When asked about his 69 year marriage to Ardis, Glenn stated, "It's been a blast!"
Loved and Beloved
When asked about his 69 year marriage to Ardis, Glenn stated, "It's been a blast!"
American Hero (9/29/1918 - 2/28/2012)
Glenn's Self-Written Obituary:
Glenn J. Smith was born September 29, 1918 in Frontier, Michigan. He was the only son of Jay and Myrtle (Yost) Smith, and he had four older sisters. He attended primary schools in rural districts of Calhoun and Hillsdale County and then Frontier High School. He married Ardis Carol Dickey February 15, 1941 in Frontier, Michigan.
A veteran of World War II, Smith served in the Headquarters Battery 22nd Field Artillery Battalion of the 4th Armored Division. He was inducted into the service at Fort Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan on April 1, 1942. While he was in the United States, Ardis traveled to be with him wherever he was stationed. His division left for over-seas duty from Camp Miles Standish in Rhode Island on December 24, 1943. His division landed in South Wales and went on to Great Britain waiting for the order to invade France. He served in the European Theater of Operations for 21 months and was in the campaigns at Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, five major Battle Stars, and the Bronze Star Medal for heroic action against the enemy. He was honorable discharged Oct. 23, 1945 at Indiantown Gap, PA.
Glenn took advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights and went back to school for training as a refrigeration engineer with on-the-job credit at Sherer-Gillett Co. in Marshall. After graduation, he was promoted to company service manager and later to quality control manager. He also was a private airplane pilot, transporting parts from suppliers and factory personnel to various locations. He and Ardis built and operated the first two car washes in Marshall, and Ardis owned and operated the Frosty Boy ice cream parlor. They managed and maintained these businesses while he was employed at Warren-Sherer Co. He retired from Warren-Sherer Co. after 33 years of service.
Glenn's hobbies included deer hunting, photography, golf, bowling, fishing and woodworking. He and Ardis belonged to the Marshall Country Club, VFW and Moose Lodge 676. He attended the United Methodist Church of Marshall.
He is survived by his daughter, Deanna Smith (Pat Fox) of Battle Creek and his son, Dennis Smith (Marjorie) of Marshall. He has two grand-daughters and five great grandchildren.
Visitation will be held on Friday, March 2 from 7:00PM to 9:00PM at the Craig K. Kempf Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Marshall. A funeral service to celebrate the gift of his life will be held Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 10:30AM at the Craig K. Kempf Funeral Home & Cremation Services with Pastor Len Schoenherr officiating.
The family requests that memorials be given to Lifespan Good Samaritan Hospice of Battle Creek or the United Methodist Church of Marshall. Assistance with memorials is available at the funeral home. To sign the guestbook and leave the family a personal message, please visit www.kempffuneralhome.com
http://kempffuneralhome.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php?id=1037672
Ardis Carol Smith (5/22/1921 - 5/3/2010)
Ardis Carol Smith, 88, of Marshall died on Monday, May 3, 2010, at Marshall Nursing and Rehabilitation Community.
Mrs. Smith was born on May 22, 1921, in Hillsdale County to Edgar and Flossie (Fowler) Dickey. She attended Crampton rural school and graduated from Frontier High School in 1938. After graduating, she worked for the National Youth Association office in Coldwater for a few years. On February 15, 1941, she married Glenn J. Smith at the United Brethren Church in Frontier. He survives.
Mrs. Smith worked in a defense plant and sold government defense bonds while her husband was serving in the war overseas. After his honorable discharge, the couple moved to Marshall where she worked for Win Schuler's Restaurant for 18 years. After she retired, she and Glenn managed the two car washes that they built in 1964 and 1967. Later she owned and operated the Frosty Boy Ice Cream Parlor in Marshall for several years. Mrs. Smith attended the Marshall United Methodist Church. She was a member of the Marshall Women of the Moose and Marshall Country Club. She loved buying and selling antiques in Shipshewana.
She is survived by her husband Glenn of Marshall, daughter Deanna (Pat Fox) Smith of Battle Creek, a son Dennis (Marge) Smith of Marshall, two granddaughters Carol (John) Johnson, and Karen (Nick) Dysinger. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren, two sisters Evelyn Smith of Battle Creek, and Phyllis Rice of Tuscan, Arizona. She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers Lyndon and Darrel Dickey.
