Obituarieswww.houghtonlakeresorter.com Houghton Lake Resorter, August 6, 2009 • A3

Jack John Hughes, 85, of St. Helen died Aug. 4, 2009.

Born on Jan. 1, 1924 in De-troit, he was the son of Walter

and Helen Hughes. He graduated from Cass Tech High School, Detroit, and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Mr. Hughes was employed as a de-signer/supervisor with the Chevrolet Truck and Engineering Division for over 20 years. He retired in 1982 and relo-cated his family to a home he had built in St. Helen in 1978. He spent much of his life teaching his children and grand-children to enjoy and respect the out-doors. He was an avid fisherman, hunter

and genealogist. He was a member of the Royal Oak Archers, Michigan Bow Hunters Association and the American Legion Post 416, St. Helen.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, of St. Helen; five children, 12 grandchil-dren, nine great-grandchildren and two sisters. He was preceded in death by a son, John Hughes.

The family thanked Hospice of Help-ing Hands for their steadfast support. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Hospice of Help-ing Hands, 335 E. Houghton Ave., West Branch, MI 48661.

Steuernol & McLaren Funeral Home, West Branch, handled the arrangements.

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Lifetime Roscommon resident and former State Representative Ralph Ostling, 82, died July 29, 2009 at his

home. Born in Roscommon on July 3, 1927,

he was the son of John and Vilma Os-tling, who came to the United States from Sweden. He was a graduate of Ger-rish-Higgins High School and graduated in 1952 from Central Michigan Univer-sity. He also received a masters degree from the University of Michigan.

He married Thela Dean on Dec. 21, 1947 in East Tawas.

Mr. Ostling served in the United States

Navy from May, 1945, to July, 1946. He was a teacher and coach at Gerrish-Hig-gins High School for 20 years. He was the Gerrish Township Clerk from 1957 to 1972 and then served in the Michigan legislature from 1973 to 1993.

He was a life member of the Charles M. Engel VFW Post 4159 and the lon-gest-standing member of Messiah Lu-theran Church at the time of his death.

Mr. Ostling is survived by his wife of 61 years, Thela; a son, Kurt Ostling and his wife Judy Cunningham of Crescent Springs, KY; grandchildren, Dr. Lauren Ostling and Erik Ostling of Cincinnati, OH; a sister, Edna Nunn of East Tawas; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by six brothers, Har-old, Robert, George, Arvid, Art and Ken-neth.

A visitation was held Aug. 5 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Walsh Funeral Home, Roscom-mon. Pastor Andrew Gookin will offici-ate a memorial service today (Aug. 6) at 11 a.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1470 W. Maplehurst Dr., Roscommon.

Memorial contributions can be made to a charity of choice or to the Ralph Ostling Memorial Scholarship, c/o Roscommon County Community Foun-dation, P.O. Box 824, Roscommon, MI 48653.

Walsh Funeral Home, Roscommon, handled the arrangements.

Ralph Ostling

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. today (Aug. 6) at the Steuernol & McLaren Funeral Home, St. Helen, for Danny

E. Pitcher, 76, St. Helen. Visitation is scheduled for 11 a.m. until the time of the service, to be conducted by the Rev. Rodney Morrison.

Mr. Pitcher, formerly of Sterling Heights, had lived in St. Helen since 1981. He was a member of Hope Lu-theran Church and American Legion Post 416 of St. Helen, VFW Post 4159 of Roscommon and the Elks Lodge of

Houghton Lake. He retired from Fisher Body in Warren.

Surviving with his wife, Delores, are his children, Bernice and her husband David Kerner of Washington Township and James and his wife Maryann Pitch-er of Sterling Heights; grandchildren, Andrea, Thomas, Christine, Aaron and Elizabeth; three great-grandchildren; a brother, Philip Pitcher of Mesa, AZ; and many other family members.

Memorial contributions may be made to Mercy Hospice, Grayling.

Danny E. Pitcher

Funeral services were held Aug. 4 for Laurene E. Croskey, 70, of Roscommon, who died Aug. 1, 2009 at her home.

Pastor Stephen Milam officiated an Aug. 4 service at Christler Funeral Home, Prudenville. Burial was in Crest-view Cemetery, Markey Township.

Born Sept. 20, 1938 in Pontiac, she was the daughter of the late Clifford and Lillian (Reed) Wright. She married Rob-ert Allen Croskey, who preceded her in death, on Sept. 28, 1959 in Detroit. They moved to Markey Township from West-land in 1996.

Survivors include three daughters, Sue Christiansen of Ocala, FL, Nancy Brewer of Saline and Kellie (David) Chambo of McHenry, IL; one son, Rob-ert (Carrie) Croskey of Westland; four grandchildren, Brandy, David, Joshua and Lindsey; a brother, Ronald (Donna) Wright of Westland; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations can be made to Mercy Hospice, Grayling. Christler Fu-neral Home, Prudenville Chapel, han-dled the arrangements.

