The Life of Bernice Pierce Wolverton & family

The Life of Bernice Pierce Wolverton & family Custom Photo

Isaac Pierce, the founding father of Climax, Michigan

By Sharron Clawson and Bobbe Taber

            Isaac Pierce, born July 18, 1803, came from a family line that can be connected back to noble blood through John I and John II.   

            Isaac’s father, John Pearce II, originated in England.  He immigrated to America in early colonial times, about 1765.  They originally spelled their name Pearce, but after a family feud in the American generation, they changed the spelling of their name to Pierce. Although youngest, Isaac still led his brothers they did what he wanted them to do. He married Catherine Archer, born in Canada in 1805, also English. 

            Isaac trained with his father as a farmer.  As a young man, he owned a partly developed farm in Niagra County, New York.  In 1835, he sold the farm and joined the pioneers on their way to settle the Territory of Michigan.  Upon arrival, he purchased two sections of land which have now become the Village of Climax.  He is considered one of the founding fathers of Climax, Michigan.

            Isaac, considered a rabble-rouser, once kidnapped a British Petty officer for ransom.  Every year, he also drove a herd of pigs to South Bend, Indiana.   He also drove hogs to Ohio and brought back sheep. 

            Before and during the Civil War, he aligned with the old-line Whig Party and considered himself a strong Abolitionist.  He later united his fortunes with the newly forming Republican Party and then also founded the Republican Party in Climax.  

            Pierce owned a saw mill, grist mill, hotel, and lumber yard in Climax.  Isaac and his family hid runaway slaves in his basement as a station manager of the Underground Railroad.   Horace, his son, often told of how a fleeing slave arrived at Isaac’s home having been shot in the back with buckshot.  Isaac took the slave to Dr. Babcock, a man who lived north of Climax, in order to give him medical attention for the many wounds on his back resulting from that spray of buckshot.  Later Pierce helped the slave continue on his way to freedom.

           Isaac’s sister had a crooked back, so they called her crooked Sally. She lived with one of his brothers. 

           At the age of 70, Isaac divorced Catherine and married 18 year old Emaline E. Hadley, born October 8, 1822 in Chatutaugus, New York.  They had seven children together.  Before his death, he became a Democrat.  Considered one of the richest men in Climax at the time of his death, he owned near a thousand acres of land near that village.  Isaac died at the age of 84.  The coroner’s report states that the horse which kicked him in the chest caused his death.

Don Wolverton’s Story

By Sharron Clawson and Vicki Davis

 

Born on November 21, 1916, Don Wolverton had more challenges than most in his early years.  Although born to a father and mother who tried to raise him right, Viola Jane Wolverton began to experience her “change of life” during Don’s third year of life--a change so difficult that she ended up living in an institution. 

Don entered the foster care system for many years.  Speculating back to that time, his daughters many years later said that Don didn’t know how to show love easily, probably because he didn’t experience family love growing up. 

Don’s father Albert remarried somewhere in between Don’s ninth and eleventh years; no one can say exactly when.  Don’s sister, Lavina called Don, her youngest brother, “my baby boy,” for many years--even into his adulthood.   She cared for him until he entered foster care.  His stepmother, although blind (possibly due to diabetes), later raised Don along with her own children. 

In 2006, one of Don’s daughters described his stepmother as “frightful” because she yelled at the grandchildren often as they played quietly on the porch.  Another granddaughter said that Don’s stepmother fed her and her sisters Coke and chocolate cake when they were on the porch.  The grandchildren did not visit often.

As a teen, Don moved from his father and step-mother’s house in with his sister Lavina and her husband Steve.   In 1933, at the age of 17, Don signed up for the Army with help from his brother-in-law.  They couldn’t afford to financially support him.  Still, during his first stint in the Army, Don served during a time of no war. 

When asked later, Bernice stated that Don was drafted back into the army when World War II broke out, however could not say exactly what year.  As her Alzheimer’s made communication more challenging, she said he was, “One-hundred-and-ten-years-old” at the time.  When asked to qualify this answer, she stated, “I lied about his age.  He always lied about mine.”

Bernice Pierce Wolverton

Bernice Pierce’s life

by Sharron Clawson

 

     Born October 3rd, 1921, Bernice Pierce, my mother, shared the womb with a twin brother named Bernard.  He had red hair, so his nickname was, of course, Red—her best friend.  When they arrived, they were siblings to four other children all under the age of six.  As the years went on, ten more children joined the family, eventually making a family of sixteen kids.   Bernice even helped deliver one of them—Patricia.  This is when she first learned that babies didn’t come in a black bag carried by Dr. Niblink, the family doctor.   After she helped deliver Pat, Bernice laid her baby sister on the chair; she fell off – oops!   

The Pierce children’s names are as follows:  William (Bill), Josephine (twin), Maxine (twin), Edna, Bernard (Red) (twin), Bernice (Bea) (twin), Russell (Russ), Lillian, Claude (Corky), Evelyn, Wayne, Elmer, Glenna, Patricia, Marvin (twin) and Martin (twin).

Grandpa Claude Pierce was blind in one eye.  He walked everywhere.  He worked at the Southerland Paper Mill on East Michigan, then he would walk out West Main Street to the grocery store where he would sit around a pot bellied stove and drink hard cider.  He chewed Red Man tobacco.  The owner of the grocery store gave him soup bones and fruit that was going bad, which he brought home for the family. 

He built the house at 695 Rex Avenue in Comstock.  He also built furniture and had a huge dining room table for his 16 kids.  Others gave him furniture for the house.  He eventually built two houses.

Grandma Myrtle, a seamstress, made all the kids’ clothes. She could crochet.  Grandma could make dresses from gunny sacks.  She could make just about anything. 

She had a second-grade education.  She wore scarves all the time and had earaches often because of a hole in one eardrum.  She never drove. 

A prominent Christian woman, Myrtle could sing any hymn, but she couldn’t read the Bible.  She tried to bring her family to the Christian Reformed Church in Comstock, but the church members threw stones at her and her family because they were so poor.  Later on in life, she attended Bethel Baptist Church.  She rode a bus.  When I got my driver’s license, I took her to church.

She loved to play the pump organ. With 16 kids, her pregnant belly often got in the way, and she couldn’t push the pedals.  Her kids sat underneath her on both sides and pushed the pedals as she sang hymns.  

At dinner time, everyone helped out because the family didn’t have much money.  Some children even had to share their plates with the smaller children because they didn’t own enough dishes to go around.  After dinner the girls did the dishes; they had to be done before they went to bed so their Mom would have a clean kitchen to start breakfast.

The family was so poor that the kids wore hand-me-downs from their older siblings; the older kids got the new or used shoes or boots, and they would carry the younger ones on their backs over a mile to school. When cold weather set in, the little ones would put their feet in the pockets of the older ones to keep warm.  Mother Pierce sewed some of the girls’ dresses from gunny sacks.

