William H Dehaan

William (Bill) H. DeHaan, 90, passed away Sunday, April 21, 2019 in Naples, Fla. Born March 14, 1929, he was the son of Wm. M. and Kathleen DeHaan of Ypsilanti, MI. Bill and his grandparents, Wm. R. and Harriet Holden, shared a deep and lasting fondness and he worked for them for many years in their Holden Red Stamp business. The impact they had on him was very significant, and that impact carries on in Bill’s immediate and extended family today. From an early age, Bill possessed a broad and incessant curiosity. As an adolescent he was fascinated by and was regularly seen exploring encyclopedias. That intellectual curiosity also extended to the out of doors, establishing hobbies such as gardening, hunting, fishing, camping, and others that lasted his lifetime. For those who knew him, Bill was truly a renaissance man. His curiosity and intellect led him to become an accomplished competitive photographer, active for many years with The Flint Lensmen. He was one of the original founding members of the Flint area skin/scuba diving club called the Aqua Addicts. In home gardens, he developed his own genetic strains of Iris flowers. Bill attended St. John’s Military Academy in Delafield, WI from 1941 – 1946, graduating with honors. After graduating from the University of Michigan In 1952, with concentrations in physics and psychology, Bill began a 35 year career as a Spectrographic Chemist at the Buick Motor Div. of General Motors in Flint, MI. Together, Bill and his wife of 61 years, Grace Dunn DeHaan (deceased, 2017), resided in Burton, MI and raised four children. After retirement, they relocated to Marco Island, Fla., splitting the seasons with their summer home in Gladwin, MI. Bill H. DeHaan is survived by and greatly missed by his two brothers, Martin and Jon DeHaan; his four children Cheryl Purdue, Bill D. DeHaan, Mark DeHaan, Tom DeHaan and their spouses Stan, Jeanne, Joyce and Pam; as well as seven grandchildren and two great-grandsons Jason, Nicholas, Rachael, Holden, Taylor, Madison, Lauren, Christian and Graham.
Thank you for setting the bar high.