Saugatuck Memorial Rose Garden

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Status: OK Status By: Mary Voss Status Date: 2015-03-23

Mize family article from SDHS newletter insert pages 181-183 --- [In 1997 the City of Saugatuck announced that it had been given nearly $450, 000 for a rose garden. The money was a bequest from Roxie Ann Mize who wanted the garden dedicated in honor of her brother Sam, and his wife, Doris. The cry went out for information on Roxie and the Iife of her family in the area, to try to find out what kind of a person would leave nearly a half million dollars to a municipality for flowers. The first article below was a result of local research and the information gleaned about her life was shared during the dedication. Two other profiles following were received later. The first, primarily abort Roxie, was written by a Walgreen employee who knew her. The second biographical sketch, mainly about Sam, was written by a colleague at Northern Trust.] --- Roxie Ann and Samuel J. Mize came to Laketown Township, Allegan County, Michigan, with their parents, Wesley A. and Ida (McClurg) Mize shortly before the start of World War I. Originally from the Knoxville, Tennessee area the family had stopped off for a brief business venture near Rensselaer, Indiana, where the parents met Frederick Wagner, who had purchased a farm on the Beeline Road, Laketown Township. He told the Mize family that a farm near his acreage in Michigan was for sale and recommended that they purchase it and try the farming business. Both Sam and Roxie attended the Gibson School and then moved on to Saugatuck High School. Roxie was president of the graduating class of 1931. The following year, August 4, 1932, their father, Wesley, was killed following the accidental discharge of a shotgun which had been kept in the barn to shoot crows and hawks that were threatening their crops and livestock. Mother, Ida, kept up the farm, located in sections 26 and 27 of Laketown Township, with land both east and west of 64th Street, and both north and south of 138th Avenue. Although they had some fruit trees the hilly, sandy soil of the area was best suited for small berries, mostly dewberries and blackberries, which the Mize family sold from a small stand near the house. After both Roxie and Sam finished high school their mother moved to the Chicago area and took a job to obtain additional income to pay for their schooling. "She always pushed her children to go to school and get as much education as they could," observed former neighbor Georgia (Wagner) Van Andel. After graduation from Saugatuck High School in 1931 Roxie Ann went to work in the office of Walgreen Drug Co. in Chicago, visiting her Laketown Township home during vacations and on weekends. Between high school and college Sam worked for the Fruit Growers State Bank in Saugatuck, a predecessor to Shoreline Bank. He earned a bachelor's degree from Albion College and a law degree from Northwestern University in Illinois. After graduation he went to work for the Northern Trust Co. as an attorney in the bank's trust department, eventually being named vice-president. He retired in 1975 but continued with Northern Trust as a consultant. He and Doris moved to a home on Silver Lake, a bayou on the north side of the Kalamazoo River east of Saugatuck, where he was known for his colorful rose garden. Joan (Anderson) Valleau, a neighbor on Silver Lake said that Mize was "something of an authority" on roses and belonged to the American Rose Society. "He believed in digging a huge hole, so the roots could be spread. And decomposed carp was a favorite fertilizer. If any of the kids found a dead fish by the shore they would go running for Mr. Mize." The flowers began at the house and sloped downhill to the water, even lining the beach when the water level was lower and Silver Lake had a beach. He frequently brought cut roses as gifts for neighbors. In the springtime the hill was covered with the color of daffodils and other spring bulbs. Mrs. Valleau said that Sam and his wife, Doris, were "lovely people" and willing to lend a kind ear to a teenage neighbor. She also remembers trips to Chicago on the train when Sam would take her into a restaurant in the banking district for a sweet roll and milk. In 1957 Ida Mize died leaving the farmhouse to Roxie, while Sam and Doris took over ownership of two other farm plots. "Roxie Ann loved that old house," Murlyn (Kasbohm) Vollink said. "And loved being part of the community." Roxie remodeled the old farmhouse in the mid-1970s with the expectation that it would be a retirement home, but a long bout with glaucoma and other health problems kept her in Chicago for extended periods. On November 2, 1983, Sam and Doris left Silver Lake for their winter home in Arkansas. Just hours after their departure the car skidded on wet pavement on I-57 near Kankakee, Illinois. Sam, then 73, died in the crash and Doris died in Chicago July 15, 1984, as a result of complications following injuries sustained in the accident. Roxie Ann Mize died at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago, January 26, 1996, at the age of 82 after a long illness with cancer. Prior to her death, in December of 1995, she had created a living trust and one of the provisions was that on her death, "If the home and accompanying land which I own on 64th Street in Saugatuck, Michigan, is part of the corpus of the trust, the Trustee shall sell such property and the net proceeds received therefrom shall be given to the Village of Saugatuck to be held in trust to create and maintain in perpetuity a memorial rose garden in memory of my brother and his wife, SAM AND DORIS MIZE." At her death there remained 55 acres of the Mize farm at the northwest corner of 138th Avenue