike never slowed down until his body wouldn't let him get on a tractor, go to a car show or help out at his church as Pappy was passing. All the loved ones were right beside him and those who weren't were there in spirit. Although this was a time of deep sorrow for all of us being left behind, he was celebrated. His finalizations of getting ready to see what heaven was all about. Mike always enveloped the love of God. His beloved friends, the Andersons, prayed the rosary for him on day two at hospice. After praying the rosary his breathing became a little easier, but he passed a few hours later. His nurse, maria, who fondly called Ave Maria, helped us and him celebrate going to heaven in the only way that an angel from God could do. We imagine that Mike is in his boat with his dad and Jesus, reminiscing about how much he loved life and all the good things. He finally got to see Jesus face to face. I know Jesus is saying well done my good and faithful servant, mike's peace. He leaves you In lieu of flowers. He wants you to love someone that's hard to love or do a good deed. He survived by his wife, a Marianne, children, jennifer, eric, david, brothers James, william and sisters, marianne and Patricia, seven grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and cousins and friends. And that's Mike Quinn's obituary.
Speaker 3:And I had the privilege of going to church with Mike and when I was confirmed at the church it was Mike who took me out to breakfast just the two of us, over eggs and coffee. He shared his kind heart and talked to me about faith and family, the two most important things in his life, and what he hoped would be the same in mine. It was a small gesture but one I've never forgotten. Just a couple weeks before Mike passed, he stopped me after church and quietly shared some of his recent health struggles and told me he knew his time was getting short. But what struck me wasn't the news, it was how at peace he was. He was excited to go to heaven, excited to see the best friend, his best friend, his dad. The moment it stuck with me. I remember thinking how can I live more like Mike?
Speaker 3:At Mike's viewing I spoke to his sweet wife Marianne. She shared a story with me that moved me to my core. She told me how Mike would come home from work and there would be a group of kids waiting, kids who walked two miles out of town just to play backyard football with him. Many of them didn't have fathers. Mike would play with them until the sun went down and sometimes well past dark. Then he'd come inside and ask Marianne to make sandwiches, because he knew some of those kids would go home hungry and he wouldn't let that happen. She told me they even brought some of those kids on family vacations and they took two cars just to make room. That was who Mike was. He wasn't famous, he didn't chase attention. He was just a humble, humble, everyday man who loved life with a quiet faith, steady love and unshakable purpose. But there's no doubt mike quinn impacted more lives than he ever knew and I think if we all lived our dash like mike did, this world would be a better place. What do you think?
Speaker 4:I mean you get emotional just thinking about it. I mean I see the emotion on your face. But you know, even though I don't know Mike, you can just I think we all kind of have, or hopefully are lucky enough to have, a Mike in our lives. You know, I think about when I first read it or when you first sent it to me and I read it. Growing up in West Virginia, those people are built different. Yeah, you know what I mean when you talk about the simplistic life that he lived, and I mean he was just happy with what he had.
Speaker 4:My grandpa that's where he was from was from West Virginia as well. One of my favorite stories he used to tell me was about baseball, him and his brothers. They couldn't afford a baseball and they worked the coal mines and I remember Grandpa always saying that they used to walk around and just find rubber bands and enough rubber bands to where they can wind a newspaper up and just start with those rubber bands. And that was their baseball. And he said, ben, it would hit better than any ball you'd ever hit. He said it was just amazing. And I swear the West Virginia people are just, they're built different. But you read through the obituary and there's no doubt where he went. You know what I mean. I mean, you look, and the first thing I saw after I read through it was servant leader. You know what I mean, and it's one of those things that we talk about, where a leader is not just one that screams and hollers and does stuff.
Speaker 4:Like this was a servant leader in my eyes, like what Jesus calls us to do like lead, like he did, right, yeah, I mean you look, he served in the army, tried to go for his brother. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4:That's amazing, no, no no, don't take my brother, like take me. And then he served our country. Then he comes back and he's just happy doing an everyday job. But he did it to the best of his ability to where he got a promotion. And then you know all the kids that are walking out there. He loved them, talked about the gospel and about child, like look through the Bible at what God talks about the children and having that kind of faith. And all the way to the end that's what they said he had. Right, he talked about like the gospel, like a child, I mean I. Then you hit the end where he talks about um, you know, he was just excited to meet jesus and have jesus say you know, well done yeah, faithful servant, yeah, oh my goodness, when I read that.
Speaker 3:It's just, it's awesome yeah, and you know, my goodness, when I read that, it's just, it's awesome. Yeah, and you know, I don't know why God put this on my heart to do this podcast, because, like I said, I didn't know Mike. Well, I just, you know I would see him at church, always had a smile on his face, um, and and then we had that conversation a couple of weeks ago and, um, you know, for for 30 minutes he just sat there and told me how excited he was to see his dad again and I, just, you know, I kept trying to be encouraging to him and say, mike, you're going to be okay, you know, just take your time, don't try to do all the things you've done your whole life and relax a little bit. And and he just kept smiling and I could just tell that he knew, you know, he knew his time was near and he was, he was perfectly fine with that.
Speaker 3:And you know, mike was one of those guys I'd I'd see him driving around town or or driving in church. I mean he, he drove an old geo Metro car. I mean he, he really didn't care about any of those things that so many of us care about is, you know how we look and how we're perceived by others. I mean, he was truly a servant leader who just wanted to make people feel good and, you know, and and care for them in some way, and, and, and. Then, when I was at the, the visitation, and, and Marianne gave me a big hug and she, you know she told me the story about how those kids, would you know, trek two miles every day out to their house and, and, you know, to play football, and Mike would get home from, I'm sure, a long day's worth of you know work and probably tired, and but he didn't care, you know he was, he was there to uh, to help those kids and and, uh, man, what an impact.
