- Date Of Birth: October 30, 1915
- Date Of Death: April 10, 2016
- State: Michigan
Mable (Bunce) Root, a century on earth brings with it an overflowing trove of stories, and Mable Root, who died April 10, 2016, didn’t mind sharing. If you listened closely, events that she remembered – but we could just imagine – came to life and became a gift.
She would tell of her father pulling up the horse and carriage to the family house in Gobles during a snowstorm around 1920, the kids sliding in for a ride. She smiled as she remembered one particular chore as a 7-year-old. It was 1922, in the heart of prohibition. Mable’s dad was making a batch of homebrew in the family basement “to make his belly feel better,” she would say with a wink. Her job was to pop on the caps. An outlaw? Nah. Just a little girl helping her dad.
Mable was 11 years old in 1926 when her family moved to Bush Street in Kalamazoo, and she sometimes walked downtown with her mother just for fun. They’d stroll by a bustling construction site that would soon become a showcase of the city. The State Theatre opened in 1927. Mable watched it go up.
She graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1934 and later bought a small grocery store, butchering the meat herself. Over the years, she belonged to a sewing club and taught ceramics – firing up a handful of operating kilns in the back room of her small home on Lovers Lane. She traveled to Hawaii, Europe and the British Isles, she was a Girl Scout Leader and a member of an investment club. Mable became such a passionate, decades-long Detroit Tigers fan that she groaned at losses and thrust her fist when they won.
Mable was widowed twice, raised two daughters and lost a third. She became the matriarch of multiple families, and it was a custom at reunions and other large family gatherings to find Mable in her spot, offering goodbyes to all who had come. One by one, family members would stop for their hug, kiss, and loving word.
And, maybe a little story. Mable was born Oct. 30, 1915, in Gobles, a daughter of George and Alice Dunn. Her parents preceded her in death. Mable married L.D. Bunce on August 20, 1938, and after L.D.’s death, she married Stanley Root on April 17, 1965. Stanley also preceded her in death. Also preceding her in death are three sisters, two brothers, one daughter, Carolyn Irene Bunce, three sons-in-law and one great-grandson. Surviving are two daughters, Jill (Bunce) Frenthway and Althea (Bunce) Teadt; five grandchildren, Kelle (Jeff) Barr, Rick Wright, Jenelle (Peter) Stewart, Adam (Dawn) Boers and Zachary Teadt. Also surviving are eleven great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
