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Person

Vernon Fitzpatrick

Also Vernon Fitzpatrick

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Active
fl. 1960–1962
Work
Resident Conservation Officer, Beaver Island · Vice President and Director, Beaver Island Civic Association · Fire warden, Beaver Island
Spouse
Florence Grandmaison
Parents
Emma Fitzpatrick
Member of
Beaver Island Civic Association
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
conservationenvironmentcommunity
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Vernon Fitzpatrick was Beaver Island’s resident state conservation officer for five years ending in April 1964, documented in the Beaver Beacon directing deer-season policy, predator and fisheries work, and a school hunter-safety course, alongside civic roles as fire warden and an officer of the Civic Association. He left the island in 1964 for a series of promotions within the Michigan state park system, first to Fort Wilkins State Park and then, by 1966, to McLain State Park. He is a different man from Doyle C. Fitzpatrick, the King Strang Story author who died on Beaver Island in 1989; the two share a surname and an island connection but no held source links them as kin, and this record does not conflate them.

History

The February 1960 Beacon lists Vernon Fitzpatrick as vice president of the Civic Association, elected to the Board of Directors alongside Grace Nackerman and Lillian Gallagher.1 By October 1960 the paper also names him the island’s fire warden and reports his engagement to Florence Grandmaison of Kawkawlin, Michigan, daughter of Edward Grandmaison; that same month the Beacon reported his mother, Mrs. Bernard Fitzpatrick, had died at Beaverton on October 16.23 He and Florence married on January 28, 1961, in a nuptial High Mass at St. Francis Church in Linwood, followed by a Kawkawlin breakfast and Gladwin reception, and the couple settled at St. James.4 That March, island women held a welcoming party for the new bride at the Shamrock, and the Beacon reported Vernon directing a four-week Hunter Safety Program at the island school, training 26 children age twelve and up in handling firearms and bows and arrows.56

By September 1961 the Beacon was crediting him as “our resident Conservation Officer” and began publishing his monthly weather reports, filed for the federal Weather Bureau, as a regular Beacon feature.7 That same month he officially announced a “bucks only” deer season, adopted because the department judged the herd somewhat reduced, and the paper reported his work with biologist John Ozaga on the island’s predator population.8 In November he reported a further test of Fox Lake’s toxicity following the department’s spring poisoning of the lake, finding trial brook trout still dying and explaining the lake’s stagnant water was clearing the toxicant more slowly than an actively used lake would.9 On December 6, 1961, he and fish culturist Bud Knight of Oden Hatcheries planted 2,000 brook trout in Fox Lake, and that month he reported the closed deer season’s results: 22 deer taken by 230 hunters, including five illegal kills, two of which were salvaged for needy families.10 He showed Conservation Department films at the Game Club’s November 16 Hunters’ Dinner, where Archie LaFreniere served as Master of Ceremonies.11

Fitzpatrick’s reporting continued into 1962. In January he announced a state Game Division plan to resume wild-turkey trapping in the Allegan State Forest, with the hope of releasing more birds on Beaver Island.12 In March he reported that another orphaned fawn would be exhibited at the township park, following public interest in the fawn “Jackie” the year before, and that the department planned to keep three years of angler catch-record forms at Fox Lake to guide future stocking.13 The following month he conducted a detailed inspection of the island’s deer yards around Fox Lake, examining a fawn that had died attempting to jump a fence in a weakened state – 60 pounds against an expected 100 to 110 – and attributed it and other starvation signs to over-browsed cedar and dogwood in the deer’s traditional wintering ground. He told the Beacon the herd faced two options: harvesting it to about 500 deer a year, or a deer-range food-management program using tree-cutting or controlled burning to open new browse.14