Speaker 3:And I just, you know God, just put it on my heart to say, hey, you need to read this obituary because, um, you know, that's the kind of person I want to be you know, not just for for my family, but for for others, and um, and so that dash, I think is, is so important in our life, because that is our story.
Speaker 3:And so, um, you know how he he squeezed every drop out of every day. You know even the little things like peanut butter, bacon sandwiches. You know, I mean that's, I never had that.
Speaker 4:No, it's tempting now.
Speaker 3:Might might end up being a being, being a thing I don't know, um, and I love how he talks about his grandkids and he. He appreciated each and every one.
Speaker 1:And uh, and that's how he made.
Speaker 3:That's how he made me feel every time he talked to me. Um, you know, he made me feel like I was the only person in the room and um, it was. It was very, very inspiring. So, so a good man, um for sure. Um, what would you want someone to say about your dash?
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, I actually I got a poem here that I want to read first about the dash kind of made me when, when we had that conversation, I looked up some things and I read this poem and it just it was almost like goes right in line with it it's called the dash and said I read of a man who stood to speak at a funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates of the tomb, since the beginning to the end. He noted that the first one came, the date of birth, and spoke the following dates with tears but said what matters most was all the dashes between those years, for the dash represents all the time that he spent alive on earth, and now only those who loved him know what little that line is worth. For it matters not how much we own the cars, the house, the cash. What matters most is we lived and loved and how we spent our dash.
Speaker 4:So think about it long and hard. Are these things you like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged, to be less quick, to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before if we treat each other with respect and, more often, wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So when your eulogy is being read, with the life's actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash, yeah?
Speaker 3:that's good.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I mean I read that and it just kind of I don't know. It's something we never think about.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 4:You know you wake up and we have goals that we try to hit every day and you have goals that life goals. You have yearly goals and it's like sometimes you know you talk about being present and that's what. Sometimes it's just like just got to be present.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know, that's the first goal that I feel like all of us can do a better job at, you know, and I I think one of the ones that hit me the hardest here was the part where he talks about his wife, right, yeah, the love of his life.
Speaker 4:Yep, because we both have the love of our lives. I don't think that's questioned, right, but where is that part at where he talks about that's how he spent his life right? Spent his life right? Um, they spent their days dancing and celebrating, enjoying everything as if it was their first time and, you know, with stresses of kids and everything like that. It's like man, that's the first thing I think I gotta do a better job at.
Speaker 3:You know, when I look at it well, and I think that's why it hit me so hard when I, you know, I read it in our local newspaper, whatever morning it was, and I read the obituary, obviously because I knew Mike, but when I read it, it just man, it just hit me in the mouth.
Speaker 3:Like hey, you need to be more present. You know you need to be more present with your wife. You need to be more present with your family. You need to be more present with your family. You need to be more present with, with all those people that you come in contact with, because we've talked about it before you know, life is so busy and we've got so much going on with work and family and kids and and all the different things that we do that it's so difficult to be present, and I and I again I think that's part of the reason that God put this podcast on our heart to do this was to make us be more present.
Speaker 3:Right, so that we're not sitting here looking like idiots interviewing people. You know we have to be present and so I'm really trying to be intentional with anyone that I talk to or I meet is just being present and listening to that person and taking and and trying to comprehend what they're telling me or why they're telling it to me. And so you know, every time I read and I've read it probably four times as obituary I mean it makes me emotional and uh, I'm still trying to figure that out, but you know, I just hope that, that you know, whenever my time comes, that that my dash reads like Mike's obituary. You know, I mean it's amazing. So you got anything else you want to add?
Speaker 4:Um no, I just I'm, I don't know, I don't. I mean, I kind of feel the same way, and the thing is I didn't even know Mike, like I never met him, you know, and uh, but it still brings the same kind of role in motion. I feel like, no matter what cause you think, anytime you talk about death, think about, you know, the different dashes, and so one thing I was thinking about was you know the different funerals that I go to. Obviously, that's what happens when death happens, but you know, so I've been at ones where it's a young, you know, a younger person, where you, they, didn't realize that dashes come to an end, you know. And so that's the big thing that I feel like to take away from this is you never know? I mean, it could be today, it could be tomorrow. So don't wait to rearrange the things that you want to rearrange or live the way that you want that dash to read Today's the day. Make today count and change it today.
Speaker 3:Make that impact now. Don't sit back and wait and say I'll do it tomorrow. You don't get to choose your birth or your death, but you absolutely get to choose how you live the dash. So what are you doing with it? At the end of the day, we don't get to decide when our dash begins or ends, but we absolutely get to choose how we fill it. And if we take anything from Mike Quinn's life, it's that legacy isn't built in big moments, it's built in the backyard games, the peanut butter sandwiches and loving people, like Jesus told us to do. That's how you live a dash worth remembering Everybody.
Speaker 3:If you know Mike's wife, marianne, his kids, his grandkids, make sure you reach out to him and tell him how impactful his life story was because, man, it's had a big impact on me here the last week since his passing and we again appreciate your ears. We appreciate all the support. We ask that you continue to share the show. If it's impacted you in some way, maybe it can impact somebody else and maybe Mike's story can be that for someone to start living their life intentionally to helping others and to being present in everyday moments. So we appreciate everything. Go out and be tempered.
Speaker 1:Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt. This is my dad, Dan. He owns Catron's Glass.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Allie. Things like doors and windows go into making a house, but when it's your home you expect more like the great service and selection you'll get from Catron's Glass Final replacement. Windows from Catron's come with a lifetime warranty, including accidental glass breakage replacement. Also ask for custom shower doors and many other products and services. Call 962-1636. Locally owned, with local employees for nearly 30 years.
Speaker 1:Catron's Glass the clear choice.