Visitation will take place at the Craig K. Kempf Funeral Home on Wednesday from 5-8pm with family present to greet friends at that time. Funeral services celebrating her life will take place at 1pm on Thursday at the funeral home with Reverend Len Schoenherr officiating. Interment will follow at Oakridge Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Marshall United Methodist Church or the Marshall Community Foundation. Assistance with memorials is available at the Kempf Funeral Home.
http://kempffuneralhome.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php?task=Current&listing=All
January 2008
On page 28 where I previous mentioned living long enough to see our grandchildren married and having there own homes………..then would it be too much to ask to see great grandchildren………..well now we have reached that plateau………Karen our youngest granddaughter beautifully increased the number in our family by having the most magnificent baby girl that you would ever want to see…..Adreinne Grace Dysinger is her name, and I’m sure will grow up to be as beautiful then as she is now, Nick will be working on the future time frame to produce a brother to his little girl, I’m sure………The best of luck to the three of you. NOTE----This is January 21, 2008 I happened to click on to this addition and figured I should update it to present, we now have a little boy to add to our collection, Carol and John contributed to this blessing, also, we have just heard that Karen will be having another girl soon, The years keep piling up, wonderful additions to our family tree. WHAT IF WE LIVE TO BE A 100 ??????
Afterthoughts
This actually started during the period of growing up in the country on farms of our childhood, my most recalled period was during the depression of 1929, some of this has been mentioned previously in my autobiography however, this has to do with not with the hardships experienced at the time but with the differences which you might call two different cultures, I will call the first THREE IN A HILL indicating a near perfect plant in Farmers English, the second culture I will call a job enforced Ivey league necessity to successfully do my job proficiently and to the positive approval of my direct supervisors. In the first culture we as most all people of that time were usually satisfied with the status quo, let things ride if they were going well instead of trying to think of a way to build a better mousetrap. In the second culture I found that as my job classification improved and my salary increased to more of an executive level, more responsibility was expected of me, this naturally required more time and energy plus the fact that I realized I would have to spend more time in front of large audiences talking and answering questions concerning problems with present products and explaining the design and operation of new products.
This relatively new job demand was something that I was not entirely happy with, and concerned myself with the possibility of getting some sound advice on better speech programming.
With this in mind I started looking for institutions that I could attend not too far from Marshall, this I found by looking into the Dale Carnegie leadership development training courses and seminars, I could take a three day seminar in Grand Rapids or Lansing on Effective Communications and Human Relations which I thought would satisfy my thirst for effective program Communication, which it did quite well, and with further advice from there Golden Book on Creating an Executive Image it advanced my education on things that would be forthcoming much faster than anyone had predicted as we were fast growing into a major manufacturing corp. that demanded more and more time from the engineering and design departments and many more field trips to inform distributors and customers and service people on the sensitive and complex systems that we were manufacturing.
These systems were the new dual jet Frozen Food and commercial temperature jet flow cases and the complex Environmental walk-in and cases that many colleges and anniversaries ordered for experimental purposes. I might mention here that my three-year period that I worked with one of the most brilliant engineers in the field of refrigeration, Mr. Sterling Beckwith of Chicago who incidentally invented the dual jet system, and also who was CHICAGO STOCKYARD FAME, he also, was on call when needed by JOHN DEERE CORP, MINNEOPOLIS MOLLINE CORP.
McCormick International corp. and several automobile manufactures.
I credit whatever skills I might have developed from this brilliant person to the resulting accomplishments that controlled my future life in the Refrigeration Industry and profitable business establishments that we enjoyed creating for many years.
That era was without a doubt a distraction of what we were accustomed to in our growing up days and that which we were being subjected to as we progressed in our working life as well as our social responsibilities to contend with. As I was progressing in job performance I was included in all production meetings and became a main speaker at Factory Zone Managers meeting and seminars whether it be in Marshall or somewhere else in the
In writing this I think back on how it all started, a high school kid dropping out in the eleventh grade to go to work in order to make some money and then realizing later in life what a mistake I made, and eventually making it a promise to myself that I would never stop evaluating myself until I reached a plateau that I as well as my friends could say, well done. It has been many years since that free wheeling snoty-nose kid made that drastic mistake, however, unless they read my autobiography and this article they would never guess it could be the same person that is writing this true story
Without a doubt there were times when I had help from my friend and faith restorer from above.
June 2007
Missing page in my Autobiography to be added.
