Hundreds of friends and family members of the beloved custodian of the Nashville Elementary School, Big Mike turned up at his funeral at the Stephens Valley Church. Mike Hill, affectionately known as Big Mike, lost his life in last week’s attack on the school.
Friends and family remembered Mike for his gentle and loving nature, his faith, and his culinary skills. The father of 7, and grandfather to 14 grandchildren, Big Mike was a custodian at the school for 14 years. Mike was one of the three school staff members who lost their lives in the school shooting, along with 3 nine-year-old children.
“He was big, and he was strong, and he was tough,” Pastor Bachmann of the Stephen Valley Church, who lead the funeral prayers said. “But he was also soft and tender.”
“He hugged my kids and he hugged your kids, and he knew them by name,” Bachmann said. “As the first victim — maybe this is a sentimental thought, but it’s a comfort to me to think that Mike was there to welcome the children through the pearly gates.”
Pastor Bachman also remarked that Big Mike would also bring him freshly baked cookies, pecan, and chess pies. “He led me into temptation. He did not deliver me from it,” Bachmann joked.
“People want change. They want action. They want leadership. They want something decisive to happen so that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again,” he said. “Of course, we all want that.”
“Love one another and we will have the kind of world we want,” he said. “And we’ll have peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea.”
A GoFundMe page launched for the slain custodian of the Nashville School has collected almost half a million dollars. The page collected $350,000 on the first day of its launch.
A 28-year-old active shooter, Audrey Hale, was shot and killed by MNPD officers Englebert and Collazo.
