Memories saturate my heart and the story of you spills from my eyes.”
- Grace Andren
It is said that losing a child is the greatest grief a person can bear, but for Bill and Deanna Siler, that immense pain was doubled.
In 1973, their firstborn, Kurtis William Siler, passed unexpectedly at the age of 14 at Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was an honor roll student, Vice President of the Student Council, a member of the junior varsity football team, and he participated in band and chorus at SS Peter and Paul Area High School.
Only three short years later, their secondborn, Craig Richard Siler, passed unexpectedly at the age of 16 after riding in a car involved in an automobile accident. He also attended SS Peter and Paul Area High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, and also participated in the High School Class Council, and as an accomplished musician he participated in the school masses.
Sources
1940 US Federal Census Bureau Year: 1940; Census Place: Merrill, Saginaw, Michigan; Roll: m-t0627-01811; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 73-19
1950 US Federal Census Bureau National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Merrill, Saginaw, Michigan; Roll: 3514; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 73-56
Ohio, US Birth Index, 1908-2003 Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics; Columnbus, Ohio; Ohio Department of Health, Index to Annual Births, 1968-1998