            Living at the Pierce house hold proved to be very hectic.  When Myrtle spoke up or grabbed the broom, the children all knew to get out of the house any way that they could.  As she took off after them, they’d all just start jumping out the windows.  The little ones ran out the doors, and the bigger ones jumped out through the windows.

            The house had two bedrooms.  All the children slept together to keep warm.  They only had one little pot-bellied wood stove for heat and another wood cook-stove in the kitchen.  Later they built a third bedroom so the boys and girls could enjoy separate rooms. 

At a young age, Bernice started giving perms and cutting everyone’s hair in the family.  Some of the kids even paid her. 

Bernice didn’t graduate from school, but her family considered Bernice the rock of the family.  Her sisters and brothers came to her for advice. She washed and mended the boys’ clothes--or anyone’s if they brought them.  She ironed the boys’ shirts before their dates, and she cared for the boys as well.  She even cared for them after she married her husband, Don.

Unfortunately, Bernice couldn’t always be the rock and protect her family from harm; in the 1940’s, she lost three of her brothers.   Corky died in World War II, and Wayne and Elmer died in a car accident on Memorial Day, 1949.  After that accident, Bernice refused to ever drive a car again.  She walked or rode a bicycle or large tricycle everywhere she went.  Sometimes she received rides from others, but she never got behind the wheel of a car again and passed her fear of driving on to one of her daughters, Vicki in the next generation.  Sharron drove Vicki and her six children to their appointments for many years.  Finally, however, Vicki overcame her fear and learned to drive when she was in her late 20’s.

Don and Bernice Wolverton’s Life Together

by Sharron Clawson and Vicki Davis

 

Bernice met Donald at Fort Custer, outside of Battle Creek, Michigans, when he babysat for Steve (her cousin) and Lavina (Don’s sister).  She visited Fort Custer often because her brothers Russ and Bernard (her twin and best friend, Red) were stationed there for a time during World War II.

As Don and Bernice courted, they danced at Fort Custer U.S.O. dances. Bernice loved to dance the jitterbug, the stomp and the Irish Jig, preferring fast dances to slow dances.  Don taught Bernice to play the guitar, and most likely Don’s family had many jam sessions with Bernice during their dating years.   Their musical hobby continued for many years with their own children as a family tradition. 

Don played any string instrument that he could get in his hands including the fiddle, guitar, steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass as well as other instruments such as the harmonica and juice harp.  He never had formal lessons but played by ear – a skill his son, Ron, eventually picked up on as well.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan on July 17, 1939, at the age of seventeen, Bernice married Don, 22 years old at the time.  The night of their wedding, Bernice’s nine-month-old baby brother, Marvin, slept with Bernice and Don.  Bernice’s mother, Myrtle, was going through her change and also possibly still feeling the loss of her other baby, Marvin’s twin, Martin, a still-born child.  Their mother quoted an old wives tale saying, “I kicked the cat,” and thus, she thought, Martin died at birth. 

Marvin practically lived with the newlyweds Don and Bernice, because in her grief, Myrtle often pushed Marvin away from her.  Bernice and Don raised him like he was their own. 

Somewhere in Bernice’s teen years, probably early marriage, she miscarried a little boy at approximately five months along.  Years later, Bernice stated that she really didn’t know what was happening at the time, as she really didn’t know or wasn’t sure about where pregnancies came from (even through she had helped to deliver one of her younger sisters).  Years later, she didn’t seem broken hearted when telling the story, and the subject was not brought up before or after she shared it with her own daughter who had experienced a similar event. 

            Although in the Army during his early marriage, Don lived at home.  When World War II broke out, Don stayed behind at Fort Custer.  He named his daughter Victoria (Vicki) because her birth happened on the day of Victory that ended  World War II. Victoria, however, didn’t see her father at home for eight more months. 

Don loved the attention of other women and loved to flirt which he carried out throughout the marriage.  He craved attention of women and also had many male friends whom Bernice called his “cronies.” 

             Don worked at the Southerland Paper Mill as a ‘picker.’  He picked boxes out of large piles to make boxes for Kellogg’s, Post or other companies.

            He worked the night shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.  Often he didn’t come home from work.  Instead, he would go out for a drink with the guys, much to Bernice’s disappointment.  Sometimes Bernice let him know she’d had enough, and she locked him out of the house.

            He went next door and slept at the neighbor’s in their basement apartment that they shared with ten kids.  They lived in extreme poverty in a very unclean environment.  Don came home with bed bugs (small black bugs that, his daughter said, “bite like crazy.”) 

            One summer Don, laid off from work, received government food vouchers to feed the family.  He had to work to earn them.  He ended up laying bricks for roads in Kalamazoo, one brick at a time. 

            Don believed that one should not spare the rod, or they would spoil the child.  Children knew not to bargain with him.  Don feared that his daughters might turn out like his sister, Inez, who worked as a bar maid and had been married several times – unheard of in their day and age.  To prevent his daughters from appearing the least bit like loose women, he forbade them to wear their shorts in the summertime, shouting that his daughters were not going to be “like Inez.”

Bernice, whom her daughters described as “feisty,” also believed in discipline, sometimes with a leather strap she had brought home from the factory one day.  When she swung the strap, it swung back and hit Bernice on the arm, making her all the angrier.  Although she believed in discipline, she fiercely protected her children from harm by others.  One time she stepped in between Vicki and Don, and chased Don off with a baseball bat, telling him to never hit Vicki again.  He never did. 

            Neighbors had also learned to respect Bernice who once shot out of the front door and took on a neighbor who had threatened Vicki with a pair of trim-shears.  The man quickly backed off, although the feud between Bernice and that neighbor continued for many years.  Sometimes, however, her children would sneak into that neighbor’s house to play with their aunt, Bernice’s sister, Glenna, (who happened to live next door with the neighbor’s family.  She once cleaned their house, then married Jack, their son) When the neighbors arrived home, Bernice’s kids quickly left through the back door of the home.  The neighbors never knew they’d been in the house. 

In later years, Bernice’s grandchild remembered Bernice as kind and gentle and remembered that Bernice often saved her from spankings., “Don’t you spank those babies,” she chastised as the Wolvertons started to discipline their own children.          

Don, Bernice and their family survived on very little money and what available food they had at the time during the late 40’s and 50’s.  One Easter, Don Wolverton killed the rabbit for Easter dinner.  He told the children that it was chicken. 

“It looks like Toby,” his son Ron said as Bernice prepared the meal.   

“No, it’s chicken,” Don said.

The children ran out to the cage and discovered one of their rabbits gone.  No one had told them that the rabbits would be used to feed the family of six.

            The children refused to eat the meat for Easter dinner.  Don and Bernice looked around the table at the faces of their children, then down again at their plates of meat.  They did not eat the rabbit either, and later threw the uneaten meal into the trash.