This actually started during the period of growing up in the country on farms of our childhood, my most recalled period was during the depression of 1929, some of this has been mentioned previously in my autobiography however, this has to do with not with the hardships experienced at the time but with the differences which you might call two different cultures, I will call the first THREE IN A HILL indicating a near perfect plant in Farmers English, the second culture I will call a job enforced Ivey league necessity to successfully do my job proficiently and to the positive approval of my direct
Supervisors. In the first culture we as most all people of that time were
Usually satisfied with the status quo, let things ride if they were going well
Instead of trying to think of a way to build a better mousetrap.
In the second culture I found that as my job classification improved and my
Salary increased to more of an executive level, more responsibility was expected of me, this naturally required more time and energy plus the fact that I realized I would have to spend more time in front of large audiences
Talking and answering questions concerning problems with present products and explaining the design and operation of new products.
This relatively new job demand was something that I was not entirely happy with, and concerned myself with the possibility of getting some sound advice on better speech programming.
With this in mind I started looking for institutions that I could attend not too far from Marshall, this I found by looking into the Dale Carnegie leadership development training courses and seminars, I could take a three day seminar in Grand Rapids or Lansing on Effective Communications and Human Relations which I thought would satisfy my thirst for effective program Communication, which it did quite well, and with further advice from there Golden Book on Creating an Executive Image it advanced my education onThings that would be forthcoming much faster than anyone had predicted as we were fast growing into a major manufacturing corp. that demanded more and more time from the engineering and design departments and many more Field trips to inform distributors and customers and service people on the Sensitive and complex systems that we were manufacturing.
These systems were the new dual jet Frozen Food and commercial temperature jet flow cases and the complex Environmental walk-in and cases that many colleges and anniversaries ordered for experimental purposes. I might mention here that my three-year period that I worked with one of the most brilliant engineers in the field of refrigeration, Mr. Sterling Beckwith of Chicago who incidentally invented the dual jet system, and also
Who was CHICAGO STOCKYARD FAME, he also, was on call when needed by JOHN DEERE CORP, MINNEOPOLIS MOLLINE CORP.
McCormick International corp. and several automobile manufactures.
I credit whatever skills I might have developed from this brilliant person to the resulting accomplishments that controlled my future life in the Refrigeration Industry and profitable business establishments that we enjoyed creating for many years.
That era was without a doubt a distraction of what we were accustomed to in our growing up days and that which we were being subjected to as we progressed in our working life as well as our social responsibilities to contend with. As I was progressing in job performance I was included in all production meetings and became a main speaker at Factory Zone Managers meeting and seminars whether it be in Marshall or somewhere else in the United States. We were invited to social activities to the Sherer’s the Coolidges, the Bowers, the Twists and any visiting VIP that was factory connected in some manner.
In writing this I think back on how it all started, a high school kid dropping out in the eleventh grade to go to work in order to make some money and then realizing later in life what a mistake I made, and eventually making it a promise to myself that I would never stop evaluating myself until I reached a plateau that I as well as my friends could say, well done.
Without a doubt there were times when I had help from my friend and faith restorer from above.
May 2006 - January 2007
The Sherer party Wednesday evening (We picked Doris Ballard up) didn’t turn out too good, as turnout wasn’t as expected, we were about 18 people short this year, a lot due to sickness and old age of some of our people, I believe if my count was correct we had 20 people, all had a good time anyway, next year we will have the party some place different or if available in the basement of the Moonraker where it will be less noisy, people were playing pool in our room while we were eating and talking which was annoying to me, at least. The food and service was good however, most didn’t mind the noise.
Yesterday morning I had an appointment with Dr. Mahr for a checkup, all was OK, this morning I had an appointment for blood test, (may 4, 2006) and to determine the cloistral count and other things it tells the Doctor. The clock is striking noon, which means that its time for the Smith’s to head for McDonalds to have our ½ of a hamburger each and a drink, talk to ya later.
Hi Again, quite a lot has occurred since my last input, Jack and I didn’t play as much golf as we did last year, the weather didn’t cooperate well for us. However, I did not report on this before but it actually is a major accomplishment-------Here’s the story, I was going thru’ the VA news one niter and noticed that, the VA Administration had added THE LOSS OF HEARING to be eligible if service connected, for compensation, this was in 2005----I called the number it listed to apply and received the information on how to start----I e-mail a letter stating on how where and when my ear problem started, I was told that the situation causing my condition was established and entered into my army records in April of 1944 when I received the Bronze star medal in the area entering Countance France when the Half-Track I was driving was hit by a German 88 tank projectile. From there I followed procedures up until the present.
