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Descendants of John Casse

313. MARY EMMA¹⁰ SAUNDERS (CLAUD HENRY⁹, EMMA ULYSIA⁸ JENKINS, ALONSON⁷, DEBORAH WEBSTER⁶ CASS, JONATHAN⁵, JOSEPH⁴, JONATHAN³, JOSEPH² CASE, JOHN¹ CASSE). She met ROBERT KANE.

More About MARY EMMA SAUNDERS:
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Children of MARY SAUNDERS and ROBERT KANE are:

EMMA¹¹ KANE.

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ii.

BOB KANE.

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314. VIRGINIA JANE¹⁰ BITTEL (IRENE⁹ JENKINS, HARRY ALONSON⁸, ALONSON⁷, DEBORAH WEBSTER⁶ CASS, JONATHAN⁵, JOSEPH⁴, JONATHAN³, JOSEPH² CASE, JOHN¹ CASSE). She met DEAN GRUBAUGH.

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Notes for DEAN GRUBAUGH:
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THE DEAN GRUBAUGH FAMILY
by Virginia Grubaugh

Dean and Virginia Grubaugh moved to Mt. Pleasant in December, 1954, with their children, Kay and Tom. Principal reason for the move was to save the daily commute from St. Louis, MI, to Dean's work at MacGregor News, a wholesale distributor of Magazines, Paperback books, and other periodicals.

The eldest of three sons of David and Fern (Ocobock) Grubaugh of Alma, Dean was born June 8, 1922, and attended country school near his farm home. He graduated from Alma High School in 1940, as did Virginia. She was the only child of Donald and Irene (Jenkins) Bittel, born June 10, 1923, in Cadillac, MI. In 1934 she came to Alma with Her parents when her father was transferred by Consumers Power Co.

Dean took business courses from Yerington Business School in St. Louis and began working at the Gratiot County Road Commission office in Ithaca. He was drafted into military service in 1941. Assigned to HQ Detachment, 203rd Quartermaster Battalion, he served overseas in Africa, Sicily, and Italy, near Naples. One of his fondest memories of that time was of an audience with Pope Pius. Discharged in December, 1945, he returned to the Alma area, took further business classes at Lansing Business University, and obtained a job at Michigan Chemical Co., St. Louis.

Meantime, Virginia had attended Nazareth College in Kalamazoo, studying to become a secondary teacher. Her fields of specialization were English, French, Spanish, and Physical Education. Many colleges and universities were offering accelerated courses during World War II, and Nazareth was no exception. Virginia and seven classmates, who would have graduated in spring, 1944, chose to go the fast route, and so received their BA degrees in December, 1943. They were the only class to achieve that distinction.

Miss Bittels's first teaching position was in junior high English and P.E. in Algonac, MI, in January, 1944. She found it a somewhat different experience, living on the St. Claire River in mid-winter, becoming accustomed to narrow-gauge railroad cars chugging by her rooming house loaded with Chris-Craft-manufactured Navy P-T Boats. Especially startling at first were the eerie moan of the foghorns aboard the passing up and down bound freighters sailing through the night on the river.

Virginia returned to Central MI and was next employed by the Shepherd Schools as a high school English, Spanish and P.E. teacher. She roomed with a remarkable elderly spinster named Rose Marvin, who was the local agent for what is now General Telephone as well as a reporter for The Saginaw News and the Mt. Pleasant newspaper. In 1946, she sought employment in Saginaw, since her parents had moved there. SS. Peter and Paul High School hired her to teach English, Journalism, and World History. Before Virginia left Shepherd, she and Dean had become engaged; they were married April 7, 1947, at St. Joseph Church in St. Louis, since they would be living there.

As a newly-wed, Virginia decided to stop teaching, taking a part-time job as the society reporter for The St. Louis Press. the Grubaughs at first lived in a second floor apartment in downtown St Louis, then purchased a home on Center St. This became home to Kay, born July 5, 1948, and Tom, whose birthday is November 22, 1950.

Dean became manager of the Michigan office of Publishers News Co., a magazine and paperback book wholesaler that located in St. Louis. In 1952, the company relocated in New Buffalo, MI, and the Grubaughs rented a huge, drafty house in nearby Michigan City, IN. the move was not a successful one, and in early 1953, Dean found work as a legal secretary with St. Louis attorney Alfred Fortino, and moved his family back. That same year, a holding tank containing liquid chloride burst its seams, flooding their Center St. property, killing trees and plants. About this time, Dean went to work in Mt. Pleasant for MacGregor News, and the family was glad to sell their house and move to Mt. Pleasant.

The Grugaughs quickly became acquainted in Mt. Pleasant, and their house at 316 South Fancher became a gathering place for friends. Daughter Kay attended first grade a Fancher School, then transferred to Sacred Heard Academy for the remainder of her elementary and secondary education. Tom spent three years at Fancher, then also went to the Academy.

