Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Welch, Douglas Reynolds October 1994 ************************************************ 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: LaVonne I. Bennett lib@dogsbark.comMarch 3, 2006, 6:33 pm THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR, Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association, Volume 30, October 1994, Number 2: WELCH, DOUGLAS REYNOLDS, 80, husband of Winifred (McKendry) Welch, father of Marcia York and Sue McFarlane, brother of the late Emma Jane Crossman, son of Blanche (Reynolds) and Henry T. Welch, son of Emma (Treymayne) and Amos M. Welch, son of Sarah Ann (Morgan) and John B. Welch, son of Ruth (Squires) and Vine Welch. His great-grandfather, John B. Welch, Sr., came to Ionia in 1836 and settled on the farm in Sec. 9 and 10 Ionia Township in 1837. His great- great-grandfather, Vine Welch, a blacksmith, and wife Ruth also settled in Ionia. John B. Welch raised the Twenty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the outbreak of the Civil War and was commissioned its colonel. They drilled at Prairie Creek flats, where American Bumper now stands, and fought under General George Armstrong Custer and James H. Kidd. Douglas Reynolds Welch was born October 22, 1913, at the home of his grandparents Emma and Amos Welch, on Washington St. in Ionia. His father was helping run the family sheep and cattle ranch near Taft Station in Ogemaw County at the time, and Blanche was in Ionia. Henry was called home by telegram and drove all night on unmarked roads, a distance of 175 miles, in a 1908 Model 10 Buick with no top, no doors, and no windshield, but with carbide gas lights, to be present for the event. Two stock dogs were thrown out of the car on a pothole near Pinconning and arrived on foot three days later. Henry T. and family moved to the Ionia Township farm in 1916. Amos and Emma had succeeded John B. Welch, Sr. on the farm in 1884 and retired to town in 1910. They were followed by John B. Welch, Jr., brother of Henry, who moved two miles north to his own farm on Cooper Rd. Sec. 33 Ronald Township (the old County Poor Farm) in 1916. At that time the Welch homestead consisted of 445 acres, employed five or six hired men, a hired girl, and maintained 50 milking cows, 100 feeder cattle, 12 work horses, and 250 breeding ewes. Doug rode a pony to Ionia every day to attend kindergarten and tied it at the Central Feed Barn, at the head of Steel Street, where ETT Ambulance barn is now. Destined to be a farmer, his life took a sudden turn at age 6, when he contracted polio. Determined to do all the normal things a kid would do, he earned Boy Scout badges in swimming and lifesaving as part of his therapy. He graduated with honors from Ionia High School in 1930, excelling in debate, oratory, and playing the saxophone in the band. He graduated from the University of Michigan and entered Law School there in 1935. The late George Petrie, Sr., of Sebewa was working in the Welch Blacksmith Shop, which was located just south of the Martha Washington Cafe and apparently was a continuation of Vine Welch’s trade, when Doug entered law school. Doug often hung around the shop after school and on this occasion George asked him, “Well Doug, did they teach you how to lie yet?” “(censored) yes! That was the first day’s lesson!” said Doug. Doug was born a Democrat and he died a Democrat. But for a time in law school he joined the Young Republican Club, at the invitation of his pal, Gerald R. Ford. He told us this in 1977, while admiring an autographed portrait that President Ford sent to the Ionia County Republican Party. One County Commissioner, a Republican lawyer who was disgruntled because I had not given him what he considered a plush political appointment, refused to allow the photo to be hung in the Court House Rotunda. Doug Welch said, “Gerald Ford was our Congressman, our President, and our friend, hang the ___ portrait!” We hung the portrait, but the Commissioner got the inscription covered by matting. Douglas Welch had a long and distinguished career as a lawyer and public official in Ionia. He was first a law partner with Ray Colwell, then Flint C. Watt, later as Welch, Nichols, McKaig, and Watt, and finally of counsel to O’Conner, McNamara, O’Keefe and Sykes. He was Mayor, President of the School Board, Fair Board, Chamber of Commerce, and served on the Independent Bank Board, Michigan Municipal League, Ionia Industrial Development Fund, Rotary, Elks, Masons, and First United Methodist Church. He retained his keen mind and memory until the day of his death. Without question Douglas R. Welch was the best Ionia attorney of his time, and most of us would have wanted him to defend us on any serious charge, especially if there was strong evidence that we were guilty. END Additional Comments: THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR, RECENT DEATHS; SUMITTED WITH PERMISSION OF EDITOR, GRAYDEN D. SLOWINS. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/w/welch614gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb