A BIOGRAPHY OF LYLE DELMAR HEPFER
THE BEGINNING
I was born on December 26, 1904 on the family farm on DeWitt Road, then known as the Old DeWitt Road, just north of Clark road, 6 miles north of the State Capitol Building in Lansing, Michigan and 2 miles south of the Village of DeWitt. I was brot into this world by Dr. Banta at the farm house. He lived in the Village of DeWitt and his means of travel was by horse and buggy.
My Father was Henry Louis Hepfer, who was born in the same farm house on November 7, 1878. He was the youngest of 5 children born to John Conrad Hepfer and Christina (Stabler) Hepfer. John Conrad Hepfer was born in Wurtemburg, Germany on February 26, 1837 and came to this country at an early age with his father, George Jacob Hepfer and his mother Mary Ann (Walter) Hepfer.
My Mother was Bertha Augusta (Manz) Hepfer, who was born in a log cabin on Grovenburg Road, between Lansing and Holt. She was born on August 16, 1882. Her father was Frederick Manz, who came to this country from Germany at an early age. She moved, with her parents, from the log cabin to a brick house at the corner of Jolly Road and Ingham Street, in what is now Pleasant Grove Subdivision. I owned 2 lots about 2 blocks north of the brick house on Ingham St. for a few years. My mother moved from the brick house to Toledo, Ohio, and lived there until she and my father were married on March 10, 1904. My father was 24 and my mother was 20 when they were married. After they were married, they moved to the family farm on DeWitt Road, which they rented from my Grandfather and Grandmother for about 3 years. In 1907 they purchased the 100 acre farm from my Grandfather and Grandmother for $7,000.00. My Grandfather Hepfer gave my father and mother $1,000.00 as a wedding gift, which they used to purchase equipment and livestock to begin farming. My father and mother lived on this farm until August 24, 1966 whey they sold the farm house and about 1.12 acres of land to me and my brother Ivan for $16,000.00. They then moved to their new home at 210 Wilson St., DeWitt, and they lived there until my father’s death on November 18, 1973. My mother was one of 7 children.
Ivan and I owned the farm house and rented it until we sold it to the Michigan State Highway Department, for the I-69 Interchange, on September 7, 1978 for $27,000.00. This farm became a Centennial Farm on June 10, 1971 and the State Historical Commission issued a Centennial Certificate and Plaque that I put on the west side of the hog pen-corncrib, on the east side of DeWitt Road. The Plaque remained there until October, 1978 when Dean Crane, who rented the farm land, took it down. We were advised by a friend in DeWitt on April 20, 1979 that the Highway Department had razed the farm house and other buildings on the west side of DeWitt Road. The farm house and other farm buildings were located at where the south lane of Highway I-69 crossed the Dewitt Road.
THE FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
My first recollection of my boyhood days was when I was about 7 years old. My brother, Ivan, was about 2 years old and dad was remodeling the house, chicken coop, north shed, and the granary. Ivan was taking the carpenter’s hammer and driving nails into the ground and the lumber. The house remodeling consisted of moving the stairway from the northwest corner of the living room to the north end of the parlor, which was the front room with the good furniture, and only used when we had company. The old stairway was a closed stairway with a door opening into the living room. The new stairway was an open stairway with an oak railing with spindles and oak stair treads and risers, with a door at the top that opened into the sewing room. The old sliding doors between the living room and the parlor were replaced with beautiful oak columns and oak trim around the opening. The old wood and coal stove, about 5 feet high and 4 feet square, in the living room, and the stove at the west end of the dining room were replaced with a round oak furnace in the basement, under the living room, with warm air pipes to the dining room, living room, parlor, downstairs bedroom, the front upstairs bedroom and the sewing room, and the head of the new stairway. There were no registers in the kitchen, the upstairs bathroom, or the 2 back bedrooms. These rooms were heated by floor registers, that could be opened or closed and, when open, would let the head from downstairs into the upstairs bedrooms, also the sound. When we kids were sent to bed early, when or parents had company, we would put our heads close to the registers so we could hear what was said. The kitchen was heated by the wood cook stove, which a hot water reservoir at the end of the stove. This was the only source of hot water except heating in the teakettle or pan on the top of the stove. The kitchen stove used only wood, and it was my job, as soon as I was big enough, to carry wood in from the woodshed in the back of the house to the large wood box. I also had to bring in kindling wood for starting the fire in the morning. This was usually sassafras wood that was split very fine and would ignite almost as quickly as paper.
During the fall of 1911, when I was almost 7 years old and Ivan was about 2 ½ years old, he got Infantile Paralysis. This was the year that the house remodeling and the building of the other buildings, mentioned above, took place and Ivan had been very active with the hammer. When Ivan became ill my parents called the doctor, who came to the house to treat him, because practically all the doctor’s business consisted of house calls in those days. Very soon after he became ill, he was so bad that he had very little live anywhere in his body and the Doctor told mother that he would be dead by morning. But when morning came he was slightly improved. He improved slowly and in a few days the Doctor recommended that they take him to Dr. Symmonds, an Osteopath, on North Washington Ave. in Lansing. The only travel was by horse and buggy and that meant a half days trip to Lansing and back for the 12 mile round trip. My Grandfather and Grandmother Hepfer were living at 916 N. Capital Ave. in Lansing, which was only about 3 blocks from where the Osteopath lived. My parents took Ivan to my Grandparent’s house to stay for the next several weeks so that the Osteopath could come to their house every day to treat him. He responded very well to these treatments and recovered except for his left foot and leg and his right arm, which did not develop properly. He went through a series of treatments and operations for the next 14 or 15 years. After I moved my Accounting Office to 602 N. Washington Ave., I went to Dr. Symmonds home and prepared his Federal Income Tax Returns until his death a few years later.
My mother always helped my father with the chores and farm work from the time that they were married until I left home to get married. It seemed that my father could not do much without her help. As a result, I spent most of my early daytime life in the baby crib in the cow stable back of the cows, while they were milking the cows, or in the field while they were husking corn, turning beans, shocking wheat and oats or making hay. I guess living in that fresh farm air in the fields accounts for my good health until this date. Of course, all the farm work then was done with horse-drawn tools and by hand, including the milking of cows and husking corn. The milking was done by hand, sitting on a 3 legged stool, milking into a 12 or 14 quart pail, which was held between your knees. The cats would sit back of the cows, during the milking period, and I would squirt milk into their mouths, while I was milking the cows. During the milking period, the cats would get a pan of warm milk. This was the only food that the cats would get except the mice they would catch or the food that they could steal from the dog’s dish. A good cow would fill the pail both in the morning and at night. After the cow was milked the milk was poured into a 10 gallon milk can, through a strainer that sat in the top of the can. The milk can usually stood back of the cows at the west end of the cow stable. After the milking was done, it was carried to a milk tank or the cattle watering tank, where it was set in cold water to be cooled and kept cool, until it was run through a cream separator. The cream was either sold or made into butter, until later years, after the Lansing Dairy Company was organized, it was picked up, daily, by a wagon or truck and hauled to the dairy for sale. My father did not buy a milking machine until several years after I left the farm to get married in November, 1929.
