Obituary for Hattie Mae Tuck (North)
A Battle Creek native, Hattie Mae (North) Tuck, 96, passed away unexpectedly on January 12, 2023. She had been a patient at Bronson-Battle Creek Hospital for one day.
She was born on May 30, 1926, and when that date became designated as Memorial Day, Hattie was sometimes heard to claim that all those American flags had been put out to celebrate her birthday! She was the middle child of five siblings.
Hattie’s parents were Harry James and Marietta (Kellogg) North. Harry owned a sawmilling business as well as selling Christmas trees and cedar fence posts. Before she was even a teenager, Hattie became adept with “stick-shift” transmissions as she drove the large farm truck to make deliveries of her dad’s wood products. Hattie also worked along-side her mother as they prepared the midday meals for Harry’s milling crews.
The Norths had a small, rustic cabin in Grayling, Michigan. The family spent many summer days there, as well as Novembers, harvesting trees to be brought back south to Battle Creek. Anytime family members gathered at the cabin, you could be sure card games and dominoes tournaments were ongoing. Several generations of children became adults and had families of their own who grew up enjoying the property and the company of their aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Hattie’s first paid employment was at Muirs drugstore, while she was still attending Battle Creek Central High School. She graduated in 1944. It was at Muirs that she met her future husband, Donald R. Tuck. It wasn’t an accidental meeting. Don’s sister Genevieve and her husband, Ed Belcher, played matchmakers to bring Don and Hattie together. And then the World War II draft interrupted their courtship.
Don was sent to basic training, even though several local doctors had told him that his illness as a young teen would make him ineligible for military service. The Army claimed him anyway. However, before he was sent to Germany to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, Don was granted a ten-day furlough, and he used that opportunity to return to Michigan and marry his sweetheart, Hattie.
Until that time their relationship had consisted mostly of back-and-forth letters. She’d accepted Don’s mail-delivered marriage proposal, so when she answered the phone call alerting her that Don was coming home, Hattie orchestrated their full, formal wedding in only three days. She bought her gown on Monday and the ceremony took place on Tuesday evening, November 29, 1944, in a candlelight service at First United Methodist Church. A family joke is that “those war-bride weddings never last.” The Tucks’ love-filled marriage of 78 years refuted that old saying! Yet sadly Don died on December 5, 2022, at age 101. Hattie was a widow for less than five weeks.
Early in their marriage, while Don was overseas, Hattie worked at Kellogg’s. Then, when he came home safely after the war to resume his life in Michigan, she devoted full-time to being his loving, supportive wife. Later, after their children were mostly grown, she was a teller first and then branch manager of the Peoples Savings and Loan Bank in Lakeview. She retired in 1978.
Don and Hattie raised three children: Kim A. Tuck (Marylene) of Battle Creek, Kathleen A. Kissinger (Gordon, deceased), and Shelley L. Vogt (Harold) of Hickory Corners. Daughter Kathleen passed away in May 1994. Don and Hattie also grafted another lovely woman onto the Tuck family tree, “adoptive daughter-in-law“ Vicki Kissinger, of Weeki Wachee, Florida. The Tucks have six grandchildren: Wesley Breen and Jodi Hamilton, both of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Karina Chupp (Herb) of Battle Creek; Brenden Tuck (Bethany) of Quakertown, Pennsylvania; Tara Steele of Delton; and Gina Gagnon (Danny), also of Delton. Don and Hattie have 14 great-grandchildren.
Apparently their example of longevity in wedded bliss “stuck.” Kim and Marylene have been married 57 years, and Shelley and Butch just celebrated their 50th anniversary in March.
Hattie was the true matriarch of this extended family and the glue that held everyone together. She was exceptionally kind and loving, always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. She thoroughly enjoyed her roles as wife, mother, grandmother, and being everybody’s friend. Hattie’s home offered unconditional love and acceptance. She had a huge, giving heart.
An old-fashioned gal, Hattie delighted in small, simple pleasures. She enjoyed rototilling, seeding, nurturing the starter plants, and weeding her vegetable and flower gardens. She would line-dry her laundry all year long -- to give herself and the clothes the freshness of sun and air. Don’s jeans could be seen hanging out, flat as a board, flapping like a stiff flag on a windy, cold day.
When Don earned his private pilot’s license with the GI Bill, she helped him restore and refurbish 14 small airplanes. She especially enjoyed “passing the needle back and forth with Don” through the fabric on the wings. The Tucks had a hangar and landing strip in their backyard.