            On Sundays, the family went to Grandma and Grandpa Pierce’s home for dinner.  Grandpa couldn’t see very well, and he chased the chickens around the best he could.  Grandma caught the chicken, and whipped it around to break its neck, then Grandpa cut off the chicken head and the bird would run all around the yard before it died.

            An old Rooster used to peck at the kids.  He’d jump right on their shoulders and peck at their heads. One night, Grandma had had enough, and the family ate Fred the Rooster that night for dinner.

The Pierce-Wolverton Family Wasn’t Poor in Love

by Dan Wolverton

Mom was an excellent story teller.  As a child she would amused us with the family’s oral history.  These are some of her stories:

            The Pierce children rarely had shoes until the first snowfall.  If the snow fell while they were at school, the teachers would wrap their feet with rags or news papers. Some of the teachers would give the children used shoes or boots and clothing. 

Mom said that Grandpa Pierce would never ask for charity, but for his children's welfare, he couldn't refuse.  Mom said that the KKK would bring Christmas presents, food, clothing, and used or repaired toys to the house, although Grandpa Pierce did not support them or their ideology.

Little did the Klan know that his grandfather, Isaac Pierce, hid slaves in his house as part of the Underground Railroad.

            I, Dan Wolverton, spent my first 12 years living in the house my grandpa built himself, that my parents later owned, at 695 Rex in Comstock.  Grandpa and Grandma lived just down the street at 195 Rex, so I spent a great deal of time with them. Not once in all my time with them did I ever hear Grandpa say a bad thing about anyone and never anything racial.

            Grandma's cooking was enough to attract me to their house, but their indoor bathroom gave me the best the reason to visit.  We never had indoor plumbing in Grandpa's old house; we even had to carry our own water. Sometimes if our oil stove went out, the water in the bucket (kept in the kitchen) would have ice on it in the morning. 

            Grandpa's old house, at 695 Rex Avenue, had only two electrical outlets.  (Remember a man who lost over 50% of his eyesight to scarlet fever as a child built this house.)  Mom said that while Grandpa built their house, Grandma would call to Grandpa when it got dark outside and yell, "Stop pounding nails! You'll hit your thumb with the hammer.”

Then Grandpa would reply, "I can't see a nail any better in the daylight then I can at night.” 

            I had no idea we were poor, because I never felt any shortage of love, laughter, music, friends or fun.  When you’re poor, you do things together.  You can't afford separate distractions.

My mom's twin brother Red and his wife Aunt Ikie (Wanda) with my cousins Dennis, Lenny and Pammy, lived next door.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Marvin lived down the street. Heck! We were most of the people in the neighborhood. 

Sometimes my father Don could be scary, especially when he drank, but the good times, by far, outweighed the bad times.                

            I never knew I was poor until the fifth grade, when an English immigrant girl called me ‘white trash.’  I wasn't allowed to touch girls, so I hit her brother instead. I felt hurt.  As I remember her name was ‘Barb'.  She had a face as ugly as her personality.

I still don't think I was poor. How could a person be poor when he had all of the important things in life?  In fact, more then enough. Our family overflowed into the community with me and my many cousins all living or visiting in Comstock.  Together we played kick the can, red rover, or softball; we had enough kids for two teams.

            Maybe I didn't have plumbing, new clothes, toys, and other things, but my best friend and cousin, Dennis, lived next door and Grandpa and Grandma lived down the street.

I very much miss Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Ron, Uncle Red (Bernice's twin), Uncle Russ, and Dennis Pierce (my cousin and best friend).  I still cry at the loss of them, and I guess I always will.

            Grandpa had an old mare that used to pull the plow when he farmed and grew vegetables – corn, tomatoes, peas, beans, cabbage, lettuce and other things.  When he didn’t have the old mare, he had to pull the plow himself, even after working all day long at the paper mill. 

            We ate well.  Grandma always baked pies, cookies, and cakes.  Grandpa had a garden and also raised chickens, Banny rosters and hens (very small chickens).  We had a white rooster who used to jump on our shoulders and peck on our heads.

Grandma went out one day and wrung his neck.  Nothing was going to hurt her little kids.  We had him for dinner.

The area we lived in, Comstock, had many orchards.  My uncle Red had an apple and cherry tree in his front yard.  Wild concord grapes grew in his back yard.  We had a crabapple and a hickory nut tree in our yard.  Wild blackberries grew out in the fields.  

            As a kid I would use two rocks to crack open the nuts. Mom gave me a hairpin to get the nuts out of the shells.  Before homogenized milk, we would have to shake the milk bottle to mix the cream into the milk. The cream would rise to the top of the milk bottle.

Saving my hickory nuts for breakfast, I would try to get up before everyone else. I would put the nuts on my corn flakes, Wheaties or Pep cereal and carefully try to poor just the cream from the bottle onto my cereal. That's not poor, that's just good eating.   

Family Fun and Music

by Dan Wolverton

Mom and Dad entered talent shows, live on WKZO radio, to win the first prize of $5.00.  They sang cowboy and country western songs--often yodeling in harmony, which earned them the top prize.  Dad's pitch was in ‘C’, mom's range was much higher. 

            Dad played guitar, and he always carried a Marine Band C-chord harmonica in the comb pocket of his work jeans.  I remember as a kid holding my dad's harmonica while he played his guitar.  His false teeth clicked against the harmonica while he played.

            As children, we often enjoyed rides in Dad's 1950 Chevy that had no radio.  Mom and Dad taught us to sing four-part harmony instead.      

            For amusement, Mom and Dad often hung a blanket between the kitchen and living room doorway and put on talent shows. Ron played the guitar; Sharron played the accordion; and we would sing and lip sync.  My sister Vicki and I did a routine to Little Darlin, a 45 rpm record played at 78 speed that sounded like Chip and Dale, the cartoon chipmunks that had really high, fast voices.  

            We also liked to go to stock car races and square dances  at the Odd Fellows Hall in Comstock.  We had jam sessions at our house and at the house of some friends. Dad played harmonica, guitar, spoons, and he could even do the hand jive.  Many times he also called at the square dances.

            Don liked cars, too.  His dad Charles Wolverton worked for Studebaker and his grandfather Albert worked for Rio REO. (Robert Olds).   

The Rock of the Family

by Sharron Clawson

            In 1944, when her brother Corky died fighting for his country at Normandy Beach in World War II, Bernice’s other brothers and sisters came to her for conciliation. 

She and her husband Don Wolverton also took care of Bernice’s mother and father Claude and Myrtle Pierce after her father retired from the paper mill.  He had swept their floors for 38 years.  Don Wolverton drove his in-laws to the grocery store to shop, to visit relatives in Battle Creek or to go to appointments.  Bernice didn’t drive ever since her brothers had died in an automobile accident when they were in high school. 

