The autumn colors are still glorious and the progression of the annual show is right on time. Holly berries are profuse in many swamps. We are beyond happy to have them on our new piece of paradise. Last year the berries fell before I could cut many. This year I’m prepared to get them soon and hang them in the garage. I’m thinking of doing the same with a fresh cut tree as soon as the weather shows signs of turning nasty and staying that way. As is usual for me this time of year, I’ve eyed every possible suitable Christmas tree candidate since late August. I know where they are. One cannot plan too early, especially when things are different.
And ‘done differently’ happens to all of us sooner or later, especially as we get older. It’s a plan we should all adapt, physically and mentally; think about your old bones and be smart. Think about your ‘I think I’m younger than I am’ brain, and don’t get into foolish ruts. There are far more ways to exercise your aging brain than your aging body. The best thing to do is to exercise both to the best of your ability. As Martha Stewart, now 82, is fond of saying, “it’s a good thing”. Indeed.
I don’t know why I’m waxing philosophical this week. Perhaps it’s a side effect of this glorious fall were experiencing. Last year was a stressful one for many trees. It was the year of the sponge moth, aka, gypsy moth. The vast defoliating of thousands of trees made for a stressful and far less colorful fall. Not to mention making evident the vast numbers of dead ash trees, fallen to that foreign invader, the emerald ash borer. The death of so many trees of a single species leaves a huge hole in the landscape.
Bob Friend enjoyed the Clark Day boiled dinner and get-together at the Marion Area Historical Museum in September. He enjoyed the food and the good company, as we all did, and submitted a question, long considered, for more information. His question involves the Friend family farm, where he was born 90 years ago. Most of us know this place today as the John Downing farm, just west of the Village Limits on 20 Mile Road.
Bob and his siblings were born on what was known as the Friend Farm. The elder Friend’s purchased this 80 acre property, known as the Dean Dairy, from the Dean family in the 1920’s. Bob recalls that the bottling machinery was located in the cellar of the ample farmhouse, which is where the Dean’s and later the Friend’s bottled milk.
Bob’s long pondered question was this: Was this Dean family of Marion the same Dean family associated with the long time dairy located in Evart and the Dean’s Dairy known today?
The answer is, in a nutshell, no. The Dean Dairy in Evart was part of Dean Dairy, Inc, begun by the Yourga family in Brookfield, PA in 1934. Or was it? Maybe it was part of the Dean’s Dairy begun by OA Dean in Cleveland Heights, Ohio in the 1920’s. Or perhaps it was the Dean Dairy of today, founded in Franklin Park, Illinois, also in the 1920’s. Take your choice. Any way you slice it, the Dean family of Marion, Michigan was not the driving force or founder of any part of these dairy empires. The Dean’s Dairy of today grew in the Midwest and its products are the collective product of some 12,000 dairy farms. Who doesn’t like Dean’s ice cream or chip dip? It is a Midwest staple and favorite, no matter where it originated.
It surely would have been nice to be able to connect Marion’s Dean Dairy with the larger business, but this was not so. Marion has had numerous brushes and claims to fame. A very popular brand of house paints, both interior and exterior, was developed and produced in Marion in the 1910’s. The inability to meet demand here forced it to move to the southern portions of the state in the early 1920’s.
Also developed about this time in Marion was a particular style of corrugated steel culvert, used for drainage and ditching under roads and drives. Production of this also went south due to supply and production problems. It seems that Marion was never meant to be an industrial center. We’ve shunned the chance more than once.
In waxing philosophical again, I will venture that we are meant to be the birthplace of those who are inventive, imaginative and successful…elsewhere. The rest of us are content to live our lives right here, well-known amid the great unknown.
And with that I give you some background to this week’s photo. The Friend family sold their farm to Maynard and Ruth Downing. They came to Marion through Michigan Gas Storage in the 1940’s. Maynard Downing worked for this Consumer’s subsidiary. His wife Ruth was best remembered to many years of Marion Kindergarten students as their first teacher, Mrs. Downing.
The Downing’s also maintained a dairy of sorts; their goat’s milk was sold to a dairy downstate. The Downing goats were somewhat of an attraction in these parts. In the late summer of 1955 Fern Berry wrote an article, accompanied by photos, about the Downing’s goats for the Michigan Farmer. This is one of the photos, featuring the Downing’s goats and Fern’s granddaughter.