When I went to the corn field in the baby crib, or later to play with the ears of corn or in the dirt, the corn was cut with a corn know and stood up in shocks to dry, until the other urgent farm work was done. When it was time to husk the corn, the shocks of corn would be taken down and spread out on the ground. My father would work on one end of the pile of corn stalks and my mother on the other end. They each had a corn husker buckled to their right hand, a leather husker with one or two metal hooks attached to catch the husks so they could be pulled from the ear of corn. The corn would then be thrown on a pile at the end of the pile of corn stalks. The corn from about 2 shocks of corn would be thrown on the same pile. At the end of the day or the next day my father would get the horses and wagon, with side-boards on it, and 2 bushel baskets and drive up to the piles of corn in the field. We would pick up the corn from the piles, putting the good corn in one basket and the poor or irregular ears in the other basket and dump them in the wagon. The good corn being in the front of the wagon and the poor corn in the rear of the wagon, with a wide board dividing the two kinds of corn. The corn was then hauled to the corn crib, which was on the second floor of the building, with the hog pen being in the first floor of the building. The corn was then shoveled in bushel baskets with a scoop shovel and the baskets of corn were lifted up to a door on the second floor. A person would take the basket of corn and carry it to a corn bin and empty it, then go back for another basket of corn until the load of corn was in the bin. The good corn was put in one bin and the poor corn in another bin. The good corn was used for seed, shelling or for sale, and the poor corn was used for feed for the hogs and cattle. This was somewhat different than todays method of harvesting corn with combines that pick the corn, shell it and store it in the combine’s bin until it can be poured into a grain truck, to be taken to the grain elevator for sale, or storage, or taken to the farmer’s own corn dryer, and when dry, put in storage bins with conveyors. The hard work has been taken out of farming.
In 1913 my father purchased his first automobile, a 1912 Flanders 4-door touring car, with wood wheels, smooth tires with no tread that last about 2,000 miles. The car had gas head lights, with a gas tank on the left running board, that had to be lighted with a match. It had brass kerosene square parking and tail lights. The parking lights were on each side of the straight windshield. It had a rubber horn on the steering wheel, along with a gas and spark throttle. It had a stick shift and of course, it had to be cranked to start it. The crank was in front below the radiator. It had leather cushions and a top that was usually folded down, except when it rained. It had side curtains that had to be fastened to the top and to the body of the car. It had a speed of about 20 or 25 miles an hour. My father kept this auto about a year and traded it for a 1914 Studebaker Touring Car. This car had electric lights and horn, but it had to be cranked to start, and had side curtains to put on when it rained. My father kept the first car in the east end of the north shed that was built in 1911. When the first snow arrived the car was jacked up and put on blocks until spring. He covered it with a bed sheet to keep the dust off of the car because the shed had a dirt floor. When freezing temperatures arrived, the water had to be drained out of the radiator, because there was no anti-freeze at that time. When the car was parked for a short time, he would cover the radiator and hood of the motor with a blanket to keep it from freezing.
In 1914 my father tore down the old wood windmill on the south side of the house and had a rock well dug, and built a 2-car garage over the well. The south half of the garage was for storing the new Studebaker automobile and the north side for the garage was for the well, pump, pump jack and Fairbanks-Morse gasoline engine that was used to pump water, churn butter. It also ran the drive shaft that went under the sidewalk into the basement of the house to run the washing machine. The line shaft had pulleys on it and belts were used between the line shaft and the equipment to be operated by the gasoline engine. The gasoline engine was used for power until electricity was put in the house and barns about 1932.
After electricity was installed in the house, my father had a bathroom installed in the west room on the second floor, and the head of the back stairway. This bathroom was to be used only by company, and at night or if some one was sick. The old 3 hole (2 large holes and 1 small hole) privy back on the house continued to be used long after I left the farm. A Montgomery-Ward catalogue was used for toilet paper in the outside privy. The colored pages did not work very well for toilet paper. When the bathroom was installed, a hot water radiator was installed in the bathroom for heat in cold weather. A water storage tank was placed high in the adjoining clothes closet to supply water for the radiator, which was piped to the furnace with a coil in the firepot to heat the water. At this time plumbing was put in the kitchen and a rangeboiler was placed back of the kitchen wood stove, to heat water for bathroom and kitchen use. Prior to the installation of the bathroom, a galvanized wash tub was placed in front of the oven door in the kitchen with the tub to take his or her bath. This is why we did not take a bath except on Saturday night, or we rode our bicycle to the old swimming hole in the Lookingglass River, about 2 miles away. The swimmers and bathers always went in in their birthday clothes. With the installation of plumbing in the kitchen, the old hand cistern pump in the southwest corner of the old kitchen sink were taken out. A sink was installed in the laundry room in the basement, where we always had to go to wash our hands and face and comb our hair before meals.
When mother was feeding threshers and silo fillers, usually about 15 men, dad would put two potato crates upside down in the north yard by the north porch and put a wash tub on them, filled about ¾ full of warm water, and a bar or two of soap on the crates. Three or four towels were hung on nails on the porch post, a mirror on a nail on the house, and a comb, for the 15 men. When they were working, they all drank out of the same water jug, tobacco chewers and all. No one got sick. The threshers and silo fillers were the neighbors from the nearby farms. Each farmer helped his neighbor and eliminated the need to hire men to get the work done. The man with the threshing machine and steam engine was Ed Godsell and, later George Peters. After the steam engine days, when the gasoline tractor was used for power, William Loesch and his equipment served the local farmers. I have a movie of William Loesch and his equipment at work on dad’s farm along with the neighbor farmers. When we threshed with the steam engine, dad used to draw his wheat and oats bundles to the barn, the wheat on one side and the oats on the other side of the barn, and late in the summer when the threshing rig arrived at our farm, the steam engine would push the grain elevator onto the barn floor, with the straw blower out the back door of the barn, to build the straw stack on the south side of the barn. Fred Felzke, the neighbor on the farm just north of our farm, would always stack the straw. It was a dirty job, with the straw blown down his neck and all thru his clothes. Spring, Summer and Fall were very busy times for the farmers, with the planting , cultivating and harvesting their crops, and helping the neighbors with the threshing and silo filling.
Mother and other farmers wives also had a very busy time, cooking for the threshers and silo fillers. Each wife tried to outdo the other women on the quality of the meal, of course doing all of their own baking including pies and cakes for each meal, which had to be served on time.