Laurene E. Croskey

Prudenville resident Nancy Ann Moore, 66, died July 31, 2009 at Gray-ling Mercy Hospital.

Private family services have been held and burial was in Great Lakes Na-tional Cemetery, Holly.

Born in Caro on Oct. 29, 1942, she was the daughter of Francis and Gertrude (Soultner) Novak. She married Leslie T. Moore on Oct. 15, 1960 in Tijuana, Mex-ico. A homemaker, she moved to Pruden-ville four years ago from Temecula, CA.

Mrs. Moore is survived by her hus-

band, Les, of Prudenville; five children, Johnathon Moore of Denver, CO, Larry (Darlene) Moore of Williamsburg, VA, Misty (William) Klatt of Prudenville, Amy (Lee) Paiva of Prudenville and Mary (Daniel) VanCoonis of Pruden-ville; 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Tony and Jerry Novak.

Walsh Funeral Home, Roscommon, handled the arrangements.

Nancy Ann Moore

John Frederick Krebs Jr., 89, of Berkley, died Aug. 2, 2009, at MediLodge of Rich-mond.

Born April 22, 1920, in Detroit, he was the son of the late John Sr. and Margaret (Ruhstorfer) Krebs. He mar-ried Marjorie K. Day on May 9, 1945 in

Detroit at Presbyterian of the Covenant Church. Marjorie preceded him in death on Sept. 11, 1999.

Mr. Krebs worked for the U.S. Mer-chant Marine during World War II, send-ing and receiving Morse code, and also worked for General Motors in tool and die for 30 years until his retirement in 1986. He loved to spend time at his cot-tage at Houghton Lake and enjoyed fish-ing, snowmobiling (he purchased his last snowmobile at the age of 80) and sweet-talking the ladies.

He is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Paul Dumeah of Richmond and son John III of Kinde; grandchildren, Jamie Mercer, Heather Escher and Jeff Fritz, great-grandchil-dren, Natasha, Courtney Sue and Riley; and several nieces, nephews and friends. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his grandson Kenneth Mer-cer and sisters, Dorothy and Jennie.

A private service will be held at a lat-er date. Kaatz Funeral Directors, Rich-mond, handled the arrangements.

John Frederick Krebs Jr.

Martin S. Lebtich, 68, Houghton Lake, died Aug. 2, 2009, at home with his family by his side.

A memorial luncheon for Mr. Lebt-ich is scheduled for 1 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Houghton Lake Moose Lodge. Expres-sions of sympathy may be directed to the Mooseheart.

He was born April 23, 1941, in De-troit to the late Martin A. and Zelma (Geldhof) Lebtich. He served in the U.S. Army from 1959-61. He married Carol E. Littlefield July 1 1988, in Las Vegas. Mr. Lebtich worked in the water main-tenance department for the City of Oak Park, retiring in 1999. He and his wife then moved to the Houghton Lake area from Madison Heights. He was a mem-ber of the Houghton Lake Eagles, serv-

ing on the bylaws committee, and the Houghton Lake Moose, where he was a trustee. He was an avid golfer.

Surviving with Mrs. Lebtich are three sons, James and his wife Hollie Booth of Hazel Park, Francis and his wife Belin-da Booth of Roscommon and Carl and his wife Kasia Booth of Mt. Pleasant; a daughter, Kathy and her husband Mike Coon of Davie, FL; eight grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; one sister, Mary Ann Lebtich of Oregon; and one brother, Thomas and his wife Brenda Lebtich of Gainesville. Mr. Lebtich was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Marty; a daughter, Cindy; and a grand-son, Kevin.

Christler Funeral Home, Houghton Lake Chapel, handled arrangements.

Martin S. Lebtich

Jack John Hughes

Richard L. Haywood, 94, Houghton Lake, died July 29, 2009.

Funeral services were held July 31 at Calvary Baptist Church, West Branch with Pastor Tom Teall officiating. Burial was in the Roscommon Township Cem-etery.

He was born Feb. 14, 1915 to Clar-ence and Hazel Haywood in Auburn, IN. He married Evelyn Soderman of Hough-

ton Lake on Feb. 7, 1944 and the couple was married 61 years. She preceded him in death. They adopted Kim (Jim) Lin-debaum and Vicki Haywood and loved them as their own.

Mr. Haywood served in the Civilian Conservation Corp and in the Army dur-ing World War II. He retired from the J.L. Hudson Company in Detroit and returned to Houghton Lake. He was a member of Faith Community Church, VFW Post #5853 and also volunteered with the Retired Senior Volunteer Pro-gram in Roscommon and delivered Meals on Wheels for several years in the Houghton Lake area.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Evelyn, both parents, and two brothers, Leslie and Charles. Surviving are four grandchildren, Rani (Dave), Jimmy (Vanessa), Peter and Emily; six-great grandchildren, Zachary, Peter, Ainsley, Bradley, Alexander and Britney; a sister-in-law, Rosemary; one niece; Gail, and nephews, cousins and their families.