Resulting in unexpected compensation for my problem, much more than I ever imagined, However, it hasn’t been easy for me or for Ardis having to repeat most everything talked about.
This will be entered in its proper place in my autobiography, probably near the end as it is happening now (Oct.5th 2006) the first check will cause a
Family celebration somewhere you can count on that, maybe Shuler’s why not. I have not had a steak at Shuler’s since I retired 27 year’s ago.
Talk to ya later. This is (10-07-06) and I’m sending this to Karen to put in my story wherever she thinks it should go.
To further my investigation in the V.A. It was necessary to send them our marriage certificate to prove the marriage was legal for more compensation, as it turned out the entitlement was almost doubled, and I received the checks to prove it, however, it didn’t mention my wife concerning the benefits, so I am going to have to get in touch with Scott Losey to determine why. Scott is the Director for the VA in this area. This is 1-2-2007 of the new year (Not sure about
April 2006
THIS COULD BE THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE FRONTIER KID
This will not be an easy chapter to add to my autobiography, this April 30, 2006 to-day the kids had a wonderful party for our 65th wedding anniversary at the Methodist Church in Marshall, Mi.-------More than 60 people attended including friends and relatives, this was beautiful, however, in the last five months we have had several disappointing news, first my long time deer hunting pardoner Clyle (Jake) Jacoby my nephew died in November (30th) we hunted deer to-gather since 1936 mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, plus my best friend in our Florida Mobil Home Park, Jim Crane my old golfing pardoner from Maryland died in December, we were about to depart for Florida when Ardis came down sick, had to take her to the Hospital, they found she had a ruptured ulcer and had to operate right away, this held us up for several weeks, finally we left for Florida the 28th of January and arrived the first of February--------I’m going to hold up the story for the time being and will start it again when the notion alerts me. Ardis recuperated well in the Sunshine State, and I played golf with the park league about twice a week, this year we played at St. Leo course and
Here’s the high light of the year, we sold our Mobil Home, with the idea that we
Were getting too old to drive the distance (1300 mile) through the big cities and on the inter-states, our health isn’t too good at times, however, if it improves considerably we will rent a home next year in the same park, in fact that was one of the option’s when we sold it, we would be first in line to rent it next year if we wanted it. Now here this, the time stayed at the park will not be the same without Jim.
We had a little bad luck with the car this year, when we pulled in to the Motel 6 in Tallahassee where we stay the second niter out, we took our bags in to the room and
Come out to go accost the road to eat dinner at Shoney’s and it started raining so
We went back to the car to drive to dinner, the car wouldn’t start, battery dead, which meant a real predicament as we were in a strange town on a rainy Sunday night. The car came equipped with On Star phone system and I had activated it just before we left for Florida, they became our Angel of Mercy, I called the number on the card that I had, explained the situation and was told to sit tight and not to worry, help was on the way, I might add fast help, as in about ten minutes there was
A fellow knocking on the door, he tried to start it with the jumper cable that he had but it didn’t work, so what did On Star do, they sent a flat bed to pick the car up and take it to the service garage to find the problem, this was around 11:00 pm so we went to bed and got a good nights sleep. Next morning I called the garage to find out if they had found the problem, they were working on it, so we grabbed a cab and went to the garage to wait for it there, in about 15 minutes a person came and told us the car was ready, in fact it was setting just outside the waiting room where we were. We were given a statement for the labor and parts that gave it a balance of 00. The car was still in warranty. A new battery was all that it needed, the old one had blown up. Due to On Star’s total reliability we were on our way early in the forenoon Monday morning and arrived at our destination almost on time.
This is the 2nd of May, 2006, to-marrow evening we will have our annual old Sherer employee’s party, usually have around 30 to 35 people, it will be at the Moonraker Restaurant on old US 27 south of Marshall about 2 miles at 6:30 or thereabouts, dinner at 7:00 if all goes well.
I will be the host and MC, my helper Bill Lautenslager is up north to his cabin so
Will have to shovel it alone, think we will bring up the subject of new youngblood to handle it in the future, it is a good get-to-gather night for hashing over the past, everyone has a good time and a good meal.
Not much happening this time of year, except maybe getting ready to go fly-fishing for bluegills and hoping for better weather to play some golf.