When we began using gasoline power for threshing, they began to thresh out of they field. The threshing equipment would be located near where they wanted the straw stack. The farmers would bring their teams and wagons to the grain field to get their wagons loaded with bundles of grain. Two men would usually pitch bundles on the wagon and the driver would load them, placing them in an orderly manner so that they would not slide off the wagon, and to get a large load. When they got to the grain separator, another man would get onto the load of bundles, and he and the driver both would pitch the bundles onto the grain separator to be threshed. One man would tend bagger and 3 or 4 men would carry grain, in bags to the granary. I usually either drove a team to haul grain to the separator, or would help carry grain to the granary. I weighed a little over 100 pounds and would shoulder a 1 ½ bushel bag of grain and carry it to the granary and dump it in the grain bin, then go back for another bag. That was a hard job for a little kid. When we filled the silo, I usually was in the silo, spreading the silage around evenly with the distributor pipe and tramping the silage so we could get more into the silo. When the silo was full, I was the last one out and had to come down the ladder on the outside of the silo, which few men wanted to do, because of the height and the wobbly ladder. I left the farm before the days of the combine, tractors, milking machines and electricity.
I did chores such as milking cows, feeding the cows, horses, hogs chickens, sheep, and the little calves with a pail of milk, as soon as I was able to work, probably about 10. I also helped clean the stables, draw manure, harness and clean the horses, and drive the horses on the various equipment, such as plows, drags, cultivators, rollers, discs, rakes, mowing machines, etc. I usually had to walk and what long days they were with my flat feet. After I was married, Marjorie and I would go to the farm on weekends and vacations to help dad with the farm work and do the chores, so mother and dad could go fishing with the relatives for the weekend. This continued for several years.
In about 1916 or 1917 mother and dad installed a carbide gas plant just south of the new garage, that was piped through the house to provide gas lights. The gas lights replaced the kerosene lamps, except for me in the dining room, when I was studying. It cost too much for me to use for studying so I had to continue using the kerosene lamp, for studying after the chores were done. I used to have a lot of hair and some of it would come out and I would put it on the flame in the lamp. It would burn and make a terrible odor, and my parents would bawl me out and tell me to either study or go to bed. We used to get up at 5:00 A.M. on week days and sleep until 5:30 A.M., and when harvesting the wheat and oats, we would do the chores, eat supper, and then go to the field and shock wheat or oats by moonlight. My mother always worked with us.
We raised Registered Holstein cattle on the farm and it was my job to prepare the papers for registration of the calves, which included drawing the spots on the calves on the registration forms, and naming the calf, which name had to be related to their ancestors. Dad always had a high grade bull for breeding his cows and the neighbors brought their cows to our place to be bred. It seemed that they always came at supper time, and dada and I would have to leave our meal, and get the bull out of the bull pen so he could breed the cow. Some of the bulls were very large and dangerous. When I was a teenager on the farm and was cleaning the cow stable one morning, a young bull, about 2 years old, that was in the barn yard, came running toward me and knocked me down and rolled me toward the barn wall with his head. As he went back for the final push to finish me I rolled to the side and he crashed his head against the barn wall and broke one of his horns off. That was my most dangerous farm experience.
EDUCATION
In September, 1911, when I was almost 7 years old, I started to go to school at the Hurd School, one mile south of our farm home. I started in the 1st grade, no kindergarten then, and the school was a one-room brick school building, with a bell that was rang when school began at 8:30 A.M. and at noon and at the end of recess in the morning and afternoon. We had one teacher that taught all 8 grades, and when a class was in session they would go to a long seat in the front of the room to listen to the teachers instructions and answer her questions. The teacher would have the students sing from a knapsack, with no piano, but I never learned to sing. We also had penmanship lessons but I didn’t do well at that either. We had a large geography book that I used, to stand on end on my desk in front of me, so that I could eat apples during the school sessions, which was against the rules. This is were I learned to eat all of the apple except the stem, which was brown and could not be seen when I would throw it on the wood floor. I also learned to be an excellent shot with a rubber band and paper wads. The school had blackboards in front of the room, a teachers desk on a platform in the front, a wood stove for heat in the rear of the building, a drinking fountain with a storage tank on top that would hold about 12 quarts of water, with a spicket at the bottom to fill the students’ cups. Each student had his or her own cup, water had to be carried in a pail from the neighbors well about ¼ mile north of the school. Two boys would take the pail, with a stick with a notch in the middle to keep the pail from sliding, and bring a pail of water to the drinking fountain each day. We did not have a well at the school because there was a cemetery back of the school building. The school building had kerosene lamps, with reflectors, hanging on the walls. There were two outside toilets on the north side of the school building, the one to the west was for the girls and the one to the east was for the boys. We also had a wood shed near the road on the north side of the schoolyard. We would eat our lunch, which we brought from home, in the woodshed on cold days or rainy days. On nice days we would eat it in the schoolyard under the trees.
Our recreation consisted of playing mundy-peg with a jack knife in the grass under a tree, group games and baseball. I was so small that I usually was stationed in the cemetery, back of the catcher, and got the balls that went over the fence. In order to graduate from the 8th grade it was necessary to pass a county examination, and I think that my parents had to take me to St. Johns for the examination. My father also attended the same school, and his education consisted of an 8th grade education. My mother graduated from the Holt High School on May 27, 1898. There were about 30 or 40 students attending the country school and they came from about 2 miles away, walking to school. When I graduated from the 8th grade I got a bicycle and a pocket watch.
In September 1919 I went to DeWitt High School, which was a 10 grade school, and graduated from DeWitt High School in May 1921. I rode the bicycle to school, and carried my lunch. When the roads were bad and in the winter I walked the 2 miles each way. I always had to get up at the usual early hour and do the chores before and after school, so I could not stay for school activities such as football and baseball games.
In September 1921 I attended Lansing Central High School to complete my last 2 years of High School. The school was located in the 400 block of N. Capitol Ave., where the Lansing Community College is now located. I rode my bicycle to school during the good weather and during the winter and early spring, when the roads were bad, I rode with Clarence Bauerle, my neighbor to the west of our farm, in his horse and buggy. During the day, while we were in school, he kept the horse and buggy at the livery stable at the corner of N. Grand and Shiawassee Streets, where the Lansing Central Fire Station is now located. I paid the livery barn fee for my share of the cost of transportation. Clarence Bauerele also rode his bicycle to school when the roads were good. Clarence and the other boys in the area started for school earlier that I could, due to my doing the chores first, so I would ride very fast and catch up with them by the time they were entering the city. We had dirt roads all of the way until we got to Seymour Ave.
Soon after I began school, Clarence and I got a job as table clearer in the School Cafeteria and we cleared tables for our lunch. We kept this job all through High School and even for a short time after I started attending Lansing Business University in the fall of 1923. I also was Physics Laboratory Assistant during my last year in high school, which took all of the free time that I had, along with the cafeteria job. I had a tough time with Algebra when I first started Lansing Central, due to a poor background in DeWitt High School, but with a lot of hard work I finally made it OK. I seemed to get along satisfactorily in all the other classes except that I hated book reports in English classes. The teacher would ask how I was coming and I would say “Slow but Sure”, and she would say “Sure Slow Alright”, but I made it. I got along better with the sciences such as Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Chemistry, Physics and even one year of Latin. I had very little time for school activities, due to my heavy schedule and the farm chores every morning and night. I stayed for part of one afternoon football game until 4:00 P.M. when I had to leave for home to help with the farm chores. I was the oldest son and Dad insisted that his work come first, which left very little time for pleasure except on Sunday afternoon before chore time. By the time my brothers, Ivan and Don came along he gave them more time for pleasure.
