Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Balice, C. Anthony 1992 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net July 30, 2010, 2:34 pm The Ionia Sentinel-Standard, Thursday, December 17, 1992 C. Anthony Balice, Ionia’s longest serving mayor and for half a century a community leader, died Wednesday afternoon. He was 73. Balice died in St. Mary’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, where he had been admitted after suffering a heart attack December 10. He served as mayor of Ionia for 14 years in two periods in office, the first of 12 years, the second of two years. Those two periods were separated by the mayoralty of Balice’s close friend, Douglas R. Welch, who served Balice as city attorney. Tony Balice, as he was known and called, was as closely identified with the welfare of the Ionia community as any person during the last half century. He often said, when asked about his public service, “I believe we all have an obligation to do whatever we can to make where we live a little better. We have to give something back to the community that has given us so much. I was always fortunate in having wonderful people to help me when I was mayor and in other positions and they should get the credit, not me.” The son of Daniel and Beatrice Balice, he was born December 5, 1919 in Ionia and lived his entire lifetime on Baldie Street. He sometimes said he had “come up in the world” because his house was a few feet higher on Baldie Street hill than the next-door house of his parents. He attended SS Peter and Paul Academy and was graduated from its high school in the Class of 1937. He attended the University of Detroit during the 1938-39 academic year and then transferred to the University of Grand Rapids, which he attended from 1939- 1942. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and psychology. He loved sports as a boy and played varsity sports in high school, and in college. He was captain of the University of Grand Rapids football team in the fall of 1941 and he won eight varsity letters in college, three each in football and baseball and two in basketball. When he was graduated from the University of Grand Rapids, the United States was engaged in the first full year of World War II. He entered the U. S. Marine Corps in 1942, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and served during the invasion of Iwo Jima. He was severely wounded in combat and spent 11 months in a naval hospital. He received the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the VFW Citizenship Medal, and after his separation from active duty continued in the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve, retiring from the reserve in 1958 as a major. When he returned from World War II service, he was employed by General Motors as a payroll auditor from 1946 to 1948. He was married on June 7, 1947 to the former June McClow, also of Ionia. They were to raise six children, five daughters and a son, and observed their 45th wedding anniversary last June. He made his first appearance in public service when he ran for city council in 1947, serving as a councilman until he was elected mayor in 1949. He had joined his brother-in-law, Clayton Nolan, in owning and operating Ionia News Agency in 1948 and continued the business until 1966. Following the sale of the business he served as executive secretary of Ionia Are Chamber of Commerce from 1966 to 1967, and then joined the Michigan Department of Corrections as the corrections executive for special programs between 1967 and his retirement in 1983. In the years between his first election to city council and his death, he led and served in a wider range of community activities than perhaps any other Ionian. He was dedicated to his family, his church, and his community, and never completely separated his roles. He involved his children in his public activities from infancy onward, he served SS Peter and Paul’s Church and school in several roles, and his community in even more. For him, that’s the way life should be. Tony Balice served as a member of Ionia County Memorial Hospital’s board of trustees for 10 years. The hospital first opened in 1953 when Balice was mayor and the dedicatory address was delivered by his great good friend, the late G. Mennen Williams, then governor of Michigan, and later the state’s chief justice. Balice was a director of the Ionia Free Fair Association for 28 years and continued active participation in fair activities as director emeritus. He looked forward to the annual run of the fair, and a few years ago served as grand marshal of the Ionia Free Fair’s parade. He was appointed by Governors Williams and John Swainson to the Michigan Economic Development Commission and served for eight years on that state commission. A lifelong Democrat, he greatly enjoyed the political system, its contests, rivalries, and competitions. He served 12 years as chairman of Ionia County Democrats. Devoted to children and education, he served as chairman of an Ionia Public Schools’ district study committee on building needs for a year, and was president of the SS Peter and Paul school board for six years. He also served as a member of the Diocesan School Board, Diocese of Grand Rapids, from 1969- 1975. He served as chairman of the Ionia Public Schools’ Education Now committee in 1978, 1979, and 1980, and gave many hours in attempting to pass millage proposals. No one was happier than Balice when Ionia Public Schools’ voters passed a $16,960,000 bond issue in September 1986 to build a new high school and education center on Tuttle Road. After the bond issue, the largest ever in Ionia County, was approved Balice said, “This is the greatest community effort in Ionia in my lifetime…And that’s getting to be quite a long time.” Balice served as a director of Ionia Area Chamber of Commerce for sic years and was president for a year. An avid golfer for many years, he was a former director of Ionia Country Club. He joined Knights of Columbus in 1946 and was a member at his death. Balice was also an honorary life member of Ionia Rotary Club and a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars for more than 30 years. Balice served as a member of the Ionia Housing Commission from 1974 to 1986, and was a member of Ionia County Memorial Hospital Foundation from 1980 to his death. He was a member of the Michigan Corrections Association’s board of trustees from 979 to 1981. A listing of Balice’s activities doesn’t present the goodwill and humor of the man, nor the vigor with which he pursued goals. He loved stories and told many, accumulated during his years of public service, with point and relish. His many kindnesses and friendly touches are, perhaps, summed up in a practice he followed after Ionia County Memorial Hospital opened. Balice went to the hospital on Christmas Eve each year and visited every patient possible to wish each a Merry Christmas. He continued his “rounds” in the community, visiting coffee shops, bantering with old friends. He drove by McConnell Park half a dozen times a day last September while Fun Forest was under construction and enjoyed the wide community participation in the project. He loved where he lived, loved home, and all who made home what it was to him. He was out and about in Ionia to the end, checking on city projects of every kind, stopping by Ionia City Hall to encourage the efforts of officials, some of whom were not born when he served as mayor. In late years it was not uncommon to see Balice and his friend Douglas R. Welch riding around the community, inspecting what for so many years had been their daily responsibility and worry. With many of his daughters actively involved in the community, Balice was especially happy when his son Daniel entered city politics, first as councilman, and in 1989 as candidate for mayor. The second Mayor Balice was elected 40 years after the first Mayor Balice and both were not quite 30 years of age when first elected. He had bouts of ill health as he grew older and prior to his recent heart attack had been under intensive medical treatment. Pain he bore, he said, “Because I’ve had a wonderful life. I have a wonderful wife, wonderful children, wonderful grandchildren. I’ve had a full life, and I’m ready to go.” Wednesday, December 16, 1992, he said his farewells to his wife and children, and departed. He is survived by his wife June McClow Balice, five daughters, Toni Ann Buys, Mrs. Michael (Janet) Marion, Karen Balice Gregory, Margaret Balice, Mrs. Ronald (Suzanne) Burrows, and Mayor Daniel A. and (Janet) Balice; and 12 grandchildren. His sister, Jennine Balice Dixon, preceded him in death in 1991. Funeral Mass will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at SS Peter and Paul’s Church where he was a lifelong member. The family will be at Cook Funeral Home Thursday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. Visitation will be at SS Per and Paul’s Church at 7 p.m. Friday with Rosary at 8 p.m. Burial will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorials be made to SS Peter and Paul School or Ionia County Memorial Hospital Foundation, in care of Cook Funeral Home. 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