I think that I mentioned our new great-granddaughter, Adrienne Grace Dysinger, she’s a beaut. Too I must mention that our other granddaughter, Carol Johnson will be having a baby sometime in October of this year, that will make two great grand children, how about that for a couple of 80 plus year old grandparents.
We intend to give each household a Thousand dollars for them to invest for there children’s college education, in 20 years the proceeds should help considerably
Providing its invested in the best of financial practice.
That all for now will catch you next time. As mentioned above our other granddaughter Carol Johnson had her baby Oct. 14th 2006 and named him –him –him-----Alexander Thomas Johnson, a beautiful boy.
Getting back to the party at The Moonraker, we didn’t have the turnout we usually expected, about 16 people less than expected, these people are getting old and some don’t like to get out if it means going home in the dark, next year we will have it earlier to correct this problem, we lost two of our old members, Carl Green’s wife
Margaret, then in the winter sometime Bill Hammond died, Margaret was 89 years and Bill was 79 I believe. So much for the Party.
Frontier, MI
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FRONTIER MICHIGAN
My hometown and the place where I was born went to school and grew into Manhood. It is fitting then that my autobiography should indicate when and how Frontier got its name. The following will be a history of that and of
Woodbridge Township, Frontier, Michigan.
In 1834 the first settler’s took up residence in what is now Woodbridge township most all of the descendants of the first settlers are now gone.
Woodbridge was set off from Fayette Township in 1840, its original territory embraced within its boundaries the present Townships of Woodbridge, Cambria and the west half of Amboy, Amboy Township was home to my dads birthplace in the log cabin built by my Grandfather, John Smith and his wife Harriet Smith in era of the late 1850’s, my dad was born in 1873 he had a Brother and Sister that was born there also.
Now, how did my hometown get its name?? Apparently, the men who formed the skirmish lines for the Ohio-Michigan war felt this was a true Frontier of wilderness. One of the officers, marching into towering trees, came upon a fairly clear area of ground and thought he was on the line cleared by surveyors. He placed three signs at intervals to say Frontier. When the Commanding officer did not see one of his companies of men, He sent a runner to look for them. He found them five miles north of where they were supposed to be. They were dispatched forthwith to the line. The Signs and the name “Frontier” stuck.
This date as of this writing is Aug. 29, 2005 and Frontier
is still there with all the history surrounding it still to be written. I’ll get to it as soon as I get the notion,
it will be the Schools and Churches that I attended when I was growing up. Also, I will mention some of the storms that I
recall created a
Lot of damage to the town and surrounding areas.
The Tornados have struck the settlement, twenty years
apart. In 1928 some farm damage was done west of the town. The roofs were taken
from at least two barns and many trees were taken down. In 1948 a tornado
struck again west of town. The Ed Westfall barns were badly damaged. Etta
Crampon’s garage in town was flattened. The two-story mercantile
building, that stood where the barber shop
is now was toppled against the Young’s building to the east of it. The
chimney was taken off the Baughman house. Many windows all over town were
broken out. The barns on the United Brethren Parsonage lot was leveled.
The third tornado , in 1968 , was the one that wrought
major destruction
It swept across some of Amboy, Woodbridge and Cambria
Townships doing $500,000 in damages. The funnel at this time was quite
wide with a swath of nearly a block . It caused $50,000 damage to the
properties in Frontier. However, only one person was injured causing him to
have several stitches, his name was Carl Deisler.
The schools of Frontier and the surrounding community, were built and put into operation in the early 1840’s some of the area school names
were Brodock, Brahman, East and West Maple Grove, Tamarack and Fuller.
My wife Ardis attended the Maple Grove school when she
started school. I attended the Fuller school when I was in the fourth
grade, which was about a half mile from
where I lived, on a small farm a half mile north of Frontier. This is where I
grew up from the 1920’s until 1941, the year that I
was married. Our neighbors to the south were Guy Snider,
Nealy Alpaugh Grimes and Art England and to the North, Charlie Sturdefant Clide
Pierce and Elvan Bell.
The Fuller School building has since been torn down
however, the big beautiful maple trees that surrounded the school are still
there, and was on a portion of the Pierce farm.
In 1844 a board of inspection met and organized the
district schools, the first Frontier school was a building at the corner of clark and
Montgomery roads on land formerly owned
by George Blount who gave it for a school. In 1873 a larger Frontier school was necessary. A site was
chosen on Brad Street because it was far enough away from t he road so that the
fast-moving horses could not hurt the children.
