Edwin Frank Springsteen, 1924-2016
My father, Edwin Frank Springsteen, was born a hundred years ago on November 30, 1924. He made his entrance on the Brink farm in Watertown Township, Clinton County, near DeWitt, Michigan. Dad joined John, Donovan and Lorna as the fourth child of Aden and Verda Springsteen. Their family was completed with the births of Madge, Harold and Loretta. My Grandma Olsen (Verda) told me that Aden named Dad in honor of her father Edwin Case when they called her parents to report his birth.
How Dad came to be in Sheridan
Dad’s father Aden grew to adulthood in and near DeWitt. By 1918 he had befriended his barber John Case, a native of Mecosta County. Aden met John’s sister Verda on a visit to John’s family at Titus, Michigan, near Remus. The rest, as they say, is history. Aden and Verda married on her 19th birthday in 1918.
John and Aden bought farms on the south edge of Sheridan in Montcalm County and Aden moved his family there at the end of 1929. Dad recalled the excitement when Aden’s brakes failed as they were hurtling downhill toward the narrow bridge over the Grand River in Ionia. Dad’s destiny awaited him in Sheridan. Mom was born there January 1, 1929.
Dad was recorded with his family at their Sheridan farm in the 1930 census.[1] John and Vida Case lived across the state road in Bushnell Township. Most of the village is in Evergreen and Sidney Townships.
The only picture I have seen of Aden and Verda’s family was taken in their home between Loretta’s birth in March 1931 and Johnny’s death in August 1934.
John and Edwin were known as Johnny and Eddie. Donovan styled himself as Mickey (Mick). Mick called Madge Badger, which she hated, and called Dad the Lumbago Kid (Lum). Harold became Hud when Madge or Loretta (Ret) had trouble saying his name.
I have previously posted a picture of Dad with his cousin Joyce and their grandmother Agnes Springsteen.
I have also posted a newspaper clipping of Dad and siblings earning money from harvesting potatoes.
Dad made a small purse for his mother in 1932. She wrote a related note.
Here is Dad’s note for his mother on Mother’s Day, 1935.
Aden and Verda’s family was recorded again on their Sheridan farm in 1940.[2]
As already mentioned, Dad’s brother Johnny died in 1934 after a farm accident. Further loss struck the family in 1941 when Aden Springsteen died after a car in which he was a passenger was struck by a train in Stanton.
When Dad registered for the draft in 1942, he was still a student. John Case was listed as his next of kin.[3] He graduated from Sheridan High School in 1943. Here are his senior picture and a newspaper clipping of the Class of 1943.
Anchors aweigh
Dad enlisted in the Navy after graduation from high school. His Navy separation record indicates that he had worked at the Gibson Refrigerator factory in Greenville before graduation. Gibson’s retooled during the war to produce gliders used in the Normandy invasion.
Dad received training at the Great Lakes Naval station in Illinois. One or both of the following photos were taken there.
After training, Dad crossed the country by train to California. He wrote a letter to his mother describing the trip and his wait for permanent assignment. He served the remainder of the war on the USS Essex, the first of a new class of aircraft carriers.
Here is a letter from Dad to his mother in 1944.
Dad almost didn’t make it to his 20th birthday, in which case my family and I wouldn’t be here. On November 25, 1944, Dad was on deck with a fellow sailor from DeWitt, Durward (Dude) Pontius, when the alarm sounded for an incoming kamikaze. They were scurrying down the ladder when the plane struck the Essex, severely burning or immediately killing men behind them in line.
Dad did, of course, make it through the war. So did Dude, who married Dad’s sister Madge.
Back to school
After the war, Dad used GI Bill benefits to train in refrigeration at Ferris Institute in Big Rapids, Michigan.
When Dad was home with his mother and her new husband Fred Olsen, he took an interest in Lois Kidder. They were married May 10, 1947, at The People’s Church in East Lansing.
Uncle Mick and Aunt Helen, who had been married at The People’s Church, were their witnesses.
A family of his own
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.
Dad worked in refrigeration repair in Big Rapids while attending school and for some time after. Our family was listed in the 1950 census of Big Rapids.[4] My oldest brother and I were born while we lived in Big Rapids.
Dad and Mom bought a house west of Sheridan in 1951. This was the first home I remember. My youngest brother was born after we moved there.
Dad worked in refrigeration for Orel Bush, owner of Bush Hardware, but did some carpentry work and found his niche. He worked for Frank Wyckoff, initially in partnership with Lloyd Pitcher, for over thirty years. He had an incredible eye for carpentry and became a finish carpenter whose work is still appreciated in Montcalm County and beyond. Mom used to say that Dad made a lot of women happy (with his finely-built cabinets).
This 2003 photo shows Dad with some of the men he worked with over the years. Frank is seated in front.
My brothers and I learned early in life that we wouldn’t be sleeping in if we were vacationing for a day or a weekend. While it was still o-dark-thirty in the morning, our bedroom door would open to the booming sound of “daylight in the swamp!” Perhaps Dad learned that in his childhood.
Dad and Mom were close friends with brothers Don and Lee Lund and their wives. Dad graduated high school with Lee. The sand dunes along Lake Michigan were among their favorite places to vacation. The following picture from the 1950s shows Dad with Elaine, Don, and a passel of us kids.
Dad built a camper on a flat-bed trailer. That house trailer got a lot of use over the years. I think Mom and Aunt Dorothy (Dot), Hud’s wife, are in the following picture.
