What we learned after the 2025 Oak Lawn Cemetery Tours
We told the story of Hazel Prince Foglesong Spence in the 2025 Oak Lawn Cemetery Walk, but after the tour we learned more.
What We Knew Then
We chose Hazel for several reasons.
- She was the first female licensed embalmer and funeral director in the area.
- After her death the business was eventually purchased by Bob Hackman and is still in his family and in town today.
- She was a prominent business woman and both of her husbands were prominent Sturgis businessmen.
The story we told was based on printed facts and a phone conversation with a niece who is still living.
Hazel’s parents, Herbert and Martha Prince, moved to Sturgis in 1908 and she graduated from Sturgis High School in 1911. After high school she attended Kalamazoo Normal College to study music.
In 1915 she married Harry Fogelson at age 23. He had been a funeral director here in Sturgis since 1913. They had no children and Hazel joined Harry in the profession, graduating in 1923 Worsham School of Embalming in Wheeling, Illinois. She was both a licensed embalmer and funeral director.
After less than 10 years of marriage, Harry died at age 38 in 1925.
The story goes on about how her brother, Harold Prince helped her with the business until the summer of 1931 when she married Charles Spence. Spence is probably best remembered because of Spence Field, but he was quite a businessman. He owned four successful businesses, Carbon Coated Paper, Grobhishers Cabinet Makers, Aulsbrook and Jones and Sturgis Register Company.
Spence had two children ages 16 and 20, when they married. Just before their 26th wedding anniversary, Hazel succumbed to rheumatic heart disease that had plagued her for years. In fact, four years earlier she had one of the very first open heart surgeries ever performed.
The day of her funeral in 1957 the Sturgis Journal reported that Spence closed all of his factories. The high school closed for the afternoon and downtown stores closed from 1-2 p.m. All the directors of Citizen’s State Bank supported Spence by attending my funeral together.
Spence. lived another four years, passing away in 1961. He was 80 years old.
What we know now
After the tour Sharon Bowman shared this part of Hazel’s life which intersected with the family history of her husband, Gary Bowman.
In December 1911 after Hazel had graduated from Sturgis High School and was attending Kalamazoo Normal College, her boyfriend was Vern Bowman.
Vern was the son of Guy and Lydia Bowman. Harold Bowman, Gary Bowman’s dad, was the youngest of their 11 children born in 1912.
In 1911, his older brother, Vern was 20 years old, living with a married sister and brother-in-law in Sturgis while working at Miller-Hubbard plant. Their parents lived in Bronson.
According to the newspaper articles Vern was “a very popular young man with his associates, his cheerful manner and ready smile always making him many friends.”
Unfortunately, that did not include Hazel’s parents, Herbert and Martha Prince. According to Bowman family tradition, they wanted a better prospect for their daughter. Complying with their wishes, Hazel broke up with Vern on a Saturday evening.
On Sunday evening Vern went to the Methodist Church to talk to her again. The news article said, “She replied that to stop and discuss matters with him would make her late for the exercises and would only cause more trouble. Bowman turned from her and replied, ‘Well, goodbye then.’”
Vern went to his sister’s house, got a gun and shot himself in the heart. One of the news writers offered his opinion on the situation.
“It seems that Vern was the victim of his own impetuosity. A little more thoughtful consideration and it is probable that he would not have fired the shot which put an end to his earthly career. But youth is swift in its conclusions and repentance is denied sometimes.”
Hazel wasn’t named in all the news articles we’ve found but in most of them.
Years went by and according to Bowman family lore, when Vern’s mother died in 1937 Hazel, would not accept payment. According to the story, Hazel said, “Vern was my true love. I should have been a part of this family.”
Rosalie Currier is the director of the Sturgis Historical Museum ~ at the Depot.
