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Charles Floyd Sage, who was known by his friends and family as “Bill”, came from a family of four boys and two sisters. He was born 27 February 1889 to a strong English German Lutheran family in Hastings, Michigan to Dora BRISTOL and Frank SAGE.

CHARLES (aka Bill): b. 1889 – 1961 Jesse Lyle: 1891 – 1983 Howard Kirk: 1896 - 1983 Mortimer: 1899 – 1926 Mable – 1905 - 1999 Dorothy: b. 1909 – 1981

The boys went on to excel in music and specialized trades, and Bill learned his mechanical skills at the knees of his father. Initially his father was a day laborer, later a fireman, and by 1906 Frank was employed as the local custodian or facilities engineer of school District number nine in Battle Creek, Michigan. This job entailed more than sweeping floors; he was responsible for keeping all of the systems working in good order.

Bill was 17 (1906) years old when his family lived in Battle Creek and he was already showing a keen interest in mechanical work. Bill got his start in Battle Creek as a machinist, and worked as a Tool and Die Maker at Adolph Johnson Co. and later the Gavin Ritchie Co. Six years later, in 1912, he was working at another important manufacturing plant: the Hanchett Swage Works in Big Rapids, MI. It was in Big Rapids where Floyd met and fell in love with his future wife, Effie Laurenda Mooney, who had been working at the notable department store Bertrau, Almoroth & Co. for several years.

The local priest, Fr. Thomas J. Delanty, officiated the wedding of Effa and Bill on 23 April 1913, early in the morning in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Big Rapids, MI. The bride’s sister, Edna Cameron, and brother, Leo Mooney, were witnesses. The wedding was followed by a brunch reception in the bride’s parents’ home for the immediate family and friends. Soon after the reception, the newly married couple embarked on a two-week honeymoon visiting Lansing, Battle Creek, and other places of interest around Michigan.

Eventually the young couple returned to Bronson, MI and then, Battle Creek, MI where Bill Sage was employed. They started their family in Battle Creek where their oldest child, Robert (Bob) Floyd Sage was born on 23 December 1915.

In 1920 they lived in Hillsdale, Michigan where Bill in time would start his own business, an auto repair shop called General Machine Shop and Garage. For a while he and his brother-in-law, Leo Mooney, were partners, but in time Bill bought out his brother-in-laws part and owned the shop exclusively.

Bill had learned to fly at the age of 18 in the WWI “Jennies.” While operating his small machine shop in Hillsadale, he did custom work on Salmson engines, imported from France by a plane manufacturer in Bryon, OH, who was fashioning a biplane called the Wooden Express.

Here in Hilsdale their second child, Margaret Jane Sage, was born on 08 May 1925.

Family

Bob Sage married Genevieve (Phillips) and they had 2 daughters:

Melissa Jane (Sage) Fadim and Anne Elizabeth (Sage) Price

Margaret Sage married Ford Foote Mudgett and they had 10 children:

Julie Ann (Pfister) Mary Therese (Van Dyke) Peter Michael Mudgett Charles Sage Mudgett Irene Kay Mudgett Ford (Chris) Foote Mudgett Elizabeth Jane Young Laurenda Sue Metz Margaret Jane Best Therese Lisieux Bell

It was said that Bill could fix anything. According to his daughter, the neighborhood kids would bring their broken wagons and bikes to their house for Bill to repair.

Bill Sage met up with other mechanics and entrepreneurs during these early years, and in time his destiny took him away from his body shop and into the creation of one of the most successful companies of the era – the Tecumseh Products Company (hereafter Tecumseh Products.)

