Michael Ronald McReynolds passed away with loved ones at his side on November 5 in Marietta GA. This after a long and brave battle with heart failure. He was born in Hopkinsville KY to Jay and Lucy McReynolds, but lived the formative part of his childhood in Elizabethtown KY. He attended Elizabethtown High School where he graduated in 1968. After two years at Elizabethtown Community College, he transferred to Eastern Kentucky University where he graduated in 1972 with a degree in business administration. He loved music and started playing guitar at the age of 13 after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Over the years he played in many "garage bands," the best of which was "The Marquis." They won several "battle of the bands" contests and appeared on a local TV show for the benefit of disabled children. After high school, band members went their separate ways to college, and the Marquis broke up only to reunite in 1988 to play for their 20-year high school senior class reunion. Later in life Mike and his best friend Lee Mowry, formed a country rock duo called "Hunter's Gold." It was more for fun and beer than anything else…but they were pretty good. As Mike used to say, he is a "has been." And he'd rather be a "has been" than a "never was." After graduating from EKU in 1972, Mike moved to Atlanta and stayed there. He enjoyed a successful 45-year career in the insurance/financial services industry, attaining the designations of Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant. He retired in 2015. One of the things he looked forward to in retirement was reading non-financial books. He became a voracious reader and was already a huge fan of Stephen King, having read just about all the books Stephen King ever wrote. Growing up, Mike was pretty good at baseball. But that was about it. He wasn't big enough for football, tall enough for basketball or fast enough for track. However, when he moved to Atlanta, he discovered martial arts and tennis. In martial arts, he attained the rank of 1 st Kyu, brown belt in the study of Shotokan. In addition, over his 33 years of playing recreational tennis (ALTA), he had quite the collection of bag tags and runner-up plates and even a few City Championship plates. He had a good time, especially with his favorite mixed doubles partner, his wife, Kristin. Through a somewhat checkered love life, Mike met his "best friend," Kristin, in his early 50s. He somehow convinced her he was not the jack-ass she thought he was and they were married in 2004. He always said she was the reason he lived so long. Mike felt life was NOT meant to be lived with the ultimate objective to arrive at life's end in an attractive, good-looking, well-preserved body, but to slide into the end, sideways, a Snickers candy bar in one hand, a vodka martini in the other, body totally used up, worn out and yelling "holy cow, what a ride I had!" And YES, Mike had quite the ride. So, as Mike would have said, "he had a good run, don't be sad he's gone, be happy that he was here." Mike is survived by his wife Kristin, his son Brent, his sister Melody (Stan) and many loving nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Marietta Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Michael R. McReynolds.