He continued filing the Beacon’s monthly weather analysis and Conservation Department news through 1963, including a July 1962 taped interview on island conservation programs prepared for the Art Mercier Sports Show on Chicago’s WBBM, a September 1962 report that 460 any-deer permits would be available for the season, monthly conservation lectures he gave to island schoolchildren beginning that fall, and a December 1963 report on the deer season’s results: 149 deer taken by 345 hunters, a 43 percent hunter-success rate the Beacon said topped the state average.15 The April 1964 Beacon carried his last weather report and a farewell notice, “Island Bids Farewell To Fitz”: after five years as the island’s Conservation Fire Officer, Fitzpatrick had been promoted to Assistant Park Manager at Fort Wilkins State Park in the Upper Peninsula. The item states that department protocol had barred him from holding office in the community, but that “there was seldom a project that he wasn’t a part of,” and credits his volunteer work as a radio and television repairman and in children’s activities; islanders held a farewell coffee at Holy Cross Hall on April 9.16 A daughter, Jennifer Joan, was born to Vernon and Florence at Copper Harbor on October 31, 1964, where the Beacon still described him as “our former Conservation Fire Officer on Beaver Island.”17 By August 1966 he had been promoted again, to Park Supervisor of McLain State Park.18

Evidence and limits

This is an episode-qualified newspaper record, not a state personnel file. No held source gives Fitzpatrick’s birth date or full career beyond Beaver Island and his two later Upper Peninsula postings; his island tenure is now bounded by the April 1964 farewell notice’s own claim of “five years” of service, ending April 1964, which is consistent with but does not by itself fix a precise 1959 start date. The parents named for him rest on a sibling project record’s transcription of a 2015 funeral-home obituary that could not be independently fetched for this article (see the Sources block); the given and maiden names it supplies match the 1960 Beacon notice’s “Mrs. Bernard Fitzpatrick,” but neither the obituary’s full text nor a birth date for Vernon has been read directly, and this article does not attempt to reconcile his 1966 McLain State Park posting with a career of roughly fifty years to a reported 2015 death. No held source connects this Vernon Fitzpatrick to Doyle C. Fitzpatrick, the historical-society member and author who died on Beaver Island in October 1989 and who appears repeatedly in the same 1960s Beacon issues under his own name; they are treated here as two distinct men who happen to share a surname.

Open questions

  • What were Vernon Fitzpatrick’s exact birth date and full state conservation career after his 1966 posting to McLain State Park, and does it lead to the 2015 death recorded in a sibling project’s source?
  • Can the exact start date of his Beaver Island tenure be fixed beyond the April 1964 farewell notice’s “five years” claim?
  • Can the 2015 Stephenson-Wyman obituary be read directly to confirm the parental and biographical details relayed here through a sibling record?
  • Where are the formal state deer-order and Fox Lake fisheries-management records corresponding to his reported decisions?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, February 1960, “Big Meeting.” ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, October 1960, engagement notice. ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, November 1960, condolence notice. ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, February 1961, “Island news.” ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, March 1961, “Welcoming Party.” ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, March 1961, “School News.” ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, September 1961, “Weather.” ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, September 1961, “Conservation Department News.” ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, November 1961, game news. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, December 1961, “Conservation Department News” and “Good News.” ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, November and December 1961, “Game Club News.” ↩

  12. Beaver Beacon, January 1962, “Sporting News.” ↩

  13. Beaver Beacon, March 1962, “Conservation Department News.” ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, May 1962, “Sports.” ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, June through December 1962, and October and December 1963, weather and Conservation Department columns, /data1/beaver-island-archive/ocr/beaver_beacon/markdown/1962-06_Beaver-Beacon.md through 1963-12_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, April 1964, “Island Bids Farewell To Fitz,” /data1/beaver-island-archive/ocr/beaver_beacon/markdown/1964-04_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, November 1964, birth notice, /data1/beaver-island-archive/ocr/beaver_beacon/markdown/1964-11_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩

  18. Beaver Beacon, August 1966, “Change of Address,” /data1/beaver-island-archive/ocr/beaver_beacon/markdown/1966-08_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩

Kin

Emma Fitzpatrickd. 1960This articleVernonFitzpatrickFlorenceGrandmaison
Only relations stated in the sources are drawn; absence means unrecorded, not childless or unmarried.

