Sharrell Sue Hill
Oct. 31, 1954-Nov. 2, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Wednesday, November 3, 1954, page 2, col. 5, microfilm Niles District Library

Sharrel Sue Hill, born to Mr. and Mrs. Loye Hill, 1450 Jerome street, on Oct. 31, died at 7:10 a.m. Tuesday in Pawating Hospital.

Surviving besides the parents are one brother, Charles, and three sisters, Connie, Dannette and Sharon, all at home.

Committal services were held at 4 p.m. today at Silverbrook Cemetery. The Rev. H.A. Meussling, pastor of St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church, officiated. Arrangements were made by the Kiger Funeral Home.

Vern R. Hinkle
Nov. 9, 1889-July 9, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Friday, July 9, 1954, page 2, col. 6, microfilm Niles District Library

Vern Rishel Hinkle, 645 South St. Joseph Avenue, died at 10:55 a.m. today at Pawating Hospital after a two week illness.

He is survived by his wife, Eleanor; one son, Theodore Hinkle, of Niles, and three grandchildren. Hinkle was born on Nov. 9, 1889, in St. Joseph county, Mich. and moved to this area when he was a small child. He had lived here all the remainder of his life.

Hinkle operated the filling station at the Michigan Mushroom Plant here for 20 years before becoming a paper maker for the French Paper Mill.

Friends may call at the Pifer Funeral Home starting at 7 p.m. today.  Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later.

Niles Daily Star, Friday, July 9, 1954, page 2, col. 6, microfilm Niles District Library

Services for Vern Rishel Hinkle, 645 South St. Joseph avenue, who died Friday morning, will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Pifer Funeral Home.

The Rev. L. George Beacock, Methodist pastor, will officiate, and burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.

Cleveland Hipshier
May 4, 1885-July 21, 1952 

Niles Daily Star, July 21, 1952, page 2, microfilm Niles District Library  (D. Barkman) 

CLEVELAND HIPSHIER  

Cleveland (Happy) Hipshier, 67, of rural route one, retired inspector for the New York Central Railroad, died at 1:45 a.m. today in Pawating hospital. He had been ill two years.  

He was born May 4, 1885, in Indiana and came to Niles 45 years ago. His wife, Margaret, died in June, 1931.  

Survivors include 10 children. Miss Orletta Hipshier, Mrs. Myrtle Shepardson, Mrs. Dorothea Seals, Mrs. Catherine Bowerman, Mrs. Pansy Cleary, Mrs. Betsy Vandygriff, Mrs. Irene Leamon. Happy Hipshier Jr., and Jack, all of Niles, and Mrs. Fentalene Harrell, of Ravenna, Ohio; three brothers, Roscoe, of Niles, Charles, of Grand Rapids, and Lon, of Benton Harbor; a sister, Mrs. Irene Coon, also of Benton Harbor, and 22 grandchildren.  

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday from the Kiger funeral home with the Rev. A. J. Martin officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook cemetery.

Dorothy Margaret (Horner) Hipshier
Apr. 27, 1888 – June 1, 1931  

Niles Daily Star, June 2, 1931, page 1, microfilm Niles District Library  (D. Barkman)

MRS. HIPSHIER, MOTHER OF 10 CHILDREN, DIES  

Passes Away at Epworth Hospital After Lung Infection   

Mrs. Dorothy Margaret Horner Hipshier, 43, wife of Cleveland Hipshier, 317 N. Seventh Street, died in Epworth hospital, South Bend last evening at 9:10. She was taken to that hospital yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock in a hope that an infection of the lungs and an illness with pneumonia with which she had been stricken  10 days previous might be arrested. For several days after she became ill she was about the house and her condition had been considered alarming only since last Thursday.

Mrs. Hipshier was the mother of 10 children of whom nine survive her, the youngest of  whom is three years.  Dorothy Margaret Horner was born in Niles on April 27, 1888 and had spent her entire  life here. She was a daughter of Reuben and Anna Horner. Her mother died 16 years ago.  Her father survives her and is critically ill in the home of his son, Clarence, having  been ill since last March. She was married in Niles to Cleveland Hipshier in 1906.  Her husband survives her and the following children: Mrs. Myrtle Shepardson, Mrs. Dorothea Seals, Orletta, Katherine, Fentalene, Happy, Pansy, Bettsie and  Irene Lucille, all of Niles. Besides the husband, her father and children,  Mrs. Hipshier is survived by the following brothers and sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Bidwell, Mrs. Emma Worvey, Mrs. Ruby Felhuaer and Mrs. Claudine Deditch, Clarence and Everett Horner, all of Niles and Mrs. Lucille Deditch, of Laporte Indiana.  

Mrs. Hipshier was a member of the Niles lodge of Maccabees,No. 39, of the Royal Neighbors and of the Loyal Star.  

The funeral services will be held on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 in the Trost and Augustine chapel. Burial will be made in Silverbrook cemetery. 

Orletta Christina Hipshier
Aug. 6, 1907-Jan. 22, 1955

Niles Daily Star, Saturday, January 22, 1955, page 2, col. 2, microfilm Niles District Library

Miss Orletta Christina Hipshier, 47, of 1318 Thomson, died at 5:40 a.m. today in her home following an illness of seven years.

Miss Hipshier was born Aug. 6, 1907, in Niles, and had spent her entire lifetime here. Surviving are: seven sisters, Mrs. Myrtlebell Shepardson, Mrs. Dorthea Seals, Mrs. Katherine Bowerman, Mrs. Pansy Cleary and Mrs. Irene Leamon, all of Niles; Mrs. Fentaline Harrell of Ravenna, O., and Mrs. Betsy Vandygriff, of Germany; two brothers, Jack and Happy Hipshier, both of Niles, and an uncle Roscoe Hipshier, with whom she made her home.

Funeral servces[sic] wil[sic] be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the First Church of christ with the pastor, the Rev. John Kinner, officiating.  Burial will be in Silverbrook cmetery.  Friends may call at the Kiger Funeral Home.

Patricia VanDecar Gillette Kephart
Sept. 4, 1925-Jan. 7, 1993

Niles Daily Star, Saturday, January 9, 1993, page 2, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library (Wm. Brackett)

Patricia VanDecar Gillette Kephart, 66, of Jones Road, Berrien Springs, passed away at 2:48 p.m Thursday at Memorial Hospital in South bend, Ind.

Funeral services are Monday at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Niles, of which she was a member.

Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery, Niles.

Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the McLauchlin-Hoge Funeral Home in Berrien Springs.

Memorial contribuitons may be made to the Berrien County Historical Society or the First Presbyterian Church of Niles.

Mrs. Kephart was born Sept. 4, 1926, in Berrien Springs and was a lifelong resident.  She was the owner of Hardscrabble Publishing in Berrien Springs and was the former owner of the Journal Era from 1979 to 1985. She was a board member of the Berrien County Historical Society and had served on the Berrien Township Board of Appeals and the Berrien County Department of Public works.

Sh was preceded in death by her first husband, John W. Gillette, in 1983.

Survivors include her husband, George Kephart, whom she married Oct. 3, 1992, in Berrien Spirngs; a son, Stuart Gillette of Elmhurst, Ill.; a step-daughter, Kathryn Wisdon of Amarillo, Texas; two step-sons, Todd Gillette of Three Oaks and Robert Gillette of Gaithersburg, Maryland; six grandchildren; and one brother, Phillip VanDecar of Royal Oak.