Dad and Mom purchased land on the south side of Pearl Lake in Sheridan in the early 1960s. Dad contracted with Wyckoff Construction to frame the house. Dad then spent the better part pf a year finishing it. In the meantime, Frank Wyckoff built a house next door on the east. I think we moved in before Easter in 1963. Uncle Hud and Aunt Dorothy subsequently had a house built on the west side of our home. Our families were close. My sister was born after we moved to South Shore Drive, a new street built by and for the residents.
Dad was a real trooper for us kids. He helped Little League coaches and Scoutmasters for my brothers and me. He turned the rear wheels by hand on a wagon that my sister pulled him in and sat for hair styling.
Dad’s family celebrated Grandma and Grandpa Olsen’s 25th anniversary in 1970. I like this family picture at the Congregational Church in Sheridan.
In the early 1970s Dad, Hud, and Lund brothers Don and Lee bought an acre in the northwoods of Michigan near Fife Lake. They built a cabin on that parcel and dubbed it HELL’s Acre, loosely derived from their initials. The cabin was used by all four families and was their base for deer hunting every November.
Don Lund and Dad were walking near the cabin in the following picture.
Dad stayed in touch with a few of his old Essex shipmates. The following picture shows a gathering at Dad and Mom’s house on the lake. Dude and Dad’s sister Madge Pontius are on the left.
For several years, family reunions were held between our house and Hud’s. The following picture was probably from the 1981 reunion. Uncle Joe and Uncle Harold were Aden Springsteen’s brothers.
Retirement
Dad and Mom retired in 1986, Dad from Wyckoff Construction and Mom from Montcalm Community College.
Not surprisingly, Dad continued working with wood in retirement.
I talked with Dad about his relief carving of Bill, Babe and Abe: https://www.ourheritage.info/2015/03/22/bill-babe-and-abe/
Dad had previously salvaged a slab of timber from the bed of Pearl Lake to create a coffee table. The timber was left from mills on Pearl Lake in the 1800s.
In 1989 Dad and Mom sold their house on South Shore Drive to my youngest brother and sister-in-law. Dad and Mom became snowbirds, with a mobile home in Florida near my grandparents and another in Stoney Lake Park north of Sheridan.
Dad and Mom sometimes stopped in Raleigh on their way between seasonal homes. In 1992 they were in town for their oldest grandchild’s high school graduation.
1997 was an eventful year in our family. Dad and Mom celebrated their 50th anniversary in May. Then after one part of our family endured and recovered from a traumatic car accident in July, we lost my brother Eddie to another accident in December.
The following pictures from the summer of 1999 show Dad and Mom with some of their family.
By 2002 Dad and Mom decided it was time to settle in one place again. They had a modular home built on lots purchased from Frank Wyckoff. They moved into their last house in 2003. Dee and I followed suit the following year. We had a good construction supervisor while we were still in Raleigh.
Mom must have been thinking that this time a new house needed a new cat. Dad was a fan of Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series, so Mom named the cat Ayla.
Dad might have been wondering at this point why he had moved back north year-around.
Dad never missed a reunion of the Springsteen, Case and Olsen families. Here is representation from his tribe in 2005.
Dad and Mom celebrated their 60th anniversary at their old house in 2007.
One feature of our annual Christmas Eve celebrations involved a bundle of inexpensive items, duct tape, and a pair of dice. The first person in a circle could keep anything that they removed from the taped ball before the next person rolled a pair with the dice. When the next person rolled a pair, they got their turn at the ball. Dad really got into this.
Dad’s cousin Burgess Case had passed before his house burned to the ground in 2011. It had been the home of their grandparents Edwin and Loretta Case. Dad was among a small group of relatives who made a last pilgrimage to the old Case homestead.
For several years Mom hosted an Octoberfest with food, beer and wine, family and friends. The women gathered in the house and the men got the garage to themselves, seen here in 2011 and 2012.
Here are holiday pictures from 2013.
As Dad aged, he experienced increasing limitations from Parkinson’s disease. He came to need more care than Mom could physically sustain. Mom used her IRA to pay for Dad’s care in residential living. She almost never missed a day with him and brought him home for holidays. We celebrated Dad’s 90th birthday at Green Acres in Greenville where Dee’s mother had previously resided.
Here are pictures from Dad’s last Christmas in 2015.
Dad made it to his last reunion in 2016.
Dad slowed down considerably in his last years, but his mind was still sharp. He declined quite a bit in his final months, but he enjoyed a serving of Wendy’s chili on his 92nd birthday. Dad passed from this life just eight days later. His memorial service brought us together again. Thank you, Dad for more than I can say.
Spring dawned again on Dad and Mom’s last ranch, but Mom followed too soon. I can’t really express how blessed I have been to be their son and how much I value Dad as a man of integrity.
Here is a family tribute to Dad and Mom.
Notes
[1] 1930 United States Census, Aden L. Springsteen household; Michigan, Montcalm County, Fairplain Township, Village of Sheridan (part), sheet 1A, lines 6-13; online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ1D-PTC, accessed November 22, 2024.
[2] 1940 United States Census, Aden Springsteen household; Michigan, Montcalm County, Fairplain Township, Village of Sheridan (part), sheet 1A, lines 7-14; online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4GV-J1X, accessed November 22, 2024.
[3] Draft registration, Edwin Frank Springsteen; Michigan, Montcalm County, Draft Registration Board, Greenville, serial number W85, order number 12135; online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPTS-NKZD, accessed November 22, 2024.
[4] 1950 United States Census, Edwin Springsteen household; Michigan, Mecosta County, Big Rapids, sheet 11, lines 14-17; online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FS2-DLBS, accessed November 24, 2024.
