Obituaries

Thomas P. Weber Sr.

Died Aug. 31, 2014

CEDAR — Thomas P. Weber Sr., 90, of Cedar passed away Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014 at his home surrounded by his loving family.

  Thomas was born Oct. 5, 1923 in Ottoville, Ohio the son of William and Gertrude (Schmidt) Weber. On Sep. 29, 1951 with Father Burke presiding at St. Alfred’s Church in Taylor, Michigan he married his loving wife of 59 years, Iva Helen (Renehan) Weber who preceded him in death on Aug. 26, 2010.

  In lieu of high school, he attended and graduated from Henry Ford Trade School where he personally met Henry Ford who visited often. While attending the Trade School, he earned money which he sent back home to his parents to help support the family.

  As a young man Tom served his nation in the Navy as a SeaBee, seeing service in World War II. He was one of six Weber siblings who served in World War II. Originally he had aspirations to join the Air Force, convinced that he could bluff his way through the test for color blindness, but his ruse was quickly uncovered, much to his disappointment.

  For most of his life, Tom was a tool and die maker. He also had experience as a mason, a bricklayer, a truck driver, and a mechanic. He was a member of Holy Rosary Parish and choir, sharing his beautiful tenor voice for many years.

  Tom loved his farm in Cedar. He and Iva traded a lot on Little Traverse Lake in order to purchase the property. They had nine children together, and in 1979 they took in their uncle, James “Unk” McLaughlin, who lived with them until he passed away in 1988 at the age of 94. Tom’s Big Woods, where he cut most of the wood that fueled the stove through the winter, was his sanctuary.

  If you ever needed to find Tom, his woods were the first place to look. After Iva passed away, Tom selected two side-by-side trees in his Big Woods to represent him and Iva. The family established a bench and garden under the trees and had the site blessed.

  In the early 1970’s, Tom and Iva bought 10 acres north of Red Lake, Canada, and took the family there for summer vacations. They lived out of tents, boiled their drinking water, hid from swarms of mosquitoes, ate the best fish, and ended up in the hospital emergency room at least once a trip.

When it came to being handy, Tom was in a class of his own. He built his and Iva’s first home in Taylor, Michigan, and when they bought property in Leelanau County he went one step further, taking on the role of both designer and builder of their home.

  Never intimidated by age, Tom also built his own pole barn while he was in his late 70’s—the sheer number of nuts and bolts he bought probably kept Cedar Hardware in business for years. Tom even tried his hand at boat building, creating two wooden canoes and one kayak, all entirely by hand and all entirely sea worthy.   At age 90, he ate his first bagel, wore his first pair of jeans, and loved them!

  Tom loved spending time outdoors. He loved to cut and harvest his own wood, and he was an expert with a chainsaw. Throughout his life, Tom took great pride in his fruit trees, and there was never a time when he wasn’t planning on planting more. He was an avid hunter and spent many hunting seasons in the family cabin in the Upper Peninsula, accompanied by his sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons.

  Tom was “Grandpa” to 28 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren & one arriving in December. Never one to change his ways, he simply adapted his grandchildren to what spending the day with Grandpa entailed. There was wood to be cut, fruit trees to be examined, trips to Cedar to be taken, candy bars to be eaten, and naps to be slept. The most mundane tasks, when done with Grandpa, became adventures filled with laughter and love.

  He was perpetually patient, and he loved passing on his knowledge and stories of his life to the younger generation. Tom was never too busy to spend time with his grandchildren, and though their offers to help throw down a bale of hay or split wood often brought out his protective nature, he always found some way for them to feel important and involved in whatever he was doing.

  Tom taught his grandchildren to respect and love nature. He was always eager to share his knowledge of trees, even going so far as to help his granddaughter, Katie, collect leaves for her fourth grade leaf project. He could also be mischievous – sneaking their favorite blankets from them while they slept and then hiding them for a game of ‘search’. He taught them the importance of laughter in their lives, even if it sometimes meant they’d be laughing at themselves. Most importantly, Tom taught his grandchildren what unconditional love looked like—they had only to look at his smile.

  Tom was a fair man, and a good man.  He started every day with a smile and optimism, saying "Well, looks like today is gonna' be a nice day".  When the family faced difficult times or tragedies, his strong faith shined through as he reminded everyone: “We’ll be just fine as long as we keep doing things the way God wants us to”.

  Tom is survived by six sons, Thomas Jr., Timothy (Teri), Terrance, Brian (Janet), Randolph (Yvonne) all of Cedar, and Christopher (Lynn) of Rockford; three daughters, Trudy (Gary) Galla of Maple City, Katrina (Dale) Pleva and Bridget Weber of Cedar; 27 grandchildren, TJ and Troy Weber, Timothy Jr., Trever Weber and Tonya (Aaron) Muggelberg, Brandon and Elizabeth Weber, Kyle, Devin and Whitney Weber, Stephanie (Andrew) Vyn, Katie (Kurtis) Graham, Cody Weber, Tesha (Andrew) Milliron, Shannon, Tayler and Sean Galla, Lauryn, Kristen (Richard) Rethoret, Kaley, Dale T., Kary and Jacob Pleva, Amber, Alyssa, Andrew and Abigail Weber, and eight great-grandchildren, Faith, Griffin and Allory Vyn, Melanie, Derek, Adalyn Iva, and Lilyana Graham, and Jonah Rethoret; a brother, Mark of Spokane, Washington; two sisters, Dorothy Caron of Traverse City, Elizabeth “Betty” Finstad of Cedar; two sisters-in-law, Joanne Mazoue of Metaire, Louisiana, and Burnelle (Frank) DeGrendel of Tustin, Michigan.

  He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Iva; two grandsons, Jacob James Pleva and Matthew Richard Pleva; his parents; his brothers, Homer “Tony”, identical twin James, Howard, Earl, William and Robert; and sisters, Eloise and Carol.

  Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., on Thursday, Sept. 4 with a Rosary to be prayed at 7 p.m. at Holy Rosary Church in Isadore. The funeral mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m., on Friday, Sept. 5, also at the church. Burial will follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Fr. Donald Libby will serve as celebrant.

  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to: the Matthew R. Pleva Scholarship Fund, PO Box 159, Suttons Bay, MI 49682; or Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org).

  The family extends their appreciation and thanks to the doctors and nurses of floor 4B, Munson Medical Center, and special thanks to his dedicated and loyal caregiver for taking such good care of him – his daughter Bridget. And thanks to granddaughter Lauryn Pleva, for her time and effort to capture the feelings and love of his family through this obituary.

  Please share memories online at www.martinson.info.

  Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home of Suttons Bay.