Name/Title
Bud Sewers audio recordingsEntry/Object ID
2025.09.31Description
Eleven audio recording of Erwin "Bud" Sewers talking with Chris Yoder or Jack Sheridan in 2011.Context
The following is interview notes by Chris Yoder:
Bud (Erwin) Sewers, b. 1923 sister was 7 years older than me.
Interviewed Jan 18, 20, 2011 at Ridgewood Oaks Apts, Apt 2A
[Bud is the] son of Frank W. Sewers and Mary Haberer ... Grandfather who died in the 1930s had rheumatism and never got out of the house only when somebody would take him someplace in a car. Fish shanty on Bridge Street, belonged to his father, under what they used to call "Pier Point," now Far Gaze Point. They used to play out on the point, "we used to go over there on our bicycles and then when we got cars we'd go over there in our cars. We’d just goof around."
"I've lived in Saugatuck 87 years, except for the time I was in the Army. I was born right down on Lake Street, where the leather shop used to be. When I got out of the Army, and before, I worked for my Dad [Frank W. Sewers] in the fishing business. I went three years of high school and then I quit and then went to work for my Dad. Then the war came along and I was drafted. I served 35 months in the Army, and then when I came back I worked for my Dad until he retired in I think 1959. So that left me out of a job. I got other jobs and ended up working at automobile dealerships. In service I was in the South Pacific. I was in New Guinea and in the Philippine Islands when the war ended. I worked in the office."
"My parents lived in one house on Lake Street when I was born and then sold it and moved two doors over to what ended up being the Commercial Record building there (790 Lake St). My mother died there, my Dad remarried and he died there. South of where Jane Bird Van Dis lives, about half a block.
"I knew the people up on South Maple, Mrs. Updyke on the corner, Old Jake Palzer, I knew them all. He was the guy my Grampa used to tell me when he got rid of his horse and wagon and got his model T, he drove into the barn and shouted "Whoow"and went right out the other side. He thought he had a horse up ahead of him. That was old Jake Palzer. I was a little kid, and he was a real old man, and he used to come see my Grampa all the time. He was just Mr. Palzer. If I remember right he had a Model T and I think he may have had a little milk route at one time, I'm not sure.
"I had a little camera used a ten cent roll of film and I took pictures. (See ES7 series).
"We went to the Congregational Church. I wasn't much of a church goer, but when I was a little kid I went to Sunday School.
"When my Mother died, the stores all closed the day of the funeral. There was a full turnout.
"I remember we had a big haul right [twenty tons of carp from the Bayou in 1939] at where the ice house there in Douglas. Tyler Bayou, up from pier point. The Kalamazoo River angles off. The reason they called it Tyler Bayou was that there was an old guy who lived up there, old Walt Tyler. It's on the north side of the river, theres a small stream that runs into Silver lake. As you cross the interstate bridge heading south, if you look off to the left and that's Tyler bayou."Audio Format
DigitalRecording Type
Spoken WordCollection
Family History, 1845 Fishing, commercialCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2025.09Source or Donor
Yoder, ChrisAcquisition Method
Donation, unconditionalCredit Line
Items scanned by Chris Yoder or Jack Sheridan for the SDHC family history group.Dimensions
Dimension Description
digital assetLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Sewers, Erwin H. "Bud" 1923-2015, Yoder, Chris, Sheridan, John "Jack" O. 1938-, Sewers, Reuben W. "Rube" Jr. 1894-1978, Sewers, Frank Wilmot 1894-1970, Gleason Net Shed c1919-1965, Moker, Paul S. "Sandy" 1923-1985Web Links and URLs
Bud Sewers remembering the Gleason Boat House, Bud Sewers introductory phone conversation with Chris Yoder, Bud Sewers conversation with Jack Sheridan at Wavepoint restaurant part 1 of 3, Bud Sewers conversation with Jack Sheridan at Wavepoint restaurant part 2 of 3, Bud Sewers conversation with Jack Sheridan at Wavepoint restaurant part 3 of 3, Bud Sewers talking about the Tyler Bayou, Bud Sewers and Chris Yoder driving around to look for locations and share memories, Bud Sewers looking through his photo collection and talking about the images, Bud Sewers telling a story from his childhood that involved dynamite (The explosive, not the donkey), Bud Sewers talking about his uncle Rube Sewers fishing shanty, Bud Sewers talking about the Union SchoolCreate Date
July 27, 2025Update Date
September 9, 2025