Midge Sandula

Midge (Milton John)Sandula, 75 of Maple City died, Tuesday, November 11, 2014.

He was born on July 29, 1939 to Philip and Elizabeth (Brenner) Sandula. His parents were born in Austria and came to America in 1912. Midge was first generation born in this country.

His parents purchased a truck farm in 1941 in Fraser, Michigan; which had no running water, no heat in the bedrooms and no inside bathroom.

He married Sheila Lehr in 1961 and raised, three children.

Midge worked at General Motors as a Job Setter in the Grinding Department. He became the #1 Job Setter at the Chevrolet Gear and Axle plant in Hamtramck, Michigan. Midge was paid a machine repairmen wages for over 20 years. He was never challenged on receiving skilled trade wages by the union or his coworkers. His superiors allowed him to work unlimited overtime hours even though the plant was not working overtime. New employees were assigned to Midge for training, even machine repairmen. Midge made many improvements and received many awards through the GM suggestion program.

Midge was an excellent and self taught carpenter.If the job called for three nails you could bet he used six. He loved cars, steam engines, trains and Kerosene Engines. When he was a child he came upon a piece of metal, kicked it, and about broke his toe; only to find it was a buried Kerosene Engine. He dug it up and to this day still has it in his collection.

Midge was proud to be a member of the Empire Free & Accepted Mason's Lodge No. 597 for the past 19 years. He joined the Mason's as an Entered Apprentice on June 16, 1994. He earned the Fellow Craft (2nd Degree) on November 3, 1994 and his Master Mason (3rd Degree) on January 5, 1995. He has been the Marshall of the Masonic Lodge since 1999. He was the Mason of the year in 2005. He also received the Lou B Windsor Award on May 30, 2006.

Midge was well known for making friends very quickly. He could make friends with a complete stranger in minutes. If you were a friend of Midge; you knew he would lay down his life for you in a heartbeat. He still has a very close relationship with friends he's had for over 60 years. When Midge made a friend, it was for life!

Midge is survived by his children, Tammy McKnight and John Sandula; grandchildren, Darryl (Jamie) McKnight, Dylon (Kara) McKnight, Dakota (Kristen) Bolton, Haley, Storm, Winter and Snow Sandula; 5great-grandchildren; sister, Louise Kircus and his former wife, Sheila Sandula.

He was preceded in death by his, parents, Philip and Elizabeth Sandula; sister, Frances Sandula and brothers, Carl Sandula and Philip Sandula Jr.

Memorial Services will be held 2pm, Saturday, December 6, 2014 at the Empire Masonic Lodge #597. The family will greet friends starting at1pm. Burial will be in the Highland Cemetery, Gladwin. Memorial Contributions may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 2211 N. Oak Park Ave, Chicago, IL 60707 or https://secure2.convio.net/shfc/site/Donation2?df_id=4689&4689.donation=form1. The family chose Life Story Funeral Home, Traverse City.