A LOOK BACK…

…Holland and Springfield Township Recollections

The Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments is seeking public input on its “Moving Forward 2055” regional transportation plan, which is a document that is federally required and incorporates all modes of transportation.

Through stakeholder outreach and public involvement, TMACOG and its members will attempt to identify future needs by looking at the current system, identifying new technology and trends, predicting future revenue and identifying ways to make the transportation system safer, accessible, inclusive and more efficient.

TMACOG is gathering information on people’s needs and how they think the regional transportation system should be developed over the next three decades.

There are multiple ways to get involved. An online survey offers the chance to share input.

Residents are asked to complete the survey, which takes about five minutes by November 30 at surveymonk ey.com/r/MovingForward2055. Four people who complete the survey will be selected at random to receive a $25 gift card.

Public input also will be accepted during a series of information sessions. The sessions are scheduled for:

•Monday, October 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Whitman Center, Monroe Community College, Monroe, Michigan;

•Tuesday, October 24, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., W.W. Knight Nature Preserve, Perrysburg;

•Wednesday, October 25, 5 to 7 p.m., Sanger Branch Library; •Monday, October 30, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Bowling Green State University;

•Tuesday, November 7, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Lancelot Thompson Student Union, University of Toledo;

•Tuesday, November 14, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m, Wood County Committee on Aging, Bowling Green, and

•Wednesday, November 15, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., College Hall Atrium, Owens Community College.

For information on plan development and an updated calendar of outreach events, visit tmacog.org/transportation/re gional-transportation- plan.

Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of stories on mayors of the Village of Holland. Holland-Springfield- Spencer Historical Society President Karla Miller submitted this story as part of the village’s centennial celebration this year.

Each month, the column will feature one of a dozen mayors the village has had over the past 100 years. This month’s story is about Mayor Dale Prentice.

The 10th mayor of Holland was Harry Dale Prentice, born August 25, 1936, in Wood County to Weaver McNutt Prentice, born in 1912, Toledo, and Laura Margaret Cole, born 1915, in Grace, Michigan.

They had four children: Harry Dale, Barbara Lee, Wesley David and Lawrence Stanley. According to the 1940 census, the family resided in the Village of Holland with two children.

By the 1950 census, they were living at Box 301 Mc-Cord Road at Purina Drive with four children. Father, Weaver Prentice, moved from Holland in 1955 to Michigan where he died at age 57 of a heart attack in January 1970. Mother, Laura, moved back to Holland from Michigan in 2000. She died March 11, 2006, at Spring Meadows Care Center, Holland, of Alzheimer’s disease.

Harry Dale Prentice attended Springfield Local Schools, graduating in 1954 from Holland High School where he played football for a while, but didn’t enjoy it.

He was a member of the Science Club. On June 29, 1954, Harry Dale married Betty Lou Karns in Wayne County. Betty Lou was born September 1, 1936, in Toledo to Edward LeRoy Karns and Elma Leona Bernard, the youngest of six children.

Dale and Betty had three children Ricky Lee in 1955, Sandra Lee in 1959, and Harry Dale Jr., 1966. All three graduated from Springfield High School in Holland.

Harry Dale worked as a supervisor for Lathrop Construction for many years. Lathrop built the administration building, which at the time, was the new fire station on Clarion. He went by Dale Prentice most of the time.

Dale served on Holland Village Council from 1966 to the time he was elected mayor. He served as Holland’s mayor from 1968 to 1973, then retired from politics.

Dale was again appointed and served on Holland Village Council from 2004 to 2015. It was at this time that he was in charge of planning and supervising the construction of the Lodge at Strawberry Acres Park, and the remodeling of the old Exchange Bank building into a new community building.

Dale loved camping and fishing with his friends and was a committed Christian attending Calvary Assembly of God church on Glendale Avenue.

After a series of strokes, Dale passed at age 85 on December 15, 2021, at his home, 1106 Clark Street, Holland. The home was owned by Frank and Cleo Manley at one time. Dale’s wife, Betty, is the sister of Cleo Manley. Betty lives there today with her son Rick.