Without storytellers, the past can feel like a black void looming behind us.
With them, it can be revealing, vibrant and alive.
It all depends on whether it’s written down.
William Faulkner, who made sure the conflicted history of the South always intermingled in the present states of his characters, said, ‘the past is not dead, it’s not even past.?
This suggests that the lives and events that have taken place are always with us, whether we care to acknowledge them or not.
And it’s part of the human condition to avoid the blackness by telling the stories and keeping the histories to remember that the past is never dead.
Lake Orion’s storyteller, researcher, historian, writer and raconteur, Jim Ingram, passed away last week at the age of 72.
With his passing, the Orion community is left with his enriching work, as well as the task of carrying on a legacy of making sure Lake Orion’s past is always recognized.
For decades, Ingram brought Orion’s history to light in many different ways.
There were the oral interviews he conducted with local residents who remembered a very different Lake Orion than we experience today. A time of excursion boat tours and summertime fun on the islands. A time of amusement and novelty in a town that still boasts: ‘Where Living is a Vacation.? A time when small-town life was more tight-knit resident Jim Bushman remembers.
‘There wasn’t a store downtown you went into where you didn’t know the person,? said Bushman, who connected strongly with Ingram’s work.
‘A lot of what he wrote about is in my memory,? he said.
Penny Peterson of the Orion Public Library, who along with Ingram and Sara Van Portfliet started the Orion Historical Society in 1993, estimated there are around 30 of these audio cassette tapes at the library. Many of them have been transcribed and, along with Ingram’s vast photograph collection, digitized for Lake Orion residents of the 21st century and beyond to understand how the community got to where it is.
‘A lot of the people he interviewed are gone,? Peterson said. ‘Future generations will be thankful for all he contributed.?
Another of Ingram’s endeavors included authoring numerous columns for The Review entitled ‘Time Tracs.?
For the columns, Ingram dug into the past to find out what existed on Orion land now occupied, like many outer-ring exurbs, by subdivisions and chain stores.
A hundred odd years ago, these were farms hewed from the wilderness by families with last names like Clark, Kelly, Casamer and Shick.
Ingram’s other achievement was literally writing the book on Lake Orion.
In 2006, he coauthored Lake Orion for Arcadia Publishing’s ‘Images of America? series with fellow Orion native Lori Grove.
The book features many gems from Ingram’s personal photo collection, and others he helped obtain. It takes readers on a tour of everything Orion had to offer in the days of yore in the township and village, on the lake and its islands.
But Lake Orion’s history wasn’t an impersonal study for Ingram. It was his own living history, and the man behind the work will be missed by his family, friends, colleagues and the Lake Orion community.
Ingram was born and raised in Lake Orion to a family that dated back several generations in the area, according to his sister Nancy Engelmeier.
So far back, Engelmeier said, the family even owned Park Island at one point.
‘We go back a long way,? she said.
Engelmeier and another of Ingram’s sisters, Marjorie Ingram, who both moved away from Lake Orion years ago, remember Ingram’s interest in history sparked early.
‘He fixed together pictures for a history project in grade school,? Marjorie said.
Ingram’s other interest was music. Peterson recalled Ingram showing her a photograph of himself playing the clarinet in the school band when he was only ten or eleven years old.
Ingram eventually graduated from Lake Orion High School and went on to Northwestern University and Wayne State University where he studied speech pathology.
He made his career in the Birmingham Public Schools and was active in the Oakland County Speech, Language and Hearing Association and the Michigan Education Association.
While he undoubtedly helped many throughout his education career, in Lake Orion he will be most remembered for his contribution to preserving the area’s history.
After he retired in the early 1990s, he began researching in earnest, according to his sister Marjorie.
Whenever she came to Lake Orion to visit, she was surprised that he knew everything that was going on around town, past and present.
‘He loved to share his history with everyone,? Engelmeier said. ‘It gave other people an insight on their own heritage.?
In 1993, Ingram helped get the local historical society organized. Van Portfliet said his involvement was integral to the founding of the Orion Historical Society, which has had its own accomplishments to boast of over the years like getting the downtown on the National Historic Registry, and restoration projects like Howarth School and Porritt Barn.
Van Portfliet said he was also instrumental with the ongoing restoration of the Union Church.
‘It was great having his know-how and passion to get [the historical society] going,? Van Portfliet said. ‘He provided a continual foundation for any of the projects that were going on.?
His passion and vast knowledge are what community members will miss the most with Ingram’s passing.
‘He knew more about anyone living or dead,? said longtime resident Al Barnes. ‘We’re going to miss him.?
Van Portfliet and Peterson echoed Barnes.
‘We already miss him,? Van Portfliet said. ‘It’s tough losing someone with such a large presence.?
Peterson said there’s now a huge hole in Lake Orion.
‘He was a big asset to the historical society, the library and the whole community,? she said. ‘There was no one else who knew as much as he did.?
Peterson had the opportunity to interview Ingram a few years back for Orion Neighborhood Television, who will be rebroadcasting the episodes in the near future. Check their Web site at http://www.orionneighborhoodtelevision.org/index.htm for the schedule.