St. Joseph County, MI Obituaries-G

*St. Joseph County Obituaries-G*

If you would like to submit an obituary for this page,
please fill out this obituary form and I will post it as soon
as possible. I will notify you by email when
I have it finished and posted to the obituary page.

Veterans are marked with a

by their obituary

G

Fri., 17 Oct 1997

Jerry GILDING

   Burr Oak ~ Jerry GILDING, 71, 123 N Third St., Burr Oak, died at 4 p.m., Wednesday, June 22, 1983 in Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, where he had been a patient 10 days. He had been in declining health a year.
   He was born July 21, 1911 in Vicksburg, Mich., son of Z.L. and Margaret (NEILAN) GILDING.
A graduate of Vicksburg High School in 1929, he attended Notre Dame University and graduated from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. in 1932.
   On Sept. 1, 1937, he was married to Clara MEYER, in Sturgis. She died Oct. 8, 1963. On May 4, 1968, he was married to Vera MODERT, in Three Rivers.
   He came to Sturgis in 1933, and in 1938 established and managed the Burr Oak Funeral Home, until 1979. Since 1980 he was associated with the Rosenberg~Schipper Funeral Home of Sturgis.
   In May of this year, he was honored by the Michigan Funeral Directors Association for being licensed 50 years in the profession.
   He was a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church, Sturgis Knights of Columbus 2508, Fourth Degree Assembly Knights of Columbus of Bronson, Sturgis Elks Lodge 1381, Sturgis Eagles Lodge Aerie 1314, Sturgis Moose Lodge Lodge (sic) 574, Sturgis Dads of Veterans of Foreign Wars 1355, Michigan Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.
   He was a former member of the Burr Oak Village Council, Burr Oak Rotary Club, Good Fellowship Club and Burr Oak Board of Review.
   Surviving are his wife, Vera; two sons, Ted GILDING, Cincinnati, Ohio; Tom GILDING, Springfield, Va.; a daughter, Connie SHUTES, Kalamazoo; three grandchildren, Stacia GILDING and Michael GILDING, both of Springfield, Va., and Melissa SHUTES, Kalamazoo; several nieces and nephews.
   He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and a sister.
   Relatives and firends (sic) may call at the Rosenberg ~ Schipper Funeral Home, Sturgis, after 4 p.m. today (Thursday). The Rosary will be recited in the funeral home at 8 p.m. Friday. Mass of the Resurrection will be held in Holy Angels Catholic Church Saturday at 11 a.m., with the Rev. James REMMERSWAAL O.S.C officiant. Burial will take place in Oak Lawn Cemetery.
   Memorials may be directed to Holy Angels Catholic School or the American Heart Association.

Transcribed from an original newspaper clipping, 'The Sturgis Journal', serving the Burr Oak, Michigan area.

Obituary provided by Belle Decker and transcribed by Josephine Reed Foster Garzelloni.

Sat., 31 Jan 1998

GIRTON

   ~ Dec 10 1899 ~ Joseph GIRTON, familiarly called "Uncle Joe", a well-known and highly respected citizen of Klinger Lake died Wednesday, December 8th, at the age of ninty years of age.
   Mr. GIRTON was born in 1819 in Lincolnshire, England, and came to America when he was twenty-five years of age in 1844, where he found employment as a farm hand. He was able in a short time to purchase a few acres of ground on the banks of Aldrich Lake, the site of his present homestead. When the gold fever struck this country he was one of the many to mortgage his little farm and start for California. There he accumulated some wealth and returned again to his farm which he at once began to improve and enlarge until he became a most prosperous farmer. How successful his friends and neighbors all know.
   In 1857 he was married to Alice MASTERMAN, a widow with several children, three of whom survive him, and who feel keenly the loss of this good man who was more than a father to them, Mr S. GIRTON's death having occured over twenty-three years ago. By this marriage four sons were born to him, one dying in infancy, two now residing on the GIRTON farm, and one in Oregon.
   Mr. GIRTON has always been noted for his honesty and integrity and not only believed in but lived up to his chosen motto: "Do unto others as you would be done by." He lived to see most of his old time friends and companions lain away to rest, but will be greatly missed by his many remaining friends and relatives, who, when they visited him at the old homestead were always sure of seeing him settled in his familiar old arm-chair gazing out upon the lake and taking in the beauties of nature of which he was so fond.

Transcribed from an original newspaper clipping, 'The Sturgis Journal', serving the St Joseph County, Michigan area.
Email any GIRTON queries to Larry Jones

[top of page]
Go to: Obituary Index Page
Return to: St. Joseph County USGenWeb Page