Goodbye Art

"The past actually happened. History is what someone took the time to write down."   -A. Whitney Brown

I think I've always had an interest in history.  Years ago, in my personal history, my high school American History teacher, Tim Anthes, made history come alive for me.  It was one of my favorite classes.

In 2003, our little community celebrated it's centennial with a large festival. I chaired a committee devoted to publishing a nearly 400 page historical account of the families and businesses in Pigeon. My involvement was from a graphic design side for this event fundraiser.

It was a thrill reading the historical accounts of so many families as I worked on the page layouts. It added to my knowledge of our community's foundation.

Art Woelke

But my local historical knowledge is pale in comparison to that of Arthur J. Woelke.

Art, as he is known to everyone, has roots very deep in Pigeon.  He was born here at the family home in Pigeon, December 4, 1927. I think the only time he lived away from Pigeon was when he attended Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

He spent a lifetime in healthcare administration, but he had a love for history.  The Pigeon Historical Depot Museum is filled with volumes of three-ring binders loaded with page after page of hand-typed accounts of events, families, businesses and building. There are hundreds of photographs of houses and other buildings with notations to the locations and occupants.

I cannot image the hours of time spent on this collection.  It's impossible to put a value on the information he amassed. I don't want to think about the information still in his head.

Today we say goodbye to Art.  He died peacefully this past Tuesday.

As a charter member of the Pigeon Historical Society, Art was honored by the Historical Society of Michigan with an Award of Merit for his extensive collection of local historical documents, photographs, newspaper articles and artifacts now on display at the Pigeon Historical Museum.

He took the took the Historical Society's mission to preserve history very seriously.

We are all blessed to have known Art and to have called him friend. His life is now history.

"Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it."
-- Oscar Wilde

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