Obituaries

Mary E. Beechy, age 49, 3 Months, of Centreville, passed away, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011, at Parkview Memorial Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. Mary was born May 3, 1962, in Medford, Wisc., a daughter to Eli M. and Clara (Mullet) Beechy. Mary moved to Michigan in 2000, coming from Amherst, Wisc. She was a member of the Old Order Amish …

Ray O. Bauder Jr., age 85, of Ezel, Ky., and formerly of Sturgis, Mich., passed away after a long illness on Friday, July 29, 2011, at the Wolfe County Health Care Center in Campton, Ky. He was born Aug. 15, 1925, in Quincy, Mich., a son of the late Albert Ray and Rosa Cora (Grindle) Bauder. On June 12, 1948, …

Clara A. Bontrager, age 11 months, died late Sunday, July 31, 2011, at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. She was born in Burr Oak on Aug. 25, 2010, the daughter of Alvin and Rhoda (Hochstetler) Bontrager. She is survived by her parents; three brothers, Ora A. Bontrager, Paul A. Bontrager, and Timothy A. Bontrager; one sister, Barbara A. Bontager all …

Dorothy (Dotty) Jean Kuhlman, age 80, passed away peacefully on July 30, 2011, at Sue’s Loving Care in Kalamazoo. She was born in Sturgis, Mich., on June 1, 1931, to Orville Jay and Helen Jean (Baldwin) Keeslar. On Nov. 18, 1950, in Sturgis, she married Vern (Al) Kuhlman and enjoyed 60 years of marriage with him until his passing on …

Lucile Southwick, 98, of Midland, died Saturday, July 30, 2011, at her residence. She was born on Oct. 30, 1912, in Toledo, Ohio, daughter of the late Fred & Edith (Loy) Nishumura. She was a graduate of White Pigeon High School and received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1954, her master’s degree in elementary education in 1959, a …

Jack Raifsnider, 81, of White Pigeon, Mich., died at 4:50 p.m. on Sunday, July 31, 2011, at Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo. He was born on Feb. 18, 1930, in White Pigeon, to Lester and Hazel (Snyder) Raifsnider. On July 3, 1955, in LaGrangem, Ind., he married Mary Parks. She survives. Survivors in addition to his wife are two nieces, Kathy …

Helen W. Magnus, age 95, of Marshall, and formerly of Sturgis, died Wednesday, July 27, 2011, at The Manor of Battle Creek. Mrs. Magnus was born to a farming family on Sept, 30, 1915, in Sturgis, Mich., to James and Viola (Pierson) Snook. She had been a resident of the Marshall area since 2006, moving here from Sturgis. On Feb. …

Harold B. Freeland Jr., age 85, a lifelong resident of Sturgis, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, July 30, 2011. He was born May 16, 1926, in Sturgis, a son to the late Harold B. and Florence June (Beebe) Freeland. Harold graduated from Sturgis High School with the class of 1944 and then joined the U.S. Army Air Force. …

June Sylvia Ledbetter, age 96, of Constantine passed away Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at Three Rivers Health. She was born in Stoughton, WI on June 24, 1915,  a daughter of Frederick William and Clara (Johnson) Howard. June was a bookkeeper at North End Cycle Shop in Elkhart, retiring in 1981. Following her retirment she worked at the Three Rivers Commercial …

Evelyn L. Christopherson, age 78, of Three Rivers, died Saturday July 30, 2010 at Riverview Manor. She was born near Alcester, SD on Dec. 7, 1932 the daughter of David and Edith (Allfree) Lundberg. She graduated from Alcester High School in 1950, and attended business school in Aberdeen, SD. She moved to Three Rivers in 1954 and was employed as …