Michael Zelman

Mike Zelman passed away Wednesday morning, April 8, 2026, in Las Vegas New Mexico. It was not the peaceful death we hoped for, but death was already near. People say you are never prepared, but in truth we were. He first got sick in 2012, but bounced back. He started declining last September, and was airlifted back and forth to hospitals in Albuquerque and Amarillo until he was put on home hospice. We were unable to place him in any facility due to his condition, and despite fourteen years of my advocating, he often declined the help without my knowledge because he didn't want interference. In truth, the grieving had started in September, and maybe even as far back as our parents' divorce, when they split us up. There have been crescendos of fear, crying, and eventually making arrangements. Mike was the brother who came running into the bathroom to smack a daddy-long-legs on the wall when I screamed, he stayed home from school to care for me when I was sick, holding me while I cried, and he would wake me up after our parents went out bowling to watch the scariest episodes of Chiller with him. The bowling alleys in Burbank and North Hollywood. The car parts scattered across our room. The crisp t-shirts with cigarette packs rolled up in the sleeve. Vietnam altered his life and ours, and the struggles of five decades took a toll on all of us, yet he could laugh and say the right thing, call me Robbie, and I was suddenly five years old again. Per his wishes and in honor of his service to this country, he will be quietly buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery on April 16, 2026 at 2:30pm, with the other veterans who gave heart and soul for the United States. He leaves behind myself (his sister Robbie) his niece Stefanie, great nephew Collin, beloved cousins, two other younger half-sisters and brother-in-law, and our mother who no longer remembers him.

Arrangements are entrusted to and under the care of Rogers Mortuary 600 Reynolds Ave Las Vegas, NM 87701