Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Messer, Donald O. July 7, 1954
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Sentinel-Std. - Thursday, July 8, 1954

LYONS- Donald O. Messer, 45, of Rural Fowler, died Wednesday, July 7, at 
10:30 a.m. at St. Johns Hospital. He had been in ill health for some time.

He was born August 27, 1906, in Lebanon township, Clinton county, the son of 
Mr. and Mrs. Orvis Messer, and attended rural schools there. he moved to 
Lyons with his parents and graduated from Lyons high school and attended 
Central Michigan College at Mt. Pleasant.

He was married April 1, 1934 to Miss Lola Carmine of Florida and in 1936 
they moved from Lyons to their present farm home north of Fowler.

Mr. Messer was a member of the Farm Bureau, the United Brethren church at 
Matherton, the Wright L. Coffinberry chapter of the Archeological Society of 
Michigan in Grand Rapids and a member and past officer of the Michigan State 
Archeological Society. He discovered the Indian mounds which were recently 
unearthed on the prairie lands at Lyons and he made a study of early 
American history and collected many Indian relics.

Surviving besides his wife, Lois, are three daughters, Ruth Mary, Sharon and 
Sandra; one son, Theron; his mother, Mrs. Myrtle Messer, at the farm home; 
and one sister, Mrs. Farley Tubbs of Lansing.

Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, July 10, with prayer service at 
his home at 2 o'clock and services at the Matherton Community church at 2:30 
with the Rev. Benjamin Blem of the United Brethren church at Carson City 
officiating, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Davis of the Matherton United Brethren 
church. 

Interment will be at East Plains cemetery.
                     ___________________________________


Monday, July 12, 1954

LYONS- Funeral services for Donald L. Messer, formerly of Lyons, were held 
Saturday afternoon with a prayer service at the home on French Road, Fowler 
at 2 o'clock and rites at the Matherton Community church at 2:30.

The services were conducted by the Rev. B.L. Blem of Carson City, assisted 
by the Rev. Benjamin Davis. The bearers were Bernard Vance, Jack Waldron, 
Vernon Benjamin, Eugene Benjamin, Keith Stillman and Charles Boak. Piano 
music was Mrs. Myrtle Reed and Millard Brown sang, "Take My Hand Precious 
Lord" and "Farther Along".

Burial was in East Plains cemetery. 

Mr. Messer was well known in Michigan due to his research work in 
archaeology and his study of the American Indian. He was a familiar figure 
in school rooms and among young people throughout Michigan for his lectures 
on the American Indian. His field work near Grand Ledge and in Ionia county 
led o the discovery of evidence of what may be the earliest inhabitants of 
North America, the prehistoric Indians of the so-called argillite culture 
which is believed to date back several thousand years. Donald worked closely 
with Dr. Emerson F. Greenman of the University of Michigan, department of 
Anthropology. He also worked in the field with the late Dr. W.B. Hinsdale, 
father of Michigan archaeology. 

He was the immediate past vice president of the Michigan Archaeological 
Society and would have been president this year had not his illness 
prevented. He organized the Central Michigan chapter at Lansing and was a 
member of the Wright L. Coffinberry chapter of Grand Rapids. All of his 
spare time as a farmer and school bus driver was spent in pioneering in his 
favorite work of archeology. 

Additional Comments:
Age: 45
Funeral: Saturday, 10 July 1954
East Plains cemetery #D-35


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