On Saturday, Randy Jay Widrick and Jo Widrick spoke to Michael J. Sipe twice over the phone. They were making plans to celebrate his birthday the next day, and poked fun at him for turning 48.
But around 10 p.m. that evening, they were notified Mike had died.
The Binghamton couple raised Mike beginning when he was 12 years old. They maintained a close relationship for 35 years.
"He always just had a very soft heart, just a soft heart," Jo said. "Just a glimmer in his eye and just a sweet kid."
A Johnson City resident, Mike died Saturday evening after he lost control of his motorcycle on the southbound lane of Interstate 81 in Cortlandville and it struck a guardrail, according to New York State Police. No other vehicles were involved.
That motorcycle — a customized Buell Bobber — was Mike's prized possession. Randy said it was a show piece that often garnered attention at motorcycle shows or wherever it was parked. It was "maintained to perfection" by Irish Hill Choppers in Vestal Center.
"He believed when he was riding on his bike that he was close to God," Randy said. "He said that, ‘I just feel like when I’m riding my bike around nature, that it’s just me and God flying in the wind.’"
In the days since Mike's sudden passing, his older brother David Sipe has received numerous messages from loved ones. He never realized just how many people his brother was in contact with.
"He just loved people in general," David said. "He just loved talking to people and helping other people if he could. He had a heart of gold. He was really more concerned about other people most of the time than he was himself."
Many of his loved ones have taken to social media to express their grief. They remembered an avid motorcyclist who was also a black belt in karate, loved to play guitar, smoke a good cigar and snowboard.
He worked at Bates Troy Inc. for around 15 years, including positions as a supervisor and assistant plant manager.
"Thank you for your years of service," the company said in a Facebook post. "Michael will be deeply missed."
A karate champion
Around 1985, when Mike was in the seventh grade, he came to the Cortland area to live with Randy and Jo. Mike met the couple through David, then a member of a youth group they led at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Oakville.
At the time, they were also raising their young children John and Bethany, who consider Mike to be their brother.
"They opened their arms to him, which was wonderful," Jo said. "And he loved them incredibly, and they loved him."
Mike lived with the Widricks through his senior year at Cortland High School, and continued to remain close into his adulthood.
"They were his parents in every sense of the word. They were," David said. "And he relied on them just like as you would any other parents, so they grew up with him all the way through."
It was at Randy's urging that Mike took up karate as a way to channel some of his anger and energy from his childhood. He studied Koei-Kan Karate with Victor and Pam Bellott at the Cortland County Family YMCA.
He was fast, and at about 5-foot-6 he was the right size for the sport. He quickly excelled, collecting many trophies and medals.
Mike practiced on punching bags tied to a tree in the Widrick's backyard, and perfected his kicks with a painful stretching tool.
"I would come down and I would be like ‘oh my God Michael, that just hurts so much to even look at that,’" Randy said. "He’d crank it out until he could kick way over his head. And so that was kind of his life."
Mike eventually advanced to the level of black belt and won numerous championships in New York, Pennsylvania and even nabbed a gold medal at a tournament in Athens, Greece. He even tried out for the Olympic team sometime in the mid to late 1990s. While he never made the team, he was one of the last cuts.
"He was a total perfectionist," Randy said. "He just absolutely studied, and studied, and studied and studied until he got every move within just an inch of where it was supposed to be."
While Karate was Mike's main sport, and one he also taught, he was a skilled athlete who was also running back on the Cortland High School football team and involved in motocross.
A love for family
Just a year and a half apart, Mike and David kept a close relationship. They shared a room together, and played on the same football team.
"We played a lot of sports growing up together out in the backyard," David said. "A lot of the times it would be just me and him."
Mike didn't marry or have any kids, but doted on David's 6-year-old daughter, Emily. Mike loved to take her to Dunkin' Donuts for doughnuts, or for a cake pop at Starbucks.
"You couldn’t get him to stop talking about her, whoever he talked to," David said. "Just like two peas in a pod. He’d come up almost every weekend to see her and spend time with her and do stuff with her. And he just loved her to death. There was just not anything probably more precious in his life than her."
They'd go to stores and playgrounds, or see his friend's dog because Mike knew Emily loved pups.
"He just used to take her everywhere and just go out," David said.
He also loved playing the guitar, and taught Emily how to play it, too. She recently received some drums, and performed little concerts for family while Mike played the guitar.
He would help anyone he saw on the street, Jo said, and planned to donate a kidney to his aunt prior to the crash.
"People were important to him," Jo said. "People were very important to him."
It was a strong faith that helped Mike overcome struggles and heal from his past.
"He was really breaking through everything and turning his life around and was doing a really good job," Randy said.
"He was a fighter," David said. "No matter what he was going through in life, he was a fighter.”
Calling hours will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Donald L. Barber Funeral Home, 5016 US Route 11, Homer. All NYS guidelines regarding capacity and social distancing will be followed. Face coverings are required.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Glenwood Cemetery on Route 281 in Homer, with Pastor Henry Ausby officiating.
Mike was predeceased by his mother, Cynthia Bosworth Abbot in 2017. Surviving is Mike's father, Jesse Sipe of Staatsburg; a brother, David (Carrie) Sipe of Homer; his ‘adopted’ family, Randy Jay and Jo Widrick of Binghamton and their children, Bethany and John (Rachel) Widrick; his grandmother, Connie Bosworth; aunts, Linda Spencer; Susan (David) Bosworth-Quinlan and Sandra Anderson; cousins, Jason Bosworth, Brenna (Jerry) Brown, Eric Anderson, Casey Quinlan. Mike also had a special bond and a very deep love for his nieces and nephews, Emily Sipe, and Benjamin, Brooklyn and Judah Widrick.
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Motorcycle crash victim Mike Sipe, of Johnson City, was a black belt with a 'soft heart' - Pressconnects
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