Mike “Mookie” Lee Wattenberger Sr., 61, of Mount Sterling, died Thursday evening, Jan. 12, 2012, at St. Joseph-Mount Sterling Hospital. He was born Sept. 8, 1950, in Harlan County to Herman and Geneva Wattenberger.
Mike moved to Montgomery County 27 years ago from Winchester. He was a police officer for the Winchester Police Department, a charter member of the F.O.P. in Winchester and a Freemason. Mike trained and broke horses, helped his wife operate and transport veterans at their Residential Care Home for Veterans. He loved to laugh, tell jokes, play pranks, hunt and fish. When someone was in need, Mike was always there to help. Mike was a loving husband, father, son, brother, grandfather and friend and he will be dearly missed.
Survivors include: his wife of 27 years, Brenda Wattenberger of Mount Sterling; his children, Mike Wattenberger, Jr. of Winchester, Melanie Mann (Randy) of Mount Sterling, Yetivia Jacina (Tim) of Nicholasville and Jason Manning of Lexington; his mother, Geneva Cole Wattenberger of Winchester; two brothers, Jack Wattenberger (Vonda) of Winchester and Eugene Wattenberger (Sharon) of Winchester; four sisters, Marsha Wattenberger of Winchester, Pam Ervin of Mount Sterling, Sheila Wattenberger of Lexington and Erma Wattenberger of Winchester; seven grandchildren, Ashley Hall of Mount Sterling, Hobie Hall of Mount Sterling, Tessa Wattenberger of Winchester, Daniel Jacina of Nicholasville, Ethan Jacina of Nicholasville and Audrey Jacina of Nicholasville.
He was preceded in death by his father, Herman Wattenberger and his brother, Terry Wattenberger.
In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans, Attn: Gift Processing, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301
The funeral will be Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, at 7 p.m. and the visitation will be Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, from 5-7 p.m. with a Masonic Rites Ceremony at 6:45 p.m. Services will be at Queen Street Christian Fellowship with Rev. Ray McIntosh officiating.
Pallbearers will be Mike Wattenberger Jr., Jason Wattenberger, Danny Nickels, Tim Stacy, Pat Adkins, Chris Reffitt, Wiley Miller, Richard Roe and Tom Bell.
Honorary pallbearers will be Charles and Margaret Short, Doug Adams, Randy Mann, Jimmy Williams, Don and Dorothy Offutt and Wayne and Ella Terry.
The online guestbook is at coffmanmortuaryparlor.com.
Arrangements are under the direct care of Coffman Mortuary Parlor.
