Obituary
Eunice Henrietta Pines of Traverse City, formerly of Rogers City and Cleveland, Ohio went to be with her Lord on Wednesday October 28, 2015. She was 92 years old.
The daughter of Esther (Cordes) and Arthur Krueger was born on June 17, 1923 in Onaway, Presque Isle County, Michigan. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alpena, MI, and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church, Rogers City, MI.
St. John's Lutheran Church, Rogers City, MI., St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio, and Trinity Lutheran Church, Traverse City were a big part of her life. She loved these churches because they brought her God's promise of hope, peace, and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Eunice loved her family, friends, tennis, traveling, and gardening. Eunice had a passion for making a difference, through her work preserving genealogical records in Presque Isle County, serving for years as Trinity Lutheran's historian, as well as her leadership in the Friendly Garden Club, and various educational boards.
She was preceded in death by her parents Arthur E. and Esther Krueger, son Mark Alan Pines (Feb. 4,1963), her husband of 61 years Iverne Kurt Pines (May 18,2004), her brother Rev. Arthur C. Krueger of Grand Rapids and her sister Margaret Krueger Radka and brother-in-law Elmer Radka of Rogers City.
Surviving are sons Kurt (Diane) of Brunswick, Ohio and Brad (Carol) Pines, three grandchildren: Megan, Wilson and Madison Pines of Troy, MI, sister–in-law Joanne Krueger Poskey of Grand Rapids, cousins, many nieces and nephews, and grand-nieces and nephews.
Eunice cherished her many friends who were of all ages.
Visitation is 6 to 8 pm on Friday October 30, 2015 at Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home in Traverse City. The funeral service will be held on Saturday October 31, 2015 at 2 pm, with visitation from 1 to 2 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Traverse City. The burial will occur in Rogers City, where Eunice will be laid to rest next to her parents, husband, and son Mark. More information can be found at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com .
Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church, 1003 S. Maple St., Traverse City, MI, 49684 or to the charity of your choice.
Family Life
Eunice and Iverne Kurt Pines were married on October 17, 1942 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Rogers City. Kurt was drafted and left for Camp Custer on November 12, 1942.
Eunice and Kurt moved around the country during Kurt's service. After his service, Kurt began an apprenticeship in Cleveland, Ohio. Then, Kurt was sent to the northern part of Michigan from Cleveland to represent the George Worthington Company. He was headquartered in Traverse City. All their children were born in Traverse City: Kurt Arthur-Dec. 16, 1952, Mark Alan-September 10, 1957 and Brad Eric-December 30, 1958. Her boys were the light of her life. She participated in all of their activities in church, at Traverse City Public Schools, and then at college. She served on the Jr. High and Sr. High Booster Club Board of Directors. She was a den mother for both boys. Kurt went to Star and received his God & Country from Trinity Lutheran while Brad became an Eagle Scout. Both were great accomplishments. She is very proud of the men that they have become.
Son Mark Alan went to live with Jesus on February 4, 1963. He was only 5 years old. He only lived nine months after he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He loved school and was able to attend kindergarten until Christmas of 1962. He practiced for the children's program at Eastern Elementary and also the Sunday School Christmas program at Trinity Lutheran, but was unable to participate in the program and watched in the audience with his parents. Mark had everyone singing Christmas carols in October. He was such a joy the short while he was with us.
She was blessed with three grandchildren Megan, Wilson, and Madison. Wilson and Madison were twins which was a new adventure in the Pines family. Each summer while staying with Grandma and Grandpa, Megan, Wilson and Madison attended Vacation Bible School at Trinity Lutheran in Traverse City. Grandma attended their baptisms, confirmations, soccer games, track meets, graduations from high school and college, and honors convocations, etc. Eunice was so proud of Megan, Wilson, and Madison and their many accomplishments.
Passions and Interests
Eunice was taught to bake bread by her Mother. The men in her family loved it. She was also known for her apple pie and roasts.
She had a special love for roses which flourished in the two front flower boxes attached to her house. It had been built and designed by Eunice and her husband. In the front yard is a giant magnolia tree planted by Eunice May 27, 1976 when it was about 1 ½ feet high. It is now taller than the house. It was to be a shade tree, not cover the house. The house was very special to Eunice, and Eunice was thankful to have been able to spend the rest of her days in that house.