Her children knew they could count on her. Hattie was very hands-on as a mom. She worked with the Bellevue Band Boosters, attended all the school plays, concerts, and football games to see the marching band’s half-time performances, and even spent a week in several summers at band camps, cooking for more than 50 musicians and chaperones. Hattie helped with numerous 4-H projects. In fact, when Kim took his fat lambs to the Eaton County Fair in Charlotte, Hattie was right in there with her son, washing and brushing the wriggling critters to help him “show” them well. She was equally involved with Kathleen’s 4-H sewing and baking projects.
Hattie was also hands-on in supporting Don with his building projects. Together they remodeled several houses in Pennfield and Convis townships and the Marshall area. Kim drew up the floor plans for their home off the Old Bellevue Road according to Hattie’s specifications. They lived there for 58 years until the property was auctioned off on November 19, 2022, and they moved into an independent living apartment at NorthPointe Woods.
Besides her family, Hattie’s life was also centered around activities connected with her membership at First United Methodist Church of Battle Creek. She helped with Vacation Bible Schools, sang soprano in the Sanctuary Choir for many years, and was a faithful member and twice- president of the Martha Circle. She and her kitchen crew could put on a funeral dinner at a moment’s notice. At times they prepared pancake breakfasts for special Sundays. She also led the charge for the annual “Spring Fling” and fall “Harvest Dinner” public fundraisers. Dinner ticket sales usually numbered more than 260 attendees.
She planned the menus, purchased supplies, and headed up the church volunteers who prepared and served the noon meal at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen every fourth Monday of every month for almost 30 years. They often fed as many as 300 hungry clients, and people said they never missed coming on the First Methodists day … the food was “just so good and always plentiful.”
For leadership of this ongoing project, Hattie was honored on April 21, 1994, by the J.C. Penney Company. She received the Golden Rule Award “in Appreciation and Recognition of Outstanding Volunteer Service in Calhoun County.” The Salvation Army also presented Hattie with a “Special Globe Remembrance for her dedication and service to others.”
But perhaps the highest honor Hattie received was in 1989, when she was designated as a “Second Century Woman” by the West Michigan United Methodist Conference. Second Century Women are chosen as “models of Christian maturity, modeled after Jesus Christ. They incorporate within themselves Christ’s spirit so they can reach out in faith, hope, and love in their churches and communities.” Hattie exemplified the humble, loving characteristics for which the award was given.
A celebration of Hattie’s life will take place this coming Saturday, January 21, 2023, at First United Methodist Church, 111 East Michigan Avenue, next door to City Hall. A dessert reception and visitation hour are scheduled for 2 p.m. and the service will begin at 3 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the First United Methodist Church.
She was born on May 30, 1926, and when that date became designated as Memorial Day, Hattie was sometimes heard to claim that all those American flags had been put out to celebrate her birthday! She was the middle child of five siblings.
Hattie’s parents were Harry James and Marietta (Kellogg) North. Harry owned a sawmilling business as well as selling Christmas trees and cedar fence posts. Before she was even a teenager, Hattie became adept with “stick-shift” transmissions as she drove the large farm truck to make deliveries of her dad’s wood products. Hattie also worked along-side her mother as they prepared the midday meals for Harry’s milling crews.
The Norths had a small, rustic cabin in Grayling, Michigan. The family spent many summer days there, as well as Novembers, harvesting trees to be brought back south to Battle Creek. Anytime family members gathered at the cabin, you could be sure card games and dominoes tournaments were ongoing. Several generations of children became adults and had families of their own who grew up enjoying the property and the company of their aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Hattie’s first paid employment was at Muirs drugstore, while she was still attending Battle Creek Central High School. She graduated in 1944. It was at Muirs that she met her future husband, Donald R. Tuck. It wasn’t an accidental meeting. Don’s sister Genevieve and her husband, Ed Belcher, played matchmakers to bring Don and Hattie together. And then the World War II draft interrupted their courtship.
Don was sent to basic training, even though several local doctors had told him that his illness as a young teen would make him ineligible for military service. The Army claimed him anyway. However, before he was sent to Germany to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, Don was granted a ten-day furlough, and he used that opportunity to return to Michigan and marry his sweetheart, Hattie.
Until that time their relationship had consisted mostly of back-and-forth letters. She’d accepted Don’s mail-delivered marriage proposal, so when she answered the phone call alerting her that Don was coming home, Hattie orchestrated their full, formal wedding in only three days. She bought her gown on Monday and the ceremony took place on Tuesday evening, November 29, 1944, in a candlelight service at First United Methodist Church. A family joke is that “those war-bride weddings never last.” The Tucks’ love-filled marriage of 78 years refuted that old saying! Yet sadly Don died on December 5, 2022, at age 101. Hattie was a widow for less than five weeks.
