Sylvia Ruth Adrian

The soul of Mrs. Sylvia Ruth Adrian, by the merits of her Lord Jesus Christ, was called home to heaven on December 3, 2009, having reached the age of 93 Years, 3 Months, 16 Days. The seventh and youngest child of George and Neva (Drader) Hinkley, Sylvia Ruth Hinkley was born on the family farm on E Wellman Line Road in Fremont Township, Sanilac County, Michigan, August 18, 1916. Her father was renowned in the area for training horses to work together as teams for farm work and her mother worked at home as a seamstress and a weaver of rag-rugs. From 1922-1929 she and her sister Marjorie attended the Red Rural School in Fremont Township in Sanilac County. The school has since been razed and the Fremont Township Hall now sits on the same site. Her family attended the Mennonite church near her home at Wellman Line and Comstock Roads. She became a child of God through the sacrament of Baptism in July 1928 being baptized in the tradition of the Mennonite church through immersion in the Black River near Croswell. After eighth grade graduation in 1929, the family sold the farm and moved to Port Huron where her dad found employment at the Mueller Brass Company. Sylvia attended Port Huron High School and graduated from there in June of 1933. The family moved back to Yale in 1936 where she met the young man who would become not only her husband but her soul mate in life. The courtship would have trying times as from 1937-1939 Sylvia was stricken with tuberculosis and was hospitalized for 22 months at the Sanitarium first in Howell and later in Ann Arbor. The young man’s family had moved from Yale to Imlay City where his dad had established his own business, Adrian’s Harness Shop. Bob would not be deterred but made weekly trips to Ann Arbor to visit and encourage the love of his life. In answer to many prayers, the LORD restored health and healing, the TB was arrested, and Sylvia was able to return home. On July 11, 1940, in the home of her parents on N Main Street in Yale, Sylvia Hinkley, became the bride of Robert Adrian, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Adrian, Imlay City. Rev Albert Tietz, pastor of St Paul Lutheran Church, Imlay City, performed the ceremony in the presence of several relatives and friends. Sylvia was confirmed into the Lutheran faith on April 6, 1941, by Rev Tietz and became a member of St Paul Lutheran Church in Imlay City. In 1948 they moved to Yale and became members of Redeemer Lutheran Church where for more than 30 years she sang in the choir and served as a Sunday School teacher and in the Dorcas Society. When Redeemer Lutheran merged with Emanuel Lutheran of Greenwood Township, she continued as a member of the choir and Sunday School staff, as a member of the Ladies Aid, and was a member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society of which she also served for a term as president of the Thumb Circuit of the LWMS. Mrs. Adrian served as a short order cook at the Yale Bowling Alley (1953-1956), as 2nd cook at the Yale Public Schools (1956-1961), as cook and waitress at Meharg’s Dairy Bar (1961-1966), and when Frank sold the dairy bar, as manager of London’s Dairy Bar (1966-1971), as waitress at the Coffee Cup Restaurant (1971-1973), and as Pay-roll clerk, invoicing and accounts receivable for Master Products, Yale, from which she retired in 1974. Mrs. Adrian was a tuberculosis survivor as well as a breast cancer survivor. In later life she learned to adapt well to both partial deafness and lost of eye sight. Her faith in her Lord Jesus never wavered or failed and she would always remember her children, grandchildren and family to her Lord in daily prayer. Mrs. Adrian is survived by her four children: Robert (Karen) Adrian, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Karl (Sharron) Adrian, Yale; Fred (Karen) Adrian, Wyoming, Michigan; and Louise (Mike) Jaskoski, Kingsport, Tennessee. In addition to her children, Mrs. Adrian is survived by fourteen grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchild; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Cornelia Theel, Brown City; special niece and companion, Betty Miller, special cousins Marie and Richard Roberts, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Bob, January 10, 1997; her parents George and Neva Hinkley; her mother-and-father-in-law Fred and Emma Adrian; her siblings and spouses, Leila (Andre) DeLombarde, Marie (Harold) Murphy, George (Zota) Hinkley, Marjorie (Lloyd) Taylor-Sheehy, and two infant siblings; a sister-in-law and brother-in-law Alice and Harold Kegler and a brother-in-law, Charles Theel. Visitation for Mrs. Adrian will be held at the Kaatz Funeral Directors, Yale, on Sunday, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Visitation will continue Monday morning at Emanuel-Redeemer Ev Lutheran Church, Yale, from 10:00 a.m. until time of service at 11:00 a.m. conducted by Pastor Andrew Schroeder, pastor of Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church, Port Huron. Mrs. Adrian will be laid to rest next to her husband at Christian Memorial Gardens Center Christian Cemetery, Speaker Township, Sanilac County, Michigan, to wait the day of Resurrection. Memorials are suggested for Holy Redeemer Ev Lutheran Church, Port Huron; Emanuel-Redeemer Ev Lutheran Church, Yale; or to the American Cancer Society.

Sylvia Ruth Adrian

August 18, 1916 - December 3, 2009