LeRoy Elmer Hutchinson, my father, was born April 7, 1919 in McBain, Michigan.  He was the fourth of eleven children born to Frank and Margie Hutchinson.

LeRoy in 1920

Dad’s parents lived in the country and did a bit of farming.  Sometimes his father would find work in a large city like Grand Rapids or Detroit and he would live apart from the family for a while.  But he would always return home to his family.

Robert, Chum, Doris, Mary, LeRoy (in back) Mamie, Frank (their father) and dog	– 1926

In 1935, the family moved to Leslie, Michigan.  That September, LeRoy entered Leslie High School as a sophomore.  It wasn’t long and a certain freshman, Mary Wyman caught his eye.  Romanced bloomed.

LeRoy graduated in June of 1938 and he became an apprentice painter and interior decorator.  He worked out of Lansing, Michigan.  Mary graduated from Leslie High School in June of 1939.  On September 30, 1939 LeRoy and Mary were married in her parents back yard in the rural community of Housel.  You won’t find it on any map as it is only a crossroads with a now deserted church and several houses clustered nearby.

LeRoy and Mary on their wedding day

I joined the family in August of 1940.  Europe was at war, and the US was supplying materiel to the British.  We lived just a few blocks north of the state capital.  Then in December 1941, the US entered WWII.  As 1942 began many young men were volunteering for the war effort.  LeRoy continued to work as a painter.  LeRoy moved his family to Lansing in the spring of 1942 to cut down on commuting costs.  By the end of 1942, LeRoy discovered he was going to be a father again.

War drums beat louder as the US troops were fighting in Europe and the Pacific.  The draft began inducting married men and later fathers into the armed services.  LeRoy joined the Civil Air Patrol.  In June of 1943 he became the father of a daughter, Barbara.  Sometime after that, he moved his wife and two children back to Leslie, Michigan, where his parents and in-laws lived.  They would be there to help Mary when the inevitable happened and he entered military service.

October 1943, LeRoy enlisted in the US Army Air Corp at Mason, Michigan (the county seat).  As November ended, he received orders to report in early December to Fort Shridan, Illinois.  He was accepted into the flight cadet program, but did not finish his training before the war ended.  He was released from service at the end of October 1945.  He returned home to his wife and two children.

Two more daughters joined the family.  Clara in 1951 and Margaret in 1954.

LeRoy enrolled at Michigan State University and studied there part-time until he found employment at the Post Office in Leslie.  (Dad had one favorite professor that taught one of the required courses.  I made sure that I was in his class too and introduced myself to the prof who still remembered Dad.  Sylvia also took his class during her third trimester of her pregnancy with our first son.  When she introduced herself to the prof, he observed that he could say he had had three generations of our family in his classes.)

LeRoy sorts mail for his rural route on his last day before retirement April 1984

LeRoy would paint houses for widows around the town or do home repairs for them.  It was his way of helping those in need.  After retirement, he volunteered to deliver for Meals On Wheels.  He was well known and well liked around our small town.

In September of 1989, LeRoy and Mary celebrated 50 years of marriage.  I was living in Connecticut at the time and had come back to participate in the celebration.  Dad had been bothered with chronic back trouble during his later years and had a back surgery scheduled for later that year.  The day before the celebration, Dad had a chest X-ray as a routine pre-surgery check.  The X-ray showed a tumor in a lung.  It was cancer, and it spread quickly through his body.

Cancer claimed LeRoy’s life December 11,1990.  I had driven from Connecticut to be with him those final days.  I had left his side to sit in an easy chair and listen to the news on the radio in the next room.  After several minutes, I realized that I could no longer hear his labored breathing.  When I checked, he had gone.  I still miss him.