Michael B. Christianson

Michael Boyd Christianson, our very favorite cowboy, passed away Monday, March 14, 2022 at Avera Heart Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D. A celebration of life will be held Friday, March 18, at Bethany Lutheran Church, Joice, at 11 a.m. with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. The family humbly requests attendees to wear their best Wranglers, bib overalls, cowboy hats, and cowboy boots. In lieu of gifts, please donate to the Lake Mills Food Shelf or your local FFA chapter.
To be honest, Mike would hate having an obituary. He’d hate the whole thing, he’d hate the fuss. So while it’s important you know he was born May 21, 1962 in Estherville, it’s more important to know what life meant to him.
To Mike, the best place in the world was a wide open pasture—one he could fill with corn, beans, horses, cows, hay. At any time, he was trying to convince you to buy a boat so he could “improve his fishing.” The only way you could get him to go inside and stay inside, was to put on Gunsmoke or Lonesome Dove. Well, you could probably convince him to meet you for a drink too, so long as there was a jukebox playing George Strait in the corner. As far as he was concerned, steak and potatoes was the only dish needed to sustain a happy, healthy life.
Though no man is perfect, and Mike certainly did not claim to be, he was perfect in the eyes of many. He made friends everywhere he went, because he could always make connections with a seemingly random stranger. He’d open the door for you. After supper, he’d tell you he was going to the bathroom, but really he was sneaking away to pay the bill. If things went wrong, he was the guy to call. Somehow he could lift anything, be anything . . . be everything.
And while his younger years were full of hell-raising (like the time he kissed a meteorologist on the mouth after he correctly predicted a much-needed rain), he started to slow down in recent years. He and his wife, Lisa, married July 30, 2016 on their acreage. He loved movie nights with her, and their vacations west. He adored his kids, talking to them nearly every day. And then when he was blessed with grandbabies he said, “This is the happiest moment of my life.” He and Lisa couldn’t get enough time with their grandchildren.
We are incredibly devastated his ornery soul was called to leave this earth. It will take us time to figure out how to live without him. But until we do, we’ll keep playing Hank, Waylon, and Willie for our favorite cowboy.
Mike is survived by his wife, Lisa Christianson; his daughters: Ivy and Paul Soener; and Emma and Tim Runde; his grandchildren: Arthur Boyd Howard Soener and Genevieve Louise Runde; his siblings: sister, Lori Christianson; and brother, Dave (Kelly Fetters) Christianson; his nephews, niece, and their children: Drew (Auron, Isley); Kristin and Daley; Tuff and Brennan (Leddy); and Colt and Shayla (Hattie); his in-laws: Jim and Rose Schissel; and Mike and Becky Schissel; his stepdaughters and their children: Amanda and Jordan (Hudson); and Andrea and Logan (Riley, Wren); and many, many, many friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Bennie and Shirley Christianson.

This is where the cowboy rides away.