Bartlesville community mourning for brother of 'The Pioneer Woman'

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The community of Bartlesville is mourning the loss of a local man that made friends everywhere he went.

Dan Dalton called "Mikey" the icon of Bartlesville.

Dan first met Mikey at a Bartlesville football game. Dan, who works for the area's ambulance service said Mikey was so fascinated with the vehicle Dan was on.

"His excitement on seeing the ambulance spilled over to coming to the ambulance station," Dan explained. "To make a long story short he would routinely visit the ambulance station, the fire stations."

Mikey was just 14-years-old.

From then on out, Mikey was at every basketball, football, and baseball game in Bartlesville. Dan said Mikey would even ride with the team on their bus to away games.

Mikey had special needs but worked at his dad's office for a few hours every day.

"He soon was meeting people all over town," Dan said. "While he was somewhat challenged, he memorized his friend[s] phone numbers and would call them almost daily."

Ree Drummond, better known as the Pioneer Woman, is Mikey's little sister.

In season 7 episode 4 of Ree's show on the Food Network, the Pioneer Woman has a special visit from her brother Mike Smith, who they called, "Cowboy Mike."

"It's my favorite episode... for obvious reasons," Ree posted to Facebook.