Between High School Graduation in June 1923 and the beginning of Business College at Lansing Business University in September, I helped with the farm work and after the wheat and oats were harvested in late July, I got a job with the Highway Contractor that was constructing the first 2 lane cement highway between DeWitt and St. Johns for about a month at a salary of $27.50 per week. I did everything from cutting brush to wheeling bags of cement from the warehouse in DeWitt to the small train that went from the warehouse to the job site. The train hauled several dump cars that carried cement and gravel to the cement mixer on the road job.
In September 1923 I started school at Lansing Business University which was located on the second floor of a store building on the east side of South Washington Ave. for a few months. The school was then moved to its own building at the corner of W. Ionia St. and N. Capitol Ave. (the N. E. corner). I took a C. P. A. Preparatory Course, which was the longest course in accounting and was supposed to take 80 weeks. We could progress almost as rapidly as we wished and I was racing with another student, and as a result, I finished the course in 52 weeks, but did not graduate until June 1925. When we got to the 2nd portion of the course, which was the advanced accounting portion, we only had 4 students in the class. In February 1925 I got a temporary part time job with Lansing Oldsmobile Company, on 315 S. Capitol Ave., as an assistant bookkeeper, working mornings and going to school in the afternoon until I finished my course at L. B. U. When I began the course at L. B. U. I did not know what a C. P. A. was. This temporary job lasted for almost 2 years, when I quit in late December, 1926, to begin work at Public Accounting with Jerome and Harris Company, C. P. A’s, in the 200 block of South Capitol Ave.
After I joined the firm of Jerome & Harris Company, C. P. A’s, my studies began again. I immediately had to start studying Income Tax Law, and after about a year, I subscribed to the Wm. H. Brook School of Accounting in Cleveland, Ohio, and began to study by correspondence. After about a year the school went broke and they discontinued checking my lessons. After another year or so I subscribed t the Walton School of Commerce in Chicago, Ill, and again studied by correspondence for about 4 years until I was ready to write the C. P. A. Examination. I had completed all of the Course except the Income Tax Portion. A few weeks before the C. P. A. examination I borrowed an International Accountants Society C. P. A. Coaching Course of 20 lessons, from Mel Worden, C. P. A. in Detroit, and used this course to review for the C. P. A. examination. In November 1932 I wrote the C. P. A. examination at the Y.M.C.A. building in Detroit and passed the examination, which was a 3 day examination, with a $25.00 Fee, at the first sitting. I stayed at Mel Worden’s home in Detroit during the examination. His wife was a neighbor girl when I lived on the farm, and we attended the same church.
After passing the C. P. A. examination, my studying consisted of the continual studying of tax law and accounting subjects, through C. P. A. magazines and attending study conferences and continuing education seminars until May 22, 1987, at which time I completed 81 hours of continuing education furnished by the American Institute of C. P. A.’s, which will qualify me for being licensed as a C. P. A. in both Florida and Michigan through December 31, 1989, at which time I will be 85 years old, time to quit Public Accounting. During the months of May and June 1979 I attended my first 5 continuing education seminars (40 Hours) at a tuition cost of $400.00 to qualify to be licensed in Michigan as a C. P. A. for the year 1980. After 1979, the Michigan Board of Accountancy required 80 hours of continuing education every two years, and the tuition has increased from $80.00 per 8 hour seminar to $135.00 to 145.00 per Seminar. About 3 or 4 years after I moved to Florida, people found out that I know something about Accounting and Income Tax and began asking me to help them, so I found it necessary to become licensed in Florida. In November 1980 I applied for a Florida C. P. A. Certificate, which I received in February 1981, Certificate No. R-2041, dated February 10, 1981. Getting this certificate required a lot of work and a written open book examination. In addition to my 80 hours of continuing education that I completed on May 22, 1987, the Florida Board of Accountancy required me to pass a written open book examination of 25 questions, with 4 parts each, with a passing grade of 80. This was a very tricky examination and required reading of the examination material that they furnished several times to be sure that I gave the right answers to the questions, which I passed. While I was in the business in Michigan, I always carried Tax Law bulletins in my coat pocket so that, if I had to wait at the barber shop or any other place, I could read tax law. I also studied tax law when riding to accountants meetings if someone else was driving, or on a vacation trip, or a Chamber of Commerce annual Great Lakes business cruise. My wife would do the driving so I could study tax law.
RELIGIOUS LIFE
My father and mother attended the DeWitt Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church, located about 1 mile west of our home, at the corner of Clark and Shavey Roads. The preaching service was in German until about 1917, during World War 1, at which time it changed to English. The evening services were usually in English an so was the Sunday School for youth, but taught us kids the A B C’s in German. Mother and Dad did not stay for Sunday School, and I began going to Sunday School as soon as I was old enough to walk to the Church. I would cut cross lots through the woods, which was closer and it was fun to see the squirrels and rabbits and pick wild flowers on the way home. They had revival meetings almost every year for about a week but Dad did not like revival meetings and would very seldom attend. Dad did not like to attend church very well, and he and Mother and many an argument about going to church, when I was small. In later years they enjoyed church more and during the last 15 years of their life they attended Sunday school regularly and enjoyed it. When I was in High School, a Rev. Ellinger, the minister of the church, gave me a New Testament and talked to me about the Christian life and it was then that I joined the church and later taught a Sunday school class for a short time before I was married. The church published a religious magazine for a short time and I was Advertising Manager. After I left the farm the church building burned and was replaced with a cement block building. The old church had hard brown pews, and the women set on the left side and the men on the right side of the church and never sat together until about the time that I got married in 1929. The church had gas lights with mantels and had to be lighted with a long torch. At Christmas time we always had very carefully so the tree would not catch on fire. We always had a Christmas program on Christmas eve. Dad, Mother, Ivan and I would go to the church in a 2 passenger buggy, or cutter, if there was sleighing, I used to enjoy the sleigh bells that would be put on the horse when we used the cutter, or the horses if we used the bob sleigh.
We had a very active Epworth League for the youth at the church, which met at the various homes every month, in the evening. We would have a devotional period, games and refreshments. In about 1922 or 1923, Dad purchased a 1921 Model T Ford Coupe which I would use to go to Epworth League meetings. I would have about 6 or 8 kids in the Ford to take to the meetings. They would stand on the running board or sit on the trunk, any way to get there.
We did not have Bible reading, prayer, or grace at meal time at home until I was about 20 years old, when I suggested to Dad that I thought it would be appropriate to say grace before the meal. From then on he always had me say grace before meals when we had company, and after when were married he had me say grace before all meals that we were together. Some years later Mother always said grace before meals at their house.
COURTING AND MARRIAGE
During the summer of 1926 I purchased a 1926 Ford 2-Door Sedan from L. J. Griswold Ford Dealer in DeWitt for $627.00 Cash. I kept this car until February or March 1929, when I traded it for a 1929 Chevrolet 2-Door Sedan, for which I paid the cash difference.
