William “Bill” Holmstrom of Gladstone was welcomed into heaven Friday (March 13, 2009) from his home in Gladstone. He was 88.
Bill was born June 22, 1920, on the family farm in Carney, Michigan, to Swedes Jacob Holmstrom, a farmer and woodsworker originally from Oravais, Finland, and Anna Lundquist Holmstrom, a homemaker, of Carney.
He attended Carney school through the 10th grade, then transferred to Stephenson High School. The advent of free bussing enabled him to become the first in his family to graduate from high school, in 1939. Bill went on to attend the University of Wisconsin Extension Center in Marinette in 1949, and Northern Michigan College of Education in Marquette 1950-1953. He graduated from Northern with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture and earned a master of arts degree in 1957 from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Bill entered the U.S. Army Air Forces September 23, 1942, and was separated as a sergeant February 12, 1946. He served as a flight traffic clerk on C-54 transport planes in the North Atlantic Wing of the Air Transport, during World War II, earning the Army Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, American Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal, and Honorable Service Lapel Button. While in the Army, he spent time at Fort Sheridan, Illinois; Morrison Field in West Palm Beach, Florida; Hamilton Field, San Francisco, California, where he attended Flight Traffic Control School; McClellan Field, near Sacramento, CA; Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, between San Francisco and Sacramento, CA; LaGuardia Field, Flushing, New York; Presque Isle Army Air Field, Presque Isle, Maine; Fort Totten, New York; and Fort Dix, New Jersey.
From his youth through his early years of teaching, Bill worked on the family farm in Carney. Before entering the military, he also worked at the Menominee River Sugar Company on “Sugar Island” in Menominee, Michigan. After leaving the military, he was employed awhile by The Lloyd Manufacturing Company in Menominee. During his undergraduate years, he worked at Vetville, where he and his wife also lived, on the Northern Michigan College campus. He went on to teach for 31 years, first in the Carney and Perkins high schools, and then sixth grade in the Gladstone school system. He retired in 1983.
To supplement his income while a teacher, he served as principal and substitute school bus driver in Perkins, a drivers’ education teacher in Perkins and Gladstone, real estate salesperson in Gladstone, and summer worker at the Escanaba Paper Company mill in Escanaba.
Bill traveled extensively in North America and Europe, including in his ancestral homelands of Finland and Sweden, as well as to Africa and Greenland. He and his wife made 25th and 50th wedding anniversary trips to Hawaii, a 35th wedding anniversary trip to Scandinavia, a 45th wedding anniversary trip to Bermuda, which he had visited while in the military, and wintered for several years in Green Valley, Arizona. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean round trip 35 times, while in the military, plus another three times on later trips to Europe with his wife.
In his leisure time, he most enjoyed physical labor and the outdoors, working in the woods and gardening. He also enjoyed woodworking, building sheds, building birdhouses, traveling, making conversation and---when he was younger---fishing and playing softball. He hand-planted 10,000 softwood trees and built his own cabin on his 80 acres in Carney.
Bill was a member of Grace Church in Gladstone; a former member of Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Gladstone, where he held numerous offices over many years, including board chair, sang in the choir, and volunteered considerable time; a former member of The Gideons International; and a member of the Michigan Education Association and the National Education Association. He also contributed financially and with his time to Lake Lundgren Bible Camp in Pembine, Wisconsin.
Bill was married in Marquette August 16, 1952, to the former Nancy Oman of Marquette. She survives him, as do: daughters Doris Holmstrom of Gladstone and Susan (Duane) Strickfaden of Dodgeville, Wisconsin; grandchildren Tyler William Strickfaden and Heather (Phillip) Hansen, both of Dodgeville, Wisconsin; nephews Robert (Joanne) Hammerberg of Carney, Harlan (Linda) Hammerberg of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and Ragnar Hammerberg of Key West, Florida, and niece Elaine (Ken) Gustafson of Carney, and their families; sisters-in-law Dorothy Patrick of Marquette and Carolyn (Stanley) Ford of Apache Junction, Arizona; his wife’s 10 nieces and nephews, and their families; and Mary Feldhusen of Gladstone.
Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by all three of his older siblings and their spouses—Marie (Samuel and Edward) Hammerberg, Esther (Clifford) Hultman and Charles (Josephine) Holmstrom—and by one nephew, Edward Hultman.
Visitation for Bill Holmstrom will be Sunday, March 15, from 4:00PM to 6:00PM at Grace Church in Gladstone. Services will follow at 6:00 PM, with Bill’s wife’s nephew Rev. Dr. Stephen Patrick officiating. A luncheon will be held afterwards in the church hall. Burial will be in Gardens of Rest Memorial Park in Wells. Skradski Funeral Home in Gladstone is assisting the family.
