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AutorenbildPhotos Without Families

Sylvia Witt Riley Oosterhouse



Sylvia Witt was born on January 7, 1900, as the second youngest of altogether 8 children of Henry Witt (1856-1934) and Anna Lyle née Esterline (1863-1939), in Orangeville, Barry County in Michigan. Witt is a common German surname. Sylvia's grandparents had immigrated from Germany.


I thought this photo was perhaps taken on Sylvia’s wedding day – she was dressed in white, holding a huge flower bouquet. Someone had added the date 1916 on the back of the photo (perhaps the date in the photo album this photo was taken out of). But Sylvia married Mervil B. Riley on August 24, 1918. So perhaps this was Sylvia’s sweet-16, or graduation or confirmation photo instead.


A year after Sylvia married Mervil, their son Gilbert Eugene Riley (1919-1973) was born. The young parents faced a tragedy 2 years later when their second child Myrna was still-born. Soon after, babies no. 3 and 4, Doris Jean (1922-2005) and Roger Leroy (1924-1968) were born.


By 1930, Mervil and Sylvia had moved to Grand Rapids in Kent, Michigan. Mervil had specialised in painting work. 1931 was a year of great joy and huge loss for Sylvia. She had her 5th child, Joyce E. in 1931. But in August 1931, at just 31, Sylvia was widowed. Her husband died of perforated ulcer.


In 1940, Sylvia rented a house in Umatilla St. in Grand Rapids with her 4 children. Both of her sons were drafted to the US Army as it entered WWII. Both of her boys were discharged from service in 1945. I’m sure she was thrilled to have her family back together. And there was an addition to Sylvia’s family – she had re-married in 1944 and was now Mrs. Edward Oosterhouse. Edward was a WWI veteran, buffer by trade, divorced and 10 years older than Sylvia. They had 18 beautiful years together, until Sylvia was widowed for the second time in 1962. Sylvia herself passed away in 1980 and was buried at the Hillside Cemetery in Plainwell, Allegan (Michigan).


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