Frank Fred Burmeister, 90, of East York Street, Cassopolis, died Monday, Aug. 24, 2009, at 11:14 p.m. at Lakeland Medical Center, Niles, after an illness.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, Aug. 27, at 2 p.m. in the Connelly Funeral Home, Cassopolis with the Rev. Larry Settle, retired pastor of the Pleasant View Church of Christ, Cassopolis, officiating.

Interment will be in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Cassopolis. Graveside military honors will be rendered by members of his V.F.W. Post and of the Efton James American Legion Post No. 206, both of Cassopolis.

Friends may call in the funeral home Wednesday, from 6 to 8 p.m., where a Masonic Candlelight service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. by the Peninsular Lodge No. 10, F. & A.M., Dowagiac.

He was born on Nov. 28, 1918, in Chicago, Ill., the son of William Clarence and Mary Lucille (Stephenson) Burmeister and was a lifetime resident of Cassopolis.

He married Frances May Thompson on Aug. 24, 1940, in Vandalia, who survives.

Additional surviving family include two children, Judith May Hahn of Cassopolis and Dennis Frank Burmeister of Dowagiac; four grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter; and two sisters, Geraldine Burmeister of Cassopolis and Diane Jones of Milwaukee, Wis.

He was preceded in death by his parents and several brothers and sisters.

He retired in 1958 as a U.S. rural mail carrier. He had previously worked at Connelly Funeral Home, Cassopolis, and then as a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy for 10 years.
He had been a life member of the former Backus Lodge No. 55, F. & A.M. in Cassopolis and was currently a 32 degree Mason with Peninsular Lodge No. 10, F. & A.M., Dowagiac, a member of the Saladin Shriners, Grand Rapids, and the Lodge Council Chapter Consistory Scottish Rite Bodies in the Valley of Grand Rapids. He was also a member of the William E. Lozier V.F.W. Post No. 10704, Cassopolis. He was a proud member of the U.S. Army, serving in World War II.

He was a lifetime avid sports fan, always supporting his local sports teams in Cassopolis.
Memorial donations may be made to the Cass County Council on Aging, Cassopolis.
Arrangements were by Connelly Funeral Home, Cassopolis.