Obituary of Bill Saldeen

At the age of 94 Bill passed away at 4 pm on Nov. 13, 2012. Bill was the first son of Harry E. and Marie E. Salden: born on a farm near Paxton, Illinois Sept. 29, 1918. His family moved to Michigan in the spring of 1920 to his grandfather's newly purchased farm in Emerson Township. Bill attended the Curtis and Hetzman grade schools prior to attending Ithaca High School and graduating in 1936. In September 1939 he enrolled in Michigan State College in the school of Agriculture, the start of his adventures with farm machinery to help feed the growing population of the Earth. World War II had started then, and finally after trying several times to enlist and not passing the physical, the government call came that took 3 years to complete. Before entering, he married his long-time sweetheart, Margaret Faye Douglas on June 18, 1942. War time brought many problems and disappointments including the deaths of his brother, pilot Lt. Vern Edwin Salden on October 5, '44 and then Margaret's brother also a pilot, Capt. Arner Miles Douglas on December2, '44. Following the ending of WW II and his discharge from the Army Air Force, Bill returned to now Michigan State University to complete his degree as an Agricultural Engineer. Then they moved to Battle Creek joining the Oliver Corp. Experimental Dept. for field testing a new self-propelled combine for the western wheat fields. On October 19, 1948 Jeanie Lou arrived to bless their lives, and to help the grieving grandparents recover from the loss of their sons. While living in Battle Creek, Bill joined the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and was very active in the local Kiwanis Club, First Methodist Church, and the Masonic Order of Breckenridge, MI. Other activities included camping and many fishing trips to Canada with the family. Bill, Margaret, and Jeanie Lou made trips home to Ithaca every other weekend to support the still grieving families of his brother and brother-in-law. In the spring of 1954 a call came from Ford Tractor to help with the testing of newly designed tractor-mounted corn pickers. However, science and engineering were hard at work, and the harvesting of corn and other grain crops were soon done with combines. Retiring in 1974, they moved to Englewood, Fl. In 1994 they moved into Henry Ford Retirement Village in Dearborn, MI. Bill is survived by his loving daughter Jeanie Lou, her husband Frank Crosby, brother Philip Wesley Salden, granddaughter Carmen Crosby and her husband Benjamin Haithcock, and many nieces and nephews. Jeanie and Frank reside in Schaumburg, Il. She is retired from Roosevelt University and Frank is retired from United Airlines. Bill was predeceased by his parents and younger brother.