A two-story, three room building was erected at a cost of
$ 3500. The grades were primary, intermediate and high. The completion and
dedication of this ten grade school were held in the summer of 1895. The first
graduating class (1895) held its ceremonies in an orchard just in back of
The Methodist church across the road from the school. The
first class graduated six students. The next few classes were larger. The
graduation exercises took two nights. Each student graduating was required to
give a speech before receiving his diploma. At this time the superintendent
received $540 a season and the teachers received $360 a season.
In 1912 the Ransom school district joined Frontier for the
high school education by sending their students to Frontier to complete their
schooling.
In 1913-1914 there was no graduating class as the school
changed from a ten-grade to a twelve-grade school. My wife’s mother was the
first to graduate from the 12 grade school in 1914 as was my oldest
sister Grace.
In 1914 Professor Reed the Superintendent, applied for and
received accreditation for the school. Under the direction of Edith Clark, the
beautiful maple trees surrounding the school were planted on Arbor
Day 1918. The 1968 tornado took several of them down.
In 1926 a mass meeting was held for a discussion by the
people of a proposed bonding of the school district for $17,000 so that the
high school building could meet the state requirements for accreditation and
standards.
The election, held on May 9, 1926 carried 2 to 1. The
bonding included a two-story addition 40 by 45 feet for a new high school. The
old high school became a grade school. The new building was to include a
heating plant. The committee to oversee the building was W.J. Westfall and R.
I. Kinney.
Horse and wagon brought the school bell from Angola,
Indiana by Fredric Chester. Pete Fosbender was one of the first
janitors. He rang the bell from the second story each day. It wasn’t till some
years later that GUY SNYDER, as janitor, fixed the bell so it could be rung
from the main floor.
Guy Snyder, was our neighbor first house and farm to the
south of our farm for many years, in fact his daughter taught at Fuller
school where I went for several years.
There are several Cemeteries in Woodbridge Township
including Frontier Cemeteries. Most of my relatives are buried in the
Frontier Cemetery, my parents, my oldest sister Grace and most of her family,
my sister Ethyl and her husband, my Grandmother and Grandfather on
my mother’s
Side.
Getting back to the school information, in 1928 the
Frontier school was placed on the University of Michigan accredited list,. This
same year the first alumni meeting were held.
Commencement and baccalaureate exercises were held in both
of the Frontier churches, with one church serving one year and the other church
the next year. When the school cafeteria was begun in 1942, Wynola Lott was
head cook. Wynola Morgan her maiden name graduated from Frontier high school
and then married Bob Lott, Bob was a exceptional picture on our Frontier high
school base ball team, in fact he tried out for the major league teams but didn’t quite make it.
Mrs. Hazel Drumm, a teacher in the Frontier School,
Started a Mother’s Club in 1945. It is still active in the school system. In
1945 the last graduating class exercises were held in the Frontier school. A
little note from yours truly------- That was the year world war II ended and I
came home in October of that year, in the two years that I was overseas I
missed a lot of the history that I’m writing now which is as interesting to me
as I hope it will be to the people that have an opportunity and are fortunate
enough to read this in the years to come.
For the record, my wife Ardis (Dickey maiden name)
graduated from Frontier High School in 1938 and went on to take a post graduate course in Quincy high school Graduating from there in 1939.
Myself, I went to Frontier high school to the tenth grade
then had to wait until after discharge from the service to complete my
education comprising several years in touch and go formations, with locations
in Battle Creek, Detroit, Traverse City and Marshall.
I would say that it ended
when I was promoted to a desk job in the company where I worked in May 1st
1952.
In the fore years that I had schooling under the GI bill
of rights my company records indicate my Refrigeration Engineer’s assurance
status indicates the equivalent of two years college in courses of that nature.
So much for the last of Frontier school’s and our
education.