            Bernice helped with laundering and cared for her mother when Myrtle went through her change of life.  In fact, she went to Myrtle’s to do both their laundry as well as the laundry for her own family.

            Years later, she went on to care and comfort grand daughters. Most everyone lived with her on and off over the years.

Bernice has worked in the paper mill the 3 to 11 shift in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s until she became ill.  She had oral surgery for a large cyst, and the dentist removed her teeth.  She got an infection and lost about 25 pounds, eventually existing at 89 pounds. 

Her best friend Polly Porter came to help her.  They later enjoyed many come-as-you-are parties, Tupperware parties or shared coffee together when the kids went to school each morning. They also loved to pick mushrooms and apples.  They were best friends and neighbors for many years.

January 10th, 1967, Don Wolverton died at age 49 of a ruptured aneurism in his aorta.  Bernice felt very angry with him for leaving her.  She almost didn’t attend the funeral. Bernice went through a terrible time.  She had no way to get back and forth to work, so she walked.  She worked two part-time jobs in order to pay her bills and pay for the house they purchased just months before Don’s death. 

            Bernice later met her companion for 13 years, Durell.  They loved to follow horses on the harness racing circuit.  She took her grandchildren around to the races and to other events with horses.  The grandchildren shoveled horse manure to earn their fee into the county fairs or the horse races.  In the winters, she and Durell traveled to Florida to follow more races.

            She liked to get on her three-wheel tricycle and ride it to the fairs and up to the store.  That became her transportation.  She also took it to Florida and worked for the Little Red Barn at the fairs, a concession stand, and made money that she liked to use at the track. 

            Durell worked for a man who owned draft horses and showed them at the fairs.  He also had his own draft horses and used them to plow the fields at his son’s house in spring. 

            Durell went in for surgery for a blocked artery in the 1980’s.  He died after his surgery. 

            Again, Bernice mourned for a man she lost, her friend and companion of many years.  She then rode her tricycle to the VFW and met other friends.  She liked to shoot pool.  Her daughter Sharron often shot pool with her in tournaments and they often won.  They called them the gold dust twins.  Later, Red used to meet her at the VFW to play pool with Bernice as well.

She also liked to dance on Saturday nights.  If she had been drinking, the men would throw her bike in the back of their truck so she didn’t have to ride in the dark. 

            She dated Art for a couple years, and she helped take care of him when he had cancer.  She then dated Wayne and shot pool with him and stayed with him for almost ten years.  She even lived with him for six years.  During that time, she quit drinking, and he didn’t, so she left him.  He later died of a tumor.

            Bernice was most devoted to Durell, but she enjoyed all the friends she made over the years. 


Family Christmases

and the time Grandma Got Run Over…

 by Tonia Mohney

            Being the oldest of the grandkids of Donald and Bernice, I remember more about my grandfather than the rest of the grandchildren.   These are some of my memories:

I was five years old when my Grandma and Grandpa used to take my sister and me to tap dance class.  They would sit there and watch us until we finished.  Then they’d take us out to lunch for a hamburger and coke at Chuck and Edith’s Restaurant in Comstock before they took us home. 

I remember getting a real pretty doll from them for Christmas one year.  I think all of us girls got the same one.  Then after we opened our presents, my grandpa would get out his guitar or harmonica.  He, my uncles, dad and granny would play us kids Christmas Carols or just play songs that we could all sing together.  We would dance around the room until we got tired, then granny would put me to bed and sing me a song.  I fell asleep listening to music coming from the other room. 

            The best memories I have are the ones where our whole family would get together for the holidays.  I remember that we always had a good time.  We still do when we get together--like not many years ago when we all had a Christmas party. 

Some of the family talked and decided to do a little skit to Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.  Most of the people involved didn’t even know they were going to be in it--like Grandma and Uncle Red her twin brother.  Some of my aunts pretended to be reindeer and danced all around Granny as she lay on the floor.  They put mud on Granny’s face with two fingers like deer tracks to make it look like she had got run over by a reindeer.  The adults didn’t know what to expect, but they all played along.  The kids went out and got sticks for their Sharron, Vicki, and some kids to use as antlers, as they ran around in circles around Granny.  Uncle Red played Grandpa; he had a hat with the ear flaps down and no teeth. Uncle Bill played Uncle Bill.  We laughed so much our tummies hurt.  It was one of the best parties we have ever had. 


The Tornado

by Tonia Mohney

            May 13, 1980 started out as a pretty good day, yet by the end of the day, the date would be known as Black Tuesday all throughout Kalamazoo. 

Granny and I were just getting ready to start dinner when Aunt Dorothy called and asked me if I would come over and sit with my cousin Sharri.  Sharri had just brought her eight-day-old son Jeffery home from the hospital.  Jeffery became Granny’s first great, great grandson.

Aunt Dorothy decided to go the store to get Sharri some medicine.  And it looked like a storm might come soon.  Granny said she would go with me.  Durell said he’d be right behind us but would first shut the windows in case it rained. 

            Just as Granny and I walked to the back door, the wind started to pick up, and it started to rain.  Durell was in the back porch shutting the windows when we heard what sounded like a train.  Granny said she heard the sirens from downtown and that we should go to the basement, but Sharri couldn’t move around too well after having Jeffery.  So Granny made us go to the back bedroom.  We got Sharri on the floor and put the baby on her lap with a pillow to cover him. Then Granny and I went to the window to look for Durell.  

Right then is when the tornado went over. 

Granny stood right next to me, and I couldn’t hear a word she said.  We saw stuff flying all over the place.  My uncle’s sled flew over Granny’s house.  (Their backyards were connected.)  We saw trees, branches, fiberglass insulation and lots of debris.  Then it got really calm outside and the sun came back out. 

Wires were laying everywhere.  Downed trees littered the streets and yards.  Granny stayed really calm (for her).  She would usually be hide during a storm, but I think it was more important for her to protect us that day; she did a real good job.  After it was over she cried for a couple minutes but went right back to work trying to make sure everyone was alright.  Her phone was the only one working on her block, so she let people use it to let their loved ones know that they were alright. 

People started showing up to help us get the trees off cars and houses right away.  It was real nice to see so many neighbors helping each other that day.   


The Ending: The story of Bernice’s illness

By Sharron Clawson

March 14th, 2002, Mom entered the hospital with an infection in her urinary tract.  While there, she ended up having, the doctors say, four strokes.  She stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for three days.  Her total hospital stay lasted almost two weeks--a life changing experience:  For when she came home, all of our lives changed. This wasn't our mom coming home, she was a different person now. Her chart said, ‘severe dementia.’

On our trip home she didn't recognize any of her surroundings; she just remembered a porch on the front of the house at 760 Blair Street in Comstock, the first home that Don originally bought her where she’d lived for over 40 years. Instead, she was thinking she lived in the old neighborhood, where she grew up as a child.  