and 64th Street. The gross sale price for the land was $450,500. When expenses of the sale were deducted the net to be paid the city was $445,486.11. Other gifts were given to two friends "for many kindnesses" and $35,000 to her doctor for research in the causes and cures for glaucoma. --- 1. [By former co-worker Bob Edmons who worked with Roxie at Walgreen's, where she joined the account department in 1948] Roxie Ann Mize was raised in Saugatuck. Roxie, her brother Sam, and her mother continued to live in the home they had in Saugatuck, at least through her high school years. Roxie worked as a waitress at the country club in Saugatuck when she was in high school. Both Sam and Roxie went to college and Roxie worked for a public account firm, Rossiters, I think, studying for the CPA, but she never got that far. Sam became a lawyer and finally was a vice-president in the trust department of Northern Trust. Sam was killed in an auto accident shortly after he retired. His wife survived in the hospital for nearly a year, then died from her injuries. Roxie were to the hospital several times a week (if not daily) for that whole year. Roxie started at Walgreens at Bowen Avenue within a year or so of moving to Peterson Avenue and worked for Merwin Pratt in internal auditing. She was still in auditing when I was transferred in but a couple years later she transferred to pension trust replacing Henry Kueltzo. After a few years she worked herself so hard she was hospitalized and had to be transferred to accounting. She did the accounting for the Globe division, and later was in accounts receivable doing one thing or another until she retired. Roxie lived one block away from me so I would frequently drive her home. She would bend my ear at length about some old persons in Saugatuck, or down south in Memphis (I think) where she also had some relatives. I moved to Sauganash, but would still see her on the bus to Deerfield from time to time or in the hall. Then she would call me at home when something happened to one of these old folks or there was something about Walgreens in the paper. This went on even after she retired. Roxie survived two bouts with cancer and a serious mugging on the near north side of Chicago. What did she like? Flowers, conservatories, plays (like the Goodman Theatre), concerts (at Orchestra Hall), movies and eating out. She was acquainted with several people from the Chicago Tribune, photographers and who know who else. At the wake I was talking to a guy from the bank who also got calls at odd hours. His comment was, "Everybody knew a different Roxie, but nobody knew the whole thing - she was a pretty private person." I concur. -- 2. [The second biographical sketch was from a coworker of her brother Sam Mire, the brother the ruse garden was dedicated to. It is written by a former employee of Northern Trust. The writer is identified only as "Dick"] Sam Mize was an avid outdoorsman, loving canoeing and fishing. He also loved nature. One of the things he did at his Michigan retreat was to go into the forest and plant hundreds of daffodil bulbs. For years afterward the woods around there were ablaze with yellow flowers in the spring. Sam was an avid baseball fan and was particularly proud of his kin, Johnny Mize, the famous baseball player. Sam and his wife Doris, were formidable bridge players and were big at Duplicate. They had many friends. In the years I worked at the Northern Trust in Chicago I felt Sam had one of the most demanding (and unsung) jobs in the Bank as head of the Probate Tax Division. He was under pressure day and night on that job and was called to advise many people of senior rank on critical tax matters. Yet no matter how harried he might be, if you approached him with a problem, he would drop everything to help you. He was a generous soul. It was because of our great respect and appreciation for Sam that the Sam Mize Award was established. Carol Filigenzi was the prime mover in this. I hope the following text taken from the award will be of help: Sam Mize epitomized all the best in Northern Trust Bank personnel: he was honorable, knowledgeable, dedicated and caring. Sam worked for The Northern Trust Bank from the time he graduated from college in the depths of the Great Depression until his death in November, 1983. After his official retirement in January, 1976, he stayed on with Northern as a consultant working in Chicago during the summer and Arizona during the winter. He rose through the ranks to become head of the Tax Department and a nationally acknowledged expert in fiduciary taxation. Few people had Sam's depth of understanding in the complex field of tax shelters, especially oil and gas programs. His integrity in the selection of these investments for our customers was vital to the success of the Special Investment Division. But Sam was much more than a tax expert. He was a gentle, deeply spiritual man, who rarely talked about his philosophy of life. Instead he lived his beliefs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sam was interested in people as individuals; he had a knack of bringing out the best in others. Knowing that he cared and believed in you helped you believe in yourself. Because of his influence you often found yourself accomplishing things that you had never dreamed you could. This award is given in Sam's memory to others who display these characteristics and who do so much to make Northern Trust a truly unique organization. -- The two additional biographies were recently collected by Russell Volz of Arlington Heights, Illinois and given to the Society. The archives have also recently acquired several artifacts connected with the Mize family including items associated with Sam Mize's years of interest and investment in oil drilling.