When I found out that Mike Rankin had died, I felt heartbroken. In the early 1980s, I met Mike through a mutual friend in Gainesville, FL, when he was in medical school and I was working in the Children’s Mental Health Unit at the J. Hillis Miller Medical Center. I was in a sad place in my life, and frankly, I was clueless in my twenties. Mike was two years younger than me. He was gallant, tender-hearted, funny, wonderful, and filled with integrity. He became a dear friend, and I still miss him. Often I think of his family and how they must miss him. I loved that he had to choose whether to go to medical school or graduate school to study literature. He was brilliant, and he had the soul of a poet. Still does.
Angelyn Bales