James D. Culverhouse

James Delma Culverhouse, Sr .; of Lake Orion passed away on March 30, 2016 from Sepsis. James “Jimbo” was born on May 24, 1918 to Marvin and Ida Culverhouse, farmers in Pike County, Alabama. During his young adult years, he enjoyed playing the guitar with a band at dances around Alabama. He worked for the Pike County Road Commission before signing up to serve his required 1 year of military service in 1941. The 1-year turned into 4.5 years when his discharge was delayed after 11 months by the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was sent to the Ascension Islands located between Brazil, South America and Africa on a secret mission to build a runway on the rocky islands. He was then transferred to the Belgium Congo, Africa where he continued to build runways as a Combat Engineer. He remained in Africa for the remainder of the war. After the war he married Janie Elizabeth Ligon and was assigned to the Romulus Air Base, now known as Metro Airport. They stayed in Wayne County following his discharge and he retired from E. and L. Trucking after working there for 34 years. They had three sons; James Delma, Jr (Carol) of Chelsea, Michael Ligon (Brenda) of Lake Orion, and Marvin Haywood (Elaine) of Monroe. James married a second time to the late Agnes Cinpak and was step-father to; Richard Cinpak, Joe Cinpak (Karen) of Livonia, John Cinpak (Felicitas) of Westland, the late Eleanor “Babes” Cinpak Rivera (Marty) of Livonia, and Steve Cinpak (Shirley) of Detroit. Jim has resided with his son and daughter-in-law of Lake Orion for the past 16 years. He will be greatly missed by his children, 18 grandchildren, 39 great grandchildren, and 4 great, great grandchildren. Viewing will be at Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home in Lake Orion on Sunday April 3, 2016 from 3:00pm til 7:00pm with a VFW Poppy Ceremony at 6:00pm. Funeral services will be held on Monday April 4, 2016 at 11:00AM at Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home in Lake Orion, MI.   Share memories and offer condolences by visiting www.sparksgriffin.com .