Elderly Ann Arbor resident. His house had fallen into disrepair and was renovated by volunteer effort with City coordination. The house will revert to the city when he dies.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/08/friends_of_james_doyle_to_gath.html
Obituary
JAMES B. DOYLE, WORLD WAR II VETERAN
Jim Doyle was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 10, 1923, to Ferris and Nola Bassler Doyle. His brother, Thomas, followed in 1936. The family eventually moved to Ann Arbor where Ferris Doyle was a pharmacist at Quarry Drug Store on State Street. At age 20, Jim was drafted as an Army Private and was assigned to General MacArthur’s staff where he served in the Pacific in New Guinea, Southern Philippines and Luzon. He served almost 3 years and earned a Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with 3 Bronze Battle Stars and a Philippine Liberation Ribbon. Jim was then demobilized in 1945.
After returning to the family home on Granger Street in Ann Arbor and after the death of his parents, Jim became the sole caretaker of his younger brother, Thomas, who was seriously afflicted with cerebral palsy requiring twenty four hour care. Because he could not work at a paying job and care for his brother simultaneously, the two subsisted on a meagre income for nearly fifty years. During this time the house deteriorated significantly.
In 2006, neighbors became worried and Thomas, age 70, was taken along with Jim to a hospital where Thomas died within weeks. City officials declared the house uninhabitable. Then, as many Ann Arborites may remember, there was an outpouring of public support for the 83 year old World War II veteran who had sacrificed his adult life to care for his brother. More than 150 volunteers and $75,000 in donated materials rebuilt Jim Doyle’s home within weeks. A basement steel beam holds up new windows, siding, kitchen, bathrooms, carpeting and furniture.
Jim returned home to a party of all the volunteers and donors - a smile never left his face. For the next eight years he enjoyed listening to music, watching movies on television, drinking milk, eating candy, making forays to Kroger, the bank and buying socks with his new GI benefits. He was never sick and took no pills. In 2013, however, a stroke intervened and he was moved to the Home for Veterans in Grand Rapids. Here too he was a favorite with his always cheerful attitude and smile. Jim died on February 18, 2014. A memorial service with military honors and Honor Guard is scheduled at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, August 13, 2014, at the Bethlehem Cemetery located on Jackson Avenue, just west of the I-94 overpass. All veterans and friends of Jim Doyle are invited to attend this final tribute.
