Ronald H. Showers

1930 – 1975
KOREAN WAR ERA
Enlisted: 31 October 1951
Discharged: 27 February 1957
Rank: Airman First Class

After completing basic training and technical instruction, Showers received his permanent assignment at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts, one of the Strategic Air Command’s major stateside hubs. 

Westover was a sprawling, high-tempo installation supporting bomber wings, refueling squadrons and thousands of airmen and dependents. It was a city in itself and it needed people who could keep daily life running smoothly.

Showers worked in the commissary stocking shelves, assisting customers, bagging groceries, keeping inventory and general supervision. He was not part of the air crew and did not deploy. He remained stateside.

Married: Shirley Anne Hartshorn in 1949. They raised a daughter and a son. He and his wife lived off base.

Shower’s parents started Golfdale Market in Franklin, Michigan. When his parents passed, he took over the business. It was an appropriate transition from military to civilian life. 

Edgar Oren Durfee

1842 -1927
CIVIL WARUnit: 24th Michigan Infantry Company C, known as the Iron Brigade
Enlisted: August 8, 1862 at the age of 19 as a private
Discharged: December 28, 1863 as a Full Sergeant
Married: Mary Bassett in 1870. They had four children.

On July 1, 1863, his unit was heavily engaged at Gettysburg suffering some of the highest casualties in the entire Army on that day.

Durfee’s right arm was shattered by a minnie ball. While trying to reach the rear, he was shot in the calf. His brother Charles was with him during the engagement.

Eventually, they reached a field hospital in a church near the battlefield. His arm was amputated at the shoulder. He was given an honorable discharge.

POSTWAR

Durfee became a Probate Judge of Wayne County from 1877 to 1927.

He was the first Post Commander in the GAR Post 17 in Detroit.

Although he was born in Livonia, Michigan, he is buried in the Franklin cemetery with his wife. Mary Bassett was the niece of Rachel Coomer Bullock and Elijah Bullock. Elijah was the second landowner in Franklin. In 1827, Bullock also donated an acre of land for the purpose of a cemetery. It makes sense how Durfee’s had a plot there.