As we entered the house, she looked shocked to see the color of her living room, a bright, fuchsia (and I mean bright). She asked me, "Who in the hell painted this room this color?”  I told her Krissy and Tonia, but she had picked out the color almost four years earlier.  She said, “Well I always did like bright colors.” She had once painted her kitchen tangerine, a bright, bright orange color.   She painted the trim a light olive color. It looked like a pumpkin. 

From that day we came home from the hospital on, I cared for her as her caregiver over a course of three years when she still lived alone in her own home. Vicki and Dan also helped.  Then we tried splitting her days up; taking turns keeping her at our homes, until it got too confusing to her.  At different times, Vicki kept her at her home, often for three days at a time. Then we hired caretakers to come in.  Her sisters also came to help. She went from being this fun loving, carefree mother and grandmother to not knowing any of us at times. 

One time she threatened her own sister and threw her out of the house.  Bernice had started to clean the cupboards at 1:30 in the morning.  By clean, I mean she emptied out all the cupboards at one time.  Her sister Glenna then called Vicki the next afternoon, and said she had to come “now” because Bernice had gotten a knife. Glenna feared her intentions.

Sometimes Bernice accused family members of stealing money and other things from her.  This caused a big conflict when she saw her granddaughter Brittany rolling her own quarters; Bernice accused Brittany of stealing her money. 

Another day Bernice began to throw her expensive jewelry in the garbage saying, “If they want it, they can have it all--everything,” thinking that people had stolen some of her jewelry.  Her mind didn’t perceive reality well. 

She also saved quarters then gave them to the neighbor to sneak out and buy her cigarettes.  When we cleaned her room and cabinets later, we found a whole bunch of cigarette butts.  The doctor told her to quit not just for health reasons, but for the safety reasons, because she often left cigarettes lit and walked away.  She sometimes dropped them on the floor.  Her bathrobe had numerous cigarette burns on it. 

I lived with Mom at her house on Blair for two years.   My husband Bud had lived at the lake while I was with mom; this was not good for us as a couple.  I was having trouble lifting her alone.  One time I had to get the neighbor to help me when she had fallen to the floor.  Other times we sang Irish jigs so we could get her to dance in order to get her to walk for us. Then we decided to build a house for all of us to live in and move to Portage.  Things are working out much better now, after our move.

Living with Mom, I’ve seen her change into a frail helpless mother who’d been so independent. She can still be funny and independent when she wants to be. Her teeth seem to be her prize possession; she doesn’t want any of us to take them, so they can be cleaned.  We fight about it every night.

Some family members have a hard time coming around.  They say she doesn't recognize them; that is hard to take.  Although, at times I wonder that if they came around more, if Bernice might recognize them.  They’re upset to see her like this; afraid of the unknown. What they don't realize is that she can be very amusing; they could learn some history from her.

Mom has had to wear diapers for over a year now. A few of the grandsons have helped change her, which has been very difficult for them. My heart goes out to all of them that have been here to see the big change. She can be nice and sweet one minute, and very ornery the next, especially to a few great grandchildren. She has grabbed them and yelled at them, cursing them. But give her a baby and she is in seventh heaven. She thinks all the babies are hers.

Almost a year ago, doctors suggested we have hospice services for Mom. What a big relief to know there was help out there for us.  Mom had been taken to the hospital six times in less than two weeks. She had pneumonia and trouble breathing. When the nurse said we could eliminate all the running to doctors and hospitals, we were all for it.

Poor little thing, she was so bruised and worn out from all of that, so to think she wouldn't have to go through that again was wonderful. It got harder for us to transport her even to the doctor's office, and to have the doctor come here was great. Dr. Cavanaugh, and her regular nurse Rhonda D.  Not only did they come, but we have bath aides who are coming every day now. She loves them all, but Lillian is her favorite becuase she sings to her and gets her in a good mood for the day.  

Supper and bedtime is trying. She is so tired by then we sometimes have to feed her. She continues to have mini strokes, leaving her weak and very tired.  Other times we laugh, like when she asks the doctor if he wants to dance. 

Through all of this we have learned to adjust, and wonder when God will be taking her home so she will be at peace. We all hate to think of that day, but know that this is what she would want. If she knew she was like this, she wouldn't want to be here, I'm sure. After all she was a very vibrant, fun-filled woman, who loved life and lived it to the fullest. We all know that the end is near, and thank God for all the wonderful years He has given her and us; for that we will always be grateful to HIM.

Mom had many trials and hard times, but in the end the good out weighs the bad.

“So, Mom, here’s to you for our wonderful lives spent together; for ever keeping us strong; and for always being there for us. Now it's our turn to take care of you. What a blessing it has been to have you as our mother, grandmother.”


 

Cooking with Mom and Grandma

By Vicki Davis

Our cooking stories would have to go back generations.  It comes from great grandmother Green, Grandma Pierce’s mother: The homemade pie recipes handed down for holiday feasts; breads Bernice would teach her children to make; watching Mom and
Granny Pierce knead homemade bread.  It’s in the women’s blood.  We could inhale the smell from a block away.

Every Halloween was the best.  The treat included going to Grandma’s house for homemade doughnuts.  We watched them come out of the hot cooking oil.  And I cherished that.  Somehow I inherited the doughnut cooker one day.

I, Vicki, tried so hard to learn how to make a pie.  My grandmother would come over for lots of holidays and Sunday dinners as our love had such a bond.  I always felt like she was my second mother, too.  She came over one Sunday to show me how to make a pie.  I was pregnant with what I think was my sixth child.  We proceeded to put on our aprons; of course, Grandma and Mom had sewn them. I got out my measuring cups, flour, Crisco lard, and rolling pin. 

But, when it came to adding the ingredients, she just looked at me and said, “I don’t use them, maybe just a sifter.”  She used a cup of this and a pinch of that and so on.  The best part was us two rolling out the crusts together.  Flour covered the floor, the counter and us.  Some of my children were getting into it with us, too.  I had so much flour on my pregnant belly and my feet were covered with flour, too.  Oh how we laughed!  We had footprints everywhere.  With the magic of Granny, the pie was complete and turned out great.  And Mom also had that trait to make pies.  For every family reunion they brought pies for us to feast upon.

Her homemade bread was the best.  I don’t know if she ever bought bread from the store, maybe for our school lunches. She did bake bread and sell it to the neighbor.  But as we got older and went to her house for dinner, she made everything from scratch – puddings, pies, everything.  And when we were younger, we’d pick blackberries from behind our house for hot cobblers and hickory nuts from under a big tree in our back yard. 

