Manuel Z Garcia

Obituary printed by Merkle Funeral Home Manuel Z. Garcia was born on November 13, 1925 in Yorktown, Texas. He was one of seven children born from the union of the late Abran and Maria (Zamora) Garcia. Manuel married the love of his life, Luduvina Gonzales, on August 8, 1943 in Harlingen, Texas, and the couple would be blessed with seven children of their own. For several years, in the late 1940’s, Manuel played Hispanic Triple A baseball in Houston, this of course led to a lifelong love for the game. Manuel worked for BF Goodrich from 1950-1960 and then for Firestone recapping tires until moving to Greenville, Michigan in 1962. There he would take employment with Ore-Ida Foods as a welder. He retired in 1990 after twenty-eight years of service, but being a hard worker, Manuel took employment with the Hanson Brothers as a welder for an additional five years. While living in Greenville, Manuel was a member of St. Francis Catholic Church where he served as an usher and participated with De Colores, a Bible study group. He was very intelligent and handy with his hands and enjoyed working on cars. Manuel also loved fishing and gardening. As a gardener he was quite passionate about his tomato plants. Above anything, Manuel was a family man. He cherished time spent with his children and grandchildren. He loved attending as many of their sporting events as possible. His loving nature and great sense of humor were staples of his personality. Manuel, age 93, of Dundee passed away at home on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. In addition to his parents his passing was preceded by his wife; daughters: Alvina Rosales and Magdelena Garcia; his son: Manuel Garcia Jr.; siblings: Alveza, Fele, Alexandria, Victor, and Vicente. To cherish his memory, Manuel leaves four children: Reuben (Louise) Garcia of Blissfield, Rosa (Mike) Link of Monroe, Juan (Andrea) Garcia of Shelby, and Annette (Ken) Burghardt of Dundee; daughter in law: Lydia Garcia; son-in-law: Bartolo Rosales; brother: Lupe Garcia; eighteen grandchildren; twenty-one great-grandchildren; and several great-great grandchildren. Friends may gather on Sunday, April 7, 2019 from 2:00pm-6:00pm at Merkle Funeral Service, Dundee (formerly Cover Funeral Home); 297 Tecumseh Street (734) 529-3156. A Celebration of His Life will take place on Monday, April 8 at 11:00am also at Merkle’s with Pastor Paul Clark officiating. Procession will follow to Oak Grove Cemetery.