Michael Kermit Tetreault

Michael Kermit Tetreault of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan died peacefully Monday evening surrounded by his wife and family at William Beaumont hospital in Grosse Pointe.  He was seventy years old. The son of a Detroit police officer and homemaker, he was, from the age of seven, the surviving eldest of ten children.  Schooled at St. Edward’s elementary in Detroit and then at Austin Catholic Prep, he was a young man emblematic of his era:  altar boy, newspaper carrier for the Detroit Free Press and, with his childhood friends, a guitarist in a garage rock-n-roll band named Formula that appeared throughout the metro area. During the Vietnam War he was fortunate enough to draw a high military draft lottery number; yet he witnessed firsthand the violence and devastation of the 1967 Detroit insurrection. When told how lucky he was, he would not argue the matter. He knew.  He was also a product of Detroit. He began his professional career as an automotive paint technician for Inmont, flying to vehicle assembly plants throughout the country to install and maintain automotive paint application systems in the first wave of the environmentally safer high solids coatings.  In 1976 he married the former Lynn Ann Godfrey of Detroit. They resided and raised their family in Grosse Pointe Park.  A lifelong Tigers fan, he followed the team through their highs and lows. He was at Tiger Stadium in 1984 when the team won the deciding game in the World Series. During the 1970’s he volunteered as a rescue diver during the Gold Cup hydroplane races on the Detroit River.  He continued to perform as a musician in a number of bands at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, chiefly in the group Rocket a Johnny and the Orlons.  In later years, he was in high demand as a self-employed home improvement tradesman specializing in interior and exterior house painting. He often shared his amazement and awe about the homes where worked. To those he trained as part of his vocation, he offered this advice, “Do your best and caulk the rest.”  He cherished his lifelong friends and relationships.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Mary and Odson Tetreault, an older brother Patrick in 1958 and a younger brother Shawn in 2001. He is survived by his wife Lynn, daughter Abbey Tetreault and Matt Adams of Grosse Pointe, sons Michael of Detroit and Shawn and wife Diana of Paris Kentucky, granddaughter Kayla Lynn, siblings Mary (John) Straetman’s of Alpharetta GA, Jean (Steve) Musser of Kalispell MT, Thomas Tetreault of Alpharetta GA, Marguerite Linteau of Dallas TX, Kathleen (Brian) Wages of Burlington MI, Gloria (Jeffrey) Sigouin of South Lyon MI, Patricia (Joseph) Loftis of Byron Center MI.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the family to cover medical and funeral expenses. Please make donations via Venmo to Lynn Tetreault at the following address:  LynnTetreault@Lynn-Tetreault     There will be a private memorial service held at a later date.

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