We didn’t have any money back then, so you did what you could.  The women knew how to make a meal go quite a ways as they cooked goulash, beef stews and other meals that fed many mouths.  When you come from a family of 16, you’d have to know how to feed a big family.  I think that’s why we spent so much time at my grandma’s house.  Our mom would take us there for supper or dinners, and we’d all help in the kitchen.  But when it came to eating: kids first, then adults.  And Grandpa always said, eat dessert first.  Bernice (Mom) would do the same thing when I would take her out to a restaurant for a buffet or just dinner.  She’d get her dessert, then her main entrée, and then she would start eating her entrée.  Then she would stop in the middle and eat her desert, then continue to finish her meal and take it home, sometimes for her puppies, one Pomeranian named Abby and a Yorkie named Beanie.  She loved them so much. 

As her dementia got worse, she’d feed them her supper, and we’d have to worry about her getting enough to eat.  The dogs got to be too much to handle, so my sister’s daughter found them a good home--together. 

Getting back to the cooking:  It is something that is going to be passed on down to other generations.  It is not going to be able to be a short story, only different editions to a recipe-- more spices or less as everything is going to be healthier down the road. Home cooking will never go out of style, at least not in our family.  It’s our family tradition.  Who knows, maybe next we will write a cookbook and call it Family Traditions. It’s in the women’s blood, and even some of the men. My son always calls for recipes.

I tried so hard to follow in my grandmother’s and my mother’s footsteps.  I wanted to learn to cook and bake like them for my husband and my children.  I can cook, but the baking isn’t there.  You can’t follow in their footsteps completely because they were such good cooks.  My kids loved to go to my mother’s house for dinner, and those memories of her wonderful cooking and baking will stay in the family forever.


What Granny taught us

by Tonia Monhey—Bernice’s granddaughter

As far as Grandmother’s go, I think that I have one of the best you could ever ask for.  She was always there for me.  Granny always tried to make it fun when I’d go to visit her.  Sometimes she’d have all of the girls over for a pajama party.  The boys could come, too, if they wanted. She would bake cookies with us, or try to teach us how to cook or how to sew.  I don’t know how much the others learned, but she taught me a lot of the things that I carry with me today--like making blankets either by quilting or by crocheting. 

I can still cook a lot of the things she taught me--like her famous potato soup.  It’s a cure-all even today.  It fixes most every illness or boo boo there is.  Grandma’s Famous Potato Soup seems to have something very special in it because my grandchildren call it Magic Soup.   And it still fixes everything like it did back when I was little. 

Ingredients to Magic Soup

(or Granny’s Famous Potato Soup)

Potatoes

onions

ham

non-dairy creamer

butter

Boil potatoes, onions and ham.  Leave in water.  Put in ½ cup non-dairy creamer and smash potatoes with potato masher.  Add salt and pepper to taste. (She never used measuring cups—just added the ingredients to the pot.) 


The Growing Pajamas

by Tonia Mohney

            One thing that I’ll never forget was the growing pajamas that we all got for Christmas one year from Granny.  Some were nighties, and some were one or two piece P.J.’s.  No matter what pair she gave us, we’d think we were lucky because Granny made them just for us—lucky, that is, until they were washed for the first time. 

When we got them back, they were two sizes too big. We had to pass them up instead of pass them down!  Somehow they had grown while in the wash, and the sleeves were two or three inches too long.  The pant legs were even longer, and we’d trip as we walked.  The nighties did the same thing.  The ones with the button flap in the back hung down to your knees.  I still laugh today when I think about the growing P.J.’s. 

            Granny couldn’t always afford fancy gifts, but she never forgot a birthday or a Christmas.  We always got some thing even if it was home made mittens, scarves, hats or slippers.  We always got something from her made with love. Even when she lived in Florida, I’d get a package in the mail. 

Even now as her mind slowly slips from her, she always wants to know if I’m all right and how I’m doing.  Most days she still remembers me, but the most important thing is that I remember her.

                                                                            


Stories Bernice Liked to Tell

The Witch Story

Some old lady came to the back door in the summer when we were young.  Then that old lady came right in our back door.  All us kids where sleeping on the floor of the living room because it was so hot.  Vicki was the only one who saw her.  Her hair was all sticking out all over and matted.  She had a hat and old, frumpy raggedy clothes.  She walked into the house and looked around.  An old lady.  With raggedy clothes.  Then she walked out.  We called her the witch.

The crow on the clothes line

One summer in the 1950’s, every time mom would hang up the clothes on the clothes line, she would go inside thinking that she had finished the job.  Later when she looked outside, she saw the clothes on the ground.  Meanwhile, a crow had flown away with clothespins in his beak.  Every time she hung up clothes, he came. She would have to buy new clothes pins because he would take all the clothes pins.  She’d hang up the wash, go back in the house, and he’d fly to the line and pluck the clothes pins off the line again.  Sometimes, Mom would check and see if the crow was around and would chase him away.  Some clothes pins he dropped on the ground, some he flew away with and hid.  That happened all summer.  He must have had a whole lot of clothes pins hidden somewhere.  He didn’t come back after that one summer.

Grandma Pierce and the messy spaghetti dinner

Grandma Pierce came over for dinner and ate spaghetti for the first time.  It was her first plate of Spaghetti ever, and it wrapped all around her glasses! It was long, long spaghetti and she pulled it out of her mouth.  We laughed a lot that night. 


Appendix 1: 

Family Genealogy Records researched by Jack and Roger Giddings, nephew and brother-in-law of Bernice Pierce Wolverton.  These are in the same form and wording of the original records with very minimal editing for clarity.

Our Line to the Pearce (Pierce) Family

The records given here are of necessity, very incomplete. As to the very early Pearce’s, we are here giving records contributed by J. Emmett Pierce, son of Emery, grandson of Lawrence Southcote Pearce.  So, from Livingston County, New York on to Kalamazoo County, Michigan, the records are taken from the collection of Jettie Lawrence, daughter of Horace Pierce.

The Pearce (Pierce) family has noble blood for they can trace their line through John I and John II to Lord Pearce’s (Percay).  For some reason, one branch of the Langworthy Pearce’s became disgruntled with the rest of the John Pearce group and changed the spelling from Pearce to Pierce.  The ancestor responsible for this was John Emery, son of Lawrence Pearce, who married Abigail Cook, a young woman brought up in the home of President John Adams, and was very refined and aristocratic.  Her influence may have induced John Emery, himself very refined and cultured, to change the spelling of the name.  The Pervus Pearce’s and the Harry B. Pearce’s kept the name Pearce and were indignant to be called Pierce.  So from Livingston County, New York on, the family we are following is Pierce. 

