Warren L. McGuire unlikely to fade from memory

Editor’s Note: This story will appear in the print edition of this coming Tuesday, Oct. 27, edition of The Clare Sentinel.

     CLARE – The Farwell United Methodist Church community knew the ideal role model for the mythical figure of Santa Claus.
     At least that’s how church pastor, the Rev. Connie Bongard, will remember him.
     Knowing businessman and lifelong Farwell resident Warren L. McGuire who passed away Oct. 12 was as close to having jolly ole Santa around as one could get, she said.
     “His smile could light up a whole room,” Bongard said. “I can see him in the North Pole handing out gifts. His passing is already felt. He sat in the same church pew every Sunday and had a contagious smile. He was such a solid person and was never one to criticize or ever offer a negative opinion.”
     Bongard and her family moved to the area about three years ago. From the start, Warren McGuire extended a helping hand to her family and the entire church community.
     “Losing Mr. McGuire,” Bongard said, “is like celebrating Christmas without Santa Claus. It was truly a gift to have someone like him around.”
     It didn’t take these community newcomers to learn what the entire Clare County community knew all along.
     As Mike McGuire, one of the four McGuire offspring put it, “he was a pretty good guy. He was a real people person.”
     The entire McGuire family traditionally met for Sunday brunches at the Clare Big Boy. The elder McGuire never failed to be late by the time he ended his greetings at the church and made his way through the restaurant stopping to talk to people he knew.
     “It would take him twice as long to get to our table because he spoke and visited with people,” Mike McGuire said. “There is hardly anyone in Clare County or Isabella County who hasn’t bought something from dad. He’s been in business since 1946.”
     McGuire’s years in business reads like a historical journey through the annals of farm implements and automobile manufacturing.
     The 89 year old opened the Firestone Store in downtown Clare with his brothers and a mutual friend in 1946. Over the years he added franchises to the business for Studebaker, Packard, Allis Chalmers, John Deere, International Truck, GMC Truck, Pontiac and Chevrolet. He remained co-owner of McGuire Chevrolet-Pontiac with his son-in-law, Tom Kleinhardt, through the balance of his life.
     “My brother-in-law Tom has run the dealership for the last 30 years,” added Mike McGuire. “Even so, my dad would stop down there every day to see how things were going and to greet people as they came in.”
     The elder McGuire would talk about the first Studebaker he sold, the first John Deere or the first Packard. He viewed his business as providing a service to the community.
     McGuire continued as a servant of the community for years. He was a charter member of the Clare Rotary Club and lifetime member of the Masons. He served as a director of the Farwell State Savings Bank that became Isabella Bank and as a director of the hospital in Clare. He served on the Farwell Village Council.
     Like many people of his generation, Warren McGuire developed backbone from enduring hardships of the Depression Era and World War II, his son Mike said.
     “It made him appreciate all the opportunities that do in fact come along. He looked at them as challenges and did the best he could do to meet them.”
     A story his father told was indicative of how he managed his life. Warren was in high school when John “Spikehorn” Meyers of Harrison brought his trained bear to entertain students. Meyers asked if anyone wanted to wrestle the bear.
     “My dad stepped forward and was in the ring for a few minutes. By all accounts, he won. I asked him why did you do it and he said straight up, ‘It was a challenge.’ He recognized the risks.”
     Mike McGuire said his father did that throughout his business career. “He always wrestled ‘the bear.’    He always took the challenges and looked at the risks associated with them. He wouldn’t risk the farm for something trivial.”
     Warren McGuire and his late wife Margaret Mary Wood McGuire of 66 years instilled self-reliance in their children. Mike McGuire and his three siblings were pushed toward the benefits of education.
     “We all have multiple degrees from college,” said the attorney for Dow Chemical in Midland who has degrees in law and engineering.
     “That was one shortcoming that dad had. He graduated salutatorian from Farwell and started at Central Michigan College, but when he came home for holiday, he burned down the garage along with his dad’s new car. That was the end of college for him.”