Written by Bette Twyman in WGS E-Newsletter, Volume 17, Issue Number 7
Donald Sherman Beutler October 12, 1927 – July 4, 2021
My father, Donald Sherman Beutler was born on a family farm in Pembina County, North Dakota, near the Canadian border. He was delivered at home by a midwife who was a relative. He was the youngest of the 3 children of David Sylvester Beutler and Hazel Fay Hamand. He was predeceased by his parents, sister Geneva in 1970 and brother Gerald in 2009. Dad’s Mother lived to be 100 and a half.
When Dad was two years old, the family moved to Michigan in a Model T Ford with side curtains. They lived in the Waterford and Pontiac area, moving many times. Before sixth grade, Dad attended Donelson, Stringham and Lambert in Waterford; Central Elementary and Webster in Pontiac. All of these schools are closed; vacant, repurposed or demolished. In 1936, due to the deepening Great Depression, Dad’s father worked for the WPA, (Works Progress Administration) at the Drayton Plains Fish Hatchery as a laborer and, once it was noticed he was good with numbers, a timekeeper.
Dad attended Donelson Sunday School in Waterford and later First Baptist Church in Pontiac with his family. Vacations were rare treats. In 1933, they went to Illinois to visit his mother’s cousin, Daisy Calhoun, taking a side trip to the Chicago World’s Fair. One summer they went camping at Wilderness State Park near the Straits of Mackinac. Among Dad’s fondest memories were visits to his father’s cousin, Fred Beutler, at his farm in Gingellville in Orion Township. One winter, after an afternoon of sledding, Dad recalled falling asleep beside a pot-bellied stove.
By June of 1942, Dad’s father was working in real estate part-time and as a roofing salesman for Sears. Dad sometimes went with his dad on roofing estimate trips. One day he did not and, returning from a Springfield Township job, Grandpa was instantly killed at an unmarked railroad crossing. As a minor child of 14, Dad received Social Security Payments, which his sister Geneva helped him to deposit in a savings account.
During summers after his father’s death, Dad took the train and bus to Cavalier, North Dakota to his mother’s sister, Fern and her husband Gail Hinkle. He helped his uncle and cousins with farm work including threshing and other chores. Aunt Fern raised turkeys. One day, Dad chose to stay home and take a nap when the family went to town. He was awakened to a loud bang, followed by gobbling. The turkey roost had collapsed! He an out barefoot to reset the roost and calm the turkeys. At the end of the summer, Uncle Gail gave him a check to cash in town for his summer’s work. Dad did not expect this but was very grateful.
Dad graduated from the original Pontiac High School in January 1946. During his school years, he worked at Harrison’s Market on Voorhees Road and in the men’s clothing department at Waites’ Department Store in one of the earliest co-op programs. The 1946 Yearbook shows a photo of Dad with the “Usher’s Group” assisting at school plays and sporting events. Driving past Wisner Stadium years later, he would comment on his ushering duties. One of Dad’s classmates was Jack Kevorkian. When Dr. Kevorkian was breaking news in the 1990’s, Dad characteristically understated, said “he was weird in high school.
Immediately after graduation, Dad went to work at the GM Fisher Body plant on Baldwin Avenue in Pontiac helping supply the postwar demand for new cars. This was a pay cut from the grocery store but included health benefits. He worked 25 years as a relief man on the assembly line; his final 15 years were spent driving a high lift in the materials department, unloading freight cars. He retired with over 40 years of seniority in 1986 on his 59th birthday. He was a member of the UAW.
Dad met his wife, Jane Long, in 1952, when Gerry and Ann Beutler invited them to dinner. Jane was Gerry and Ann’s neighbor, living with her aunt and grandmother across the street. Shortly after their meeting, Dad was called to active duty from the Naval Reserve. This was during the Korean War. He was sent to Green Cove Springs, Florida, near St. Augustine. He served as a typist/storekeeper. Their relationship evolved through letters and visits home during leaves. After his honorable discharge from active duty, Dad and Mom were married on June 12, 1954. They had passed their 63rd anniversary when Mom passed away in October of 2017. They purchased a new house in Waterford and moved in on Dad’s 31st birthday, October 12, 1958. I was 3 and my brother Dave was 7 months old.
With the approach of the 1976 Bicentennial, Dad became interested in genealogy. Grandma Beutler gave Dad some old letters from her cousin in Illinois who had joined the DAR. He later served on a committee headed by a distant cousin in Minnesota. In 1994, they published the “Beutler Book” about descendants of Dad’s Swiss Ancestors. Dad’s great-grandparents, Nicklaus Beutler and Rosina Andres, arrived in Tuscarawas County, Ohio from Switzerland in the 1850’s.
Descendants of Donald S. Beutler include my brother, David Beutler and me; five grandchildren: Sean Twyman, Tara Twyman, Sarah (Mike) Maniaci; Elena Beutler (Don Losee) and David I. Beutler; four great-grandchildren: William Twyman, Raquel Twyman, Nate Maniaci and Luke Beutler, two nieces, Mary McMahon and Carol Samuel and a nephew, Gerald W. Beutler, Jr.
Dad was interred with Mom at the Great Lakes National Cemetery – Holly.
Bette Twyman is a member of WGS and the Oakland County Genealogical Society
Lifetime resident of Waterford and Michigan First Family lineage through Joseph Long
Member of DAR, Colonial Dames 17th Century, Daughters of 1812