The News of August 29, 1951

  I was looking at old copies of The Fowlerville Review, searching for information on a planned column, when an article on the front page of the August 29, 1951 edition caught my eye. There near the bottom of the page was an obituary of Elizabeth Duncan Horton, my great great grandmother.

    I learned from reading this piece that she was born on October 2, 1862 in Ontario, Canada, and at a very early age came with her parents, John and Mary (Brown) Duncan to Michigan. The obituary adds that “she has spent her entire life in this vicinity.”

   While the death notice does not list her brothers and sister, I knew that they included John, James, George, David, and Sarah (whose married name was Grant). A lot of Fowlerville area residents (past and present), besides me, can trace their family tree back to one of those Duncan siblings.

    “She (Elizabeth) was later united in marriage to Stephen R. Horton and to this union were born five children, one dying in infancy,” the obituary stated. That latter piece of information was a new one for me. The four other children, all of whom survived her, included my great grandfather Rollin S. Horton (the oldest), Mayme (who later married  Emerson Parker), Alta (whose married name was Minkley), and the youngest, Roy Horton.

    “She passed away Tuesday morning, August 21^st at her home here in Fowlerville, where she has lived since leaving the farm after the death of her husband in February 1913, and where for the past five years has been cared for by her son and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Roy (Bessie) Horton,” the notice continued.  

    The farm referred to was on West Chase Lake Road. Rollin and his wife, Blanche, purchased the place and moved there. The farm has remained in the family and is now owned by one of her great grandsons, Rollin L. Horton.

    The house she purchased in town was located on North Grand Avenue, across from the Centennial Park.  Besides her four children, at the time of her death she was survived by 12 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren. Those two great great grandchildren were Londa Horton, who was born on May 1^st of that year and myself, arriving on July 10^th.

     The family burial plot is located in the old section of Greenwood Cemetery, in the northwest corner near the road. It was likely purchased after Stephen’s death and now includes eight family members: Stephen and Elizabeth, Alta Minkley, Rollin S. and Blanche Horton, William Durfee (Blanche’s uncle), my father Verlyn Horton and my sister Carol Horton.

    The obituary was not the only news appearing on the front page that I found of interest.  Two of the stories headlined at the top of the page were of Dr. R.F. Hauer opening his office that week and of the new school building at Parkers Corners being dedicated.

    Concerning the announcement about Dr. Hauer, the article noted that he opened “the office formerly occupied by Dr. May and Messenger in the Lucas building on North Grand Ave,” adding “Dr. and Mrs. Hauer have been in Fowlerville several weeks, during which time they have been settling in their home, the former Judge Cole place on East Grand River and Maple. They have two children, a girl (Kathy) seven years old and a boy (Rick) eleven months old.”

    What I learned these many years later from reading this article is that Dr. Hauer was a veteran of World War II, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps for three-and-a-half years. He participated in two invasion landings, was wounded once, and had been awarded the Silver Star Medal. (That medal is the third highest military decoration given to a member of the U.S. Armed Services and is awarded for valor displayed in combat against an enemy.)

     The article also stated that he had graduated from Marquette University and before entering military service he taught chemistry in a medical school in 1941. In addition, he was associated with the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph hospitals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and (after coming to Michigan) with the St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing.

    To illustrate how times have changed, his initial office hours were mornings 9 to 11 a.m. and afternoons 2 to 4 p.m.  and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. However, he was not open on Wednesday afternoon. Of course, in those long-ago days, he would have also made house calls. Our family was among his patients.

    Dr. Hauer became quite prominent in the community during the intervening years. He served on the board of education and remained in Fowlerville until his death.

    As for the story about Parker’s Corners, the article noted that on Sunday, August 26, about 135 people gathered for a home coming and dedication of the new school building.  

    “Due to the large crowd the potluck dinner was delayed until about 2 o’clock,” the articled stated. “After the bounteous dinner the program opened with the German Band, from the Fowlerville High School, playing the National Anthem, while the new flag was being raised.”

