Paul Haldane Peltcs

1918 - 2014

Peltcs, Paul Haldane; of Dexter, MI; age 95; passed away July 4, 2014; at his home on Island Lake Rd,; after a brief illness. He was born at home in Fayette, Ohio on July 23, 1918, the son of Thomas Martin and Mary Matilda (Crow) Peltcs. Paul attended school in Pioneer, Ohio and West Unity, Ohio before moving to Jackson, Michigan where he graduated from Jackson High School and attended Jackson Community College. In high school, he was active in band and orchestra playing string bass and trombone. He enjoyed being in plays and drama productions. While in West Unity, Ohio during the Great Depression, he sold corn cobs obtained at the local feed mill, for a nickel per 100 pound feed bag to townsfolk for starting their wood stoves. He trained a goat to pull his wagon as he delivered his bags of cobs. He enjoyed traveling on the Toledo and Western interurban railway where his father was a conductor, going to Toledo to swim at the beach and to Tiedke’s Department store for shopping. After graduating from high school with high honors, he worked for Household Finance and was relocated to Muskegon, MI when he was drafted for World War II in 1942. He was inducted at Camp Grant, Illinois and was given a job typing insurance forms. He was assigned to the 595th medical ambulance company where he rose to Captain with the 3rd Army. During the Battle of the Bulge, he was taken prisoner and held at the German submarine pens at Brest, France for several weeks while the British bombers tried to destroy the pens with bombing runs, until he was part of a prisoner swap. Toward the end of the war he was assigned by General Gay to find, pick up and transport German scientists to New Jersey by boat before the Russians got them. After arriving back in America, he was assigned as Post Commander of the soldiers at Percy Jones Hospital in Battle Creek, MI. He went out on a blind date and met Mary Janet Creg, who was an Occupational Therapist at the hospital. After a short time dating, they wed on February 21, 1948 at her mother’s home in Wheatland Township, Plainfield, Illinois. Paul left the Army and went to the University of Michigan earning a Bachelors of Civil Engineering with high honors. They resided at Clear Lake near Waterloo, MI where they had two sons, William Owen and Thomas Martin Peltcs. Paul was an avid sailor and enjoyed sailing and fishing with his sons. Paul’s desire to support education led him to be on the Palmer School Board, a one room country school, as chairman. His engineering projects included the high tension towers designed at Niagara Falls and bridge building when the toll road/interstate highway system was being built in South Bend, Indiana. In 1965, he moved to Dexter where he started home building in the greater Dexter area. He farmed there and the grandchildren enjoyed feeding the calves with him. He was active in Salem Grove Methodist Church serving as treasurer and board member. Surviving are his sons, William Owen (Nancy) Peltcs and Thomas Martin (Dana) Peltcs, both of Tecumseh; grandchildren, Andrew, Caroline, and Martin (Ashley); also surviving is his brother, Robert (Peggy) Peltcs of Deland, FL; a sister-in-law, Eleanor Crego; and nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death were his sisters, Dorothy and Juanita Rose Peltcs, and Yvonne Gulick. Visitation was Wednesday at the Cole Funeral Chapel in Chelsea. Funeral Services were held Thursday at Salem Grove United Methodist Church on Notten Road, with Pastor Christine Beaudoin officiating. Burial will be at the Wheatland Township Cemetery, Naperville, Illinois. Memorial contributions may be made to Salem Grove United Methodist Church.