Henry W. Price

Henry W. Price, 91, died of natural causes at twelve noon on Thursday, June 28, 2001, in Miller’s Merry Manor where he had lived for nearly the past 2 years. Prior to moving to Miller’s he resided at Garden Courts Downtown and Shady Rest. Henry was always proud that he and his family had started successful businesses and created some special landmarks in the Plymouth area. He said in an interview in 1996, “ I have enjoyed every minute of it (life). Born on January 31, 1910, in Tippecanoe, Henry, one of six children, was the son of Edward and Daisy Woodfill Price. The family moved to Plymouth when Henry was four-years-old. He graduated from Plymouth High School with the class of 1928. Henry out-lived three wives. His first wife was Viola Peters Price who he married in Plymouth in 1931. Viola died on Nov. 16, 1989. He and Esther Tyler Price were wed in Michigan in 1971; Esther died in 1993 and, in 1996, Henry and Lenore Weybright Price were married. Lenore preceded him in death on October 30, 1998. His first job was picking strawberries for a penny and a-half a quart. He said “ I could earn 15 cents by noon,” thereby attesting to his strong work principles. As a youngster of 10, Henry would harness three large horses and help with the plowing of a neighbor farmer’s fields. A young adult, he worked at Schlosser Brothers, candling eggs and cutting ice from Dixon Lake in the winter. Still in his teens, Henry started in what was to be his lifelong career. The grocery business. He first worked at the A&P in Plymouth and then in the meat department at Glaubs G&G. He was twenty years old when he was made manager of a Kroger store in South Whitley, Ind. where he worked for 15 years. When Krogers opened on Water Street in Plymouth, Henry Price was named the manager. He would be most remembered for the combination grocery store and restaurant located next to the Centennial Park at Michigan and Klinger Streets known as Henry’s Serv-U, which Henry operated for 35 years. During the early days of the Blueberry Festival, he remembers having 1,000 customers in one day. He also raised cows for processing at the Prices Abattoirs. He will be recalled as a hard-working, easy-going man who enjoyed selling things. He’d say “ my father taught me a valuable lesson about earning money to pay for whatever you need.” After his retirement in 1971, his son, Don turned the grocery store into Price’s Village Valet Cleaners. A Euchre player, he enjoyed playing cards and watching TV, especially Cubs games and other sports. For 17 years, he was a winter resident of Plant City, Fla. and was a Charter member of the Plymouth Lions Club. Henry is survived by his two sons, Robert A. and Merry Price and Donald R. and Beverly Price, all of Plymouth, and five grandchildren. The grandchildren are: Karen L. and Gary Gilbert, Rochester, N.Y., David A. Price, Wichita Kansas, Angela L. and Doug Michalak, Matthews, N.C., Diane M. Price and Christina L. Price, both of Tampa, Florida. Two great-grandchildren, Ashley Michalak and Joseph Gilbert and several step-children and families also survive. Henry was preceded in death by two brothers: Ray and Floyd Price, an infant sister, Edna, and three grown sisters: Fern Prokop, Leona Fish and Lucille Lemler. Visitation with the family will be from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 30, 2001, in the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1100 N. Michigan St., Plymouth. Funeral services in the funeral home will follow the visitation at 2 p.m. The Rev. Maurice Grindle, pastor of the Trinity United Methodist Church of which Henry was a member, will conduct the services. Interment will be in the Memorial Gardens of New Oakhill Cemetery. Memorial gifts in Henry’s name may be made to the Trinity church Elevator Fund.