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Destina
Frisinger
dies at
90
Destina and Rolla's family in a
picture taken at their home on 2110 Londonderry, Ann Arbor, in 1952. Back row
from left are sons Clo Edward, Max Robison, Charles Franklin, Ralph Norman and
George Paul. Seated from left are Rolla, son Hubert Howard and Destina.
Destina Robison Frisinger died
Fri day, June 15, 1979, at the Huron View Lodge in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 90.
Her legacy lives on in the lives of her five living sons, 21 grandchildren, 29
great-grandchildren and one great great-granddaughter.
Destina was born 25 November
1888 in Rockford, Mercer Co., Ohio. She was the daughter of John (J.J.J Jackson
Robison and Malissa Redman. J.J. was a shoemaker in Rockford. He had a shop
there.
J.J. was born somewhere in
Indiana 2 March 1850. He died at the relatively young age of 51 on 21 May 1901
and is buried at
Riverview Cemetery in Rock ford. Destina was only 12 when he died.
J.J. was the son of Persifer F. Robison,
a cabinetmaker, and Susan Moore. Persifer
was born 13 October 1818 somewhere in Pennsylvania. He died, at age 69, on 29
November 1887. He is buried under what is now a ballfield on Pearl Street at the
foot of Clay Street in Rockford. A few tombstones, including his, were moved to
the edge of the field when the ball diamond was put in. His wife Susan is buried
there, too, her tombstone surviving at the same location. Susan was born 10
March 1826 in New York. She died 26 July 1888.
Destina never saw her grandma
or grandpa Robison. Persifer and Susan
brought the family to Rockford about 1858, though they may have been in Ohio at
some previous time. Some of Persifer's cabinetry survives.
Getting back to Destina's
father, J.J. He was married to
Malissa Redman, Destina's mother, in 1853, in Ohio. She lived to the ripe old
age of 76, dying in 1929. She, too, is in the Riverview Cemetery in Rockford.
She was the daughter of William Redman and Mary Ann Anderson. William and Mary
Ann were both born in Pennsylvania.
Destina had a number of
brothers and sisters and outlived them all. Among her siblings were William,
Seymor, Frank R., Flora, Nimmie and Lowell. Whether there were more, I do not
know.
Destina attended Lima Business
College in 1907.
She married Rolla Nathan
Frisinger on 19 April 1908 when she was only 19 years old in Newport, Campbell
Co., Kentucky - just
across the Ohio border. Rolla was 15 months younger than Destina and only 18
when married. Rolla was the son of George Washington Frisinger, a livery owner
and gentleman farmer, and Arena Hesser. George Washington Frisinger was the
great-grandson of Peter Frisinger the son of Ludwig Frisinger who emigrated to
Pennsylvania in 1754.
Destina and Rolla made their
home in Rockford for
over a decade. During that time Rolla served as Rockford mayor (1920-21) and
postmaster (1913- 1921). President Woodrow Wilson had appointed him to the post.
Rolla. his distant cousin
Herbert L. Frisinger and
Walter Lewis formed the Rockford Construction Co. in the 1920s. They moved that
company, along with their families, to Ann Arbor in 1926. The company
subsequently became known as the Lewis and Frisinger Co. which employed many of
Rolla's sons at various times.
Destina and Rolla lived at 201
Franklin in Rockford for about 10 years. The home sits on the southwest corner
of Franklin and Pearl. In Ann Arbor they lived first at 1601 Brooklvn and since
about 1950 at 2110 Londonderry.
Rolla died 23 January 1961
while they were vacationing in Santa Monica, California, where they loved to
spend winters. He was 70.
Destina continued living in the
brick house atop Londonderry on Ann Arbor's near east side, winning the hearts
of her grandchildren by "insisting" they never leave her home on visits without
some candy.
A stroke suffered in 1974 left
her partially paralyzed and sent her to Huron View for the rest of her days.
She and Rolla are buried in
Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor on the far north side hill overlooking
Washington Heights and Nichol's Arboretum.
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