Marcia Bechtloff, 69

Marcia C. Bechtloff, age 69, of Colon, passed away Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

 Marcia was born June 3, 1939, in Schoolcraft, a daughter of the late Harry & Helen (Smith) Stuart.

Marcia had lived most all of her life in the Colon and Leonidas area. She graduated from Colon High School with the class of 1957.

She married Dawayne Holtz, which ended in divorce. She later married Richard K. Bechtloff in Battle Creek.

 Marcia had worked for the Family Independent Agency in Centreville, retiring in 1999.

She was a homemaker and a member of the North Avenue Church of God in Battle Creek. Prior to that she had attended the Church of God in Colon.

She is survived by her husband, Richard K. (Dick) Bechtloff of Colon; four children, Tod (Claudene) Holtz of White Pigeon, Andy (Nati) Holtz of Los Angeles, Heidi (Scott) Wasserman of Alpine, Texas, and Shawn (Melissa) Holtz of Battle Creek; six grandchildren; one great-grandchild; three step-children, Kevin Bechtloff of Louisville, Ky., Tracy (Dave) Lovell of Melfa, Va., and Mark (Renee) Bechtloff of Portsmouth, Va.; five step-grandchildren; a brother, Marvin (Lorraine) Stuart of Leonidas; two sisters, Doris (Wallace) Nichols of Sturgis and Mary (Roger) Hall of Colon; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by an infant son, Timothy Holtz; a sister, Norma Jean (Thornton) Shoop; and a brother, Robert Stuart.

The family will receive relatives and friends from 6-8 p.m. Monday and 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Schipper Funeral Home in Colon.

Funeral services celebrating the life of Marcia Bechtloff will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Jim Sparks of the North Avenue Church of God officiating. Burial will follow at Lakeside Cemetery in Colon.

Saturday night

Fort Wayne 3,  Kalamazoo 2

Timing is everything for K-wings Detulleo

Photos provided by Darlene Ferrari. 

It all comes down to timing. 

That is how Kalamazoo Wings Glenn Detulleo handles his role as a player and captain of the team, by knowing when the time is right to make an impact, whether on the ice or off. 

 

 

After being named by coach Nick Bootland to wear the “C” on his jersey, Detulleo says that while his style of play has not changed, being the leader of the team on the ice does put a little more pressure on his shoulders. 

“When it’s a tight game or things are going bad, obviously the players are always going to be looking for you to provide that spark or get something done,” Detulleo said. 

“So that is added pressure I guess, but anybody who plays this game probably wants, or should want pressure.  So it’s good”.

 The 31-year old native of Timmons, Ontario is known as a quiet force on the ice who likes to lead by example.  But don’t think that stops him from expressing his displeasure with mediocre play by his teammates. 

“I think the timing of what you say is just as important as what you say,” Detulleo said. 

“If you are always barking and yelling, it just becomes background noise and nobody is really listening.” 

Detulleo notes that there have been a few times this year when he has voice his opinion “loudly” as he believes that carriers more weight than if he did that everyday.

 ”There has been a time or two this year where something needed to be said and it was said,” he added with a smile. 

Detulleo’s first stint with the K-wings came back in the 2006-2007 year when he was traded to team from the Quad City Mallards.  Ironically, the man who traded him from the Mallards, Brian Curran, wound up being his coach the next year in Kalamazoo. 

Detulleo took the trade in stride noting that although his current team no longer wanted him, another team did. 

“When I was traded to Kalamazoo it was a 2 for 1 deal.  So I felt that obviously this team wants me since they gave up two players for me”, Detulleo said. 

 After playing 43 games with the K-wings, Detulleo was traded again, this time to the Elmira Jackals.    

Unfortunately for Detulleo, the Jackals were in the middle of a road trip (the team was based in New York), which meant he had to leave immediately to meet up with his new team. 

Leaving his Jenn to pack up the house. 

“That is the part of the job that nobody realizes”, Detulleo said. 

“They just see us in another uniform and there’s my wife with a baby and pregnant trying to pack the place up and I am away on a road trip. That was frustrating.” 

Finishing out the season in Elmira the Detulleo’s headed back to Kalamazoo to retrieve the items they left in storage. 

Knowing that he was back in town, former K-wings coach Mark Reeds asked Detulleo if he would be interested in coming back to the team for the playoffs.  

Detulleo, knowing that the Jackals were moving to the ECHL the next year asked to be released in hopes that a team would snatch him up for the stretch run. 

Now in his third year with the team, the Detulleo’s are ready to call Kalamazoo home.  Well sort of. 

The family has a home in Nebraska that is rented out during the season.  If Detulleo is to return to the K-wings next season, the family may stay in Kalamazoo over the summer instead of packing up and moving back to Nebraska for a few short months. 

The rigors of packing, moving and unpacking can take its toll on a young family. 

“The toughest part is when you have a family and have a house….it is just nice to have a house,” Detulleo said.

“You come here and you have a smaller place and you don’t have everything that you would normally have at home”. 

Luckily for the Detulleo’s, they were fortunate this year to move into a bigger place so there is room for the entire family. 

The Detulleo’s have two daughter, Ebba who will be three in April and 16-month old Berlin.  The two girls are in the stands, along with mom watching daddy at every home game. 

It is not unusual to see Detulleo bringing one or both of the girls out on the ice after being named as one of the “three stars of the game” or for a post game skate with fans. 

