Rufus Dayton Hubbard passed away peacefully at his home on March 3, 2014. He and his late wife Allene, were the founding owners of Corey Lake Orchards. “Dayton” as he was known to his family and friends was born May 15, 1930, in Floyd County, Virginia. He graduated from Blacksburg High School in 1947 and attended Virginia Tech, from which …

Patricia Rae Gray, age 71, of Sherwood, died Sunday, March 2, 2014 at her home. She was born in Goshen, IN on Oct. 30, 1942 the daughter of Charles and Naomi (Trine) Richards, and later attended Schoolcraft High School. Patricia recently retired from T-H Plastics in Mendon. She loved her family, animals, crocheting, flower gardening and hunting. Patricia is survived …

Eleanor “Taffy” June (Weiss) Paul, age 70, of Sturgis, Michigan passed away early Sunday afternoon, March 2, 2014 at home surrounded by family and friends. She was born May 30, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois daughter of the late Fred and Dorothy (Lewis) Weiss. Taffy resided in Sturgis since 1978 coming from Jenison, Michigan. On March 17, 1967 she married Harry …

Joyce D. Smith, 62, of Sturgis, died Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind., following an extended illness. She was born Aug. 12, 1951, in Goshen, Ind., to Melvin and Velma (Marchant) Beardsley. She was a resident of the Sturgis area for the past 26 years, coming from White Pigeon. She had been employed at Kirsch Company …

Ivan A. Stuckey, age 92, of Burr Oak, went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning March 1, 2014, at Parkview Regional Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was born May 15, 1921 in Archbold, Ohio, a son of the late Aaron and Sarah (Eicher) Stuckey. Ivan resided in Burr Oak for the past 49 years after moving from …

I’d like to speak to anyone who thinks there is nothing to do here in Three Rivers. Beginning April 15, 2006, I started informing the fine citizens of this community of things to do right here in St. Joseph County. I have never run out of things to write about. Since that time, I’ve modified the column to include some …

Pearl Marion Bailey, age 102, passed away Friday afternoon, Feb. 28, 2014, at Thurston Woods Village in Sturgis. She was born April 23, 1911, in Milwaukee, a daughter of the late Charles and Petronelle Lupenski. Mrs. Bailey resided in Sturgis since 1974, coming from Chicago. In January 1971, she married Alvin Bailey in Chicago. He died October 18, 1979. She …

The Animal Rescue Fund of St. Joseph County has announced the date of its annual Dinner Auction, the agency’s largest fundraiser of the year. The event will be March 22 at Belle Époque in downtown Three Rivers. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. with a live auction starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at Beam Sound and …

A Branch County man has been charged with felony animal abuse after sheriff’s deputies found a dead horse and nine others that were underfed on his farm in Ovid Township. The Branch County Sheriff’s Department said Geoffrey Eickmann, 33, was arrested Thursday after a warrant was issued. He remains at the county jail in Coldwater under a $25,000 bond after …

Michigan’s memorable winter is about to set another record. Currently, more than 90.5% of the Great Lakes are ice-covered. That’s the most ice cover in 34 years. In 1979, there was 94.7% ice cover, the largest ever recorded by scientists. Jia Wang, a research ice climatologist for the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, told the Detroit Free …