Douglas Bruce Pemberton

Douglas Bruce Pemberton, age 90, of Elk Rapids, Michigan, passed on December 24, 2025, following complications of a stroke. Born on April 12,1935, to Muriel (Potts) and Orson Pemberton in Howard City, Michigan, Doug graduated in 1953 from Howard City high school where he played the trumpet in the high school band and his mother was a teacher. His grandmother Olive Pemberton was one of only a handful of female mail carriers in the US in the early 1900’s, delivering the mail by horse and buggy before switching to a Model T Ford in the 1920’s. Doug joined the Navy after high school and was stationed in Pensacola, Florida. He met his wife Barbara ‘Jean’ Campbell at a USO dance in Mobile Alabama. They were married in April 1958. He had a small band while in the Navy and could play a mean version of “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White”, mostly playing at the officers club and NCO clubs. He regularly played Reveille and Taps during his enlistment. One of his treasured memories was meeting “Satchmo”, a.k.a. Louis Armstrong, backstage at the Fruitport Pavilion before it burned down, and being allowed to hold his trumpet. In 1959, he was invited by the Navy‘s premier flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, to join their elite maintenance crew as an electronic technician. It was not uncommon for the Navy to send a jet to fly him to location for maintenance during an airshow. After leaving the Navy, he joined the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and with now five year old daughter Carolyn and newborn son Douglas was stationed in Alaska for four years in Skwentna, Cold Bay and Middleton Island. Upon returning to the states in 1970, they drove through the quaint Village of Elk Rapids, Michigan. The convergence of the blue waters of the Bay and the Elk River with white swans was too beautiful to pass up and the family settled there. He quickly made friends with a group of local men that enjoyed sailing and together they sailed the Bangalore in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. Doug had a beautiful tenor singing voice and sang for several years in barbershop quartets and the local Rotary Minstrel Shows. Doug loved Christmas and playing Santa. Whether in Alaska, Michigan, Molokai or at Grumman’s Chinese Theatre or the Children’s Ward of the Los Angeles Hospital, he brought joy and delight to children in his special, custom made Santa suit and beard. Divorced in 1976, Doug moved to Molokai, Hawaii, again working for the FAA. Shortly after retiring in 1990, he moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to help take care of his mother and do “some serious fishing.” Doug moved back to Elk Rapids in 2018 and in July 2023, after 47 years, he and Jean were re-married. Due to advanced dementia, his last few months were spent in the Meadow Brook Medical Care facility in Bellaire, Michigan, where he was affectionately referred to as the “mayor of Meadow Brook” due to his outgoing personality. Doug is survived by his wife, Jean, his daughter, Carolyn (Mike) Hoover of Alden, his son Douglas (Annie) Pemberton, brother John (Jean) Pemberton of Dollar Bay, grandchildren Jessica Hoover, Nicole (Jesse) Way, Rachel Pemberton (Justin), Robin (Rana) Bruce, great grandchildren Brianna, Lucas, Rob Jr., and Isabella, nephews John (Jill) Pemberton of Boyne City; Jim (Brigitte) Pemberton of Petoskey, Joey (Mary) Pemberton of Beach Park, IL, Jerry (Amy) Pemberton of Cary, NC, and Niece Debbie (Gary) Grooman of East Jordan, along with numerous grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins in the Potts and Pemberton families. He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister Nancy Kaars and his great grandson Theoden Micah Way. The family wishes to thank the staff at Meadow Brook Medical Care facility, Grass Creek Wing, for their excellent care and also the nurses and doctors at the Munson ICU in Traverse City for their compassion and kindness towards Doug in his final days. A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 10, 11:00am at New Hope Community Church 5100 Bethesda Court, Williamsburg, MI. Luncheon immediately following. Arrangements are being handled by Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Traverse City with interment at Reynolds Township Cemetery in Howard City at a date TBD.

Douglas Bruce Pemberton

April 12, 1935 - December 24, 2025