Passing peacefully on June 16, 2018, we can say that James M. Stratton lived a long and accomplished 80 years. He was the second child born to Edward and Irene Stratton in Escanaba MI. Jim has joined his older sister Joan Conrad (Paul), and is survived by his other siblings Donald (Pauline) Stratton and Patsy (Wayne) Palazzo.
Jim has faced challenges since the early age of 2 when he contracted Polio and had to endure many surgeries at a young age. But that never stopped him from doing or accomplishing anything he set out to do. He graduated from Menominee High School in 1956, went off to college and graduated with a Math and Business degree in 1960 from Northern Michigan University. After 6 years working for the Social Security Commission, Jim joined Ford Motor company where he experienced 30 successful years as a Material Handling Engineer before retiring in 1996. But retirement still didn’t stop him. He continued to work at Visteon for another 10 years.
In 1956, Jim met the love of his life – Mary Erickson. He always told “a story” of how they met, stating Mary waited for him to come around the corner and tripped him so she could introduce herself. They were married 4 years later in Menominee, MI and enjoyed 58 years of marriage, 3 children and 6 grandchildren. Children: Greg (Denise) Stratton, Julie Stratton and Cheryl (Mike) Eberhart. Grandchildren: James Stratton, Haley (Matt) Skvarce, Diana Eberhart, Daniel Eberhart, Emily Eberhart and Mitch Eberhart.
Jim and Mary enjoyed traveling with their friends and have been to many exotic places. He also enjoyed annual golf trips to Myrtle Beach South Carolina with his buddies. He especially loved vacations to Reed Ranch where he enjoyed early morning fishing with family and friends along with trail rides at dusk spotting deer with his children and grandchildren.
Visitation will be at St. Kenneth’s Church, 14951 North Haggerty Road, Plymouth, MI 48170 @ 10am on Monday 6/25/2018. This will be followed with a Mass at 11am, and a luncheon afterwards.
In lieu of flowers, Donations can be made to St. Jude Children’s hospital. Website: https://www.stjude.org/donate/ OR Angela’s Hospice: Website: https://www.angelahospice.org/
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