     Also featured on the program was a magician from Detroit, readings by Elliott House, Mildred Armstrong, Ella Grover, and Bessie Redfield, and the dedication speech given by Miss Gertrude Peet, who (it was noted) was formerly from the area, a sister of the late Dr. Max Peet of Ann Arbor, and had been a missionary to Persia (now Iran) for several years.  The German band concluded the program with two musical numbers.

    The multi-room building would be used to educate young elementary students from Iosco Township for over a quarter-of-a-century. As I recall, it was in the late 1970s when the Fowlerville school administration proposed closing the building and have students attend Smith Elementary. They contended that the cost of bussing children from this part of the district to town and then bussing them back to Parker Corners, along with the expense of operating this separate facility, was too much.

    I also recall being a reporter at the board of education meeting when a roomful of angry parents showed up to protest the proposed closing. Many of them, including several who have been my classmates, had started their education careers at this neighborhood school and wanted their children to share this experience. Finances, though, eventually prevailed over sentiment. The building was later used for a few years as an alternative high school, and is now shuttered up, waiting (I assume) eventual demolition.

    Another item I found informative was the story of William Meyer dying from a heart attack. He resided on the farm at the southeast corner of West Grand River and Gregory Road, just past the fairgrounds. According to the article,” he was well known as having been a prominent Holstein breeder and farmer,” adding that “in recent years he had acquired a stable of Harness Race horses, most notable of these being Hollyrood Brewer which holds the pacing record at the Fowlerville fair track of 2:04 2/5 established last year (1950), when he was nicknamed the ‘Cinderella Horse’.”

    “This title was given to the horse because, although he raced as a trotter for a couple of years, he did not impress anyone with his performances,” the article explained. “However, last year, Mr. Meyer shifted him to the pace and (doing his own training) made a state champion of him.”

     That track record would last 26 years, finally being broken at the fair in 1976 by Fundy’s Tide—another locally owned and trained horse.

   

     Still another item of note on the front page was a report on the August 20^th meeting of the Friendly Neighbor’s Circle of King’s Daughters who had traveled to Lansing earlier in the month for dinner at the Famous Grill and later attended a show. During the meeting at the restaurant, attended by 15 members and one guest, the group’s president, Lydia Ruttman, presented Julia Jensen Ruttman with a gift on receiving her Bachelor of Science Degree and also extending congratulations on her recent marriage to August Ruttman.

    Mrs. Julia Jensen Ruttman was returning for her second year as the kindergarten teacher at Fowlerville Elementary. Since she taught both the morning and afternoon sessions, and would fill this teaching position for over 20 years, a lot of students (including yours truly) got their first lessons in her classroom. During much of her career, that room was located in the front of the white building on North Collins Street. The Senior Citizen Center is now located here and her room is where lunches are served and various social activities are held. Since I’m now old enough to be considered a senior citizen, were I to stop by for a game of bingo, I’d have come full circle.

    Finally, there was a report that “a bumper crop of Michigan babies is expected this year.” The article stated that “As of the first six months (of 1951), 80,795 babies have been registered—an increase of 1,004 over 1947, the previous high year” It added that “Births for the same period last year were 72,345.”

     As I noted earlier in this column, I arrived on July 10th, just a few days after this six-month total had set a new record. I’d have to research the matter to see if enough other babies joined me in the second half of the year to indeed establish a new mark. Most of us born that year would go on to become the Class of 1969. In our Fowlerville High School class—if my yearbook is accurate—there were 127 of us who received our diplomas, plus two exchange students. A few others were in the class, but for one reason or the other did not graduate with the rest of us.

    Whether or not the 1951 babies set a state record for an entire year and—if we did so—whether or not we held this distinction for very long, it’s gratifying  even at this late date to learn that in at least one category we ‘69ers started out as number one.