Obituaries

Dr. Eugene R. Butts
May 1, 1881-June 2, 1963

Niles Daily Star, Monday, June 3, 1963, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

Funeral services for Dr. Eugene R. Butts, 82, of 2600 Walton Road, will be conducted at 2 p.m. Wedneday[sic] in the Pifer Funeral Home. The Rev. John MacLachlan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.

He died at 2 p.m. Sunday in his home. He had been in ill health several years.

Dr. Butts, a retired dentist, was born May 1, 1861, in Niles Township. He was a lifetime resident of this area. He graduated from the Chicago Dental College in 1905.

Survivors include his widow, Ruth; three step-sons, Gerald Gaul, Niles, Roy Gaul, Cassopolis, and Fred Fuller, Chicago; and five grandchildren.

He was a member of the Aaron Blue Lodge No. 913, Order of Free and Accepted Masons, the Medina Shrine Temple of Chicago, the Niles Shrine and the Niles Elks Lodge. He was a life member of the American Dental Association.

Friends are being received at the funeral home.

Austin A. Fowler
June 27, 1852-Feb. 1, 1939

Niles Daily Star, Thursday, February 2, 1939, page 2, col. 4-5, microfilm Niles District Library

Austin A. Fowler, 86, Stricken; Rites Friday Afternoon

Ill a month, Austin A. Fowler, 86, of 631 Poplar street, died at 1:45 o'clock Wednesday afternoon in the Berrien county hospital near Berrien Center. He had been there 17 days for treatment.

Mr. Fowler, a retired toolmaker, had lived in Niles since 1910, when he moved here from Yorktown, Ind., where he had been employed in a glass factory. He was born June 27, 1852, in Ashtabula county, Ohio, a son or Mr.and Mrs. Luther Fowler.

His wife, the former Rose Geiger, whom he married March 4, 1883, in Three Rivers, died Feb. 9, 1937.

Survivors are a son, Frank, Niles; a brother, Carlos Fowler, Greenville, Pa., and two grandchildren.

The Rev. T.O. Lee, of the Methodist Episcopal church, will conduct rites at 2 o'clock Friday in the Price and Kiger chapel. Burial will be in Silverbrook.

Friends may call at the chapel.

Niles Daily Star, Friday, February 3, 1939, page 2, col. 2, microfilm Niles District Library

SERVE AS PALLBEARERS

Carl Evick, Thurston Gentry, and Ralph, Alfred, Laverne, and Clarence  . . .[illegible]. .  this afternoon at the funeral services of Austin A. Fowler, 86. The Rev. T.O.Lee conducted the service in the Price and Kiger funeral home. Burial was in Silverbrook cemetery. Mr. Fowler died Wednesday afternoon in the Berrien Center hospital.

Gertrude Garland
Sept. 6, 1899-Dec. 22, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Thursday, December 23, 1954, page 2, col. 7, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Gertrude L. Garland, 55, of 1337 Eagle street, was pronounced dead on arrival at Pawating Hospital at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday after suffering a cardiac attack at her home. She had been ill for several years.

Mrs. Garland was born Sept. 6, 1899, in Niles, and had lived her lifetime here.  She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Womens Benefit Association, Mothers of World War II and the Rebekah Lodge. Her husband, Harley, died July 31, 1950.

Surviving are: three sons, F. William Felden Jr. and George D. Felden, both of Niles, and Richard L. Felden of Glenview, Ill.; five grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Albert Strang, of Niles, and a brother, Henry Exner, also of Niles.

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in the First Presbyterian Church with the pastor, the Rev. T.M. Greenhoe, officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery. Friends may call at the Kiger Funeral Home. All members of the Rebekah Lodge are requested to meet at 3:45 p.m.  Friday at the church to attend services in a body, according to Mrs. Fred Monahon.

John Johnson
Dec. 2, 1883-Dec. 22, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Friday, December 24, 1954, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

John Johnson, 71, retired New York Central Railroad engineer, died at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at his home in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he had lived for the past three and a half years, moving there from Niles.

Johnson was born December 2, 1883, in Germany, and had also worked as head of maintenance for Niles Public Schools. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and St. Paul's Lutheran Church here. He also held a membership in Grace Lutheran Church, St. Petersburg.

Surviving are: his wife, Helen; three sons, Arthur, of Charleston, W.Va., the Rev. John Johnson, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Edwin, of Bay City, and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church here with the Rev. Theo Laesch officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.  Friends may call at the Pifer Funeral Home beginning Sunday afternoon.

Sylvia Johnson
March 28, 1884-Dec. 21, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Wednesday, December 22, 1954, page 2, col. 5, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Sylvia H. Johnson, 70, of 581 Union street, died at 2:45 p.m.  Tuesday at Pawating Hospital after a three-week illness.  Born March 28, 1884 at Almena, Mich., she came here from Benton Harbor in 1929.

She was a member of the Niles Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Dorcas Society of the church.

Survivors are a son, Charles Allen, Kalamazoo; three daughters, Mrs. Ella Peters, Pomona, Calif.; Mrs. Howard Miller and Mrs. Huston Miller, both of Niles; 11 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Evie Riley, Marcellus, and Mrs. Alma Peierson, St. Cloud, Fla.

Friends may call at the Pifer Funeral Home where Elder Lawrence Caviness of the Seventh-day adventist[sic] Church will conduct services at 2 p.m. Friday.  Burial will be at Silverbrook Cemetery.

Effie Mapes
Oct. 22, 1873-Dec. 23, 1954

Niles Daily Star, Thursday, December 23, 1954, page 2, col. 7, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Effie Mapes, 80, of 1343 Oak street, died at 9:30 a.m. today in Pawating Hospital where she had been a patient since Dec. 17. The body was taken to the Pifer Funeral HOme where funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Niles Daily Star, Friday, December 24, 1954, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in the Pifer Funeral Home here for Mrs. Effie Mapes, 81, of 1114 Oak street, who died at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Pawating Hospital following an extended illness. The Rev. Ray McCoy, pastor of the First Baptist Church, will officiate, and burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.

Mrs. Mapes was born October 22, 1873, in Oak Grove, Mich., and came to Niles 31 years ago from Tustin, Mich.

Surviving are: six children, Mrs. Glenn West, Mrs. Malburne Hall, Mrs. Etta Baird, Mrs. Jack Stanner and Delbert Mapes, all of Niles, and Mrs. Elmer Green, of Grand Rapids; 24 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Harry Johnson, of Tustin, and a brother, Deloss Hillaker, of Everett, Mich.

Friends may call at the funeral home beginning Saturday.