Captain Bruce Beebe Garlinghouse, USN, Retired

Capt. Bruce Beebe Garlinghouse, 89 Capt. Bruce Beebe Garlinghouse, USN (RET), 89, died of natural causes Tuesday, April 15. His eldest son was by his side. Captain Garlinghouse was a Michigander by birth and by heart, born and raised in Charlotte to Dr. Arnet and Leone Beebe Garlinghouse. The family summered at their cottage on Burt Lake where Bruce and his brother, Dr. Arnet "Jack" Garlinghouse, roamed meadows, woods and shoreline, picking wild berries for their mother, and learning much about life in the woods and on the water, from friends and neighbors, and from their father, a physician and avid fisherman. Both boys would grow in skills and service to become Eagle Scouts, and then serve their country with honors. Athletic and graceful, Capt. Garlinghouse excelled at all forms of play — basketball, football, water-skiing, canoeing, swimming, dancing. This last talent proved fateful at a ball in Istanbul, when the young naval lieutenant asked the daughter of the United States' Turkish Naval Attache, Vivian Kabler, to dance. While she was a bit young for him, the hook was set, and two years later they married in San Francisco, honeymooned in Hawaii, and continued to travel the world together, clearing dance floors along the way for 53 years until her death in 2005. Together they raised four children and five grandchildren, along with a lucky allotment of truly great dogs. During Capt. Garlinghouse's naval career, he taught at the US Naval War College, commanded three ships, the USS Grosse Pte, the USS Manley and the USS Rush, before coming ashore to command the former Naval Station at Subic Bay, in the Philippine Islands. He retired from the Navy in 1973 to fulfill a long-held promise to his family that they would some day build a home on his beloved Burt Lake. He did, and the family enjoyed life there for more than 20 years where Capt. Garlinghouse managed (not commanded) operations at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs, served (not managed) as Commodore of the Burt Lake Yacht Club, worked with the Burt Lake Preservation Association to restock the lake with Walleye and manage the overgrowth of invasive species. Capt. and Mrs. Garlinghouse moved to Holland, Michigan in 1998 to be close to their children -- who all moved to Holland to be close to their parents. They wintered in Key West and Cudjoe Key, Florida. Captain Garlinghouse is remembered by his children and grandchildren as a great canoe instructor, hunter of minnows, weaver of stories, writer of terrible limericks, fixer of anything broken, soother in sickness, musical, mechanical man with an amazing repertoire of the corniest jokes imaginable. He is predeceased by his wife, Vivian Garlinghouse, and survived by his children, William Garlinghouse (Mary Yocum), Robert Garlinghouse (Diana Garlinghouse), Julie Ridl (Jack Ridl), Carrie Andrews (Paul Fredrickson), his grandchildren Meridith Ridl (Brent Birkholz), Katherine Milliron (Nicholas Milliron), Christopher Garlinghouse, Allison Garlinghouse, and Joeseph Garlinghouse. He is survived also by his sister-in-law, Carol Garlinghouse, nieces Susan Kuhn, Jan Burkholder, Kathea Rasmussen, and nephew John Garlinghouse. A memorial service, officiated by Fr. Paul Milanowski, followed by a reception, will be held May 3 in the Garden Dining Room at Freedom Village, 145 Columbia Avenue, in Holland Michigan. The memorial service will begin at 1:30, and the reception at 2:30. A family graveside service will have preceded the memorial at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Charlotte, Michigan. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any consideration of gifts be made in Capt. Garlinghouse's memory to the National Military Family Association: www.militaryfamily.org, 3601 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 425, Alexandria, VA 22304, (703)931-6632. Langeland -Sterenberg Funeral Home has provided funeral arrangements for the family. Contact them for more information at 315 E. 16th Street, Holland, Michigan, 49423, (616) 392-2306, info@langelandsterenberg.com.

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Captain Bruce Beebe Garlinghouse, USN, Retired

October 26, 1924 - April 15, 2014