Michael M. Hethmon Mike Hethmon

December 9th, 1953 - July 25th, 2020

Memorial

Mementos

Please feel free to share a photo or personal memory of Mike using the tabs above this message. ------ Michael Meriwether Hethmon passed away in a car accident on July 25, 2020. His partner Elena was also killed in the accident. Mike was born in London, England on December 9, 1953 to Robert Henry Hethmon and Charlotte Bernice Hethmon (née Charlotte Fortune). He grew up in New York, Wisconsin, and California, and began traveling extensively when he was just a teenager. At 17, he went to England to attend university at the University of Lancaster, but his wanderlust got the best of him, and he left school to further travel the world and collect the almost-too-wild-to-be-true stories he liked to tell about his adventures. Eventually, he completed his undergraduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies at UCLA. He would go on to complete a Masters in International Business at Thunderbird and get his law degree at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Mike met Lori Hoffmann while they were both international flight attendants on Pan Am Airlines. In 1986, they married and they had three children together. While their children were young, they continued to travel and lived in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, before settling in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. They separated in 2013 but stayed in touch, and Mike had recently hired Lori to list his house in Upper Marlboro so he could fulfill his retirement dream and move to a house he'd bought in Bristol, TN, not too far from the town his mother grew up in. Mike was the Senior Legal Counsel at a policy advocacy institution in Washington, D.C. He also used his legal acumen to advocate for environmental issues in his area and to prevent over-development of the Chesapeake Bay watershed wetlands in and around Upper Marlboro. He is survived by his two brothers, Mark and Tom; his three adult children, a daughter and two sons, Andrew and Daniel; and his ex-wife Lori. An online memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2020, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time to celebrate Mike's life. For access, please fill out this Google form, and we will send you the join details: https://forms.gle/69TxL9t7nLBNMAFk6 In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Mike's name to the Chesapeake Conservancy.

Tributes

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Sarah Clevinger

In a real estate transaction, you're not "supposed" to meet the buyers, much less invite them in, or have dinner. So you could say we were surprised to receive a text from our realtor asking if the buyer of our home could stop by to measure the driveway. The first time we met Mike was last fall in Bristol, Tn. He had rented a 40ft Ryder truck to test the driveway, careful to make certain his restored school bus would fit. Even though the roar of the truck greeted us initially, Mike's smile and bright eyes was our first glance at the gentleman who was buying our home. With the Ryder truck nestled in the driveway, we walked through the house with Mike and Elena. As he pointed out and mentioned many of the details Matt had meticulously worked on, we felt our home would be in good hands. We were at peace with letting go of our labor of love. We had spent the previous six years restoring the 1924 craftsman style home. We even got married in the back yard under the oak trees surrounded by family and friends. An hour and a half later, Mike invited us to dinner. We accepted without hesitation. Later that evening, laughter and tales of travel and homeownership filled the table for hours. This is when we learned we were almost switching cities. We were moving close to Mike the following month. We exchanged every contact info the four of us had while talking of plans to get together once Matt and I moved. Unfortunately, closing day would be the last time we saw Mike. Once we moved and unpacked, Maryland locked down from the virus. We texted several times with thoughts to the future. We are thankful for the short time we knew him. We knew he cherished those around him. We are deeply sorry for your loss. Matt Almaroad & Sarah Clevinger

Published August 15th, 2020