Earl Frank MADISON, Sr.

MADISON, FERGUSON, KARASEK, MCNUTT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/15/2015 at 18:43:30

October 3, 1920 ---- October 28, 2015

Earl Frank Madison Sr., a resident of Livonia, [Michigan] passed away on October 28, 2015. Earl Madison was born in Goldfield Iowa on October 3, 1920. He was the son of George Madison and Josephine Madison (Ferguson) with one brother George (1919) and two sisters Joyce (1926) and Jo Ann (1932). In his youth, the Madison family moved from Iowa to Ann Arbor Michigan where he and his siblings attended school. He later graduated from Pioneer High School. He helped his dad paint houses in his spare time.

Following high school, Earl studied drawing at the Grand Rapids School for the Arts. He studied architectural design. With the onset of World War II, Earl enlisted into the United States Air Force and was sent to boot camp in San Francisco, followed by flying school in Tonopah Nevada. The Air Force sent him and the 470 bomb group squadron to Stenara Italy.

Earl was a very skilled nose gunner in a World War-II B-24 Liberator Bomber (Spunky Punky), completing 38 successful missions in the summer of 1943, then his plane was struck by enemy fire on D-day crippling it. Traveling back to base with the stricken plane, they were unable to glide over a mountain range and crash landed in a field on the Isle of Corsica off the coast of Italy. The Parisian resistance smuggled him and his fellow crew to safety.

One of his best stories of his early days was of him winning a good share of poker money while traveling home on a train from an Air Force Base in Texas.

After the war, Earl married Cecilia (Karasek) on October 8, 1949. Earl went to school for the trade of interior design whereby he worked designing and furnishing office buildings for the J.L. Hudson Company in Detroit. He and his co-workers parted from the Hudson Company to start their own office design company which became a very key player in the architecture of Detroit. Earl was fortunate enough to retire in 1981 thereby allowing him and his wife to enjoy 34 years of retirement.

During Earl's life, he enjoyed many good outings of hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling, shooting pheasants, deer, rabbits and grouse, with lots of time spent in woods and on lakes and streams. He was very kind to his wife, children, neighbors, and the average man-on-the-street, evidenced by his continual donations of time and money to charitable needs as well as to numerous veterans organizations. He was active till the end, almost every day getting out and enjoying all the aspects of the world around him until his death on October 28, 2015. If fishing is allowed in heaven, Earl Madison is already catching fish.

Earl was married to his beloved wife, Cecilia, for 66 years. He was the loving father of Denise, Lori (Randy) McNutt, George (Lynne), and Earl Jr. (Noreen). Earl cherished his grandchildren, Amanda, Jared, Casey (Amber), Earl Madison III, Audrey and Mitchell and his great-grandchildren Dexter and Tyson.

Earl is resting at the L. J. Griffin Funeral Home in Livonia (8809 Wayne Road, North of Joy Road). His family will receive visitors Monday, November 2, from 3-9 p.m. Funeral services for Earl are Tuesday, November 3, at St. Theodore Catholic Church, 8200 N. Wayne Road. He will be Instate at 10 a.m. until the time of his Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m.

http://www.griffinfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1689695