Michael James Megna

Mike was born June 24, 1950 in Galveston Texas to parents Patricia Sullivan Megna and Rosario Joseph Megna. His battle with cancer ended on September 2, 2024. Mike is survived by his wife Alice Longnecker Megna, brother Joseph R. Megna, sister Frances L. Megna White and her husband Mike, niece Amy White, nephews Patrick Megna and his wife Divya, and James Megna, his wife Brittney and their new daughter Emma.

Mike attended Catholic school in Galveston, graduating in 1968 from Kirwin High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Government from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX in 1972.

While in college, and for several years after, he served as a Reserve Deputy in the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department.

After college, he conducted research in the Infectious Disease Department at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and was on the team that first collected samples and identified Legionnaires’ Disease.

Mike and Alice met at UTMB in the early 1970s when they were both doing research there. They were married on January 27, 1979, and in January 2024 celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

In 1980 Mike became the business manager for the Pathology Department Lab at Texas Children’ s Hospital. He became Hospital Administrator for St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, then business manager for the Texas Heart Institute. In his role at St. Luke’s, he was part of the team that designed and built the heart catheterization labs.

In 1991, Mike returned to UTMB as an Associate Vice President, where he worked until his retirement in 2010. During that time, he served in many roles, including several years as the administrator for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hospital located on the UTMB campus. He became the Emergency Management Coordinator for the UTMB campus. In that role he managed the evacuations of the campus for two major hurricanes (Rita and Ike). He coordinated the clean-up and reconstruction of the campus, which had been devastated by Hurricane Ike.

In 2009, Mike and Alice built a house in Round Mountain, TX and retired there in 2010. The move to Round Mountain was a dream come true for them both, a nice house on a hill with wonderful sunsets, and pleasant times spent with great friends and neighbors.

Mike had retired, but he never stopped working. In 2011, Mike and Alice joined the Round Mountain Volunteer Fire Department (RMVFD), and Mike quickly became president of the board. He began working to rebuild the organization and seeking land for a new station. To improve the level of medical care in Round Mountain, he successfully designed and built a First Responder Organization (FRO) program for RMVFD, which achieved approval from the Texas Department of State Health Services in 2014. Through his years of dedicated service at RMVFD, he served as a Firefighter, Board President, Captain, FRO Administrator, and was the Capital Area of Texas Regional Advisory Council Voting Representative for the department.

When Blanco was devastated by the 2015 Memorial Day Flood, Mike shared his Emergency Management expertise. He was subsequently appointed as the Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator of Blanco County, where he assisted in the transformation and development of a fully functioning Emergency Management office for the county.

In 2019, he accepted a position as the Board President of North Blanco County EMS.

In 2021 he began serving as an Emergency Services District (ESD) Commissioner of North Blanco County ESD 1. He supported development of an agreement between Blanco and Travis Counties for construction of an Air Rescue Base, a combined emergency medical services and helicopter base adjacent to the fire station. The helicopter base is expected to be operational in late 2024.

On June 17, The Commissioners of North Blanco County Emergency Services District No. 1 adopted a resolution to name its Round Mountain fire station/helicopter complex The Michael J. Megna Public Safety Complex in recognition of his service to the community. Mike felt strongly that a great many team members, who worked tirelessly together on this project, contributed more than he did, and was extremely humbled by this honor.

In his free time Mike loved the outdoors, especially deer hunting with his buddies. Mike and Alice were avid SCUBA divers, travelling often to their favorite dive sites in the Caribbean and Central America. Mike was also a history buff, reading constantly, with a special interest in military campaigns during World War II. He enjoyed old movies, especially those that involved WWII. He would often provide quotes from his favorite movie, maintaining that there was no situation in life that couldn’t be dealt with by a quote from it. His sense of humor was, to say the least, unique, and that is what many will miss the most. He was a loving, caring husband, brother, uncle, friend, and colleague. He will be greatly missed.

There are two celebrations of Mike’s life:

October 12 at his sister's house, 1924 Abilene St., League City, TX from 4 - 7 pm. Shrimp gumbo and brisket will be served. Attendees are encouraged to wear Hawaiian shirts.

October 19 at the Round Mountain VFD station, 8480 N. Hwy 281, Round Mountain, TX. RMVFD's famous burgers and hotdogs will be served. Attendees are encouraged to wear their favorite plaid flannel shirt or Astros T-shirts/hats/etc. (or both).

Mike loved the Round Mountain VFD and the members who give of their time and talents to respond to the needs of others. He was proud of the accomplishments he had made. Please consider a donation at RMVFD.org or a charity of your choice.