Notes for Frederick Raymond Champaigne: Graduated from South Bend Central Highschool in 1931 Attended Purdue University W. Lafayette for two years, lived on Pearl Street Employed Bendix, South Bend In (?) 1932 Served with Army Air Corps as service technician for Norden bomb sites and gun turrets. Stationed in New Guinea and Australia. He fashioned his wedding band from a New Guinea coin by pounding edges and then drilling hole into center. Coin text is still visible on edge of ring. Serviced Jimmy Doolittle's plans prior to raids over Tokyo. Lived in Dayton, Oh (this is where daughter Nancy was born) then moved to South Bend 1957 Englewood Place. Returned to Bendix Home Appliance after war. He would photograph every piece of a home washer or dryer and create a service manual. In 1957 he worked for Macdonald Cook Advertising Agency in downtown South Bend. He had a home business call "Creative Graphics" with his brother in law Paul Smith. He prepared an hour long color movie of a construction company in LaPorte, In. He returned to Bendix as a brake test technician until his retirement in 1974. He move to Dowagiac Michigan in 1976.
Obituary from South Bend Tribune Jan 6, 1995 April 13, 1912 - Jan 4, 1995 Memorial services for Fred R. Champaigne, 82, of Haley Road, Dowagiac, formerly of South Bend, who died at 3 pm Wednesday in Mercy Memorial Medical Center, St. Joseph, MI, will be at 1 pm Saturday in Welsheimer Funeral Home North, 17033 Cleveland Road. Cremation will take place with burial in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger, IN. Friends may call two hours before services in the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to American Turners.
Mr. Champaigne retired in 1975 from Bendix Corp. as a brake technician. He was born April 13, 1912, in South Bend and lived in South Bend until 1977, moving to Dowagiac, MI. In 1934, in South Bend, he married Mariam Smith. She survives with a daughter, Pamela Champaigne of South Bend; two sons, Jack M. of South Bend, IN and James F. of Elkhart, IN; eight grandchildren; a great-grandson; a sister, Betty Hildebrand of South Bend, IN and a brother, Jack of LaPorte, IN. A daughter, Nancy Dunfee, died in 1990. He was a member of American Turners.
More About Frederick Raymond Champaigne: Social Security Number: 275-07-4903.
More About Frederick Raymond Champaigne and Mariam Louise Smith: Marriage: 24 Apr 1934, South Bend, Indiana.
Children of Frederick Raymond Champaigne and Mariam Louise Smith are:
Frederick Raymond Champaigne (b. 13 Apr 1912, d. 04 Jan 1995)
Notes for Frederick Raymond Champaigne: