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Mary Tremonti
Funeral services for Mary Elizabeth Tremonti, 55, the beloved wife and best friend of Michael C. Tremonti, Sr., were held Saturday, Feb. 2, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Wilmette, Ill.
Mrs. Tremonti died Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002, at her home in Glenview, Ill.
Mary was a longtime resident of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She graduated from Dominican High School and attended Cuyahoga College in Cleveland, Ohio.
An accomplished athlete, Mary was an avid distance runner and tennis player who competed at tournament level in the Midwest.
She was a longtime member of the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, where she helped to organize a variety of tennis functions. In addition, she was also a tennis member at the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club, Country Club of Detroit and Lochmoor Club.
Mary was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mary's first love, however, was her family. She was the biggest supporter of her husband and three sons' academic, athletic and creative endeavors. Mary always seemed to find time to attend three events simultaneously to cheer for her boys.
Mary was the loving mother of Michael C. Tremonti, II, Daniel S. Tremonti and Mark T. Tremonti. She was the dear sister of John (Kathleen) Stanley, Kathy (John) Llewellyn, Alice (Mike) Heist, Peggy (John) Jerskey, Tom (Linda) Stanley and Susie (Gary) Schneider and a loving aunt of 23 nieces and nephews.
Entombment was in All Saints cemetery in Des Plaines, Ill.
Memorial contributions may be made to the With Arms Wide Open Foundation, 525 E. College Ave., Tallahassee, FL 32301 or Evanston Northwestern Hospital (ENH) Hospice, 5215 Old Orchard Rd., Suite 200, Skokie, IL 60077-1035.
Helen White
Grosse Pointe Park resident Helen White, 89, died of kidney failure on Friday, Dec. 21, 2001, at the Hospices of Henry Ford in Detroit.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Mrs. White graduated from Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio, and Sullins College in Bristol, Va.
She was a member of the Grosse Pointe Newcomers Alumni and the Daughters of the American Revolution/Fort Pontchartrain Chapter.
Mrs. White enjoyed golf and watching the freighters pass on Lake St. Clair.
She is survived by her daughter Martha (Marty) Martin; three grandchildren and her brother Arthur Cooper. She was predeceased by her husband Philip White.
Arrangements were handled by the Verheyden Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe Park. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 12:30 p.m., at Christ Episcopal Church, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., in Grosse Pointe Farms. Mrs. White was cremated and her remains will be interred in the Christ Church columbarium.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospices of Henry Ford - Nursing Home Services, Detroit.
James D. Beyster
James D. Beyster, 79, loving husband for 57 years to Barbara B. Beyster, died on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
A former resident of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mr. Beyster was born May 12, 1922, in Detroit. He graduated in 1941 from Grosse Pointe Country Day School and attended the University of Michigan. He also served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Mr. Beyster was the Director of Buildings for Wayne County. Following his retirement in 1983, he moved to Fort Myers Beach, Fla. The consummate engineer, he made many friends while helping to fix gizmos and gadgets. He also performed his civic duty admirably as the local weather reporter for the Fort Myers WINK television station.
Mr. Beyster spent many summers at the Old Club on Harsens Island where his love for boating and water began. In addition, he was a former member of the Grosse Pointe Club and the Lochmoor Club.
He is also survived by his son, Ed Sharon) Beyster; his daughter, Barbara B. James) Bierbusse and two grandchildren.
A memorial service was held on Feb. 16, at the Chapel By The Sea in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Mr. Beyster was cremated and his ashes will be scattered at sea.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or the American Diabetes Association.
Joseph Cehula
Grosse Pointe Park resident Joseph Cehula, 72, died of congestive heart failure, on Friday, Feb. 15, 2002, at the Select Specialty Hospital in Mount Clemens.
He was born to Sophia and Joseph Cehula, in Wilmore, Pa. and graduated from Wilmore High School. As a Sergeant during the Korean War he was stationed in Texas and Alaska.
Mr. Cehula was retired from the Machine Repairment division of General Motors Corp.
His hobbies included fishing, hunting, boating, playing cards, working cross-word puzzles and investing in the stock market.
He is survived by his son, Jim; his daughters, Suzy and Julie; his grandchildren, Steven, Sam, Bobby, Caroline and Kierstyn and his sister, Ann Coppers. He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara and his sisters, Margaret and Helen.
