Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Travis, Gerrit Orvin July 9, 1955
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Pat Currigan currigan1932@comcast.net August 3, 2021, 8:52 am

Ionia Sentinel Standard-July 10, 1955

Ionia Man Hangs Self At Home
An Ionia man was found dead at his home Sunday noon by his brother. After 
informing his father and another brother the three came to the Ionia county 
sheriff's office and related the story to officers.

Sheriff Peter Van Vleck accompanied the trio to the home at 436 Jermyn street 
where he found the body of Gerrit Travis, 24, hanging in a doorway. He had 
been living there with his brother Carl who discovered the body about noon 
Sunday.

Coroner Dale W. Kauffman, who investigated with sheriff officers, placed the 
time of death at 9 o'clock Saturday night.

Sheriff Van Vleck had been called to the home of Travis; parents about 8 
o'clock Saturday night where travis had gone in quest of his son who had been 
staying with his parents.

Van Vleck said Travis wanted to take his son to his home on Jermyn street.

Carl Travis informed sheriff's officers he went to the home where he and 
Gerrit had been living about 10 o'clock Saturday night and was unable to get 
in. Carl again went to the home Sunday about noon and could see the body of 
his brother in the doorway.

Coroner Kauffman said a gas heater was also turned on allowing gas to escape 
into the house.

Gerrit Travis was injured in an automobile accident April 17 at the 
intersection of M-21 and the Stage Road and has walked with the aid of 
crutches since his release from the hospital. The crutches were found near 
the body Sunday. He was a patient at the hospital seven weeks following  the 
accident and only last week broke the pin in the hip. He was scheduled for 
further surgery. He was previously employed at the Ionia State Hospital for 
three years.

Travis was born February 17, 1931 at Saranac. he served four years in the Air 
Force and was discharged as a staff sergeant.

Surviving are the parents, Mr and Mrs Arley Travis; four brothers, Merrit, 
Carl, Jack and Robert; four sisters, Mrs Marie Spaulding, Arlene, Sandra and 
Vicki Travis; one son Steven, his grandparents, Mr and Mrs Ernest Merritt of 
Saranac and Mr and Mrs Grover Travis of Ionia.

Funeral services will be Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Myers 
funeral home. The Rev. Heath Goodwin will officiate with burial at Saranac 
Cemetery.

July 14, 1955
GERRIT TRAVIS
Funeral services for Gerrit Travis were held Wednesday afternoon at Myers 
funeral home. The Rev. H.S. Ellis of Belding officiated with burial at 
Saranac cemetery.

Pallbearers were Robert Sprague and Gordon Hunter of Saranac, Jerry Vincent, 
Floyd Seth, Wayne Winslow and Rod Fuller of Ionia.

Out of town relatives attending were Mr and Mrs Dick Spaulding of Lansing, A-
2C Jack Travis, Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, Mrs Ernest Merritt, Mr and 
Mrs Glenn Conroe and Demeris Nead of Saranac, Mrs Mary Jones and Dale of 
Wayland, Mrs Madeline Doolittle, Mrs Velma Wick of Lansing, Mr and Mrs 
Kenneth Travis and Loretta of Sunfield, Arthie Travis of Lyons, Mrs Flo 
Travis and Sherry of Lowell, Russell Travis of Battle Creek, Emma Paine and 
Minnie of Charlotte, Bina Nead of Holland and Mrs W.H. Bowman of Belding. 

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/t/travis40663nob.txt

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