Who Was Mother White

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

This photo hangs in the Harrison District Library, formerly the Surrey House Bar and Restaurant. We get a lot of questions about just who Mother White is. I usually edit photos that have writing in them, but I didn’t frame this particular photo and I’m glad the original writing is still on it. The woman in the shown in this photo of Second Street was Mary Etta Reese (1876-1955). It was taken in the mid-1920s.

Mary was born in 1876 in Ohio. She married Samuel Trowbridge in 1894 in Eaton County, Michigan. They had a son, Ira J. Trowbridge in 1895 and Samuel passed away in 1896. Later she married Richard White, and they had one daughter Gladys and a son Howard.

The April 30, 1943, issue of the Clare Sentinel reported this item under their Harrison News column. “Mrs. Ira Trowbridge and son, Wayne, and Mother White were Midland and Bay City callers Thursday of last week.”

At the time this photo was taken she was in the restaurant business and ran the Sanitary Café on Second Street. She passed away in 1955 at age 78. She is laid to rest in Maple Grove Cemetery in Harrison along with her husband Richard. In 1955 the Cleaver published her obituary and in part it reads, “She was a devoted wife and other and her cherry disposition endeared her to all. The many beautiful floral pieces silently bespoke the esteem in which she was held.”

The family moved to Harrison in 1912. Ira J. Trowbridge (1895-1956) graduated from Harrison in 1915. He later became mayor and was a respected citizen. He married Marion McNaughton of Carson City, Michigan and they had three children: Wayne, Doris and Donna Faye. He worked and in lived in Midland for a time before moving back to Harrison.

Many locals may remember Wayne Trowbridge and his wife Beverly (Merrill) Trowbridge. Wayne and Beverly both graduated from Harrison Schools in 1946. They worked in local banking and were prominent and well-liked citizens. Beverly passed away in January of this year.