Obituaries

Gladys Drudy 
Aug. 11, 1895-Oct. 13, 1957

Niles Daily Star, Monday, October 14, 1957, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Gladys Drudy, 62, of Dowagiac, former Niles Resident, died at 11:30a.m. Sunday, in Billings Hospital, Chicago, following an illness of two months.

Mrs. Drudy was born August. 11, 1895 in Muncie, Ind., and for a number of years had lived in Niles before moving to Dowagiac, in the late 1930’s.

Surviving are: her husband, James S. Drudy; a son, Keith Metzger of Oaklawn, Ill; a daughter, Mrs. Carl Ellison, of Niles; two grandchildren whom she raised, Vernon Metzger, of Ishpeming, Mich., and Richard Metzger, stationed with the Air Force at Great Falls, Mont; seven other grandchildren; three brothers, Walter Reese, of Buchanan, Virgil Reese, of Galien, and Herschel Reese, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; three sisters, Mrs. Vera Geminder, Galien, Mrs. Victor Metzger, Buchanan, and Mrs. Ruby Nelson, Michigan City, Ind.; two step-sisters, Mrs. Willie Pence, of Daleville, Ind., and Mrs. Mary Peckinpaugh of Muncie and a step-brother, Carl Reese, of Youngston, O.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Pifer Funeral Home here with the Rev. Chester Wetzel, assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church officiating.  Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.  Friends may call at the funeral home.

Dorothy K. Dreher
Nov. 9, 1906-Oct. 7, 2001

Dorothy K. Dreher, 94, formerly of Silverbrook Avenue, Niles, Mich., died following an extended illness at 6:15 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, 2001,  in the Riveridge Manor, Niles.

She was born Nov. 9, 1906, in Bertrand, Mich., to Lawrence M. and Bessie (Reynolds) Keller.  She was a lifetime area resident and had attended Dowagiac High School.

Mrs. Dreher was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Niles and was active in its women's groups.

She was a member of Order of the Eastern Star, Niles Chapter 332, and the Grand Chapter of Michigan. Mrs. Dreher volunteered with the Pawating Hospital Auxiliary, and for many years as an election official at the local precinct. She enjoyed reading history and traveling.

On July 26, 1930, in Dowagiac, she married Paul B. Dreher, who died Jan. 18, 1976.  She was also preceded in death by five brothers and sisters.

Surviving family includes a son, P. Michael Dreher, and daughter, Marcia Brubaker, both of Niles; grandchildren, Michael J. Dreher, Gary Dreher, Patricia Wyland, John Brubaker and Susan Perkins; eight great-grandchildren; and sisters, Jeanette Martin of Niles and Virginia McCarthy of Benton Harbor, Mich.

Funeral service for Dorothy K. Dreher will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in the First Presbyterian Church, with Rev. Dr. Ronald H. Wakeman officiating. Committal services will follow at Silverbrook Cemetery, Niles.

The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in the Halbritter Funeral Home, with a ceremony by the Order of the Eastern Star at 4 p.m.

Contributions in memory of Mrs. Dreher may be made to the Niles Community Library or to Hospice at Home.

Submitted by family member; publication details unknown

Maria Florence Dodge
1832-Aug. 7, 1906

Mrs. Maria Florence Dodge, died at Decatur yesterday. In 1835 she deceased took up her residence on a farm a few miles west of this city, where she continued to live until 1884, when she went to Ann Arbor.  She was the widow of the late Daniel R. Dodge, and is survived by five children, viz, Mrs. Ashbourgh of Ann Arbor, John F. and Horace E.,, who are prominent manufacturers of Detroit, and Mesdames Burlingam and Rodgers of Decatur. The body wll arrive here at 2:40 o’clock tomorrow afternoon, accompanied by the family, and will be taken direct from the depot to Silverbrook Cemetery, where the burial will take place. A clergyman from Decatur will accompany the mourners.

Submitted by family member; publication details unknown

Charles Dodge
Died May 22, 1926

Niles Daily Star, Monday, May 24, 1926, page 1, col. 7, microfilm Niles District Library

HALF BROTHER OF HORACE AND JOHN DODGE IS DEAD

Charles Dodge, 71, a native of Niles and half brother of the late John an Horace Dodge of Detroit, died Saturday morning in St. Petersburg, Fla., following a stoke of paralysis which he suffered about a week ago. Mrs. Dodge is now enroute to Niles with the body and while the arrangements are not completed or the exact time for the arrival of the body set, it is expected that the funeral party will be in Niles on Michigan Central train No. 10 tomorrow afternoon.