During 1926 I begin courting Marjorie J. Florian of DeWitt, and spent Sunday evenings, many Sunday afternoons, and occasionally an evening during the week with her. This continued until November 2, 1929, when we were married, except for a month or so during this period, in which we went our separate ways. During this 3 year period Marjorie worked for Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Woodruff, a DeWitt Banker, as a maid, They had twin babies which she helped take care of, and many Sunday afternoons I helped Marjorie with the dishes so we could get an earlier start on our afternoon activities.
About 1928 I loaned $1,300.00 to Ted Lyons, who worked for Jerome & Harris Company, and when he was unable to pay the loan, on May 22, 1929, I purchased a lot from him in part payment of the loan. The price of the lot was $675.00 and it was located at 1207 Walsh St., Lansing, in the southeast part of town.
Marjorie and I had planned on getting married in the spring of 1929, but we did not like the paying of house rent, so our plans were delayed. Now that I owned a building lot, we decided to build a house and get married after the house was completed. We began building the house about July 1, 1929, with Chris Kussmaul as the Carpenter Contractor. He assisted me in getting the various sup-contractors, and I let the contracts and paid all the bills, and supervised the building. I did this along with my Accounting Job from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and the farm chores in the morning and night. The house was a 2-story house with 6 rooms, 1½ baths, a 2-car garage and a cement driveway, at a cost of $7, 312.00. We had a $4,200.00 mortgage on the house, from the Union Savings & Loan Ass’n., with $42.00 monthly payments, including interest at 6%, and we paid our Taxes and Insurance in addition. We borrowed $1,000.00 from my father to finish paying for our furniture at 7% interest.
Dad didn’t think much of my building idea, so didn’t cooperate very much with the chores and other farm work. By the time of the wedding, I was so tired that I went to sleep every time that I relaxed. I had to work at the office until Saturday noon on the day of the wedding, and then I picked up flowers for the wedding and greased my car before getting ready for the wedding. I was almost late for the wedding, arriving after the guests were seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin.
On Saturday afternoon at 3:00 P.M., on November 2, 1929, Marjorie and I were married at her home on West Main Street in DeWitt. We had about 25 or 30 guests present, and we had two ministers to do the job. Rev. Thomas Toy, the DeWitt Baptist Church minister preformed the marriage ceremony and Rev. Milford E. Bowen, minister of the Dewitt Emanuel Methodist Church assisted. My brother, Ivan, was my best man and Carrie St. Clair Cook was the Brides Maid. We had no special wedding clothes. After a short honeymoon trip to Detroit that afternoon, we stayed at the Detroit Leland Hotel Saturday night, at a cost of $5.00. The next day we attended the Metropolitan Methodist Church, with Dr. Merton S. Rice preaching. After church we went to visit Marjorie’s friend, Marion Rhodes in Detroit for dinner and over night. On Monday we went to Mt Clemens to visit Margaret (Drake) & Dale Williams. From there we went to Toledo, Ohio to visit Kate and George Althouse, mother’s aunt and cousin. On Wednesday Morning we went back to our new home at 1207 Walsh St., Lansing, and when we arrived the painters were just leaving, and the house was completed, ready for the furniture. We then went shopping for furniture and were living in our new home before the end of the week. On the first Sunday in our new home, we attended the Potter Park Methodist Church, about 3 blocks East of our home. We transferred our memberships to this church and soon became very active.
MY WORK
After working at Lansing Oldsmobile Company, as a bookkeeper, for almost 2 years, at a salary of $30.00 per week, I was offered a bookkeeping job at the Gates Lumber Co. for $35.00 per week. I quit my job at Lansing Oldsmobile Co. in late December, 1926, and took a job as a Junior Accountant at Jerome and Harris Company, C.P.A’s, for $100.00 per month, including all of the overtime. My parents thought that I was crazy to make such a decision.
It was the policy of accounting firms to hire Junior Accountants for the winter season and let them go after the busy Income Tax and Auditing season was over. Soon after the end of the Income Tax season, the company typist and bookkeeper, Miss Marion Rowland, went to California for a vacation for a few months during the summer. Due to this condition and I, being a fairly good typist, was kept on the staff for the summer to take over her work. This resulted in my becoming a regular full time employee, which continued until I quit on November 30, 1933 to begin my own Public Accounting business. While working for Jerome & Harris Company, I was assigned as an assistant to Mr. John J. Jerome, C.P.A. and worked with him on most of his audit jobs for many years. The first large audit job out of town in 1927 was at the Hancock Mfg. Co. in Jackson, Michigan. While working there, I stayed at my first hotel, the Dalton Hotel, and at the end of the week I purchased a 2 pound box of Gilbert Panama chocolates for Marjorie. I think the cost was 2.00 per pound, which shocked me and this was the first and last box of that quality of candy for several years.
We only had 1 10-key hand adding machine in the office for 6 or 7 men and the bookkeeper, so we did much of our adding without the machine. If I attempted to use the machine for a column of less than 25 or 30 figures I was considered dumb. As a result, I got pretty good at mental addition. I worked on many good audit jobs, such as the City of Lansing, Lansing Board of Water and Light, Lansing Board of Education, Dudley Paper Company, Union Savings & Loan, State Savings & Loan, Lansing Savings & Loan, Mills Dry Goods Co., State Highway Department, most of the leading Real Estate Companies, and many other companies, that gave me very good experience.
On January 1, 1930, almost immediately after we got married, my salary of $175.00 month was cut to $150.00 per month and by January 1, 1933 it was cut to $100.00 per month with all of the overtime included. By November 1, 1933 we had missed one $42.00 house payment and 1 premium payment on my two $1,000.00 life insurance policies, amounting to about $50.00, so we decided that something had to be done about the job before we lost our home, as one of the other employees of Jerome & Harris Co. had just done. We decided to ask the boss for a $25.00 per month increase in pay, if not granted, to start our own Public Accounting business. I had approached Max Harris about the desired $25.00 per month pay increase and he told me that it was impossible and that he could not even guarantee to continue the $100.00 per month salary. As a result, I advised him that I would be leaving the company on November 30th and begin my own business. He told me that I would starve to death, but I quit anyway. This decision was made after much prayer and planning. Marjorie had already been training as a typist since the 1st of the year and was ready to do my typing, and we decided to have our office in our home so she could answer the telephone and be there to handle the few clients that we might have.
Our gross income for the month of December, 1933, was $23.00 an for the year of 1934 was about $1,800.00. I made a list of every vacant store in Lansing and all of the surrounding towns within 25 miles of Lansing, and about every two weeks I would return to see if there were any new occupants and contact them for accounting, bookkeeping or tax work. I also contacted al businesses that I did not think had an accounting firm doing their work. As a result of this method of solicitation, I got the Lansing Township audit job for the year ended February 28, 1930, and our firm is still doing their work. I also got several monthly bookkeeping jobs and some tax work so that I had $1,800 gross income for 1930.
