Walter William Berns was born Wednesday, February 26, 1919 as the oldest child of Edna (Heiden) and Henry Berns. This made him the oldest of his generation of the 38 grandchildren of the William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden family.

He was born at the family home in Raisinville Township and attended Bridge School through the 8th grade.

On May 3, 1941, he married Madelyn Eleanor Hanson of Dundee in a ceremony at St Matthew Lutheran Church. The couple celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary in 2011. They had five children.

Walter and Madelyn were active in community work. Walter received the Michigan Minuteman award (also known as the Governor's Award) for outstanding volunteer work from Secretary of State Richard Austin on May 22, 1986. Walter worked at Ford Motor Company from 1955 until his retirement in February, 1985.

Madelyn was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Genealogical Society of Monroe County, Monroe County Historical Society and the Dundee Women's Civic Association. She and Walter were active with the Old Mill Restoration Committee which worked on restoring the Ford Mill on the River Raisin in Dundee.

 Walter was 94 when he died On January 23, 2014, at Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe, Michigan. He is buried at the St Matthew Lutheran Church cemetery in Raisinville Township, Monroe County, Michigan. Walter and Madelyn had been married for 72 years at the time of his death.

Madelyn passed away on March 15, 2015 at the age of 91 in Dundee and is also buried at St Matthew Lutheran Church cemetery.

Click on the Newspaper button to see the 12 articles about these two wonderful people who were very active in their community. Walter was well-known for dropping in to visit with elderly relatives to give them a bit of sunshine.

He lived in the same nursing facility in Monroe as my mother, Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden, late in his life and would still have a smile on his face whenever we visited. Madelyn, as an active genealogist and historian, was very helpful with the 1995 The Heiden Family book.

Mr. Berns farmed for many years and was president of the Reynolds School Area Farm Bureau. He also worked at Brewer Poultry Farm and then the Ypsilanti plant of Ford Motor Company where he retired in 1985 after 30 years. After his retirement he remained active in the community and took care of the gardens at Triangle Park and the Old Mill Museum in Dundee. At the Old Mill he gave talks to school groups about his experiences growing up on a farm in the 1920s and during the Great Depression. He received the Governor’s Minute Man Award in 1986 and he and his wife Madelyn were Dundee’s Citizens of the Year in 1993.

Living with his parents, Edna and Hank Berns, and grandfather, Fred Berns, on what was then called River Road i.e. Dixon Road.
Living with his parents and grandfather, Fred Berns (79), on what was then called River Road i.e. Dixon Road.
Listed as living with his parents at 11501 Dixon Road. He was 21 years old.
Married and living with his family at 18020 Kent Road just west of Dundee.

The river was named "Riviere aux Raisin" by the French-Canadian people that first settled in Monroe County. They called it the River Raisin because of the wild grapes growing along its banks. This led to the naming of Raisinville Township and the community of Grape. Also many of the farms along the river are long and narrow so that each farm has access to the banks of the river in the French tradition.