The dated record

17 dated events · 1960–1962These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Calls Vernon Fitzpatrick the resident Conservation Officer, credits him with monthly weather reports, and names him as the official announcer of the 1961 bucks-only deer season.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-09_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1961-09_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Attributes Fox Lake toxicity-test information to Vernon Fitzpatrick.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-11_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1961-11_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Names Fitzpatrick as the conservation officer who planted 2,000 brook trout at Fox Lake with Bud Knight.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-12_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1961-12_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Reports Fitzpatrick announcing a Game Division plan to resume turkey trapping in Allegan State Forest; it does not establish completion or a later Beaver Island release.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-01_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1962-01_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Lists Vernon Fitzpatrick as vice-president and a director elected at the January 7 Beaver Island Civic Association meeting. It does not establish whether this role was connected to his later conservation-office service.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-02_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-02_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Reports the engagement of Florence Grandmaison, of Kawkawlin, Michigan, to Vernon Fitzpatrick, described as the local fire warden; wedding plans not yet complete.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-10_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports the January 28, 1961 marriage of Florence Grandmaison and Vernon Fitzpatrick at St. Francis Church in Linwood, Michigan, identifying Vernon as Bernard Fitzpatrick's son and the couple as living at St. James.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-02_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Reports a welcoming party at the Shamrock for the new bride, Mrs. Vernon Fitzpatrick, and reports Vernon Fitzpatrick directing a four-week Hunter Safety Program for 26 island schoolchildren aged twelve and up.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-03_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Reports the October 16, 1960 death of Mrs. Bernard Fitzpatrick at Beaverton, Michigan, identified as the mother of Vernon Fitzpatrick, Beaver Island Conservation Officer.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-11_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Project article person/emma-brubaker-fitzpatrick, citing a Stephenson-Wyman Funeral Home obituary for "Vernon A. Fitzpatrick," June 2015.
    Described in this archive: Emma Fitzpatrick.
    That already-researched project record reports Vernon A. Fitzpatrick's 2015 obituary names him as the son of Bernard and Emma (Brubaker) Fitzpatrick, matching this record's parents. The funeral-home page itself returned an HTTP 403 error on direct fetch and could not be independently read for this article; the death year and parental names are relayed from the sibling record's transcription, not independently verified against the primary obituary text.
  16. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick's February weather figures and a Conservation Department announcement that another orphaned fawn would be exhibited at the township park, that Fox Lake trout-catch record forms would be placed at the lake, and that the rabbit season and dog-restraint rules were changing.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-03_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick's April weather figures and a detailed account of his deer-yard inspection and analysis of fawn starvation around Fox Lake, including a dead fawn he examined and his statement of two possible remedies: harvesting the herd or a deer-range food-management program.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-05_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick recorded a taped interview on island conservation programs, among several islanders, for radio broadcast on Chicago's WBBM Art Mercier Sports Show.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-07_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick's announcement that 460 any-deer permits would be available for Beaver Island.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-09_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick giving monthly conservation lectures and films to island schoolchildren, beginning with a September 27 lecture on parks and recreation areas.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1963-10_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Reports Vernon Fitzpatrick's 1963 deer-season totals: 149 deer (65 adult bucks, 41 adult does, 23 buck fawns, 20 doe fawns) taken by 345 hunters, a 43 percent hunter-success rate the Beacon said topped the state.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1963-12_Beaver-Beacon
  22. States that after five years as the island's Conservation Fire Officer, Vernon Fitzpatrick was promoted to Assistant Park Manager at Fort Wilkins State Park; describes his volunteer civic contributions and an April 9 farewell gathering at Holy Cross Hall. Carries his final weather report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1964-04_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Reports the birth of daughter Jennifer Joan to "Mr. and Mrs. Vernon (Florence) Fitzpatrick of Copper Harbor, Michigan" on October 31, 1964, identifying Vernon as "our former Conservation Fire Officer on Beaver Island."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1964-11_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Reports "our former Fire Officer, Vernon Fitzpatrick has been promoted to Park Supervisor of McLain State Park," with a new mailing address.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1966-08_Beaver-Beacon

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Vernon Fitzpatrick”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/vernon-fitzpatrick/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, September 1961, “Weather” and “Conservation Department News.” (and 23 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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