The business gradually grew and in about 2 years I hired my second full time employee, Joseph P. Mleko, and later Mr. Carl Williams and Mr. Harry McCoy. I also hired additional typists during the income tax season. I operated for about 10 years at 1207 Walsh St., and due to the growing business and 3 children Doris, John and Harold, we had to seek larger quarters. On November 19, 1943, I purchased a large brick house at the North East corner of North Washington Ave. and Lapeer St., 602 N. Washington Ave for $9,000.00. On December 16, 1943 we sold the house at 1207 Walsh St. for $7,000.00. We had added a dormer on the west side of the roof to allow head room in the stairway to the 3rd floor, which was then used as an office, and also a bed for John and Harold. There were 2 bunks at the North end of the 3rd floor and the South end was used for an office, in addition to the Southwest room on the 2nd floor. This dormer cost about $400.00. We lost about $700.00 on the sale of 1207 Walsh St. after paying a sales commission of $350.00, and using it for a residence for 14 years and an office for 10 years.
About one year after moving to 602 N. Washington Ave. we blacktopped the entire lot, including the circular drive in front of the house. We had parking for 13 cars, and a few years later the house North of us was torn down so we rented that lot for parking. We put gravel on this lot, but it was difficult to remove snow without removing some of the gravel. Some of our clients parked in the street if our parking lots were full. We had 2 hour parking on the street at that time.
After moving to N. Washington Ave. in November 1943, our business grew rapidly. This building had 3 floors, a good basement, with a large walk-in-vault, and a 1½ car garage. The house had 14 rooms and 3 large rooms and a Vault in the basement, with an attached 1½ car garage. W put asphalt tile on the first floor, except the dining room which had a Birdseye maple floor that we did not want to cover up, and installed several window air conditioners on all 3 floors, and had to install a 100 Amp. electric service to keep the air conditioners running. We had storage in the front room of the basement, the vault and the garage. We remodeled the basement to provide for a Coffee Room, a Multilith Room and a men’s toilet, so that ew had a total of 4 toilets in the building, and lavatories in many of the rooms, including 2 on the 3rd floor. We reached a total of 35 employees, including part time employees. We had a metal sign in front of the building, and also a neon sign for a short time, until our competitors complained to the State Board of Accountancy and they made us discontinue having it lighted. The city busses stopped in front of the building and we were only 6 blocks from the state capitol, so we had a very good location. We lived in the rear portion of the building for about 4½ years, but the office and 2 additional children, Jim and Mary, crowded us out so we had to find another place to live.
On June 24, 1948 we purchased a large house at 925 W. Ionia St., one mile from the office, and we moved the family to that location in August 1948. We continued having our office at 602 N. Washington Ave. until December 31, 1968, when we moved to our new building at 715 N. Cedar St.
The office building 715 N. Cedar St. was owned by the partners’ wives, Marjorie Hepfer 40%, Jane Hepfer 15%, Aileen McAlvey 15%, Rose Brandell 15%, and Joan Hess 15%. The company paid all of the taxes, insurance and maintenance, in addition to the cash rent, and Jane Hepfer was the bookkeeper. The land on N. Cedar Street was purchased on January 25, 1968 and the construction of the building began August 27, 1968. We moved the office to the new building on December 31, 1968. John Hepfer planned the building and supervised the construction and the moving, and purchased the new furnature. I insisted on a circular drive in the front of the building, that he was not in favor of at first. On December 30, 1970 the wives purchased the 2 apartment building, north of the office, 721 N. Cedar St. and 33’ of land. I financed the purchase of this building, and the Michigan National Bank financed the building at 715 N. Cedar St. on a 15-year mortgage at 7% interest, when was paid off in December 1982.
I owned about 52% of the accounting business at the time we moved to 715 N. Cedar St., and managed the business for about 1 year at that location, and on October 1, 1969, when I was almost 65 years old, I sold the business to John Hepfer, Lamont McAlvey, Francess brandell and George Hess, my partners. The sale price of my share of the business was the book value of the assets of the partnership, payable over 8 years, with interest at 6%, plus 25% of the annual profit for the 8 year period. I continued to work for them on a percentage basis, 65% of my billable time, with no fringe benefits, which plan is still in effect. I worked for them on almost a full time basis until January 8, 1976, when we left for Florida, I did not return to the office until soon after April 15th, in order to avoid the income tax rush. This seemed to be the only way that I could get away from the 70 hour week during tax season.
About 1970 the company purchased its first Burroughs computer, which had key punch equipment and magnetic strip ledger sheets, which could be examined like any old bookkeeping machine ledger sheets for the information wanted, and put through the computer to produce financial statements. Before the computer was delivered, John went to a Bourroughs Computer School for a few weeks, where he learned how to program and operate the computer. He got so good a the programming that Burroughs tried to hire him to do their programming for their customers. Prior to the purchase of the computer, the company had a Burroughs bookkeeping machine that produced a tape that was sent to Capitol Business Service, who produced financial statements on their computer equipment from the tapes. Martha Hepfer operated this bookkeeping machine for about a year.
In march1977 I began doing a little income tax work in Florida, preparing two income tax returns in 1977, seven in 1978, 19 in 1979, 60 in 1983, 99 in 1986, and 109 in 1987, plus many state income tax and intangibles tax returns, and work for 5 corporations.
In November 1980 I decided to apply for a Florida C.P.A Certificate, which was granted to me on February 10, 1981, Certificate No. R-2041. I also joined the Florida Institute of C.P.A’s in October, Member No. 11494. I am a life member of the Michigan Ass’n. of C.P.A.s, with no dues, and I get free registration with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, due to my being over 70 years old. My age makes no difference in Florida, the Registration fee is $30.00 and the annual dues to the Florida Institute of C.P.A.s is $150.00.
CIVIC ACTIVITIES
During the early 1930s, while I was working for Jerome & Harris Co., I joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and became active in it, being appointed to the Board of Directors and serving as Treasurer for 2 years. I was active on its committees, serving on the Community Chest campaigns and other activities. At the age of 36 I was forced to leave the organization, and joined the Junior Chamber Exhausted Roosters, of which I served as Ex-checker (Treasurer) for at least one year. After leaving the Junior Chamber of Commerce, I joined the Lansing Chamber of Commerce. I was not very active in this organization, except to attend their dinners and I went on their Annual Great Lakes Business Cruises. After the boat was not available, due to its age, I went with them by air to Accopuca, Mexico. After I sold my share of the Public Accounting business to my partners, I had my Chamber of Commerce membership transferred to my Son, John Hepfer.
