Mark PRIDGEON (c. 1976- )
1 Mark PRIDGEON1,2 (c. 1976- ) [6585]. Born c. 1976.1
From an article in the 1998 Michigan State University newsletter, The State News.
"All in the family. For some students, attending MSU is in the genes. By Mary Sell, State News Staff Writer.
Going away to school an leaving home can be a pretty scary thing for some students. But for some MSU students who grew up green and white, the transition wasn't hard at all.
"Nothing beats when you're a little kid going to a football game with you dad, " said Mark Pridgeon, who graduated from MSU in May. "I was 6 or 7 and I didn't even know the rules of the game, but it was great."
Pridgeon grew up influenced by the Spartan spirit like brother and two sisters and their father, MSU alumnus Michael Pridgeon. Mark's mother, Diane also attended MSU for two years. Michael's father, Dean Pridgeon, attended MSU for two years and later served on the MSU board of Trustees for eight years.
"I had green-and-white diapers," Pridgeon joked. "When I was a kid we were always coming (to MSU) for basketball games and stuff like that.
Pridgeon graduated with an accounting degree and was hired by the Deloitt Touche accounting firm in Grand Rapids. He grew up on a farm in Montgomery.
"Farming has been such a base of my family," he said.
Pridgeon's father and grandfather took agriculture classes at MSU. However, he said his family supported his decision to go into accounting, although he started out in the pre-veterinary medicine program.
Pridgeon, 22, recalls coming to MSU for 4-H Exploration days and junior high basketball camps when he was younger.
"This place was bigger than life," he said.
In 1988, Mark and his family traveled to Los Angeles to watch MSU defeat University of Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Mark, then 12, heard Magic Johnson give a speech at the Grand Plaza Hotel, where the Pridgeons stayed. Mark also got Johnson's autograph.
"When you've got people like (Magic Johnson) speaking for Michigan State, you have to be pro-State," he said.
Although Pridgeon has always bee pro-State, he said there were a lot of reasons to come to MSU.
"It really was a combination of things," he said. "(MSU) still felt like home to me, because it had been such a big part of my life. When I'd visit other schools, they felt too foreign."
Mark's older sister, Adrian, chose to go to Adrian College. His younger sister, Rachel, will be a freshman at Hope College this fall.
"My sisters, I guess, wanted something more like they were used to," said Pridgeon, referring to the small high school the siblings graduated from. Mark graduated in 1994 with 43 students from Reeding High School.
Although going to MSU is a tradition for Pridgeon's family, he said they did not try to force him to go to MSU.
"There was no pressure. Luckily, my sister broke the mold for me," he said. "I always knew I wanted to go to MSU, but I still looked around. My parents kind of humored me by taking me to visit other schools, but I knew they didn't really want me to go to any of them.
Although his parents were open to some schools, Pridgeon said U-M was "never an option,".
2 Michael PRIDGEON3,4 ( - ) [2916]. Marr Diane SMITH 1968.2
4 Dean Malcolm PRIDGEON3,5,6,7,8 (1921-2012) [2917]. Born 22 Jun 1921, Montgomery, MI.4,7 Marr Olive Mary MCCONEGHY 24 Nov 1939.2,4 Marr Gloria Fenstermaker BERLIEN 1 Jul 1995.2,4 Died 25 Aug 2012, Coldwater, MI.4 Buried California Cemetery, Branch Co.4
From the Holland Evening Sentinal.
January 17, 1969 - "GRAND HAVEN - The Grand Haven Jaycees are continuing plans for the program to be held March 1 in Grand Haven when the State's Outstanding Young Farmer will be named. State Chairman Roger Bramer announced that the following have named judges: Larry P. Wisniewski of East Lansing, who is assistant vice president of the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank; Dayton Mitlock, Lansing, editor of the Michigan Farmer Magazine, and Dean M. Pridgeon a hog and grain farmer from Montgomery who was state of Michigan Jaycee Outstanding Young Farmer in 1956-57."
From Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
"Dean Pridgeon, Montgomery. Distinguished Service Awards - Agricultural and Natural Resources Week, 1970. A recognized agricultural leader, he was named Michigan's Outstanding Farmer in 1956. As vice-president of the Michigan Farm Bureau and a membeer of several other farm organizations, he has unselfishly served Michigan agriculture in many wasy, giving freely of his personal time and efforts."
From the Sturgis Journal, Saturday, January 3, l981, page 7.
"TOP HONOR FOR PRIDGEON'" Dean Pridgeon, Michigan Department of Agriculture director, was presented the Michigan Farm Bureau's highest honor during ceremonies at the organization's annual banquet. ...Pridgeon is a member of a farm partnership near Montgomery in Branch County with his father, Glen, and two sons, Michael and Bill. The sixth generation farming operation now markets 8,000 hogs a year....He has been Michigan Department of Agriculture director since December l978.".
8 Glen Dean PRIDGEON5,7,9,10 (1892-1989) [823]. Born 11 Dec 1892.9,10 Died 26 Jul 1989, Coldwater, Branch County, MI.9 Buried California Township Cemetery.11
From the Holland Evening Sentinal.
June 10, 1964 - "Annual Farm Tour Set This Year - EAST LANSING - Effective farm management to meet two types of emergencies will be seen this summer as part of the annual state farm management tour. The tour was started in 1949 by the Michigan Cooperative Extension Service. That year it was a two day trip that showed farmers the activities of their counterparts in Lenawee, Hillsdale and Branch Counties. This year, on Aug. 5, the tour group will return to Branch County to visit two farms during the day. One emergency, the shifting demand from farm products - made a major change on the Pridgeon Farm in the southeastern corner of the county. In 1949 when the tour visited the same farm it was operated in dairy by Glen Pridgeon. Now his son, Dean, operates it as an entirely pork production farm.
9 Lorene Harriett MITCHELL5,7,9,12 (1898-1996) [2915]. Born 23 Apr 1898.9 Died 13 Apr 1996, Coldwater, Branch County, MI.9 Buried 17 Apr 1996, California Cemetery, Branch County, MI.11,13
5 Olive Mary MCCONEGHY2 (1921-1991) [6619]. Born 23 Jul 1921.14 Died 14 Dec 1991, Lansing, Ingham Co., MI.2,14,15 Buried California Cemetery, Montgomery, MI.16
3 Diane SMITH1,2,4 ( - ) [6584].
Sources
| 1 | "From an article in the 1998 Michigan State University newsletter, The State News.". |
| 2 | "Information provided by Barbara Pridgeon Miller". |
| 3 | "Sturgis Journal, Saturday, January 3, 1981, Page 7". |
| 4 | "Obituary of Dean Malcolm Pridgeon in The Daily Reporter, Coldwater, MI, August 27, 2012". |
| 5 | "Information provided by Joyce McClain". |
| 6 | "Obituary of John Warren Pridgeon from the Observer-Dispatch (Utica NY), March 19, 2004". |
| 7 | "1930 MI, Branch, California census". |
| 8 | "U.S. Public Records Index". |
| 9 | "Michigan Department of Vital Health Records, Michigan Death Index, Lansing, MI 1971". |
| 10 | "WWI Selective Service registration card". |
| 11 | "California Corners Cemetery Records". |
| 12 | "Obituary Daily Times web site". |
| 13 | "Obituary of Lorene Harriet Pridgeon in The News-Sentinel, April 15, 1996.". |
| 14 | "Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996". |
| 15 | "Obituary of Mary [Olive Mary] Pridgeon in theNews-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, December 16, 1991 ". |
| 16 | "Obituary of Mary [Olive Mary] Pridgeon in theNews-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, December 16, 1991". |