Early in their marriage, while Don was overseas, Hattie worked at Kellogg’s. Then, when he came home safely after the war to resume his life in Michigan, she devoted full-time to being his loving, supportive wife. Later, after their children were mostly grown, she was a teller first and then branch manager of the Peoples Savings and Loan Bank in Lakeview. She retired in 1978.
Don and Hattie raised three children: Kim A. Tuck (Marylene) of Battle Creek, Kathleen A. Kissinger (Gordon, deceased), and Shelley L. Vogt (Harold) of Hickory Corners. Daughter Kathleen passed away in May 1994. Don and Hattie also grafted another lovely woman onto the Tuck family tree, “adoptive daughter-in-law“ Vicki Kissinger, of Weeki Wachee, Florida. The Tucks have six grandchildren: Wesley Breen and Jodi Hamilton, both of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Karina Chupp (Herb) of Battle Creek; Brenden Tuck (Bethany) of Quakertown, Pennsylvania; Tara Steele of Delton; and Gina Gagnon (Danny), also of Delton. Don and Hattie have 14 great-grandchildren.
Apparently their example of longevity in wedded bliss “stuck.” Kim and Marylene have been married 57 years, and Shelley and Butch just celebrated their 50th anniversary in March.
Hattie was the true matriarch of this extended family and the glue that held everyone together. She was exceptionally kind and loving, always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. She thoroughly enjoyed her roles as wife, mother, grandmother, and being everybody’s friend. Hattie’s home offered unconditional love and acceptance. She had a huge, giving heart.
An old-fashioned gal, Hattie delighted in small, simple pleasures. She enjoyed rototilling, seeding, nurturing the starter plants, and weeding her vegetable and flower gardens. She would line-dry her laundry all year long -- to give herself and the clothes the freshness of sun and air. Don’s jeans could be seen hanging out, flat as a board, flapping like a stiff flag on a windy, cold day.
When Don earned his private pilot’s license with the GI Bill, she helped him restore and refurbish 14 small airplanes. She especially enjoyed “passing the needle back and forth with Don” through the fabric on the wings. The Tucks had a hangar and landing strip in their backyard.
Her children knew they could count on her. Hattie was very hands-on as a mom. She worked with the Bellevue Band Boosters, attended all the school plays, concerts, and football games to see the marching band’s half-time performances, and even spent a week in several summers at band camps, cooking for more than 50 musicians and chaperones. Hattie helped with numerous 4-H projects. In fact, when Kim took his fat lambs to the Eaton County Fair in Charlotte, Hattie was right in there with her son, washing and brushing the wriggling critters to help him “show” them well. She was equally involved with Kathleen’s 4-H sewing and baking projects.
Hattie was also hands-on in supporting Don with his building projects. Together they remodeled several houses in Pennfield and Convis townships and the Marshall area. Kim drew up the floor plans for their home off the Old Bellevue Road according to Hattie’s specifications. They lived there for 58 years until the property was auctioned off on November 19, 2022, and they moved into an independent living apartment at NorthPointe Woods.
Besides her family, Hattie’s life was also centered around activities connected with her membership at First United Methodist Church of Battle Creek. She helped with Vacation Bible Schools, sang soprano in the Sanctuary Choir for many years, and was a faithful member and twice- president of the Martha Circle. She and her kitchen crew could put on a funeral dinner at a moment’s notice. At times they prepared pancake breakfasts for special Sundays. She also led the charge for the annual “Spring Fling” and fall “Harvest Dinner” public fundraisers. Dinner ticket sales usually numbered more than 260 attendees.
She planned the menus, purchased supplies, and headed up the church volunteers who prepared and served the noon meal at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen every fourth Monday of every month for almost 30 years. They often fed as many as 300 hungry clients, and people said they never missed coming on the First Methodists day … the food was “just so good and always plentiful.”
For leadership of this ongoing project, Hattie was honored on April 21, 1994, by the J.C. Penney Company. She received the Golden Rule Award “in Appreciation and Recognition of Outstanding Volunteer Service in Calhoun County.” The Salvation Army also presented Hattie with a “Special Globe Remembrance for her dedication and service to others.”
But perhaps the highest honor Hattie received was in 1989, when she was designated as a “Second Century Woman” by the West Michigan United Methodist Conference. Second Century Women are chosen as “models of Christian maturity, modeled after Jesus Christ. They incorporate within themselves Christ’s spirit so they can reach out in faith, hope, and love in their churches and communities.” Hattie exemplified the humble, loving characteristics for which the award was given.
A celebration of Hattie’s life will take place this coming Saturday, January 21, 2023, at First United Methodist Church, 111 East Michigan Avenue, next door to City Hall. A dessert reception and visitation hour are scheduled for 2 p.m. and the service will begin at 3 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the First United Methodist Church.