Michael Dale Bushue

Michael D. “Mike” Bushue, of Allenspark, Colorado, was born July 1, 1958, in Effingham, Illinois, to Ruby (Beccue) and James Bushue. He passed peacefully on October 19, 2026. The youngest of three children, Mike grew up in Monticello, Illinois. His father was killed in a work accident when Mike was just five years old, leaving his mother to raise three children while supporting the family as a hairdresser working from their home.

Mike graduated from Monticello High School in 1976 and later earned an associate’s degree in petroleum technology. His career ultimately took him in a very different direction, however, when he joined the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he would spend more than 25 years.

Mike began his career as a correctional officer at Menard Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in Chester, Illinois, where he worked for approximately six years, including time on death row during an era when some of Illinois’ most notorious offenders were incarcerated there, including John Wayne Gacy. He later became a parole agent and spent the remainder of his career working primarily with adult sex offenders. That career also led him to the most important relationship of his life.

In 1997, Mike met Darlene, who had recently begun working as a sex offender therapist for the Illinois Department of Corrections. Mike regularly sought her out for advice about his caseload and occasionally tried to convince her to accompany him on stakeouts, which may or may not have been entirely necessary. What began as friendship gradually became something more. They moved in together in late 1999 and married in 2000, beginning a marriage that would span more than 26 years and a life together of nearly three decades.

Mike and Darlene were best friends as much as they were husband and wife. They shared an insatiable curiosity about the world, a somewhat unusual enthusiasm for true crime and serial killers, countless books by FBI profilers, and a love of travel, history, art, wildlife and, eventually, the mountains.

A trip to the Canadian Rockies in 2003 changed something for both of them. During that trip they saw a billboard in Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, that simply said, “Mountains bring peace to the people.” The words stayed with them because they described something they had already begun to feel.

Although both had grown up in religious families, Mike found his deepest sense of spirituality in the natural world. As he often said, “Nature is my religion, and the mountains are my synagogue or cathedral.”

For the next two decades, Mike and Darlene returned again and again to the places that brought them that peace. Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks became second homes, visited multiple times a year. They explored the Canadian Rockies, Glacier National Park, Southern Utah and the Southwest, along with many other places across the country and beyond. They shared a particular fascination with Native American history and art and loved exploring ancient ruins and pueblos and wandering the galleries of Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

When Mike retired from the Illinois Department of Corrections at the end of 2016, he and Darlene finally decided to stop visiting the mountains and start living in them. They left Illinois and made their home in Allenspark, Colorado, Colorado being an acceptable compromise for Mike, who loved wilderness but had absolutely no interest in sharing it with grizzly bears.

It was one of the best decisions they ever made.

For nearly a decade, Mike was able to live the life he had dreamed about. He spent countless hours hiking and exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, Roosevelt National Forest and the Indian Peaks Wilderness. He never lost his sense of wonder at the place he was fortunate enough to call home.

And then there were the moose.

Mike and Darlene shared an extraordinary love for them, and few things could make Mike happier than unexpectedly encountering one in the forest. He could sit quietly and watch a moose for hours and somehow never become bored. Mountains, wildlife, quiet trails, moving water, sunrises and sunsets were not simply things Mike enjoyed. They were where he felt most at peace.

Mike also loved reading and seemed to retain nearly everything he ever read or watched, earning him Darlene’s affectionate description as a “walking encyclopedia of knowledge.” He was an avid sports fan, especially college football and basketball, and a lifelong Fighting Illini fan. After moving to Colorado, he also became an enthusiastic Denver Nuggets fan, and he and Darlene enjoyed quarter-season tickets for several years.

But for all the places Mike traveled and things he loved, some of his greatest impact happened much closer to home.

Mike never met a stranger. He could, and frequently did, talk someone’s ear off, and he was always willing to lend a hand when someone needed one. In Allenspark, he volunteered for years with the Allenspark Community Food Cupboard at The Old Gallery, helping provide food to neighbors experiencing difficult times. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Allenspark Water and Sanitation District, giving his time to the small mountain community that had become his home.

Mike faced extraordinary health challenges during the final years of his life, including laryngeal cancer and pancreatic cancer. He endured radiation, chemotherapy, major surgeries and ultimately a total laryngectomy that took away his natural voice. Yet cancer never took away the qualities that defined him. He remained remarkably positive, determined, resilient and tenacious through circumstances that would have tested anyone.

In the final weeks of his life, Mike and Darlene were given an unexpected gift, the opportunity to hear from family, friends, former coworkers and community members about what Mike had meant to them. Their stories became something of a living memorial, a chance for Mike to know, while he was still here to hear it, just how deeply he was loved, respected and appreciated and how many lives he had touched.

Cancer changed many things about Mike’s life, but it never changed the things that mattered most about who he was.

Mike was a husband, father, brother, friend, colleague, neighbor, volunteer, traveler, reader, sports fan, mountain wanderer and enthusiastic observer of moose. He was endlessly curious, fiercely intelligent, humble, generous with his time and always ready for a conversation.

Most of all, he was deeply loved.

Mike is survived by his wife and best friend, Darlene Bushue; his son, Levi Bushue, and daughter-in-law Katherine of Alton, IL; his brother, Doug Bushue and wife, Katy of Champaign, IL; his sister, Vickie Tolf, of Champaign, IL; his brother- in-law, Andrew Diamond and wife Jackie of Las Cruces, NM; his brother in law, Matthew Diamond and partner, Rachel, of Alton, IL; his sister in law, Michelle DeWitt and husband, Archie, of Litchfield, IL, multiple nieces and nephews on both sides of the family, as well as extended family and many friends whose lives were made better simply by knowing him.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Ruby and James Bushue, and his brother-in-law, Bruce Tolf.

At Mike’s request, there will be no formal funeral or memorial service. He will be cremated, and those who knew and loved him are encouraged to remember him in whatever place brings them peace, perhaps on a mountain trail, beside a quiet lake, watching a sunrise or sunset, or enjoying a Fighting Illini game.

In keeping with Mike’s longtime commitment to helping others in his community, memorial contributions may be made in his honor to “Mike’s Meals,” supporting the Allenspark Community Food Cupboard at The Old Gallery. Contributions may be mailed to:

1. Mike’s Meals / The Old Gallery
2. P.O. Box 431
3. Allenspark, CO 80510

Cards may also be sent directly to his wife 

1. Darlene Bushue 
2. 1455 E. 3rd Ave, Apt D317
3. Longmont, CO 80501
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5. Through Mike’s Meals, the hope is that something Mike quietly believed in throughout his life, helping people who need a hand, will continue in his name.
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For Darlene, Mike will remain in all the places they loved together, in Colorado’s mountain sunrises and sunsets, in the trails they walked, in Yellowstone and the Tetons, in quiet forests and the sound of water moving over rocks, and especially in those unexpected moments when a moose steps out of the trees and makes the rest of the world go quiet.

The mountains brought Mike peace.

And in the mountains, a part of him will always remain.