Dean worked for a time for MacGregor News, then found employment as a salesman with J. Murray and Company wholesalers. The last year of his working life he became assistant manager for Acme Paint. In 1961, he had begun having severe headaches and blackouts; tests at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, found no cause for these symptoms, which continued to recur. His eye doctor sent him to the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor, where a brain tumor was diagnosed. Subsequent surgery to remove the tumor found it to be malignant; he returned home with the mandate not to work; he died July 4, 1963, at the Saginaw VA Hospital. It was a traumatic time for the whole family.

In 1955, Virginia had returned to teaching, spending three and a half years in various capacities at Sacred Heart Academy. Surgery in 1959 and a bout with infectious mononucleosis kept her at home until the winter semester of 1962, although she did have some success as a World Book Encyclopedia salesperson during that time. January, 1962, found Virginia teaching American and English Literature, American History, and P.E. at Farwell Area Schools, and the next year adding Spanish. A position opened in Spanish in the Mt. Pleasant schools in 1963, which she took. In the next 23 years, she also taught French and English classes and inaugurated the high school Spanish Club. Virginia retired in June, 1986, after 31 1/2 years of teaching.

During those years, Virginia had attended an NDEA Foreign Language Institute in Spanish at Kalamazoo College (1963); traveled as interpreter-guide to Mt. Pleasant's sister City of Valdivia, Chile, with a local group (1968); received her MA from Central Michigan University with a cognate in Spanish (1970); attended summer school in Toluca, Mexico, with a group of her students (1971); received the Michigan Education Associations Elizabeth Siddall Award for International Understanding for her work with exchange and international programs through Youth for Understanding and People to People (1977); spent two summers in Europe with students through the People to People High School Student Ambassador program (1978 and 1980); participated in a foreign language seminar on the TPR (Total Physical Response) way of teaching at Calvin College, Grand Rapids (1985). Travel to Mexico continued on an alternate year basis for her, often with groups of students, and in Augusts, 1986, she journeyed a second time to Valdivia, Chile, renewing many long time friendships.

Daughter Kay graduated from SHA in 1966, and from Mercy College of Detroit in 1970, with a BA and a major in Spanish. Her first teaching assignment was at St. Alphonsus High School, Dearborn, where she met David Gugala, also a first year teacher. They married April 12, 1971, and have two children, Justin David, born September 13, 1974, and Lauren Elizabeth, born October 7, 1979. The Gugalas live in Northville, MI; David is an executive with Sandy Corporation of Troy, MI; Kay teaches Spanish at Ladywood, and has also taught at Dearborn Divine Child, and Bishop Borgess High Schools.

Son Tom graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1969, served a brief stint with the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, CA and returned to Mt. Pleasant. A year working in the Clearwater, FL, area followed. In Mt. Pleasant once more, he worked various places, and took classes at Mid Michigan Community College, Harrison, and summer courses at CMU. In 1979, he and a friend moved to San Diego, CA, where he worked for a year, then went to Corpus Christi, TX where he presently makes his home. His wife, Linda, is an elementary teacher, and has a son, Edward, 14. She and Tom have a son, Thomas Joseph, born July 25, 1982. Their daughter, Kathryn Ann, was born April 4, 1985. Tom is currently the owner of Trademark Moving Co.

In addition to living on South Fancher St., Virginia and her family have resided at 621 South University, at 2084 1/2 and 2060 Hyde Rd. In 1984 she and her mother purchased the residence at 411 South Lansing St., her present abode. Her mother lived with her since 1986. Irene Bittel died September 11, 1993.

Sacred Heart Church in Mt. Pleasant has been the Grubaughs' spiritual home. Dean was in the process of joining the Knights of Columbus; Virginia belonged to Sacred Heart Altar Society and Court Sacred Heart #1332, Catholic Daughters of the Americas, and has been an officer in both. In 1976 Virginia joined and chaired Sacred Heart Christian Service Commission until 1986. She was on the SH Parish Council during those years, chairing for one year, and served from 1980-86 with Diocesan/Pastoral Council of Saginaw.

Virginia has been and is active in academic and civic organizations as well. During the time she was a public school teacher, she belonged to the National, Michigan, and local Education Associations, and now is affiliated with the retirees division, as well as belonging to the Michigan and Isasbella County Association of Retired School Personnel serving two year terms as Secretary, Vice President, and President. For the past several years, she has been a member of the Mt. Pleasant Area International Relations Committee, associated with Middle MI Development Corporation. She is a member of the educators honorary society of Phi Delta Kappa, CMU Chapter; the CMU Spanish Honor Society; the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; the American Association of Retired Persons. She became a member of the American Association of University Women, Mt. Pleasant Branch, in 1965. Since that year She has also been a member of the Mt. Pleasant chapter of People to People , and has been an officer at the local and state level.

More About DEAN GRUBAUGH:
Fact 1: 1963, VA HOSPITAL , SAGINAW, MI

Children of VIRGINIA BITTEL and DEAN GRUBAUGH are:

397.	i.		KAY IRENE¹¹ GRUBAUGH.
398.	ii.		TOM GRUBAUGH.

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