Michael F. “Pancho” Donchez, 65, of Bethlehem unexpectedly passed away in his home on July 21, 2026. Born on May 30, 1961, he was the son of the late Geraldine M. (Lang) and Thomas J. Donchez.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Pancho graduated from Liberty High School and went on to work for Penske and Knoll furniture in various warehouse operations roles. A true “Jack of all trades,” Pancho could fix anything, there was never an “it can’t be done”. Pancho had a great and inappropriate sense of humor that will be missed by those who knew him. He loved people and they loved his good one liners or colorful stories he was usually known to tell. He always looked forward to gathering with family and friends. He enjoyed daily trips to the casino, sharing special treats with Kimber, going for a soft serve twist, and spending time in his garage. A familiar face at his favorite breakfast and dinner spots around town, he enjoyed a good meal with someone he cared about.<\/p>\n
More than anything, Pancho will be remembered for always showing up for the people he loved, never hesitating to lend a hand, share a laugh, or make someone feel like family.<\/p>\n
He will be lovingly remembered by his son, Michael (Kayla) and their beloved dog Kimber; fiance, Michele Atkinson; sister, Maryann Shigo (John); brothers, Thomas Donchez, Jr. (Debbra), Joseph Donchez (Veronica), and Timothy Donchez (Cindy); step son, Mark Atkinson (Shay) grandkids Quintin, Maya, and Aubrey; nieces and nephews, Rachel (Ryan), Morgan (Lara, daughter, Julia), Andrew (Ali), Ryan, Matt (Carly), Jack, Randi, Casey, and Livi.<\/p>\n
Calling hours will be held on Friday, July 31, 2026 from 4-6 p.m. at Connell Funeral Home, 245 E. Broad St. Bethlehem, PA 18018. A celebration of life where family and friends will be given the opportunity to share stories and memories will follow at 6 p.m. in the funeral home.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the family c\/o Connell Funeral Home in memory of Michael Donchez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael F. “Pancho” Donchez, 65, of Bethlehem unexpectedly passed away in his home on July 21, 2026. Born…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-261606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}