May-June 2003
This is Tuesday the 27th of May 2003, we didn’t make it to the Frontier Mi. cemetery on Memorial day to clean up the graves of our family, but we plan on going down this Thursday to do that. Ardis's sister Evelyn wants to go with us, so be it. People reading this will think the old boy had a spurt of adrenalin to be able to congregate a few words so close to the dates of one another even though they mean practically nile it will give the reader a positive reaction of what's coming next, and that’s what this honorable declaration is all about, yeh, kilroy was here. Thought I would add a couple of current events while I am thinking about it, Deanna and Pat left for Montrose Colorado the 30th to visit Barb her old friend of school days, they flew to Denver and rented a car and drove the rest of the way, I called her a couple of times while they were in route on the highway ( Route 70 ) She told me the speed limit was 75 but still it took them 9 hr. to get there. Her cell phone was clear as a bell, amazing. We put 12 items on E-Bay for sale yesterday and one to-day. My thinker has thunk out again, However, I want you to know that I really appreciate you taking the time to read my autobiography, you know it certainly is not a thing of exhilarating beauty that forces your mind to adjust to the fact that the writer rarely knows what the next paragraph is going to be.>>>>>>>>>Kilroy was here!!! 6/ 3/ 03
May 2003
This is a current event that is worth mentioning, maybe because I was one of the individual's taking part in the maneuver. Bill Launtenslager, Al Cornwell and myself went on a fishing trip to Berrien Springs Mi. on the St. Joe river fishing for steelhead's, we left
Incidently, this is Memorial day weekend and Ardis is setting up her flea market extravaganza at Cornwell's Turkey farm and restaurant, she had made pretty good so far, has one more day to go..
Bill said he plans on going up to his cabin at Lovell to-day (Sat.) 25th of May to stay for five days then, coming home for a doctor’s appointment. He's having considerable problems with his lower back. I told him to tie up a big old gobbler for this fall hunt, it would be likely too that he would do that.
he was 92 yrs old. I went to the family visiting afternoon session, saw Pappy Miller (Wayne) there, he's in pretty tough shape, but I believe he is 91, wow the year's are creeping up on us old farts.
For now, that's it I'm going to hit the sak I'll struggle up some more facts soon as they creep into my noggin. There's a lot of amendments to this thing, I hope the people that read it don't get squirmy and quit, probably would be best to start reading it after you have had a severe nervous breakdown and need the mother of all laugh's to regain composure to start living again.
May 2003
Yesterday was the 11th of may,2003, Dennis and Marge asked the whole family to come for dinner at 5:00. Ardis and I, Deanna and Pat, Jeanne and Perry, John and Carol, Nick and Karen all were there-----I took many pictures of the clan, all had a good time. Dennis has certainly made a lot of improvements to the woods around the house since he has retired, cleaning them out and cutting the brush etc.
Bill and I plus a friend of Bill's by the name of Pete Burrows went up to Bill's cabin at Lovell's turkey hunting May 4th and 5th and stayed for four days, did'nt see many birds this year and none to shoot.-----
The weather hasn’t cooperated yet to play any golf so loafing has been the agenda since returning from Florida----- I'm getting set to do a little fishing when the weather clears and gets warmer .
Ardis is all set to flea market this season again when the weather gets better, she will be going to Cornwell's and Thurston's probably all summer.
Well, I'll tell you now that the old thinker has thunk out for the time being, but when it become's connected again we'll spin out a few more facts. By the way the date is12th of May 2003 8:57 PM.
Kilroy was here>>>>>>>>>>!!
April 2003
This is the 19th day of April 2003, I will jot down some of the things that has happened this year, we had to wait until after Dec.14th (Karen's wedding) to get ready to leave for
Ardis hasn’t played for the last 2 yrs. because she says she can't hit the ball far enough. She got her exercise by walking about 2 to 3 mile a day.
Our old friends and my golfing buddy Jim Crane only played the two games a week that the Park had scheduled because of a serious brain tumor operation he had last summer, they removed a tumor the size of a golf ball from his brain at John Hopkins hospital in
We didn’t have any family come down this year. We did have some people visit, my niece Norma Jean and her husband Dick Baker came over from
We came home earlier than we had planned because of a Easter dinner the family had scheduled the 18th of Dec. We started home the 15th on a Tuesday and arrived Thursday PM . It rained all day the 16th making it tough driving, we stayed all night at
Outside of the fact that my mind can't seem to muster any more facts or fiction, I'll stop for the time being. Talk to you later.
Harriet E. Smith
Here's something that should be recorded in this report that has to do with my grandmother on dad’s side of the family, its her obituary.
Harriet E. Smith, daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Kaneour was born in Cumberlain County, Pennsylvania November 30th 1847 and departed this life, Nov. 17 1937, aged 89 yrs.,11 months and17 days. In 1850 she with her parents and their family moved to
She was the last of a family of seven children. To this union were born four children. Her husband preceded her in death in 1885, leaving her care for the children in the early years of their life.
Granddaughters
This is the 25th of Nov. 2002 and I'm trying to think of something interesting to jot down, but can't get my mind in gear, will try later.
