Michael Coughlin
Michael James Coughlin born April 12, 1966, to loving parents James Irving Coughlin and Sara Elizabeth Wolff Coughlin. He was adored by his older sister Kris Ann Meehling and younger sister Karen Reeping.
Michael was born in Tonawanda, New York and grew up mostly in San Antonio, Texas where he attended and graduated from Winston Churchill High School. Michael loved the outdoors and during his time in high school, he joined an Explorer Post in which he enjoyed hiking, camping and whitewater canoeing. After a brief stint in college, Michael joined the United States AirForce and was stationed in South Dakota for 6 years. There he discovered caving and was part of a team that mapped Jewel and Wind Caves. He fearlessly ventured into many undiscovered tunnels and passageways in these caves.
He eventually settled in St. Louis, Missouri and met many long-term friends. Michael and his partner of 23 years, William Ledbetter, ran a highly skilled and talented construction contracting company renovating homes and businesses in the St. Louis area. He was known for his selflessness and considerate nature and his social planning. He loved outdoor activities, science fiction books and shows and quoting favorite movies. He cared about all animals and loved especially his cat Kaos.
In addition, he was a wonderful uncle to his nephews and nieces Karina, Kendrick and Keegan Pacchioni, Kacy and Zachary Reeping. Sadly, Michael lost his battle with lung cancer on June 1, 2025.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Siteman Cancer Center, the Missouri SPCA or a cat rescue of your choice.
You will always be in my heart, Myk.
Myk was a great friend. We spent many hours caving and hiking South Dakota, as well as working on missile sites. He was my Best Man at my wedding and was like an uncle to my kids.
He will definitely be missed.
Michael was very kind and thoughtful. He was a good friend to many. I always enjoyed spending time with him. Ione
I worked with Myk in the Air Force. He showed up with a topo map with 2 caves on it. We made so many trips trying to find them before we had success. We then started dragging all our coworkers to at least 30-40 caves in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I still tell the story of how we were mistaken as tour guides by a family while waiting for the tour at a pay cave. I have been to caves in 10 states thanks to that topo map.
I was fortunate to have spent literally hundreds of hours with Myk pushing the frontiers of Jewel and Wind Caves in the 1990s. Myk was an exceptional caver both physically and mentally. He moved incredibly smoothly and quickly through the caves. He was good at following the air and solving the 3 dimensional exploration puzzle of these giant maze caves. More importantly, Myk was an excellent teammate and friend due to his kind nature.
I remember one Jewel Cave exploration trip where Myk showed up with gauze wrapping his chest which was oozing from an encounter with poison ivy roots from a cave dig. He was so excited to continue our exploration, that he was willing to endure the extreme discomfort of belly crawling for hours on his painful, oozing chest. I was very impressed!
I haven’t seen Myk for decades, but hearing of his death greatly saddens me.
Mike is going to really be missed. He did a lot of things for Gordon. He was a good friend. He would help out anyone that needed help. You would call and ask for help on something and he would be there for you. Love you Mike R.I.P.
Myk was one of the first people I met when I moved into the STL area and was so nice and so welcoming. I stayed in the area from 2017-2020 as their next door neighbor and couldn’t have asked for better neighbors. We stayed in touch through the years and will be missed.