TATHAM-MICHAEL

Excerpts from article published in San Diego Union-Tribune on 4/4/2014:

A christening ceremony for a rowing shell named in honor of a deceased Navy SEAL and University of San Diego alumnus will be a part of this weekend’s San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay.  The “Michael Tatham” is named after the former SEAL chief petty officer and member of the USD men’s rowing team.  While on rest and relaxation leave in Bali from a deployment in Afghanistan, Michael Tatham died in a motorcycle accident on October 12, 2011.  “It was a real tragedy,” Steve Tatham, his father and a retired Army officer, said in a phone interview from Washington.  “He was a live-in-the-moment type of guy.  He enjoyed life.”

Friends and family of the late Tatham raised more than $36,000 for the eight-man rowing shell which will be used for the first time in competition at this weekend’s crew classic.  “We wanted to do this for him because he did a lot for the (rowing) team and country,” said Navy LT Scott Lippincott, whom Tatham mentored on the USD rowing team.

Michael Tatham was born in North Carolina on December 17, 1977.  He moved to San Diego in 1996 to attend the University of San Diego.  While at the school he competed on the varsity rowing team.  “USD was perfect for him,” said Diane Tatham, Michael Tatham’s mother.  “San Diego was his town.”  Michael Tatham graduated from USD in 2001 with a degree in history.  Between his last year at USD and the year after graduating, he was a coach for the university’s novice crew team.  He enlisted in the Navy in 2002 and eventually joined its special forces as a SEAL.  As a part of SEAL Team 7, Tatham served on deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He was awarded the Bronze Star for actions during his 2009 Afghanistan deployment.

At noon Sunday, his parents, friends from his high school days, former rowing teammates and classmates, and others are expected to gather for the christening.  The ceremony, which will take place in the Crown Point Shores area of Mission Bay, is scheduled to include speeches and other remembrances.  “It doesn’t surprise me that so many people are coming to the ceremony,” Diane Tatham said Thursday, shortly after she arrived in San Diego from Washington.     “It’s going to be a unique combination with all these people together.”

Tatham has been laid to rest at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)