1975-12-24; Clare Sentinel

              ISC-eWAR ST.
CLARE
tKffe Clare
FIFTEEN CENTS      EIGHTEEN PAGES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24. If75
Clare Woman , 79,
Dies Of Exposure
After Leaving Home
FIRE DAMAGE - Pictured are charred remains of the closet which held the
water heater at Real Estate One in Lake George, The heater is believed to
have been the cause of a fire which caused extensive damage to the office
building. (Care Sentinel photo)
Fire Damages Office
Of Real Estate One
A fire at Real Estate One*s office
building in Lake George Wednesday,
December 17, caused extensive damage
to the building.
"The exact amount of damage is
undetermined right now, but it appears
to be a total loss," Linda Page, office
manager, said.' Apparently a faulty
water heater caused the fire, she added.
The blaze, "which gutted one room of
the building and caused extensive smoke
damage to the olher rooms, was put out
by firemen "about 10 minutes after it
started." Mrs. Page said.
It happened about 3:30 p.m., according
to Mrs.-Page. A secretary, the only one in
the building, noticed smoke coming from
the back* room and called the Lincoln
Townsbfp Fire Department. *.
Theffire department, which is.across
ther*Ureel, from Real Estate One,
ext&paisb-Sd, the fire. ,
"P^just t^gbprt time it tbok the fire
d«MKktf«ft Xp get Qieref most of the
picturetoan^fa one of the rooms had
fcl«a!^F#.JtJioiigh the Maze didn't
An armed robbery and a house Ufa
within a halK hour flfi. earh other kept
authorities busy Thursday night.
The robbery .i^hkli occurred ats approximately 8:13 p.m., *pe|tcd thte masked robber about $1,000, according to
Harrison City Police Chief Haskin.
""A lime gunn)an*#ent- iritoHhe Bay
Station in Harrison and {eld the attendant, Skip Willis, 19, Jo hand over all
the money,'* Haskin said. "Tben'he took
the attendant into the bathrcWn where
there was a scuffle."
♦•The gunman hit WilHs in the face,
which knocked him to the fl-bor and-then
he ran ou,,"" Haskin said.'
The man is described as six-foot tall,
weighing 160 pounds, with black hair. He
wore • ski mask and * black jacket and
escaped in a green Pontiac.'
The incident is still under investigation
by the Harrison City Police, the Clare
County Sheriff's Department and the
Mount Pleasant State Police.
cause too much damage in that room,"
Mrs. Page said.
Though the fire was confined to the
bathroom and the closet containing the
water heater, the smoke and water
damage was extensive.
"We lost a lot of framed certificates,"
Mrs, Page said. "Most of our machines
won't work either."
A temporary office has been set up in
the basement of the Page home at 480
Shingle Lake Road in Lake George.
Makeshift desks have been made on a
ping-pong table.
"We expect to be restored to normal
operations within a week." Mrs. Page
explained, "Right now, we do have an
extension phone here and we expect to
get other extensions in soon."
"Then we plan to rebuild at the same
site in the spring," she said. "But until
then we will be operating here,"
"We really appreciated the help given
to us by the Are department and the
townspeople during and after the fire.*'
Mrs. Page added, "They were all very
helpful,"
$1,000
Shortly after the robbery, about tt:45
p.m, a fire broke out in the attic of a
home on the corner of Dover Road and
Eberhart Avenue, north of Clare.
The fire, at the home of J im J ohnson.
caused "considerable danjage." according to Clare Fire Chief James Brinker*
hoffC
"It started around a stovepipe.**
ijrfnkethoff said. "The fire began in the
•jUtic and was contained there,"
< the building formerly housed the
D6ver S tore but was renovated to serve
as n residence for the Johnsons.
"It was an old building that had been
there for years and years." Brinkerhoff
said. "The fire did a major amount of
damage to it-we haven't got an estimate."
S cveral firemen at the scene had been
called away from a search party engaged
in looking for a 79-year-old woman
missing from the Clare Nursing Home.
(See related story.)
By Jeanne Schulz
79-year-old Mary Hileman of Clare
died of exposure after wandering away
from the Clare Nursing Home Thursday
night.
Between 100 and 200men joined the
search party after she was reported
missing at about 6:30 p.m. She was not
found until almost 9 p.m. Thursday.
"She apparently left by the rear
laundry door,*' Sgt. Michael Becker,
Clare police officer said. The temperature was approximately 8 degrees that
night, although it was somewhere below
zero, considering the wind-chill factor.
Mrs, Hileman only had on a sweater and "
pants.
S he was missed from the nursing home    f
about 6:15 that night, and the police were
notified about 6:40 p.m. A thorough
search had been made of the nursing
home before the police were contacted.
Mrs. Hileman had been determined to
leave the nursing home to get to her
"home" for quite some time, authorities said. She had been living in the
nursing home since May.
A group of Clare firemen found Mrs.
Hileman on the railroad tracks about a
quarter of a mile behind the nursing
home.
"That  area   is  covered  by  heavy
brush,"  Becker said,  "It is mostly
swamp and the water is waist-deepJ&* •*
spots. It was difficult for searchers to
work in that area," he added.
"Mrs. Hileman must have done quite a
bit of traveling because the men had
combed the area where she was found
quite thoroughly earlier," S adieGingery,
Clare police dispatcher," said.
Most of the city authorities who were
involved in the search, had been called
from a dinner party being held for city
employees at the Doherty Hotel Thursday night. "The number of volunteers
was tremendous," Becker said.
"The men were all very willing to go,
even though they had to leave the party,"
Mrs. Gingery said, "The volunteer
searchers used 4-wheel drive vehicles
and everything they could come up with,
to help in looking."
Besides the Clare Fire Department,
searchers included the Clare County
S earch and Rescue S quad, the Clare and
Isabella County Sheriff's Departments,
Farwell Police, Michigan S tate Police,
Clare's React Club and the Clare County
Ambulance Service.
Radio stations WCRM in Gare and
WCEN in Mt. Pleasant helped by
broadcasting the story and a tracking
dog from the Bay City Police had just
arrived when Mrs, Hileman was found,
according to Becker.
The Coleman Police Department, the
Clare Auxiliary Police and Clare County
S heriff Possee also aided in the search. A
Saginaw police helicopter with floodlights was on the way here when Mrs.
Hileman was located.
Mrs. Hileman was taken io the Clare
Osteopathic Hospital where she died
later that evening.
Mrs. Hileman was born in Isabella
County on March 9. 1896 to Henry and
Ella (Van Etta) Smith. She married
Harry H. Hileman April 7. 1914 in Mt.
Pleasant. Her husband preceded her in
death in 1969,
A member of the Clare United Methodist Church, Mrs, Hileman had been a
Clare resident for 12 years. She had
previously resided in Harrison and
Owosso,
Surviving are 4 daughters; Mrs.
Chalmer «Katherine t Young. Bay Cit>'.
Mrs. Helen Carroll and Mrs. Arthur
i Barbara 5 Halpin, both of Traverse City,
and Mrs. Donald < Valine I Worden of
Xorthville; 1 brother. Clarence S mith of
Mt. Pleasant: and io grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Saturday,
at 2:00 p.m. at the Stephenson-Doherty
Funeral Home with Rev. C. William
Martin officiating. Burial was in Maple
, Grove Cemetery in Harrison.
Deadline
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and Dec. 3i.