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Obituaries in 1944
Hartford Michigan |
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Hartford Day Spring
1-26-1945
Sgt.
Donald Olds,
Paratrooper
Killed on Christmas Day
Sergeant Donald
H. Olds son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Olds, has been reported killed in
action. A telegram from the war department was received b the
parents on January 2, stating that he was killed on December 25 in
Belgium while serving with the 52nd division of the 505th paratroop
infantry.
Sgt. Olds is the thirteenth Hartford serviceman to give
his life in the present war.
Donald Olds was born on September 8, 1917, on a farm
south of Watervliet. Three years later he moved to the Hawley
district, Hartford township, with his parents where they have resided
er since. He was graduated from the Hawley school and attended
Hartford high school for a short time. Before he entered the
service he was owner and manager of the Sinclair service station in
Watervliet.
Olds entered the army in April, 1942, and received his
training at Camp Roberts, California, and Fort Benning, Georgia.
He was home on furlough for the last time in December 1942 and was
sent overseas in April 1943.
Olds saw action in the invasion of Sicily and Italy and
after a short tie in a rest camp in North Ireland he was sent to
England. From there he went to the Netherlands, where he was active in
the battle of the Nijmegen bridge, and later to France where he was
last heard from on December 15.
Besides his parents, he leaves one brother, Frederick
"Bill" at home. |
Hartford Day Spring
1-26-1945
WWII Veteran
Found Dead at Farm
Louis McKenzie
of Keeler was found dead early Friday morning [January 19, 1945]
at a farm near Plainwell. A driver for the Peter Pan
Bakery company, Mr. McKenzie had parked his truck at the edge of
the highway and had evidently started for the barn to get water
for his truck, as he had been in the habit of getting water at
the farm on previous occasions.
His body was found in the yard about six o’clock by the
owner of the farm when he went out to do his chores.
Sheriff Louis Johnson and Wm Brant, coroner, were
called and Mr. Brant stated that the death was caused by a heart
attack.
Louis McKenzie, son of Mr. and Mrs. John McKenzie, was
born June 14, 1899, in Keeler He was a truck driver for Clare
Clover of Hartford for two years and for the McNamara Motor
Freight company of Kalamazoo for five years.
He enlisted in the army and entered service December
15, 1942, and received training as a technical mechanic at Camp
Santa Anita, California. He attained the rank of Sergeant
and was transferred to the reserved corps in June, 1943.
He began driving for the Peter Pan company about a year ago.
Besides his parents, he leaves three sisters, Mrs.
Harold Ruple of Keeler, Mrs. Cleo Benjamin of Lansing, and Mrs.
Lila DeWitt of Benton Harbor, three nephews, Willie DeWitt of
Benton Harbor and Wayne and Gene Ruple of Keeler, his fiancée,
Mrs. June Putman of Kalamazoo, and several aunts, uncles, and
cousins.
Funeral services were at the Keeler church January 21
with the Rev Lester Clough officiating. Burial was in the
Keeler cemetery.
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Henry Webster
Funeral services for Henry Webster, 86, were
conducted in the Zuver and Calvin funeral chapel Monday
afternoon, April 17, at 2:30 o’clock. The Rev. Harold
Kenny, pastor of the Methodist church in South Haven,
officiated, and burial was in Maple Hill cemetery.
Mr. Webster died in South Haven Friday morning, April
14, at the home of his daughter, where he had resided for the
last six years after leaving Hartford.
Deceased was born April 15, 1858 in Webster Hills, the
son of William and Sarah O’Dell Webster. He was one of
three sons and four daughters, all of whom pre-deceased him.
He was married in 1881 to Annette Minshall, who died in
1899, leaving her husband and four children, Frank, Ora, Leo and
Hazel. In 1900, Mr. Webster was married to Mrs. Nellie Pearson,
who died December 26, 1930. She was the mother of two
daughters by a former marriage, Mrs. F.R. Holt, Lansing; and
Mrs. D.J. Baker, Chicago.
Surviving are Mr. Webster’s three sons, Frank, who
resides near Webster Hills; Ora, of Dowagiac; and Leo, of South
Bend; and four daughters, Mrs. Wayne Plastridge, of Connecticut;
Mrs. Robert Bennett and Mrs. Frank Smith, South Haven; and Mrs.
Burdette Poorman, of Alma; besides the two step-daughters, and
12 grandchildren.
Mr. Webster was engaged in farming in Webster Hills
until 1912, when he moved to the village of Hartford, where he
resided with his family on Linden street. In 1938, he went
to live with his two daughters in South Haven, where his death
occurred.
As printed in the Day Spring on 4-20-1944.
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