The Ile Camera
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Family, Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy members plant tree, dedicate plaque
Honoring Willis 'Sonny' Forshee
PUBLISHED: August 31, 2007
Four generations of the Forshee family gathered Aug. 11 with members of the Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy in front of the Grosse Ile Public Safety Building.
Advertisement
The occasion honored Willis Forshee, in whose memory a tree was planted and a plaque dedicated to his decades of community service.
His daughter, Diane Guttridge, who flew in from Florida for the occasion, said that before he died in November 2005 he had been a common sight along Macomb Street.
Born on Grosse Ile in 1920, Forshee had been the island's oldest lifetime resident at the time of his passing.
His mother, Emma Victoria Reaume, was a descendant of the first French landowner, Daniel Reaume, who settled on Grosse Ile after the Macomb family purchased the island from the Potawatomi Indians.
Forshee married Ella Fraser in 1940 and lived happily on Grosse Ile for another 65 years, not including his years of military service during World War II.
The outline of the Navy's LST 598 on the plaque reminds his family how proud he was of his days serving his country.
The highlight of the memorial dedication was a reading by great-granddaughter Chloe Hutchison of the book "Always and Forever," by Alan Durant.
She told the gathering that the fox in the story reminded her of "Papa," the appellation used by all the generations of his family.
Chloe's grandmother, Guttridge, noted that when her own daughter, Jen Hutchison, had surgery and Chloe was just a baby, Forshee went every morning at about 6 a.m. to get Chloe up, rock her and care for her during the day until the baby's dad returned home from work.
When she was older and her little sister had surgery and needed her mother's constant attention, Forshee was still there for Chloe.
He didn't ask if he was needed; he would just show up.
He would take Chloe out in the boat for a swim and then to Amherstburg, Ontario, where they would walk, get ice cream and visit a park.
He would take his great- grandchildren for lunch to the A&W in Trenton and then to the play structure. In the winter, he would take them sledding, even at 85 years of age.
Guttridge said Chloe misses him very much and it has been hard on her to lose someone she had spent time with almost every day of her life.
Forshee was caring, loving, fun and always in a good mood, she said. He never left without a hug and telling you he loved you.
Like a ray of sunshine, Forshee was called "Sonny" by many who knew him.
When his two children were young, he worked two jobs to help pay for college expenses.
When time allowed, he was an avid outdoorsman; he would take his children and grandchildren fishing, year-round.
Still, he found time to work and volunteer in the community that he loved like family.
In the 1950s he worked as a dispatcher for the Grosse Ile Police Department. He was a volunteer firefighter for most of his adult life and served as a fire commissioner from 1992-98.
"We were fortunate to have Will on board," Fire Chief Duncan Murdock said.
"Will was always an upbeat guy and fun to be around."
Forshee also was a member of the Islanders and St. James Episcopal Church, working on the church rummage sales throughout his life.
Upon his death, the family requested that memorial donations be made to the Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy.
In gratitude, the local conservancy worked with the township to find an appropriate location for a memorial tree and plaque.
When construction along Meridian was completed it became obvious that the perfect location for the memorial would be in front of the township's Public Safety Building.
A small granite boulder, unearthed by D'Agostini & Sons Inc. from the bedrock under Grosse Ile and donated for the project, was used to mount the memorial plaque.
Forshee was remembered lovingly Aug. 11 and he will continue to be remembered as a special person who loved intensely and gave freely to help and bring happiness to his family, friends, community and his beloved island.
(Submitted by the Forshee family and the Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy)
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
