Charming Edna

Charming Edna Mildred Trowbridge Overhiser

(9/20/1895-12/7/1991)

Tribute by Casco Township blueberry farmer George Fleming (retired Methodist Pastor)

In the early 1970's, my wife, Edna, and I made a trip to Florida and while on that trip we visited Edna Overhiser and Ethel Ransom who were then widow women wintering together in Florida.  EdnaO and Ethel were delighted to see us and made us feel very welcome.  It was truly a very beautiful thing to discover that these women, then widowed and alone and entitled to self-pity, could instead find strength and joy in sharing life with each other and allowing a life-long friendship to blossom further.

EdnaO was always a very warm and outgoing person.  When I was helping my father on the oil delivery truck as a young boy in the 1950s, dad and I always looked forward to making deliveries to Edna and Bill's house for Edna always greeted us so kindly when we came to her door.  Edna was delighted to have us and others visit her in Florida.  Whenever I returned back to a Casco function in the later years of Edna's life, she greeted me enthusiastically and made me feel very special, as I am sure she did for many others.

I believe Edna brought warmth to our entire Casco Church and community as she reached out and fostered friendship and good will among us.  A poet once said, "One friend can change the entire landscape."  Many of us can say, EdnaO was such a friend to us, a friend who blessed us and often renewed our perspective on life.  She was a very good neighbor and a great friend.  She truly enriched the life of our total community.

George, thank you very much.  Many of us feel the same way about Edan.  She was always cheerful and engaging in a playful way.  Our memories of Edna give us all a chuckle and a feeling of gratitude that she was with us.  Now I will list some events to highlight Edna's final years and the farm transition from generation 3 to farm generations 4 and 5:

• 1964-5 Albert and June started purchasing the original farm and gave Bill and Edna a life lease on the house and Bill took the role of farm worker for Albert.  Bill enjoyed doing the spraying of the fruit trees.
• 12-7-1969 Bill passed and Edna started her 22 years as a widow, mother, grandmother and friend to many.
• In 1982, after College, Allan and Kim moved into a mobile home next to Edna's house and were always very attentive to Edna's needs. 
  
• In 1984 Allan and Kim entered into a farm partnership with Albert and June and jointly operated the farm until Albert and June entered retirement mode.  Albert did continued to help on the farm as he was able.
• At her 90th birthday party in 1985 Edna was starting to show her age.
• 1989-90 Edna may have had a mini stoke and moved to Grand Haven to live with daughter Janet and Jack Brown.  While there she broke a hip and became wheel chair bound and moved to a nursing home and was the well known dispenser of good humor.  After passing 12/7/1991 she rejoined Bill.
• In 1990 -91 Allan and Kim expanded and renovated Bill and Edna's house and then added five children to the house in 1996 and 98.   Our mother June passed in 1997 and Albert in 2008.

 At The Farm March 3, 2012 

The weather outside is not as frightful as farmers would like.  Time will tell what impact the warm winter will have on the fruit development this spring.  Prime blossom time at the farm should the last week of April and the first two weeks of May.  Trimming continues along with all the other winter chores.  

Allan was the guest speaker at the Marshall Area Garden Club on Feb 21 and did a fabulous job talking about "Growing Fruit Trees".  Some 60 to 70 people there learned about the difficulties of running a commercial fruit farm.  His trimming demonstration was very helpful to the hobby fruit growers.  The kids stay very busy with school and activities.  It is tournament time for Aaron's basketball team and Alex and Adam will be starting play in an 8th grade AAU league.  Kortny and Kelsy are finishing there basketball season.  

Snow Bird Farmers

Snow Bird Farmers

From 1900 to 1906 Grandpa Bill spent winters at the Palma Sola Hotel on the Manatee River between Bradenton and the Intracoastal Waterway.  His parents owned and operated the Hotel in the winters.  Bill's parents (William Albert and Daisy) welcomed many of their Michigan relatives and farming neighbors to stay at the hotel.  As a result, for decades Casco Township farmers have been wintering in FL. (For more info about the hotel see lower left blog archives 2009 April and May).

In the late 1940s Bill got reconnected to Florida.  He and Edna started taking short trips south with their youngest son Billy (William Douglas 5Feb1936/30May2009).   As Billy got older he would stay with relatives and Bill and Edna would stay in FL for a couple of months.  Driving south they very seldom stopped at restaurants as Edna would pack road food.  While in FL they found cheap housing near fishing rivers.  They would eat lots of apples and canned goods from the farm, FL oranges, clams, oysters and fried fresh caught fish.  Many of their close friends would visit or travel with them.  Most times their FL base was in the Sebastian area along the Sebastian or Indian Rivers on the East Coast.  Some years they rented at Victory Court Cabins.   From an old photo album we know they took side trips to Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens, Spook Hill, Fort Meyers, Venice, Punta Gorda, Arcadia's Plaza Hotel, down the keys to Marathon, and the Palma Sola - Bradenton - Cortez area where the former family hotel was located.

Two couples that were very close friends with B and E were Ethel-Nelson Ransom and Eunice-Wilsee Osman.  The women had lots in common - Garden Club, raising kids, running a farm house, making their own house dresses, and  assisting farm CEOs.  The men were in lodge, attended farm meetings together, competed at raising fruit, and worked their butts off on the farm especially during harvest.  When these couples were in FL they would take side trips, fish, cook and eat meals together, squeeze orange juice, and play shuffleboard.  Bill even built a shuffleboard court at the farm.  The drive to FL or Loon Lake was always in a Mercury with Bill's boat, motor and luggage towed behind.  It was a good life made possible by not being tied daily to a dairy farm.

In the 1950s and 60s Bill and Edna were handing over more of the farm operations to my dad Albert as he scaled back his truck driving.  During that time B and E spent more winter time in FL and summer time at Look Lake.  Bill acquired his love for fishing in FL while he was just a kid (ages 4 to 10). That fishing love lasted until the day he died at age 73.  On Dec 27, 1969 he and Edna had fished the Indian River.  That night while watching the 11:00 o'clock news Grandpa Bill suffered a fatal heart attack while seated in a recliner  - RIP!

At The Farm - February 5, 2012

Q - How is this mild MI winter going to impact the fruit?  Allan - We are always concerned that an early warm spring can bring on the blossoms and then get killed by freezing temperatures.  With a warm winter, like we are having, the fruit can deactivate and loose its cold hardness.  Peaches will not reactivate so might not develop fruit.  The other fruits can reactivate and produce fruit.  
Q - Are you planning anything changes at the farm that customers will notice?  Allan - We will be adding some changes to the petting barn area so its easier for the kids to interact with the animals and may have more animals this year.
Q - Is it true that you are speaking to the Marshall Area Garden Club on Feb 21?  Allan - Yes, I am looking forward to that meeting.
Q - Are you and the family taking any get away trips this winter?  Kim - Nothing planned but sure would like one.  The Quads are going on the 8th grade school trip to DC in April.
Q - Do you think your basketball team is improving?  Aaron -  Yes we are.  Our so so records would be great if we had won more or all of our close games.  (Aaron is a freshman starter on the Fennville Varsity Basketball Team 5-10 record).

Q - How can you fend off cabin fever?  Martin -Think about what you most look forward to this coming spring.