Eunice loved to travel. She was able to see most of the places in the world that interested her. That included visiting most of the United States. She visited Japan in 1989 as a goodwill ambassador in the Sister City/Sister State Program, staying with two different Japanese families. Eunice visited Iceland in 1993. She traveled to Beijing, China as an AAUW delegate to the 1995 United States/Chinese Women's Conference. As a small business owner she met with Chinese women engineers. There was time to see the Great Wall and other tourist attractions. Eunice saw the Passion Play in Florida and in Oberamergau, Germany. She visited Costa Rica, Panama and cruised down the Panama Canal before it was turned over to the Panamanians. She loved the opera and attended an opera in Vienna, Austria as well as the U. S. She loved rain forests and visited as many as she could find. She visited Chichen Itza, Mexico, the largest Mayan temple. She toured Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, northern Italy and France. Eunice toured Germany for the 500th Birthday of Martin Luther and again for the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach. Visited Wriedel, Germany where her grandfather Wilhelm Cordes was born. She worshiped in the local Lutheran Church and perused the church records for her ancestors.
Tennis was her love and she and Kurt were among the first members of the Grand Traverse Resort and their number was 29. She played tennis into her 80's. She still had brunch every Saturday with several members of the Monday Tennis League. Over the years she bowled in many leagues in Rogers City, Valparaiso University, Cleveland, Ohio and Traverse City; swam; figure skated (Eunice and her sister Margaret put on ice skating shows at the local rink. That took nerve since the only training they had was watching Sonya Henie movies). She played Bridge, Spitzer, Euchre, other card games, and loved board games.
Personal Achievements:
Eunice attended St. John's Lutheran School. St. John was a one-room school (1st to 8th grade). She graduated from 8th grade as valedictorian on June 11, 1937. Eunice graduate from Rogers City High School in 1941, also as valedictorian. After graduation she enrolled in Valparaiso University in Indiana. She completed her freshman year at Valpo returning home that summer to Rogers City.
After she married and didn't go back to school, she went to work for Michigan Limestone & Chemical Company in Rogers City in the accounting department. In a very short time, she was also given the job of taking care of the cash books for MI Limestone, Bradley Transportation and Central Radio subsidiaries of U. S. Steel. She took a bus to Columbus, Georgia (Kurt was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia) where she went to work for Lt. Clarence Anderson in the Transportation Department of the Quartermaster Market Center in Columbus, GA They shipped food to the troops by rail from their huge refrigerated warehouse. When her husband was sent to Camp Lee, Virginia, Eunice went to work at Camp Lee as a secretary/office manager to a Captain, a Juliard graduate, and head of the Band Training Unit. When Kurt was sent to Fort Sheridan, Illinois to be discharged, Eunice rode on the troop train with him as far as Detroit and then took the train north to Rogers City. She had no seat, so she sat on her suitcase in the aisle. After a short time at home, she left for Fort Sheridan and went to work in the Adjunct General's office until Kurt was discharged.
When her husband began an apprenticeship in Cleveland, Eunice went to work in the editorial department of The Cleveland Press. Most of her accounting classes were taken there. Many times she was the only female in the class, as accounting was not a women's field at that time.
At Case-Western Reserve she was also one of the first women allowed into the National Honorary Accounting Fraternity – Beta Alpha Psi. Women had the grades but they were denied admittance to this all-male Fraternity.
As a very unusual non-traditional student, Eunice amassed credits from Valparaiso University, IN; Case-Western Reserve U., Ohio, Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Lake Forest College, Illinois, Northwestern Michigan College, and Traverse City, MI. Eunice completed her undergraduate career at Ferris State College, in Big Rapids, MI where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with Distinction. She also had post-graduate studies from Central Michigan U., Mt Pleasant, MI. earned in Traverse City.
After graduating from Ferris, Eunice began her own computerized tax and business service which she operated for 18 years.
She was always interested in education and served on the General Education Advisory Council (1976-78) and the Title IV Advisory Council (1978-80) for the Michigan Department of Education in Lansing, MI. She also visited classrooms in Beijing, China, and Japan. She served on the Traverse City Library Board of Trustees and worked locally to save the Library of Michigan in Lansing, MI. She also was one of hundreds who showed support by encircling their arms around the Library of Michigan.