Mr. Dodge was the son of John Dodge Sr. When he was but three years old, and his sister, Laura but five, their mother died.  John Jr., Horace and Mrs. Delphine Dodge Ashbaugh, were children of the second marriage of Mr. Dodge.  Mrs. Ashbaugh is now the only member of the family living.

Charles Dodge was educated in the Niles Public Schools.  Early in his life he entered the employ of the Michigan Central railway co. and until he retired a few years ago, he followed the occupations of railway engineer.  Forty-six years ago he was married to Miss Kate Gallivan, who survives him.  Of the five children born to them, but one, Mrs. Versie Eberle of Chicago, survives.  She expects to meet her mother in Chicago tomorrow morning and accompany her to Niles.  After his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dodge went south and had since lived in Shreveport, LA, or in St. Petersburg, Fla. with the exception of a few years spent in Chicago.  For several years Mr. and Mrs. Doge spent their summers in Niles, going south again each year for the winter of account of his ill health.

Mrs. Dodge, the widow, is a sister of Mrs. Edward Garner, of Barret Street, West Niles.

Niles Daily Star, Tuesday, May 25, 1926, page 4, col. 2, microfilm Niles District Library

PLANS INDEFINITE

While it was understood from a message received in Niles that Mrs. Charles Dodge was on her way to Niles from St. Petersburg, Florida, with the body of her husband, who died there on Saturday, and might reach Niles today, no further word had been received up to noon today, and the plans for the funeral and burial are not known here.

Note:  It appears that the body never arrived as Silverbrook burial records do not document the burial in the Dodge family plot.  Burial was in St. Petersburg, Fla. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12006837 

William A. Dittmer

William August Dittmer, 510 Howard Street, died at 2:15 p.m. Friday in his home after an illness since may 1945.

He leaves three children, Kenneth and Mrs. Carl Reum, both of Niles and Mrs. Stephen Molnar, South Bend, and two grandchildren. Also surviving is a sister, Mrs. Bertha Lee, Niles.

Dittmer who was born Nov. 29, 1881, in Niles had lived her all his life; and was a retired railroad clerk at the time of his death.

Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday by the Rev. Theo Eisen, pastor of St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, at the Pifer Funeral Home. Burial will be at Silverbrook Cemetery.

Robert Dittmer
Dec. 23, 1931-Oct. 16, 1943

Robert Dittmer, 11, found in River at Buchanan Dam

Niles police and the county sheriff’s department were puzzled today over the mysterious death of Robert L. Dittmer Jr., 11, who disappeared Oct. 11 from his home at 1250 South Eleventh Street.

The youth’s body was discovered at 5:30 this morning by Ernest Young, employee of the Indiana and Michigan Electric Company in the St. Joseph River at the company’s Buchanan Dam.

According to William Pifer, coroner, who was called to the scene, the body had apparently been in the water since the time of the boy’s disappearance.

The boy disappeared from home Sunday night, October 10, and was reported missing to police by his parents the next day.  It was first believed he had run away with thee other boys who disappeared the same day and who were later picked up by Chicago police.

Questioned upon their return to Niles, the three boys told police that Robert had not accompanied them and they knew nothing of his whereabouts.

To Return at 7

The boy’s parents told a Star reporter this morning that on the day he disappeared they had given him money to attend the Ready Theater in the afternoon while they went to the Riviera.

They youth agreed to return home at 7 that night, but they did not see him again. They said one of the boy’s neighborhood friends, Richard Cook, told them later that he saw young Dittmer just before 7 when he was almost home and that the latter told Cook he intended to return downtown.  So far as is known, it was the last time he was seen.

Police records show that he was one of a group of boys who had entered the Knights of Columbus hall a few weeks earlier, but the record does not indicate that he was involved in causing any damage.

Runaway Story Unconfirmed.

One Niles youth is reported to have told that he had borrowed a brother’s motorcycle and, accompanied by young Dittmer, rode it to Chicago where, the boy said, it was wrecked.  He reported that Dittmer had intended to continue to Texas, but police could not find any evidence to confirm the story.

Coroner Pifer said this morning there are no indication of broken bones, and no inquest is planned.

Besides his parents, the drowned youth is survived by four sisters, Margaret Ann, Betty Lou, Diana Lee and Patricia Jean, all at home; three grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Walter, Buchanan and Mrs. Ann Dittmer, Niles and two great-grandmothers.

He was born in Niles, Dec. 23, 1931. A student in the fifth grade at Central School. He had lived here all his life.

The body is in the Pifer Funeral Home where services will be conducted Friday at 2 by the Rev. J. Kenneth Hoffmaster. Burial will be at Silverbrook Cemetery.

Submitted by family member; publication details unknown