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Issue 1469 May 6, 2012
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Marv Kusmierz

MARV KUSMIERZ: Passionate Bay City Historian Deserves to Be Remembered

March 18, 2015       2 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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What is the measure of a man...?

Marvin Kusmierz was born in Bay City in 1941, graduated from Bay City Central High in 1960 and served in the U.S. Air Force. He died last week and services were held today at the Penzien-Steele Funeral Home. Marv was buried in Elm Lawn Cemetery.

Marv's last e-mail to me reflects his continuing obsession with Bay City history, a pure and unending dedication that deserves to be remembered along with the man he was.

"Read your article about Joe Fournier, and it got me thinking! Has there ever been an attempt to feature history in promoting tourists to Bay City? We have quite a few prominent historical citizens that put together in some format could be pitched to the public.

"I think Battery Park would make for a nice setting for posting these histories. Over a year ago I talked to Eric (Jylha) about the Rotary doing one of their kiosks in Battery Park featuring the founders of Bay City, such as Birney, Fraser and Fitzhugh. It would also show the five villages that led to present Bay City.

"Said I would be willing to donate to project. But, that hasn't developed. With the four corners of park it could make for a number of historical displays. The library may not like the idea. Their side of Battery Park look great compared to the north side. The city should have had the library take care of both sides.

"Since the library draws a lot of people, more may learn about its unique heritage. In fact, Battery is obsolete it could be renamed Heritage Park."

Marv

Battery Park goes back to the post Civil War days when the four corners at Center and Jefferson were dedicated to military memorials. I remember playing on a Civil War cannon on the northeast corner as a boy.

The old Bay City Club, an ornate Victorian structure on the northwest corner, was replaced in 1940 with the Alert Bowling Alley.

The Bay City Club featured the Shoppenagon Grotto, a mysterious rich man's cult that saw the lumber barons of the town dressing up in mock Viking gear and parading around with spears, I suppose, testosterone and pride raging.

Did they wear fur robes? Perhaps.

It was a ritualistic activity in keeping with the male doings of the 1890s, one that Marv would have loved to have seen. Alas, he came along more than half a century too late for the reality -- but not too late for the reverie.

In a posting contributed by Alan Flood and Jim Petrimoulx, Marv documented the location of historic armaments in the city in 1898, four cannon at Battery Park and two cannon at City Hall.

Congressman George Loud, of Oscoda, obtained the cannon through a colleague from Charleston, South Carolina, and had them shipped here for display.

In 1942, the historic guns that opened on Ft. Sumter in 1861 and started the massive conflict known as the American Civil War, were contributed to the U.S. war effort.

As you can see, Marv was willing to back up his ideas with action, and a donation. He single-handedly created and maintained a website, Bay-Journal.com, that has so many historical facets about Bay City that it is a real treasure.

Marv's attention to detail -- every possible detail no matter how small -- of local history, and his passion to impart it to interested local folks, was what marked him as an outstanding historian. He was not trained as an academic, but rather as a technocrat, and was a longtime employee of the famed Ultra Carbon Company and Carbone of America that purified graphite for the scientific world.

We can only hope that someone, or some organization, is willing to take on the heroic job of maintaining and running Bay-Journal.com.

Even better, if his dream of Heritage Park was to be fulfilled.

That would be the real, lasting tribute to our man of Bay City history -- Marvin Kusmierz!


Marv Kusmierz, in character, behind the camera documenting the day
at Historic Pine Ridge Cemetery, aka Soldiers Rest Cemetery



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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers!

EHUTTER Says:       On March 18, 2015 at 09:32 PM
I totally agree Dave. Marv will be missed, and a fitting tribute would be to continue his work and perhaps follow his final suggestions about Battery Park...
jaho427 Says:       On March 18, 2015 at 10:40 PM
Marv was a classmate of mine. I'm sorry to say that I don't remember him all that well from 1960. I can say that I got to know him from his many posts on Face Book. I have lived in Bay City my whole life but only through Marv have I really gotten to know my town. A real loss to our community.
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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