Memorial contributions may be made to Youth Haven Ranches, Rives Junc-tion, MI 49277. Steuernol and McLaren Funeral Home, West Branch, handled ar-rangements.

Richard Levon Haywood

Louis G. Schaldenbrand, 90, St. Helen, died Aug. 2, 2009, at Hilltop Manor Health Care Center, Roscommon.

A celebration of life service is sched-uled for 11 a.m. Aug. 21 at St. Helen Catholic Church. The family will be present to receive friends at 10 a.m. Burial will take place at Mt. Olivet Cem-etery, Detroit.

Mr. Schaldenbrand had lived in St. Helen since moving from Detroit in 1984. He was a member of St. Helen Catholic Church, American Legion Post

416 of St. Helen and the Lions Club. He loved to garden, enjoyed golf and was a member of the Birch Pointe Golf Club.

Surviving with Mr. Schaldenbrand’s wife, Kay of St. Helen, are two grand-children, Melissa Schaldenbrand of Rhode Island and Robert Schaldenbrand of Tallahassee, FL, and two great-grand-children, Kenneth and Kayla. He was preceded in death by his son, Michael.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Steuernol & McLaren Funeral Home, St. Helen, handled arrangements.

Louis G. Schaldenbrand

There were many more questions asked than answered in a joint meeting with the Citizens for Township Con-solidation and officials from the four townships bordering Houghton Lake - Denton, Roscommon, Lake and Markey Townships - Monday night at Roscom-mon Township Hall.

The first order of business was for the townships to call their individual board members to order for special township meetings to comply with Michigan Open Meetings Act requirements. The meet-ing, which was requested by the CTC, was moderated by CTC member Dave Emmons.

Emmons had developed an agenda with 16 questions that were to be posed to the individual township boards. How-ever, township officials from Denton, Lake and Markey did not receive the list prior to the meeting. Roscommon Town-ship Supervisor Diane Randall had coor-dinated the meeting with the other town-ship officials, but had not given them copies of the meeting agenda. Emmons claimed he had asked her to forward the meeting agenda, to which Randall denied being asked to share the agenda. She said she was asked to coordinate the meeting only.

The CTC also distributed a booklet entitled “Why Township Government” which included “A hypothetical look at one township staff.” That booklet be-came the basis for many questions di-rected from the audience and township officials to CTC members during the first hour of the meeting.

Emmons told township officials the CTC “is not your enemy.” He said the goal was to reduce costs to taxpayers, cit-ing duplication of responsibilities among the four townships. Emmons said police departments (currently only Denton has a police department) could be accom-plished with a new combined township but fire departments would remain intact but come under the command of a single fire chief.

At one point Emmons said it was the cost of running township offices where savings could be realized and Randall responded that townships don’t just run offices, their duties encompass many other functions.

In an answer to an audience question as to where a new combined township office would be located Emmons said the CTC had considered Roscommon Town-ship’s current hall. The audience mem-ber then asked what would happen with the other three township halls, which had been paid for by respective township residents.

Lake Township Supervisor Stan Christler said township consolidation would cost his township residents the

most because a combined township’s tax would not be lowered to what Lake Township residents currently pay. Lake Township’s taxes would go up.

“Big government scares me,” Chris-tler said, “what you’re doing is creating big government.”

Christler also said his township’s fire rating (ISO) was the lowest of the four townships and township consolidation would affect that. He also cited current savings provided by the townships by combining the sewer authority, building agency and Lake Improvement Board.

One of the ideas put forward by the CTC was tax collection at local banks. Denton Treasurer Carolyn Pietchak said 20 years ago Denton took over tax col-lection from the bank because of “nu-merous” problems. She also stated town-ship officials provide community and customer service by helping people get information.

“Who’s going to explain tax bills,” Pietchak asked. “Gary (Williams, Den-ton assessor) goes into the hall and sits down with them to explain property tax bills.”

Roscommon Township Clerk Barb Stevenson said she didn’t want to send “all of our (property tax) money” to Lan-sing. “We have a balanced budget, the state doesn’t,” she said.

Ambulance service elicited many questions and comments from township officials, ambulance employees and the audience. Stevenson said an ambulance millage would still have to be spread.

After an hour of open discussion CTC member Marilyn Jarvi said she was disappointed in the meeting because of all of the work by CTC to put together the 16 questions and then to not be able to get the answers from the individual townships during the meeting. The four supervisors then agreed to answer the questions on the agenda despite not hav-ing time to prepare.

The questions regarded pay and ben-efits for township employees; types of insurances and costs; number of full and part time employes; mileage reimburse-ment; building maintenance costs; mill-age rates and budgeting.

Randall asked that if the CTC identi-fies any savings ideas for the townships to please report them to her.

Emmons said the next CTC meet-ing would be Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Houghton Lake Community Center.`

Township consolidation meetinghas more questions than answers

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