Eunice was very active in the Traverse City Area Public School system. She was involved in the PTA on a local, state, and national level. She served as president of the Eastern Elementary PTA, TCHS PTSA, and the Traverse Bay Area PTA Council (5 years). She served as District Director covering 10 counties, Bulletin Editor (1975-79), and Region B Vice President (covering 23 counties) for the Michigan PTA. She also served on several committees of the Traverse City Board of Education, and as a nature guide at the Outdoor Education Center and newspaper columnist for the Traverse City Record-Eagle with the PTA Potpourri column (1972-1979).
She is a longtime member of The Friendly Garden Club serving in various capacities. She served as chairman of the conservation committee for nine years. A particular emphasis was placed on the Arboretum area and the National and Michigan Champion Black Willow site. She also served as Publicity chair and 2nd VP. In 2012 she was presented a Lifetime Membership in the Michigan Garden Clubs for her service.
"Friendship through Flowers" is the motto of Ikebana. She is a longtime member of the local Mizuwmi Chapter #165 and serving as its president and all the other offices. She also is a member of Ieknobo, one of the many schools of Ikebana. Every other year a visiting Professor comes from Japan to give an Ikenobo Workshop in Traverse City. She enjoyed Japanese Flower Arranging.
Historical Work
She was a longtime member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Traverse City, MI where she served in many positions. Dorcas was a special love of hers, where she served as president and most other offices. She was Trinity's first historian and held that position for many years. With a background in preserving records, she began looking for records of early Trinity from members' homes, newspapers and her own vast collection of records to create Trinity's Archives. Her most fulfilling project was the translation of the early congregational minutes of Trinity in the old German script. The translation from German to English covered minutes from May 16, 1882 through October 13, 1918. A doctoral student from Germany Bernd Goelzer, Friede Ham, Rev. Albert Krueger, Eunice Pines, Ger Fulecky, and Valerie Angers were all involved in this project. It took 25 years to complete.
In the early 50's, Eunice began to gather church death records, sexton records, obituaries, burial permits, cemetery readings etc. of Presque Isle County, Michigan. The first volume of the Presque Isle County Cemeteries was published in 1993. The seventh volume with Book 1 & 2 of the Memorial Park Cemetery and Peace Lutheran Church Cemetery were published in 2005. The 10th volume, and last, covering Immanuel Lutheran Church of Moltke and the Moltke Twp. Cemetery was published in 2011. The 10 volumes covered 27 cemeteries in P. I. County. She also had Rev. Christian Schwan's Diaries 2, 3, 4, & 5 translated from German to English and published. He wrote with great detail about each of his Mission stops recording services, births, confirmations, those he communed, offerings given, marriages, and deaths. They covered the years from 1878 to 1897. Eunice's work covering Presque Isle County is now housed in the Presque Isle County Historical Museum in Rogers City, MI. This also includes over eight P. I. Co. family histories.
She also published two volumes of Montmorency County Cemeteries, the St. John Lutheran Cemetery, Royston/Hillman, and Montmorency Township Cemetery books in 2002. Her grandfather William Cordes was a founder of St. John Lutheran Church of Royston. The cemetery is located on one acre of the original Cordes homestead.
These cemetery books are unique. No other cemetery books have this much information. It was a work of love on Eunice's part. She was preserving history.
Eunice's interest in genealogy extended from Traverse City to Lansing and beyond. She served as recording secretary from 1982-84 and as president of the Grand Traverse Area Genealogical Society of Traverse City from 1984-86. From the local society she went on to serve as vice-president (1985-87) and president of Michigan Genealogical Council, Lansing, MI. (1987-89) and served as the first MGC Archivist beginning in 1991 and retiring in 2009. She attended numerous National Genealogical Society and Federation of Genealogical Society Conferences over the years. In 1994, she represented the Pommerschen Leute at the newly formed Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies in Salt Lake City. She researched at the National Archives, Allen County Library, (Ft. Wayne), Burton Historical Library, Detroit Public Library, Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library, Library of Michigan, Family History Library in Salt Lake City, NEHGS in Boston and others.
She chaired the "Immigration and Migration" Seminar and the Surname Workshop for the Grand Traverse Area Genealogical Society in 1985 and the very successful "Timeline to the Millennium" October 28-30, 1999 Michigan Genealogical Council Seminar at the Grand Traverse Resort.
Eunice mentored many of her friends in genealogy and got them interested in researching their family history. She was always available to help them if needed.
Conclusion
Eunice lived a long, happy, and fulfilled life. She loved her family, friends, and the work she was involved in. She will now enjoy the rest of eternity with her Lord and will be reunited with those that she had previously lost.