March 2, 1932—May 8, 2024 Michael "Mike" George Edmund Caplis died on a beautiful snowy Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Helena, Montana, surrounded by family at the Fort Harrison VA Hospital. He was ninety-two. Mike Caplis was born on March 2, 1932, in Hawthorne, California.
He was the fourth child and only son of Edmund Caplis and Myra (née Ailport) Caplis. Mike spent his early years with his three older sisters exploring and playing in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where his father worked as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), installing power lines. The Caplis family returned to Missoula, Montana, in 1934.
Upon their return, Mike's mother enrolled him at St. Francis parochial grade school and later at Missoula County High School, where he graduated in 1950. In the fall of 1949, as a seventeen-year-old high school student and unbeknownst to his parents, Mike enlisted in the US Army determined to serve his country during the Korean conflict.
He proudly served as an amphibious vehicle pilot in Panama and Greenland. Upon completing his military service, Mike returned to Missoula in 1954 and enrolled at the University of Montana under the GI Bill, graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. 1967, Mike earned his master's degree in social work from the University of Utah.
In 1956, Mike married Rose Cosner. Soon after their marriage, they welcomed their two oldest children, daughter Carolyn (Kerry), born in 1957, and son Timothy (Tim), born in 1958. Their thir.