During 1939 I joined the Optimist Club of Lansing and became very active, having served on the Board of Directors many times, and as Treasurer for 2 different terms of 2 years each. I served as President from July 1, 1968 to September 30, 1969, and as Lieutenant Governor for the year beginning October 1, 1969. In 1973 I received the “Optimist of the Year” Award for outstanding service to the community. On May 16, 1979 I was honored by a 40-year Anniversary Dinner at the City Club of Lansing, where I was presented with a 40-year Service Award, a Proclamation from Optimist International, and a Proclamation from the Mayor of the City of Lansing, proclaiming May 16, 1979 as “The Lyle D. Hepfer Day”. Many pictures were taken and I was later presented with a photo album of the occasion and an Apple Ornament for the many years that I managed the Optimist Apple Days, which I started 10 or 12 years before and managed each year. I also acted as a Program Speaker for the Optimist Club on many occasions. On May 16, 1966 I was presented with life membership.
During the 1950s, I , along with Edward Macho, Internal Revenue Agent, and Walter Hahn, and accountant, organized the Lansing Accountants Ass’n., which met the 3rd Tuesday evening, from 6:30 to 9:00 P.M. each month, except July and August. Edward Macho was the first President and I was the second President. This organization is still operating successfully. In 1976 I was presented with “The Accountant of the Year” plaque, and a life membership.
After moving to Ridge Manor, Florida, I was elected Treasurer of the Ridge Manor Community United Methodist Church, the Community Center of Ridge Manor, Inc. and the Ridge Manor Area Crime Watch, Inc. I incorporated the church and Crime Watch organizations. I also was elected President of the Ridge Manor Kiwanis Club for the year 1980-81, during which time I increased its membership from 20 to 35.
I also joined the Ridge Manor Area Chamber of Commerce and was appointed Membership Chairman, and increased its membership from 24 to 55.
As part of the Kiwanis Club activities, I managed the softball program for youth for about 2 years, and covered the Ridge Manor Estates Area for the Ridge Manor Blood Bank and American Cancer Society campaigns each year.
As of October 16, 1987, the Ridge Manor Kiwanis Club is almost dead. It has only 13 fairly active members, this years club officers and directors, that were supposed to have been inducted the last of September, have not been inducted and I don’t know when it will happen. We meet for a breakfast meeting at 8:00 A.M. at the Holiday inn, and we have no programs at our meetings. The last years President, Harold Varvel, has been away for the last 2 meetings, and the new President has not returned to Florida from the North and is not expected until January. The softball program for youth died during the summer and no one is doing anything about it. At last weeks meeting I agreed to work on the Youth Services Committee for this year, and during this week I have been trying to find the softball equipment, and have found all but the four new bases and the home plate. As a member of this committee I plan on getting this program started again and manage it until someone can be located as a manager. I also plan to assist, and possibly make plans for the Kiwanis Club Annual Haloween Party for the children at the Ridge Manor community center on October 31st.
PERSONAL AND FAMILY EXPERIENCES
EARLY MARRIED LIFE
We arrived at our new home at 1207 Walsh St, Lansing, on Wednesday morning, November 6, 1929, from Toledo, Ohio, and the painters were just finishing their work, for the completion of the house construction. We then went furniture shopping in Grand Ledge and Owosso and purchased all of our furniture except the dining room furniture and a washing machine, which we planned to by in the spring, after Income Tax season. We stayed at Tilden and Dora Taylors and Marjorie’s Parents homes on Wednesday and Thursday nights. By Friday evening all of our furniture had been delivered, so we stayed in our new home that night. We had a breakfast nook in our new home, so we purchased a breakfast nook table and 4 chairs and used them in the dining room until we purchased our dining room furniture about 3 years later.
By the time the income tax season was over on March 15th, 1930, the depression hit us and the State Savings and Loan Ass’n. closed in February and we were unable to get our money to purchase the rest of our furnature. Several years later, we got about 15% of our money in the defunct Savings and Loan.
After we purchased the furnature and moved into our new home, we were busy cleaning and leveling the yard to get it ready for seeding in the spring. We immediately became active at Potter Park Methodist Church and I was soon teaching a class of Junior High School boys, and later High School boys, until we moved to 602 N. Washington Ave. about 14 years later. In about a year I became Church Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee until we moved to N. Washington Ave.
I had dreamed of having a Lake Cottage for some time, and on May 6, 1940 we purchased 6359 W. Reynolds Road, Haslett (Lake Lansing), which we still own and use as our summer home each summer. We have had many happy occasions at our lake cottage during the last 47 years, including Sunday School picnics, Men’s Club picnic, Optimist Club meetings, Marjorie’s Family Reunion (about 50 attending) for many years, the Hepfer family reunion (about 60 or 70 attending), Office picnics, 2 wedding receptions, one wedding this summer, and many dinners with family and friends. At the present time, we have a 25-foot pontoon boat, a 12-foot Flying Junior fiberglass sail boat, a 12-foot aluminum row boat and a 14-foot red aluminum canoe, which our family and friends enjoy each summer, along with the sandy beach and a 60 foot dock and another 30 foot dock. We have tables and chairs so that we can seat 70 people for picnics.
LATER YEARS
Soon after I purchased the office building at 602 N. Washington Ave., on November 1943, I gave it to Marjorie, for income tax reasons. The office rented the building from Marjorie for $150.00 per month, and they paid all the taxes, insurance, maintenance, and improvements, and utilities. After the family moved out, the rent was increased. About 5 years after acquired the office building, she transferred it to a 15-year Clifford trust, with C. Ronald Daman as trustee. During these 15 years, the rent paid the life insurance premiums on about $15,000.00 life insurance on the lives of the 7 children, which was paid up at the end of the 15-year period. After the trust terminated, the office building reverted back to Marjorie, and she again received the rent. The office was located in this building for about 25 years, and she then rented it to other parties for about 2 years, when the City of Lansing purchased it from her for $62,000.00 cash, for the expansion of the Lansing Community College.
After moving to 602 N. Washington Ave. in November 1943, we transferred our church membership from Potter Park Methodist Church to Seymour Ave Methodist Church, at the corner of Seymour Ave. and W. Saginaw St., about 3 blocks west of our home and office. We went there to church and Sunday School until we moved to 925 W. Ionia St, in August 1948. While at Seymour Ave. Methodist Church, I taught the Adult Sunday school class for a large portion of the time that we were there. After moving to 925 W. Ionia St., we decided that it would be better to transfer our membership to Central United Methodist Church, due to their having a much better Sunday school and youth program, which would be better for our 5 children. After we moved to Ionia St and transferred our church membership to Central Untied Methodist Church, martha and Susan were born. On October 17, 1952 we were presented a Revised Standard Version of the Bible for having the largest family in Central United Methodist Church. While we were at Central Church, our daughter, Mary received a Certificate for being the most outstanding youth leader in the church.
I taught a Sunday School Class on a part time basis for the Newcomers class, the Berea class, a college age class, and finally the Wesley Bible class until we moved to Florida. Soon after we joined the church, I was appointed to the Finance Committee, on which I served for 12 or 15 years, with 2 years as chairman, and then I was appointed to the Board of Trustees on which I served just before we moved to Florida. On the board of Trustees I served on the Investment and Insurance Committee and was Chairman for 2 years. While we attended Central Church, our Accounting Firm audited the Church books on the rotating basis, every other year with Harris, Reames & Ambrose, until Alton Ambrose died. After that we audited the books every year until the present time. Marjorie served as Treasurer of the United Methodist Women for about 4 years. This organization had 21 circles for which the operations had to be kept separate. She prepared monthly financial statements, which she also typed.
