David Lee Chapman, age 83, of Centreville, passed away Tuesday evening, Nov. 3, 2020, at Three Rivers Health. He was born June 15, 1937, in Fort Wayne, a son of the late Paul and Violet (Oberlin) Chapman. Dave resided in the Centreville area most of his life. On Sept. 10, 1961, he married Shirley Long in Sturgis. He retired from …

Robert A. Vinstra, age 88, of Kalamazoo, passed away early Wednesday morning November 4, 2020 at the Alamo Nursing Home in Kalamazoo. He was born July 23, 1932 in Grand Rapids, son of the late Andrew and Cora (Laarman) Vinstra. Bob resided in Kalamazoo since 1997 coming from Coopersville. His early life was spent in Holland where he was a …

John Wendell Kirsch, age 93, of Sturgis, a man of quiet generosity, passed away peacefully at his home Monday afternoon, Nov. 2, 2020. He was born Aug. 1, 1927, in Sturgis, a son of the late John N. and Evelyn (McLauchlin) Kirsch and grandson of the Kirsch Company founder, the late Charles W. Kirsch. Mr. Kirsch was a lifelong resident …

Three Rivers Health and Indiana-based Beacon Health System have signed a Letter of Intent to have Three Rivers Health join Beacon Health System in the spring of 2021, pending final approvals. Dave Shannon, president/CEO of Three Rivers Health, a 60-bed facility, said the situation was an opportunity to grow through careful alignment with partners of high integrity, who share a …

A Three Rivers resident will succeed Aaron Miller as 59th District State Representative. Republican Steve Carra topped Democratic challenger Amy East and write-in candidate Jack Coleman. Carra captured about two-thirds of the 27,000 votes cast in St. Joseph County for the two-year term.

A former Three Rivers City Commission member will represent the municipality and two adjacent townships as St. Joseph County District 1 commissioner. Jared Hoffmaster comfortably held off Andrew George to claim the two-year seat. The position, which is being vacated by Allen Balog, also includes representation of Flowerfield and Lockport townships. Hoffmaster collected about 1,400 more votes than George. No-party-affiliation …

Three positions in two townships featured contested races. In Mendon Township, longtime incumbent Mike Kline defeated challenger Gregory Allen in a race for supervisor. Kline won by a margin of 68 percent to 31 percent and will serve four additional years as Mendon Township’s supervisor. In Lockport Township, Christy Trammell captured nearly 59 percent of the vote for township clerk. …

Three Rivers Community Schools chose four people from a field of six candidates to its board of education. Newcomers Melissa Bliss and Ben Karle will join incumbents Julia Awe and Anne Riopel to six-year terms on the board. Meanwhile, incumbent Fred Barclay was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election to White Pigeon Community Schools Board of Education. Instead, Jeff Baechler …

Francis J. “Frank” Kruszka, age 84, of Colon, died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 at his home. He was born in Bronson, MI on March 15, 1936 the son of Frank and Rose (Wotta) Kruszka. He graduated from Bronson High School in 1954. He went on to Western Michigan University on a baseball scholarship where he was a pitcher that won …

Billy Russell Mangold, age 71, of Three Rivers, passed away Monday, November 2, 2020. He was born September 24, 1949 in Forrest City, Ark., the son of Alva Lee and Eugenia (Coleman) Mangold. Billy served his country in the Army 82nd Airborne division, where he guarded the White House during Vietnam. He later spent 48 years driving forklift in the …