Dora Essig

Dora Ida Essig, 94, of Bridgman passed away on Sunday, December 25, 2011 at Lakeland Specialty Hospital, Berrien Center.

Funeral services will be held 11 AM Friday, December 30, 2011, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Bridgman with the Rev. Jon Bendeweld officiating. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery, Bridgman. Friends may meet with the family from 10-11 AM prior to the service at the church. Memorial contributions may be given to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Bridgman.

Dora was born February 13, 1917 in Stevensville the daughter of the late Albert and Pauline (Mielke)Schulz. She was the ninth child in a family of 13 and lived in this area all of her life. Dora was valedictorian of her 1935 Stevensville High School graduating class. She was also a graduate of the former Berrien County Normal which was located in Bridgman. She received her bachelor degree in elementary education from Western Michigan University. Her teaching career began in the one-room country schools, a position which she held for five years. She also taught at the Hollywood School from 1945-1956. Her tenure at the Hathaway School was nine years. When the Hathaway School was annexed to Bridgman, she joined the Elementary School staff and taught there for 14 years. She retired on November 13, 1981. Her teaching career spanned 39 years. She was a member of the Berrien County and Michigan Retired Teachers Association. She was also the last living Berrien County resident who recovered from the infantile paralysis (polio) epidemic of 1918.

On November 13, 1954 she married Henry Essig, Jr. In Stevensville and he preceded her in death on August 30, 1981.

Survivors include her son, Mark (Roxanne) Essig of Berrien Springs; her daughter, Mary Krone of Baroda; and many nieces and nephews.

Dora was also preceded in death by six brothers – August (infant, 1901), Carl (1985), Martin (1986), Fred (1987), Ewald (1988), and Albert (2000); and six sisters – Meta Strahl (1986), Frieda Schulz (1990), Elizabeth Loraff (2005), Anna Cohen (2007) and Ella Arndt (2007), Magdalena Spaulding (2008) and her son-in-law: Kenneth Krone (2005).

She will be missed by family, friends, and the many students and their families she has kept in contact with through the years.