FLORIDA LIVING
On January 11, 1976 at about 10:00 A.M. we arrived at our lots in Ridge Manor, Florida, which we had purchased on March 14, 1969 for $4,980.00. We purchased these lots with $60.00 down and monthly payments of $60.00, including 6% interest. On October 31, 1970, after having made 9 payments, they offered us a 10% discount of $421.63 for cash, which we took advantage of. After arriving at the lots, we looked the situation over and found that the utility lines were in, roads completed and they were putting the underground telephone lines in across the street from us to the house northwest of us, and there were 4 houses around us, one being offered for sale by the builder. At about noon we went to the Ridge Manor Construction Co., on Hwy. 301 to inquire about building a house for us. They had been building houses around our lots. They were erecting the Kingsbury panelized houses that were manufactured in Atlanta, Georgia. After going through their catalogue, and discussing prices and possible completion dates, we agreed on a house plan and made a $1,000.00 deposit on a contract to build a house, before 5:00 P.M. that day. They had to order the plans from Atlanta, Ga. So we could not get the building permit until January 31st, however they cleared the lot, had it staked out and the trench for the footings in, form the catalogue plans, prior to the building permit. We moved into the house on March 15, 1976. I made a deal with the contractor to build the house for $21,000.00, plus $50.00 for clearing the lot, and the cost of the well and pump & tank that cost about $1,500.00, and I was to do all the painting and varnishing, both inside and outside. The price included a Frigidare electric stove, dishwasher, garbage disposal, power hood over the stove, electric garage door opener, water heater, a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, one bath, sidewalks and a double cement driveway to the street. We paid a little extra for a better grade of carpet. Bolt locks on the doors and thermopane windows were also included. While supervising the construction of the house, I cleared 3 paths from the house to the rear of the lot through the woods. I purchased a small chain saw from cutting trees and used the tree trunks to line the borders of the 3 paths and the back yard next to the woods.
About 2 weeks after we arrived in Florida we attended the Ridge Manor United Methodist Church and later became Affiliate members, leaving our full memberships at Central United Methodist Church in Lansing. In November 1977, I was asked to audit the church books, which I did for 1976 and 1977. When I arrived in Florida, about November 1, 1978, I was immediately approached by the Finance Committee to become the Church Treasurer, due to Clarence Coates illness and moving away to live with his daughter. I took over immediately and had to do the bookkeeping since about June 1978, I have continued with this Treasurers job to date.
Due to our moving to Florida, in January 1976 and building a Home there, we sold our home at 925 W. Ionia St. on September 16, 1976 for 28,500.00 including the east 32 feet of the vacant lot to the west of the house. We retained the west 13 feet of the lot to go with our property at 1005 W. Ionia St. that had a joint driveway. This eliminated its joint driveway problem. We purchased the property at 925 W. Ionia St. and the Vacant Lot on June 25, 1948 for $16,500.00. This included a small amount of furniture, including a davenport, chair, iron safe and a 30 foot extension ladder.
We had our second auction sale at Ionia St. on Saturday September 14, 1976, after moving the most desirable furniture to the Lake, and some to go to Florida. We moved the less desirable furniture from the lake to Ionia St. before the auction sale. We had the junk man come on Monday, September 16th to pick up anything that was sold but not taken at the auction sale. The house was sold to Cliff R. Seppanen, a single man who worked for the state highway department, and he took possession on Saturday after the auction sale. During the time that we lived at 925 W. Ionia St. we purchased the house East of us, 923 W. Ionia St., and we tried to find a buyer for all 3 parcels, to build an apartment, but no one was interested, because the site was too small. They were not interested in anything less than 100 units, and we only had room for 24 units, with adequate parking, so we sold the 3 parcels separately, after we moved to Florida. The Ionia Street location was very good for raising a family, we were 3 blocks from the Michigan Ave. Elementary School, about 9 blocks from West Junior High School, and about 13 blocks from Sexton High School, on the College-Fisher bus line that went to Michigan State University, and about 9 blocks from Central United Methodist Church, and 2 blocks from a grocery store that was there when we moved to Ionia St.. The Grocery Store moved or quit business while we were living there. John and Mary attended M.S.U and rode the bus. It only cost us $800.00 per year for us to send John to Michigan State University for the first two or three years. We tried to send all 7 children to a 4-year college, if they were interested and we thought that they were college material, and the girls especially, we tried to see that they had some specialized training so that if they got married soon out of high school, they could apply for a job as a Secretary, Typist or a Bookkeeper. We ended up with John, Harold and Mary with college degrees, and the others with specialized training. Doris is a licensed practical nurse, John is a C.P.A., Harold is a licensed Nazarene minister, but works for the Nazarene Publishing House, James is licensed in electronics and head of the City of Lansing electronics department, Mary is a school teacher, teaching 2nd grade, Martha is a Bookkeeper, with many years of bookkeeping experience, and Susan is a Secretary with the Michigan State Highway Department. I am the oldest of 3 generations of C.PA.’s, John with the Lyle D. Hepfer a & Company, C.P.As, Douglas, his son, with Arthur Anderson & Co., the nation’s largest accounting firm, and I am still working, on a smaller scale. I am licensed in Michigan and Florida, and have qualified for 2 more years of licensing in both Florida and Michigan, until December 31, 1989, at which time I would be 85 years old.
All seven children had some musical training, Doris, the piano; John, the cornet, Harold, the clarinet; James, the accordion; Mary, the violin; Martha the accordion; and Susan, the violin. Marjorie played the piano and I played a tune on the bottom of the milk pail, when milking the cows on the farm.
I have had almost 83 years of very interesting and exciting experiences beginning with the days of the horse and buggy, horse drawn farm equipment , the kerosene lights, the wood fired cook stoves and heating stoves, the hand cranked phonograph for home entertainment, then the crystal set radio, black and white television, then colored television, VCRs, Hi-Fis, and the home movies; also the airplanes, space-ships, missles, bombs, large cross-country buses ant trucks, huge farm tractors, combines and other farm equipment; microwave ovens, numerous home appliances; and the sophisticated computers and word processors. Marjorieand I have been blessed with good health, no hearing aids, pills, canes, or trips to the doctors, so that we can still enjoy these changes. I have my own good teeth and some hair.
I give God and Marjorie, my wonderful wife of almost 58 years, credit for a large part of my success. She has cooperated with me at all times, been very helpful in my home, business, social, civic, and religious life, and an excellent mother and cook. Several years ago, when the children were home and I was working at the office 80 or 90 hours a week, I came home after she had had a bad day, she told me that I was no darned good, because I was never there when she needed me.
I have written this biography for the benefit of my seven wonderful children, twenty one grand children and ten great grand children, so that they will know about some of the wonderful family experiences.
October 19, 1987 Ridge Manor, Florida