Michael Boeckmann

Michael “Mike” Boeckmann, age 74, of Chisago City, Minnesota, passed away peacefully on March 30, 2025.

Mike was born July 10, 1950, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the son of Phyllis Pschandl and Harold Boeckmann. He went to Johnson High School where he was involved in the drum and bugle corps, hockey and football before graduating in 1968. After high school he enlisted into the Navy where he answered the call to serve his country in the Vietnam War. While he was stationed in Long Beach, California, he met the love of his life for 53 years, Jan. It all started with a whistle from Mike and a special finger she gave back, the rest is history. After six months of dating, they got married right before Mike had to go on his last tour to Vietnam.

When he came back, they moved to North Saint Paul, Minnesota where Mike kept busy by playing broom ball, softball, was in a bowling league and coached youth hockey and baseball for North Saint Paul. He did all of this with his good friend that he met in bootcamp and ended up on the same ship together, Bob Knutson. Bob and his wife Barb, son, Josh and daughter, Lonee ended up moving into the same neighborhood as Mike and his family, they attended St. Mark Lutheran Church together and were friends that became family.

Mike’s dream job was to be a history teacher but instead chose to be a federal agent for the IRS where he worked for 37 years. Jan and Mike had three children, Megan, Sean and Casey. Growing up, Mike and Jan made sure the kids joined some type of extracurricular activity which kept Mike busy attending dance recitals at Larken, Boy Scout events, basketball games, softball games and many hockey and soccer games.

As the kids got older, married and had kids of their own, Mike loved the role as “papa”. He especially enjoyed spoiling his six grandchildren. His favorite quote to tell the grandkids was “papa’s house, papa’s rules”. Throughout the years, one thing Mike always instilled in his kids was that family comes first, always be honest and kind. He had a heart of gold and was the biggest jokester. His favorite holiday was Christmas, because he loved to spoil those around him. Every Christmas he would make sure to head down to Candyland to put everyone’s special candy in their stockings. While he was at Parmly on hospice for almost a year, Jan would go to Candyland multiple times a month to get his favorite goodies, we think that is what kept him going for so long. Mike wasn’t too keen on going onto hospice at Parmly, but he quickly learned how great the nurses and aids along with the Ecumen Hospice Team are and would call them his angels. He really enjoyed his many visits with his sister, Candy and brother-in-law, Steve and talking about the “good old days.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harold Boeckmann, Phyllis and John Pschandl and son, Sean. He is survived by his wife, Jan; children, Megan (Brian) Griffith, Casey (Stefan) Ek; grandchildren, Brody, Sadie, McKade, Jacob, Madden, and Maverick; sisters, Candy (Steve) Dickhudt, Linda (Jack) Ehrenberg, Shelly (Craig) Blake and his beloved dogs, Tank and Belle; many nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00 p.m., Monday, April 7, 2025 at Mattson Funeral Home, 343 North Shore Drive, Forest Lake with the funeral service following at 7:0-0 p.m. Interment will be at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Assembly Area #4.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in memory of Michael to Disabled Veterans of America (dav.org)