Richard Michael Midles was born on January 23,1947, and for most of his 79 years he called southwest Missouri home. He enjoyed telling anyone who would listen to him stories of being raised and raising his own family in Polk County.  Mike passed away on September 25, 2026, but memories of his storytelling will be with us forever.

His adulthood began in February of 1965 when he married his high school sweetheart, Paulena Crain of Halfway, and started his first job at Pantsmaker. He made the difficult decision to leave Bolivar in 1966 for a job with Frisco Railroad in Kansas City.  His plans to return to Polk County started in 1970 with the purchase of a farm in Humansville. He transferred to Frisco’s yard in Springfield in 1972, allowing the family to move to the farm.

This is when the real memories started to happen…working a full-time job, operating a family farm and raising two children. After working an 8-hour day, you’d find him on a tractor in a hayfield, the woods with a chainsaw, delivering firewood to Kansas City or caring for his livestock. But he still found time to attend his children’s school events and ball games…one of his last stories was about coaching his son’s pony league baseball team. He retired from Frisco in 2003, but he really didn’t slow down much as he purchased and operated laundromats in Hermitage and Buffalo for the next couple of years. Mike and Paulena returned to Bolivar in 2008 to enjoy their retirement years, and in 2021 made another difficult decision to sell the farm that was the foundation of their family for many years.

Mike is survived by Paulena; daughter, Michele Thiesfeld and her husband, John, of Chicago; son, Bob Midles and his wife, Maria, who live in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina; five beautiful and talented granddaughters:  Lauren Thiesfeld Pereira (Joe); Lindsey Thiesfeld Katz (Sam); Hannah Midles; Megan Thiesfeld; and Hailey Midles; great-grandson Luke Pereira; and brother, Jim Midles of Bolivar. He is preceded in death by his mother, Betty Jane Neuhart (Wells), and father, Richard “Dick” Midles.

Please join his family in telling Mike stories at Pitts Chapel in Bolivar on Friday, Oct. 2. Visitation is at 10 a.m. with services officiated by Rev. John Spear starting at 11 a.m. Immediately following will be a graveside service at Lindley Creek Cemetery in Louisburg.

A special thanks to Dorothy Peck for her recent care of Mike and Paulena. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Lewy Body Dementia Association (www.lbda.org).