Cabin In the U.P.
Somewhere along the line I failed to mention that I built a 12 X 12 hunting cabin in 1952 when we lived on
Just four miles east of Paulding is
The date is Tuesday 29th of October, 2002 I believe that I have highlighted about most of the important occasions in my life so far. Maybe future generations will have a general idea of what old man Smith and his family was made of---just common honest endearing god-fearing people which you can find most anywhere on this green earth.
Today, we had a appointment with our attorney, Tom Plaising in
>>>>>>>>
Just realized this is Armistice day, and I recall what one of the little things I accomplished 58 years ago to-day at a gloomy rainy muddy place called Arrow-court in France, I carved my initials and date on the steering wheel of my half track, however, the most important and exciting event that took place, we shot down a German Fouk Wolf fighter plane that came in straffing our position, he came directly over my track taking several rounds of 50 Cal. machine gun bullet's in his belly, he hit the ground about 200 yards from us disintegrating the plane and pilot. Other than that, it was just another ho hum boring war day.
Yesterday, Ardis went to
Until next time, on hold.
Selling the house on Union Street
One of the toughest things that I have ever had to do, NOTE I said one of the toughest, was to put the house up for sale, the other was selling the car wash's. There was so much enjoyment in the day by day progressive success, even with all the hard work that was necessary, you almost become addicted to whatever it takes to get to the ever elusive plateau that you have dreamed about over the years. However, with
a lifetime partner of 60 plus years steadfast beside me through thick and thin, who could go wrong.
Yes, we sold the house, bought a condo and to the delight of Goodwill in
As a rule she made the 70 mile trip down there without any mishaps, however, there were times when she wasn't so lucky, flat tires, dead batteries and deer slowed her down sometimes, in fact she hit two deer at the same time once , then an other time she was successful in missing a couple of deer but ended up out in a bean field through a ditch and back in the road really screwing up the under carriage of the Van, how in the world she ever made it the 50 miles to Shipshewana is more than my feeble brain can figure out. I always went down on Wed. to help her wrap up what was left, this of course was after I retired we usually would get home about 7:00 after eating usually in Sturgis Michigan or Howe Ind.
This year, 2002 she quit the long drive to Shipshewana and I'm sure she would say stopped to play the little flea jobs around Marshall and Tekonsha, however, it serves her purpose and keeps her busy most of the time.---------I guess we just realized this year that we are not getting any younger Amen!!
I will continue to add to this as my brain jumps into gear every now and then and connects to something I've missed. This date is: Saturday the 19 of Oct. 2002 9:25 pm MSU got tromped by
My Retirement
I better mention that I retired the 12th of November 1978 from my job at the company, I might mention here that I retired as plant manager of the environmental division of the Kysor Industrial Corporation. I had plenty of time to service the car washes and still hunt and fish and enjoy my retirement, still have plenty of time, now however, golf is my hobby, both in
Hope to see one of the couple down with us this winter( At country-aire estates mobile home park at 38130 McDonald St. Dade City, FL. 33525 ) We are always happy to have any of the family come down. The park is mid way between most of the major attractions in
Ardis and Frosty Boy
Ardis mentioned one day that she didn't have enough to do taking care of the two car washes during the day and wanted to start up the dairy bar. At the time we were renting the building to Madeleine Allen so we advised her that Ardis was going to start in the business and she would have to get out at the end of the season.
We spent another $20,000 or better buying new equipment and started it up in the spring of the following year, it prospered for two years until we sold the car wash on Michigan Ave. to a fellow by the name of Bill Crank, then his wife started operating the dairy bar for the time being, but rented it to Hank Cassen's girl friend after finding out that it was a tough row to hoe, the girl friend didn't do any better. Oh well so much for that. It was 1982 when we sold the Michigan Ave. wash to Crank, then in 1983 he bought the
Money Money Money
The money w as rolling in a lot of it to Security national bank, but a lot was going into our bank account also, Ardis had quit her job at Schuler’s a couple of years earlier to handle her vice presidents job at the car wash, now she had a double dose of car wash's, she took care of them during the day and I would take over at night, we were two busy people for twenty years,. however, we did manage to take a vacation every year, going to Europe and retracing a few of the places I was during the war, mostly however, laying on the beach at the Riviera in southern France, Monaco and Italy, plus we went on several cruises in the Caribbean to south America and most of the islands in that area, also Mexico, Canada and the USA. and
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