WRIGHT — Walter O. Mickel was an able hunter and operated a pheasant farm where he raised dogs and hatched game birds.

Mr. Mickel of Benninger Road died Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, at his home with his wife and daughter by his side. He was 80.

Mr. Mickel was born on June 17, 1933, in the town of Richmondville, in Schoharie County, the son of Arthur and Mabel (née Ottman) Mickel.  He married Elizabeth “Beth” Mickel on Dec. 5, 1954.

Paula Ecker, Mr. Mickel’s daughter, said he was raised in a family with men who camped and hunted together. Mr. Mickel’s father even took a wheelchair-bound relative hunting, she said.

“He put him in the wheelchair in the bucket of the truck so he could still go hunting,” said Ecker.

Mr. Mickel owned and operated Plank Road Pheasant Farm in Wright. The family hatched quail, pheasant, and duck eggs to supplement the bird populations on the farm, his daughter said, and they raised hunting dogs, mostly English setters.

A 1951 graduate of the former Cobleskill High School, Mr. Mickel began his career working as a pipe insulator with Local No. 40 H. & F. I. and A.W. He retired after 36 years.  

Mr. Mickel was a former member of the DeMolay and Schoharie Valley Lodge No. 491 F. & A. M. He was a member of the Gallupville Volunteer Fire Department and the Gallupville United Methodist Church. 

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Walter O. Mickel is survived by his wife, Elizabeth “Beth” Mickel; his son, Walter “Mick” O. Mickel Jr. of San Jose, Calif.; his daughter, Paula Ecker of South China, Maine; his grandsons, Jeremiah “Jesse” Ecker of Portland, Maine, and Nathan Ecker and his wife, Lorinda, of Portsmouth, N.H.; his sister, Phyllis Bascomb of Albuquerque, N.M.; and his brother, Paul Mickel of Arbuckle, Calif., along with several nieces and nephews.  

His brother, Richard Mickel, died before him, as did his son, Rev. Christopher Mickel, in 2012.

A funeral service was held on Monday, Nov. 25, at the Gallupville United Methodist Church with burial following in the Gallupville Rural Cemetery.  

Memorial contributions may be made to Catskill Area Hospice, 795 E. Main St. Suite 11, Cobleskill, NY 12043.  

— Marcello Iaia