Tecumseh Products actually started in Hillsdale, Michigan in December 1931. In that year Bill Sage and Raymond Herrick formed the Hillsdale Machine and Tool Company where Bill Sage was president. It was a company devoted to the manufacture of automotive parts

They had, however, an idea for better refrigeration parts and in 1934 they purchased a 50,000 square foot plant in Tecumseh, Michigan, and changed their name to the Tecumseh Products. Eventually, Tecumseh Products was incorporated and was publicly traded. Bill Sage was a principal shareholder and officer of the corporation. In 1938 they developed the first hermetically sealed refrigeration unit. Bill Sage had the skill and know-how to make vast improvements on what was a faulty compressor at the time. Because of this, Tecumseh Products became known as the company that built the best compressors available, and high-end companies such as Amana and Frigidaire placed them in their refrigerators and freezers. By 1947 Tecumseh was a leader in the refrigeration compressor industry. In its heyday, Tecumseh Products generated revenues in excess two billions dollars annually.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Tecumseh Products was called upon, like many American businesses, to aid in the war effort. This resulted in Tecumseh Products Company using its facilities to manufacture artillery shells for allied forces. Following the end of World War II, Tecumseh Products continued its production of refrigeration compressors and expanded into manufacturing compressors for air conditioning units.

Bill Sage was introduced to commercial aviation early on when his business responsibilities required him to travel often to neighboring states. He preferred to travel by air than by car, even though the latter was safer than air travel during those early days of commercial aviation. Eventually he became a licensed pilot and would frequently fly down to the sister company in Marion, Ohio.

Bill Sage can be credited with bringing Al Meyers to Tecumseh and assisted him with setting up his aircraft plant. Eventually the Products acquired its own fleet of planes, hired a capable pilot and built a giant strip along the Macon Rd. so that business could be conducted via the airplines.

In November of 1950 Tecumseh Products purchased the Universal Cooler Company of Marion, Ohio, branching into the air conditioning business.

Global Expansion

In addition to locations around the United States, Tecumseh Products has principle subsidiaries in more than 120 countries, including:

Evergy, Inc.; FASCO Australia Pty. Ltd.; FASCO Industries, Inc.; FASCO Motors, Ltd. (Thailand); Little Giant Pump Company; Masterflux; Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc.; Motoco a.s. (Czech Republic); M.P. Pumps, Inc.; Tecumotor/Evergy; Tecumseh do Brasil, Ltda.; Tecumseh Compressor Company; Tecumseh Europa, S.p.A. (Italy); Tecumseh France S.A.; Tecumseh Power Company; Tecumseh Products Company of Canada, Ltd.; Tecumseh Products India Ltd.; TMT Motoco, Ltd. (Brazil).

Philanthropy

Not only did Bill and Effa Sage build the entire campus of the St. Elizabeth Catholic Parish in Tecumseh, Michigan, including the grade school, the convent, and the rectory, they also did smaller things for the community. In the winter months the Sages would have the local fire department flood the large lot that they owned behind their house, making an ice-skating rink so that all of the neighborhood kids and his grandchildren could skate on it. Eventually they had floodlights erected so that all could continue skating well after dark. They enjoyed making fun opportunities for the youth.

In the 1960s the Sages turned one of his buildings in Tecumseh over to the town where it became “The Teen Club”, a safe place to go and hang out and dance and have fun.

Bill and Effa Sage highly valued education and often invested financially in the higher education of young people with financial needs thereby offering them an education that was otherwise beyond their reach financially. One of the young women they put though nursing school was at Bill’s bedside when he died.

In the mid 1950s Bill created the Sage Foundation: its generous reach has supported many causes in different areas around the United States.

In 1961 Charles Floyd Sage was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He died on 27 December 1961 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, leaving behind his beloved wife of 48 years, his two children and their spouses, and several grandchildren, and a myriad of friends from several spheres of his far-reaching life. As one of the founders of Tecumseh Products his death was quite notable with announcements in several different newspapers throughout the state. Effa Sage followed him in death on 2 June1966.

Charles Floyd SAGE and Effa Laurenda (Mooney) are buried side by side under a rose-colored tombstone in the Catholic section at Brookside Cemetery, Tecumseh, Michigan, across the street from the St. Elizabeth parish that they had founded. They were devoted Catholics who loved their Lord Jesus Christ and endeavored to follow in his footsteps by selflessly serving others and giving of their time, talent, and resources.