With the girls at the rink quite a bit, Detulleo wants to make sure that his family has the best experience possible but coming home to his girls, even after a bad game, is worth it. 

“A loss isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things (although it is frustrating, he notes).  But when you come home and your kids are there smiling and laughing, it kind of grounds you”, Detulleo said.

By:  Mark C. McGlothlen

Gayle Balyeat, 74

Gayle A. Balyeat, 74, of 703 Michigan Ave., Sturgis, Mich., died Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, at her home, following an extended illness.

She was born July 25, 1934, in Chenoa, Ill., a daughter of Russell and Vernice (Harkrider) Dunham. She had been a Sturgis resident since 1998, coming from Kalkaska, where she lived for 21 years. Prior to that, she lived in Constantine.

She married Jim Balyeat on Feb. 9, 1973, in Centreville.

She was a lifelong homemaker, and was employed by Owens Illinois in Constantine.

She attended Riverside Church in Three Rivers. She most enjoyed her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also liked sewing, baking, ceramics, crocheting and her Jack Russell, Buddy.

Surviving are her husband, Jim; a daughter, Patsy (Mike) Wertz of Constantine; three sons, Mark (Gale) Vercler of Sturgis, Paul (Jana) Vercler of Aurora, Colo., and Phillip Vercler of White Pigeon; two stepdaughters, Christinia (Scott) Strawser of Belding and Lore Balyeat of Constantine; a stepson, Tyler (Connie) Balyeat of Burr Oak; 15 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; a brother, Dell Dunham; and three sisters, Ruth Martin, Lillian Yergler and Marilyn Dempsey, all of Illinois.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Sonny Russell; and a grandson.
Visitation is 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at Farrand Funeral Home in White Pigeon. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will be in White Pigeon Township Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to Three Rivers Health Hospice. Envelopes are available at the funeral home.

TR Health – January was better than budgeted

January was still a “red ink” month for Three Rivers Health, but it was better than budgeted and a big improvement over many other recent months.

                Financial reports presented during the Three Rivers Health Authority Board meeting Thursday morning (February 26^th) showed a net loss of nearly $75,000 ($74,572) in January, but that figure was more than $49,000 ($49,465) under the projected shortfall for the month.

                Matt Chambers, President & CEO, said, “It is the first month that was better than budgeted and better than we’d expected so we’re very happy about that.  We had budgeted losses going through the first quarter of the year and then to begin to turn those around in other quarters going forward.”

                Chambers said the January loss “is the smallest that we’ve had in over a year so that was encouraging to us, even though it’s a loss.”

                Total patient revenue was 3.8 percent below budget in January and operating costs were 2.7 percent below budget.

                Steve Andrews, Vice-President of Finance, said the hospital is anticipating “a similar-type scenario” in February with revenue “slightly below budget.”  He said the hospital’s prime sources of revenue – the emergency room, lab and radiology – are still not meeting expectations, but indicated the new group slated to take over ER operations on April 1^st is expected to have a positive impact.  And, in regard to labor costs, Andrews said, “You can see the impact of what we’ve done on the staffing side compared to last January,” a reference to the trimming of 35 employees from the hospital workforce.

                The addition of a new general and vascular surgeon who will come on board in April is also expected to give the hospital a boost.

                Three Rivers Health recorded a net loss of more than $3 million in 2008.

                In another finance-related item of business, the board authorized Chambers to sign a “letter of agreement” with Chase, the bank that funded the first million dollars of a $3.2 million investment the hospital is putting into a new information system.  Chambers said that – because of the hospital’s financial circumstances – the bank requested more frequent monitoring.  He said, “We have agreed to go ahead and let them know what our cash position is every two weeks and what our monthly financials are.  They’ve given us some thresholds that they expect us to meet and we are confident that we can meet them.”

TR Health looks forward to May 5th election

Three Rivers Health is looking ahead to the May 5^th election when a request for a two-mill tax levy for ten years will be decided by voters in the governmental units involved in the Three Rivers Health Authority – the City of Three Rivers and the townships of Constantine, Fabius, Lockport and Park.

                Matt Chambers, President and CEO of Three Rivers Health, provided an update on the subject during the regular monthly meeting of the Three Rivers Health Authority Board Thursday morning (February 26^th).  He reported on the public hearing held last week and subsequent action by the board to impose a four-tenths-of-a-mill tax levy and place the two-mill proposal on the May 5^th ballot.

                Chambers said that resolutions related to the millages have been processed and a campaign committee is being formed to promote passage of the two-mill proposal.  The committee will be separate from the hospital and utilize private funds for its efforts.

                Chambers said, “All the hospital can do is educate about the financial realities and the kinds of services that we offer, the current state of health care in Michigan and in the nation, and those kinds of things.”

                Chambers said, “A campaign committee will be formed in the next week and then that campaign committee will draft strategies about how to get the vote out and, most importantly, how to educate the public about why the millage is needed for the hospital and why it’s important to keep health care local and to make sure that we are available to the constituents of the area going into the future.”

                The four-tenths-of-a-mill levy, which has never been used since the Authority was formed in 1978, is expected to raise approximately $300,000.  The two-mill tax, if approved by voters, would raise about $1.4 million annually.  Funds from the smaller levy can be used for a variety of purposes, but money from the two-mill levy would have to be used for capital expenditures.

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