1st generation

 John Pearce II, was born in England about 1745/50.  He came to America with his wife Mary about 1765 and settled first in Providence, Rhode Island.  They probably came from a place in England called Southcote.  His occupation in England was farming, but while living in Providence he worked in the shipyards there.  John Pearce decided to move to Massachusetts and return to farming.  With is wife and family he moved to Massachusetts using a wagon covered with sail cloth from the shipyard.  It also had ship-building hickory for bows.  He purchased land in Berkshire County, Massachusetts and hewed out a farm from the primeval forests of that region.  The John Pearce family lived in Berkshire County until 1811, and that year John Pearce sold his farm and the family moved to Livingston County, New York.  During the years the family lived in Berkshire County, his son young John Pearce served with the militia at the time of the American Revolution and young Langworthy had married Letitia Austin.  A short time later John Pearce sold this farm in 1830, and the family moved again, first to Niagra and then to Genessee County, New York.

Children of John II and Mary (       ) Pearce.

1.  Langworthy, b.        ; m.    Letitia Autsin       b.       

              d.                                            d.

2.  John             b.  1774

             d.   1858

3.  Sally,           b.  1774;

             d.  1867

4.  Sarah           b.

                        d.

5.  Elizabeth      b.

                        d.

(John and Sally Pearce are believed buried in Toad Hollow Cemetary, in Charleston Township, north of Climax.)

2nd generation

 

Langworthy Pearce was born in providence, Rhode Island about 1770.  He married in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, to Letitia Austin, daughter of (       ) Austin.  Langworthy lived on his father’s farm until 1830, when John Pearce sold this farm, and the family moved again, this time to Niagra County, New York.  John and his son Langworthy purchased another tract of land in Niagra County, clared off the land and built another farm.  Once again the family moved for a short time, this time to Genessee County, New York.  John II and his son Langworthy both lived to a ripe old age and both died in (          ) New York.  (The family record is unclear as to the county in which they died. 

Children of Langworthy and Letitia (Austin) Pearce

*1.Lawrence

Southcote, b. 1792;   m.  05-29-1819  Clarissa Hamlin

                                                                        b. 1800

                      d. 1875                                      d. 1885                                                                                                                                 

2. Sarah,        b. 1792      m.              Jacob Coe      b.

                      d.                                                       d.

3. Lettice,       b. 1795      m.           James Cassor,   b.

                      d.. 1842                                             d.

*4. Isaac,       b. 7-28-1803     m. (1) Catherine Archer

                                                                        b. 1805

                      d. 7-12-1873                             d. 6-1-1878

                                        m. (2)    Emaline E. Hadley

                                                                        b. 10-8-1822

                                                                        d. 4-3-1896

5. James         b. 1805      m.    Amy Dean        b.

                      d. 1887                                      d.

6. Levi            b.         m. 1.     Rebecca Wiseman, b.

                      d.                                                      d.

7. John Manchester, b.             m.       Eliza Cooley b.

                                  d.                                           d.

   (buried at Silver Creek, Barry County)

* 3rd Generation  Isaac Pierce, born in Bernkshire County, Massachusets, July 28, 1803.   He was a man of firm constitution, great physical strength, and indomitable will, seemingly formed by nature to be a leader of men, with just the right material for the strenuous life of a pioneer.  His family was of English origin and located in this county in early colonial times.  Isaac lived with his father until his marriage to Catherine Archer, working on the farm from childhood, and obtaining his education mainly in the rugged school of experience.   Isaac Pierce was well trained in farming on  his father’s farm, and in early manhood he became possessed of a partly developed farm in Niagara County, New York.   In 1835, he sold that place in order to cast his lot with the pioneers of the Territory of Michigan.  He first visited Kalamazoo County in 1835 to select a suitable location and bought two sections of land, on a part of which the village of Climax now stands.  Returning to New York for his family, he came back here the following spring, accompanied by his wife and children, and made the journey with a wagon and team through Canada as the most available route, several weeks being consumed before they arrived at their destination.  The land that he had brought was but very little improved, but there was a log house on it and into that Mr. Pierce and his family moved.  He then energetically turned his attention to the making of a farm.  He was a man of unusual push, vigor and enterprise, and with good courage surmounted every obstacle on the road to the fortune that became his by sheer force of persistent industry, seconded by rare powers of discrimination, unerring judgment and a thorough comprehension of agriculture in all its branches.  He was educated largely in the school of observation and experience, but he had much natural ability and very strong mental faculties.  He bought and sold considerable land and dealt quite extensively in stock.  In early times, he drove hogs to Ohio, and brought back sheep.  He passed through every phase of life from poverty to wealth, and was one of the richest men in the village at the time of his death, owning upwards of a thousand acres of land around and near the village of Climax.

          Isaac Pierce was originally an old-line Whig and a strong Abolitionist before and during the Civil War, and so, being in sympathy with the Republicans, he united his fortunes with that party, but before his death, he went over to the Democrats.  He was elected Justice of the Peace at the first township meeting, and held that office for a great many years, making a careful study of law, and conducting a case with ability.  He served as a member of the County Board of Supervisors several terms and represented the interests of Climax with fidelity. 

          So long have the residents of Climax been accustomed to seeing the “old farm house” of Isaac Pierce, north of the Village (about 301 North Main), that it had become an accepted part of the community environment.  The house was built about 1850 by Isaac Pierce, having purchased the farm of Charles W. Spaulding.  Isaac owned a house (206 West Maple), and it is very likely that the lumber for the house was sawed there.  The logs for the sills were hauled from the timbered lands four or five miles south by oxen and hewed into shape by hand.  The house that Isaac built was also a station on the underground railroad before the Civil War and his  son Horace told many times of an incident when a runaway slave came one night with his back full of buckshot, and that he was taken to Dr. Babcock, who lived a bit further north, for care, and later helped on his way.  It is to be regretted keenly that the “old farm house” could not have been restored, not only for it’s historical value, but because of the quaintness of architecture.

          Isaac’s first wife was Catherine Archer, born in Canada about 1805 and was of English origin.  He divorced Catherine and married second Emaline E. Hadley, born October 8, 1822 in Chautagus, New York. 

          This second marriage gave Isaac five more children.  The Death Certificate for Isaac states that the cause of death was “kicked by horse” and the date of his death was July 12, 1874 (His stone says 1873).

          In Climax Prairie Cemetery (known at one time as the Pierce Cemetery), there is one noticeable and attractive monument erected by Mrs. Isaac Pierce upon the last resting place of the body of her husband, who was one of the early, brave and industrious pioneers of the township, leaving, after a useful life, a hundred thousand dollars to his family.  The cost at the time the Isaac Pierce monument was erected was fifteen hundred dollars.

Children of Isaac and Catherine (Archer) Pierce.

1. Paulina,      b.

                      d.

2. Loren,        b.         1826;     m.

                      d.         1909

3. Horace,      b.         1831;     m. 9-17-1854 Julia E. Pratt,     b.

                      d.                                                                       d.

4. Jeanette,     b.        

                      d.  (died young)

*5.  John Rowland,     b.   1833;m             4-15-1855

                                                                 Adeline A. Kimble  

                                                                 b.   1839

                                  d.   11-8-1897        d.    4-5-1913

6.  Jeanette,    b.         1836; m.   Walter Paris, b.

                      d.         1913                              d.

