Fred Dohm

"Requiem"

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you 'grave for me:
Here he lies where he long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

— Robert Louis Stevenson

TRAVERSE CITY — Fred Dohm, 97, "long'd" to be on the Peninsula. He was born there, the youngest of four sons to William and Rosa (Kroupa) Dohm, both of pioneer families. He spent time away from home as a boarder in order to graduate from Traverse City High School, and studied at Michigan State College for a year prior to enlisting in the Navy.

He served our country as a proud member of the U.S. Navy Third Fleet for 34 months in the South Pacific, and was aboard the battleship U.S.S. Colorado during the Battle of Tarawa. After combat duty, he was assigned to Hawaii as a gunnery instructor and was honorably discharged as a First Class Petty Officer.

He came back to the family farm and married Reba Kirkpatrick, also a WWII veteran and "the most beautiful girl on the Peninsula." They raised four children together: Della (David) Garfield of Phoenix, Ariz., Frederic (Kay) Dohm, Virginia (Michael "Lew") Coulter and Barbara (Joshua) Wunsch, all of the Old Mission Peninsula. Reba passed away in 1978. A few years later, Fred married Amelia "Amy" Hyslop, who taught him to golf; she also preceded him in death.

Fred came home from the war to a cash-strapped general farm. He used his resources from the war, his love of the land, and endless work over the next 30 years to transform it into a productive fruit farm. He was proud to be involved in furthering the cherry industry; he was appointed to the Michigan Sweet Cherry Committee by Gov. William Milliken and also served with the Sweet Cherry Industry Foundation. Fred recruited other farmers on the Peninsula for soil and water conservation programs. He was an innovative farmer and was one of the first growers in the region to purchase a mechanical cherry harvester. One of his pleasures in life, into his 90s, was meeting for morning coffee with other farmers at the Peninsula Fruit Exchange.

Fred had every intention to live the rest of his life on the Peninsula and took community responsibilities seriously. He served as a Peninsula Township Trustee, served on the Board of Appeals, was a member of the local Farm Bureau, was one of the founding members of the Garland-Tompkins Post of the American Legion at Old Mission. He was active in the Old Mission Peninsula School Parent Teacher Organization, which at that time controlled school staffing, and he helped to build and contributed to the Ogdensburg Methodist Church. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Fred's passions included deer and big game hunting, traveling, and sports — especially college football. He traveled to most of the states, including Hawaii and Alaska, and also visited Canada, Mexico and Europe. He loved to go and loved to come home; he often said, "I never saw a place that I thought was a better place to live than the Peninsula."

He was intensely proud of his grandchildren: Bonnie Williams, Frank Tafelsky, Ben Bumstead, Melzar Coulter, Nina Coulter, Anna Coulter, Julia Pierson, Isaiah Wunsch, and Adele Wunsch. To the last day of his life, he wanted to know all about their academic or career accomplishments, their beaus, their travels, and how their races went. Fred mentioned in his writings that the greatest monument he could leave was the family that he raised. He has also left 10 great-grandchildren.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, wives, and brothers: Irving, Anthony and William Dohm.

During the final few years of Fred's life, he resided at Concord Place in Traverse City, which was a home a little way from home for him. He very much appreciated his caregivers and enjoyed the company of the other residents. He constantly wanted "the dope" about the Peninsula and loved day trips out to see the farms. His final resting place will be walking distance from his farm.

Per his wishes, Fred's family invites those who knew him to join them for a celebration of his life from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Old Mission Tavern Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009.

Memorial contributions may be directed to The Garland-Tompkins Post 399 of the American Legion, or to the Peninsula Community Library.

Please share your memories and stories of Fred with his family at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com.

The family is being served by Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home.

This obituary was originally published in the Record-Eagle.