A funeral service was held on Sunday, Feb. 17, at the Verheyden Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe Park.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Foundation for Exceptional Children, 16 Lakeshore Rd., Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236.
Angela M. Fowler
Longtime Grosse Pointe Public School teacher Angela M. Fowler, 102, died on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2002, in Harper Woods.
Angela entered this world in the late 19th Century. She celebrated the arrival of the 21st Century on Jan. 1, 2001, with one of her former students. Another student called her from Australia, where he now resides as a minister. She led a good life and a full life, and did a great deal of good for others along the way.
Angela was born on a farm in what is now the city of Bloomfield Hills in Oakland County, on June 5, 1899. Her father, Frederick Fowler, then newly arrived from Gloucester, England, had stopped by the farm years before as he walked from Detroit toward Pontiac looking for a job. Her mother, Catherine Kickham, was from London, Ontario, Canada. The Fowlers had three sons and a daughter, Angela, but no grandchildren. Angela was the last survivor of this family. She never married
.
In the early 1900s, Angela walked to Woodward Avenue and rode a streetcar north to Pontiac to attend the only Catholic schools in the area. As her education progressed, so did her desire to become a teacher herself. She graduated from the State Teachers College in Ypsilanti, now Eastern Michigan University, then taught in Detroit and later, in Grosse Pointe.
When Lewis E. Maire Elementary School opened in 1938, she joined the faculty, teaching the third and fourth grades. She taught not only reading, penmanship and arithmetic, but also good manners and an honest interest in all peoples from all lands and backgrounds.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, she helped arrange for her third-graders to hear President Roosevelt deliver his Day of Infamy speech to Congress on Monday, Dec. 8, 1941. Later, as wounded servicemen began returning to U. S. hospitals, Miss Fowler set aside part of each class day for her class to do its part. She taught knitting to both boys and girls, no exceptions. They would knit woolen squares to be assembled into comforters and woolen slippers for the wounded servicemen.
Always trying to improve herself and better educate her charges, Angela earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan. After formal retirement, she served as a volunteer teacher and administrator, primarily for Catholic schools, and in any other way in which she could be helpful. In 1983, she was honored for her services to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of the United States, but, her services continued until Angela was into her 90s.
A broken hip in 1993 caused Angela to forgo independent living for residence at the Henry Ford Belmont Continuing Care Center in Harper Woods. She not only participated in the activities there but also embarked on the last great phase of her life, philanthropy.
Miss Fowler never earned much as a teacher, but she lived conservatively. She also had several excellent and caring stockbrokers who helped her manage her income progressively and carefully. In 1994, having concluded that she had more than enough to keep her, Angela gave substantial sums to worthy causes. These gifts included establishing the Angela M. Fowler Scholarship Fund at University of Detroit-Mercy, a gift to the Leader Dogs for the Blind Sponsorship Program and establishing a private trust at Merrill Lynch Trust Bank to provide for the education of three talented, blind students at outstanding universities. In addition, she provided that after her death, the remainder of her estate will be distributed to those and other charities.
Miss Fowler will lie in state on Friday, Feb. 22, at St. Ambrose Church, 15020 Hampton in Grosse Pointe Park, from 9 a.m. until the funeral Mass at 10 a.m. A private interment will be held at Holy Sepulchre cemetery in Southfield.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Angela M. Fowler Scholarship Fund, University of Detroit-Mercy, P. O. Box 19900, Detroit, MI 48219-0900 or Leader Dogs for the Blind, Sponsorship Program, P. O. Box 5000, Rochester, MI 48308-5000.
Robert C. Greider
Longtime resident of the City of Grosse Pointe, Robert C. Greider, 76, died of respiratory failure at St. John Riverview Hospital in Detroit on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2002, as the result of complications from a stroke that he suffered last year.
He was born to Marion Lorena Lambdin and Luther W. Greider, in Detroit, on Aug. 17, 1925, and grew up on Mark Twain St. He graduated from Cooley High School in Detroit before joining the United States Army in 1943.