7.  Lucinda     b.         1836; m.   James Milliman, b.

                      d.         1904                                      d.

8. Willard,      b.         1838; m.

                      d.         1861

9. Angeline,    b.         1841; m.       David Guile,       b.

                      d.         1861                                      d.

10. Orton,      b.

                      d. (died at age of two)

11.  Elizabeth, b.

                      d.  (died at age of two)

Children of Isaac and Emaline E. (Hadley) Pierce.

1.  Josephine E.          b.           1859; m.          Ransom, b.

                                  d.           1925                               d.

2.  Annis E., b.           1861; m.                        Webster, b.

                      d.         1949                                             d.

3.  Darwin A., b.        1861; m.                       

                        d.       1917

4.  Francis,     b.        

                      d.

5. 

* 4th Gen.       John Rowland Pierce, born in Niagara County, New York 1833.   In 1836 John Rowland Pierce, his mother Catherine, brothers Loren and Horace, and sister Paulina moved with their father Isaaac Pierce from Niagara County, New York to Climax Township, Kalamazoo, County, Michigan.  John Rowland Pierce married in Charleston Township April 15, 1855 Adeline Kimble daughter of William and Marie (McCartley) Kimble of New York.  The U.S. Census for 1860 and 1870 states that John Rowland Pierce was a farmer in Charleston Township.  The Death Certificate for his wife Adline Arminda (Kimble) Pierce was pneumonia and the date of her death was April 5, 1913.  The Death Certificate for John Rowland Pierce states that the cause of his death was pneumonia and the date of death was Nov. 8, 1897.  John R. and Adeline A. (Kimble) Pierce are buried in the Climax Prairie Cemetery.


Children of John Rowland and Adeline Arminda (Kimble) Pierce.

1.  Heben,      b.         1857; m.

                      d.

2.  Lincoln,     b.         1858; m.

                      d.

3.  Cors,         b.         1860; m.

                      d.

4. William       b. 5-20-1863; m.1885 Minerva Shugars,

                                                            b. 9-28-1868

                      d. 6-1-1926                   d. 10-10-1946

5.  George      b.               ; m.        Mettie Worden   b.

                      d.                                                       d.

*5th Gen.  William H. Pierce, born in Charleston Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan May 20, 1863.  He married Minerva Shugars in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.  Minerva Shugars was born in Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania and was the daughter of Adam and Rebecca (Smith) Shugars.  In 1909 William and Minerva purchased a farm in Grand Junction, Van Buren County, Michigan.  They sold that farm and moved to Niles, Michigan and became a foreman on the Beebe farm.  William H. Pierce retired in 1921 and lived in Niles until his death June 1, 1926.  His wife Minerva (Shugars) Pierce died in Niles, Berrien County, Michigan October 10, 1946.

Children of William H. and Minerva (Shugars) Pierce

*1. Claude, b. 5-29-1886; m. 9-26-1915—

                                        Cora Myrtle Casswell

                                                b. 3-6-1896 

                      d. 4-18-1959     d. 8-11-1982

2. Harold, b. 9-   -1888; m.  12-4-1911 Cecile Milton

                                                               b. 3-6-1896

                 d. 4-20-1963                                                 d. 4-   -1985


3.  William Jr., b. 4-25-1892; m.

                         d. 2-21-1950

4. Clyde,        b. 9-  - 1893;     m.12-6-1919 Ida Leet,

                                                b. 10-15-1901

                      d. 2-1-1964       d.

5. Hazel       b. 7-14-1894; m.12-4-1911 Adrian Leach,

                                                                        b.5-2-1894

                    d. 10-12-1932                             d.6-22-1968

6. Nellie, b.10-13-1896; m.9-12-1917 Frank Gleason,

                                                                        b. 7-24-1885

               d. 8-8-1984                                              d. 6-  -1955

7. Jessie, b.   1889;  m.   Harry Lawrence, b.   1890

               d.    1961                                      d.    1976

*6th Gen.  Claude R. Pierce, born in Charleston Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan May 29, 1886.  He married in Kalamazoo September 26, 1915 Cora Myrtle Caswell, daughter of Albert and Alice (Green) Caswell.  Claude Pierce was employed by the French Paper Company, Niles, Michigan and for years he was employed by the Sutherland Paper Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Claude R. Pierce died in Kalamazoo April 18, 1959, his wife, Cora Myrtle (Caswell) Pierce died in Kalamazoo August 11, 1982.

Children of Claude R. and Cora M. (Caswell) Pierce

1. William,      b. 5-11-1916; m 3-11-1939

                                                Alma Dinnerboiler  b.

                      d.                       d.

2. Josephine,  b. 1-28-1918; m. 2-19-1937

                                                Chester L  Bush, b.

                      d.                                                     d.

3. Maxine, b.1-28-1918; m.(1) 4-3-1936 John Kubinza,

                                                                        b.8-7-1915

                  d.                                                   d.

                                      m.(2) 12-9-1967 Russel Zehendner,                                                                           b.

                                                                         d.

4. Edna, b. 10-29-1920; m.

              d.

5. Bernard, b.10-3-1921; m.8-12-1945 Eileen Pierman,

                                                                        b.1-23-1927

                   d.                                                  d.

6. Bernice, b.10-3-1921; m. 7-10-1938,

                                        Donald A. Wolverton

                                                b. 11-21-1916

                      d.                       d. 1-10-1966

7. Russell, b. 12-19-1922; m. 9-16-1944 Arlene Ellard, b.

                  d.             1981                                               d.

8. Claude, b. 2-21-1925

                 d. 1-23-1944 (died during the Battle of Sicily, W.W. II)

9. Lillian, b.  9-18-1930

                 d.  (died young)

10. Evelyn, b. 11-1-1925; m. 5-29-1954

                                                Herbert L. Timmons

                      d.                       b. 7-19-1925

                                                d. 12-5-1985

11. Wayne,    b. 12-1-1929

                      d. 1949

12. Elmer       b. 9-21-1931

                      d. 1949

*13. Glenna,   b. 5-28-1933; m. 5-4-1956 Jack R. Giddings,

                                                                        b. 1-18-1925

                      d.                                               d.

14.  Patricia,   b. 2-2-1935; m. James R. Shepard, b.

                      d.                                                     d.

15. Marvin,    b. 11-7-1938; m. 7-19-1959 Angeline Frizzo

                                                                        b. 5-19-1940

                      d                                                d.

16. Martin,     b. 11-7-1938

                      d. (died young)

*7th Gen.  Glenna Lee Pierce, born in Kalamazoo, Michigan May 28, 1933.  She married in Kalamazoo May 4, 1956 Jack R. Giddings, son of Claude and Pearl (Maginnis) Giddings.

This concludes the current genealogical records for the Pierce family.