Melvin D. Klapp

Melvin Klapp was a loving husband and a devoted father who always regarded his family as his greatest achievement. He was a kind and big-hearted man who wouldn't hurt a soul - or even a raccoon! By the summer of 1918, the Allied Powers had won the stalemate on the Western Front. In the following months, Austria and Germany signed armistices, bringing the Great War to an end. Amid this climate of good fortune, Henry Klapp and his wife Hazel Flanders discovered another reason to celebrate. They were expecting a child. On October 1, 1918, they welcomed their son Melvin Klapp into the family home in McCreary, Manitoba, Canada. McCreary, Manitoba was a small farming community located at the foot of the Riding Mountains. Henry Klapp, along with his brother, had relocated to McCreary from Ontario with a view toward establishing a homestead. He lived off the land, raising wheat and other crops. In his early forties, he married Hazel Flanders was a teenaged girl, at the time. Her family had emigrated to McCreary from Muskegon, Michigan. Shortly after the wedding Henry and Hazel started their family. They were blessed with three children: their eldest, Melvin, and two daughters, Viola and Lillian. After her family, the Flanders, returned to Michigan, Hazel grew homesick. She persuaded Henry to move to the area, settling in Muskegon Heights, where he could make a living working at the foundry. After he was laid off at the foundry, he moved to Shelby where he and Hazel were blessed with three more children: Roy, who died as a toddler, Alvin, and Donald. Mel was fourteen years old when his mother died in childbirth. He left school to help his father raise the other children. Following the bombing at Pearl Harbor, Mel entered the U.S. Army and served in Germany. He brought along his fiddle to entertain himself and his fellow soldiers. Somewhere along the way it was lost during his three-year tour. After the Battle of the Bulge, Mel's unit was sent to sweep for survivors. They went from house to house, very dangerous work, looking for soldiers in hiding. At a farmhouse Mel discovered an old violin which he kept for the rest of his life - even though it never made a good sound for him! In July of 1945, Mel returned home to Shelby on furlough. He and his sisters went to a dance at Stony Lake, along with his sisters' friend, an attractive young woman named Rowena Feasel. The meeting was love at first sight. They were married on June 14, 1946, shortly after Mel's discharge from the army. The ceremony took place at Shelby United Methodist Church. Following the War, there was not much work for veterans. The newlyweds rented a little house and Mel worked as a fruit picker. He found work as a carpenter during the construction of the B.C. Cobb plant, and the young couple soon had enough money to buy their own property. In 1948, Mel and Rowena built the house on N. Buys Road in North Muskegon that has remained the family home ever since. In 1953, Mel and Rowena adopted their daughter Vicki, followed in 1956 by their son Jeff. While Rowena, a former nurse, raised the children, Mel provided for the family. Over the years, he worked on many important buildings throughout the Muskegon area, including Hackley Hospital, Mercy Hospital, and Sealed Power. When he was renovating the Muskegon Chronicle, he discovered a pile of discarded walnut panels which he used to craft beautiful furniture for his house. He also supervised the construction of the Terrace Plaza Building - from a hospital bed! At the time he was sick with pneumonia: every morning he talked to his staff, providing them with the day's instructions. Mel was a proud member of Carpenters Union Local 100 for twenty-five years. Mel was a devoted father. He worked hard to provide for his family, and he found the reward for his effort in the warm company of his children. Mel enjoyed taking his family on car trips. They'd take along a picnic lunch and see where the road would take them. At Muskegon State Park, just down the road from their home, they spent entire afternoons cooking hotdogs, fishing, and swimming. But Mel had another reason to visit the State Park. Mel was a prolific gardener but his harvest was always threatened by raccoons. They frustrated Mel, but he couldn't bear to harm them so he caught them in "live traps" and later freed them in the park. The family always laughed over the number of raccoons he "relocated" there, leaving the park rangers to wonder why they had such a large population! When Mel returned from the War, he invested in a new fiddle. Throughout the years, he and his brothers played in a band. The Klapp Brothers Band included Mel on the fiddle, Al on the mandolin and banjo, and Don on the guitar. They played at weddings, funerals, barn dances, and retirement homes - in these last few years, the band was often older than the residents they entertained! The regularly rehearsed every Tuesday and Wednesday, and no family event was complete without music. Mel's children have fond memories of all the Sundays spent in Shelby, running around with their cousins while their dad and uncles played music and sang. With retirement, Mel discovered more time to spend with his family, especially his beloved wife Rowena. They shared a love for travel and visited every area of the United States, including Hawaii where they spent their 55th anniversary. For the past forty-five years, Rowena and Mel were active members of Community United Methodist. Time and again, he volunteered his services there as a carpenter. Mel devoted his life to his family, and he was the happiest in their company. On his wedding day, he watched as Rowena walked down the aisle, her hands shaking with nervousness. He took her hand and said, "I'll never let go." This phrase stayed with them throughout their marriage. A few days before his death, as the two of them held hands for one of the last times, Mel said to Rowena, "It's God's hand now." Melvin died on March 16, 2007. He leaves his wife of 60 years, Rowena L. Klapp; one daughter, Vicki (Larry) Kaiser; one son, Jeffrey (Lauren) Klapp; 7 grandchildren, Kevin Kaiser, Kristin (Brad McKenzie) Kaiser, Courtney and Caroline Klapp, and Jillian, Adrienne, and Alexandra Leuders; brothers, Alvin (Juanita) Klapp of Shelby and Donald (Leota) Klapp of Shelby; and many nieces, nephews, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother, Roy Klapp, and 2 sisters, Viola Atherton and Lillian Makin. SERVICE Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 1:00 PM, at Community United Methodist Church with Rev. Robert Lynch officiating. Interment at Laketon Township Cemetery. VISITATION Monday, 2-4 & 6-8 PM, at Clock Life Story Funeral Home - Muskegon. MEMORIAL: Community United Methodist Church Building Fund. Please visit Mel's personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you may leave a memory or sign the online guest book. Clock Life Story- Muskegon