Grayden D. Slowins

     Grayden D. Slowins, was born January 20, 1932, in a farm house on Hastings Road at Grand River Avenue, in Boston Township, Ionia County, MI, died June 18, 2024, in Grand Rapids, MI, while a resident of Clark Retirement Community. The son of Donald Frederick Slowins and Crystal Lovina Brake Slowins, they lived on two more farms to the east along Grand River Avenue, before the family bought the fourth farm at the edge of the Village (later City) of Portland, in 1937. He started school there and graduated from Portland High School in1950, and Ferris Institute (now Ferris State University) in 1954. He was married June 25, 1954, to Ann Lois Lakin, born October 22, 1932, who died March 8, 2018, after almost 64 years of marriage. He was inducted into the U.S. Army October 19, 1954, near the end of the Korean Conflict, serving in the Medics, mostly Medical Supply, breveted as Supply Sergeant, for two years followed by one year in the Army Reserves in the 454th M.A.S.H. (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), in Grand Rapids, MI, with two weeks summer camp at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, Denver, CO. 

     Grayden and Ann bought a farm in Sebewa Township, Ionia County, and lived there 54 years. He was a shepherd, from age 3 weeks to 70 years, raising Purebred Dorsets, and a member of the Dorset Breeders and Michigan Sheep Breeders Associations. He was a Sebewa Township official for 43 years: Justice- of-the-Peace 51⁄2 years, Clerk 32 years, Cemetery Sexton 28 years of the time as Clerk, and finally Trustee 5 1⁄2 years. He was a founding member of the Ionia County Township Officers Association; 17 years Director, one year President, of Michigan Townships Association; 8 years Delegate to the National Association of Towns and Townships in Washington, DC. Grayden was a Genealogist, Historian, Writer and Editor of "The Sebewa Recollector," "Schnabel Family History," "Brake-Cosens Family History," and the "Wenger-Nogle Family History." He was a Pharmacist, serving 32 years, beginning as an apprentice, age 16 - 48, in Portland, Lake Odessa, and Nashville. Grayden and Ann traveled all over America and Canada in their pickup camper and motor home, and in England, Holland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, France, New Zealand, and Australia. They spent one winter in Deming, NM, six winters in Starke, FL, and retired to Clark Retirement Community, Grand Rapids, January 2011. 

     Grayden is survived by four children: Joseph G. Slowins of Ann Arbor, MI; Karen K. Laurel of Holly Hill, FL, mother of their only grandchild, Philip Pappas of Florida; Daniel F. Slowins (Peggy) of Walled Lake, MI; and Kirsten B. Slowins (Clint Galloway) of Orange Township, Ionia County, MI. He is also survived by two sisters: Sandra (late Jim) Miller of Lowell, MI, and Donna (late Jim) Eder of Chelsea, MI; one sister-in-law: Phyllis Boyer (late Jim) of Boise, ID; Sandra's children: Carolyn Miller (Darryl Sprague) of Norton Shores, MI, and David Miller (Melissa) of Lyons, MI; Phyllis' children: Debora Root (Barry) of Dallas, OR, Kathleen Jacobi (Fred) of Boise, ID, and Susan Lawmaster (Paul) Mechanicsville, VA; and their children and grandchildren.

     Preceding Grayden in death are his wife, Ann; daughter-in-law, Jody; and three brothers-in-law, Jim Boyer, Jim Eder, and Jim Miller. 

    A service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, June 29, at Clark Chapel, 1551 Martin Luther King (formally Franklin Street SE), Grand Rapids with a reception following in the B.K. Room at the Clark Retirement Community.

    Private burial of ashes will be at a later date at West Sebewa Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Clark Retirement Community Foundation, specifying Music Therapy or Benevolent Care Fund. Online condolences may be made at www.lehmanfuneralhomes.com.

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