He took further training as a combat engineer in England, and experienced German V-1 attacks in London before landing in France on Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day. He worked in supply throughout the European Theater including working in Rotterdam and then Antwerp where he again experienced V-1 and V-2 attacks. He then went through the Rhineland Campaign as a combat engineer. After the end of World War II, he served in the occupation of Germany in Wiesbaden.
Coincidentally, both of his daughters were stationed with the U. S. Army in Wiesbaden during the 1980s. His son worked as a federal civilian employee for the Air Force in Wiesbaden for 10 years. All three of his grandchildren were born at the Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden.
Before returning home to the States with an honorable discharge in 1946, he attended the Biarritz American University in France.
Using his benefits under the GI Bill, he attended Grinnell College in Iowa, graduating in 1950 with a degree in English and Business and a minor in Art. He also made many life-long friends there. After returning to Detroit, he attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He then left Detroit to explore the country and took classes at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, Calif. Upon his return to Detroit, he took courses at Wayne State University in writing and photography and at the Sales Analysis Institute before launching a career in the automotive industry.
His first job was working for his father at L. W. Greider Interior Decorations during the Depression and again, during the 1950s. His automotive industry related experience included working for the Jam Handy Organization in 1950s, for Mopar and Chrysler through the 1960s and for Wilding, Inc. which became Maritz Inc., through the 1970s and 1980s. He enjoyed his work as a writer/editor, putting all of his education and experience to work writing dealer's facts books, driving all makes of cars for vehicle comparisons, and even doing his own artwork on freelance projects.
After retiring in the 1990s, he kept himself busy with a variety of activities including spending more time on his painting which he started in France after the war. He enjoyed mall walking, biking and brunching daily with friends. He was active for many years as the 1950 Class Representative for Grinnell College. In addition, he was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 24 years and was active in helping to organize AA meetings in the Grosse Pointe area.
He is survived by his son, Robert; his daughters, Susan and Linda; his grandchildren Rachel, Joseph and David; his brother Luther and his sister Virginia. He was predeceased by his wife of 39 years, Joan Kraszewski, who died in 1998.
Mr. Greider was cremated. Funeral arrangements are private.
Virginia S. Jeffries
Noted Grosse Pointe commercial Realtor and broker Virginia S. Jeffries, 81, died after a prolonged illness on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2002, at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit.
A resident of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mrs. Jeffries was born in Detroit to Virginia M. Straith and Dr. Claire L. Straith, on April 11, 1920. She was a graduate of Kingswood-Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills and Denison University.
On May 13, 1942, she married
prominent Grosse Pointe psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Jeffries. Among her recollections of the early years of their marriage were the spirited political discussions she shared with her husband's uncle, former Detroit Mayor Edward J. Jeffries.
During her long and varied career, Mrs. Jeffries was the former owner/manager of the Norge Village Cleaners in St. Clair Shores. As the former owner/manager of a 182-acre dairy farm, she served as a member of the Lapeer County Dairy Herd Improvement Association. In addition, she was the owner/manager of several commercial buildings in the Grosse Pointe area.
Mrs. Jeffries was inducted into the Detroit Metro Commercial Investment Division Hall of Fame for her distinguished service to her profession and was named Man of the Year by that organization during the 1990s. Upon receiving this honor, she refused to have the wording on the plaque changed to woman of the year saying, 'That's my competition, I compete with men all the time.'
Mrs. Jeffries enjoyed bridge and was a former member of the Lochmoor Club, the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club and the Renaissance Club.
She is survived by her son Dr. Edward S. Lisbeth Carson) Jeffries of Grosse Pointe; her daughters Grace Jeffries Wilhelm) Quitzow of Berlin, Germany and Susan Jeffries George) Fitzgerald of Alameda, Calif.; her grandchildren Christopher and Sunny Jeffries, Alexis Davis and Leslie and Rainer Quitzow; her great-grandchild Munay Quitzow; her brothers Dr. Richard E. Straith and William M. Straith and her sister Jean S. Diefenbach. She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Benjamin Jeffries.
Arrangements are being handled by the Verheyden Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe Park. Visitation will be held on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 4 to 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held on Friday, Feb. 22, at 11 a.m., at Christ Episcopal Church, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd. in Grosse Pointe Farms. Interment will be at Woodlawn cemetery in Detroit.
