Kenneth Joseph Archer, Sr

Long time Plymouth resident and WWII veteran Kenneth Joseph Archer, Sr., 93, died on January 5, 2014 at his home in Maryland. “Joe” was born in 1920 to Lucinda and Robert Archer of Plymouth. He grew up on Roe Street and graduated from Plymouth High School in 1938. After graduation he worked at the Detroit Fire Truck Company, and then at the Daisy Air Rifle factory in Plymouth. When World War II broke out, and with his two older brothers already in the service, Joe was anxious to do his part. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in January, 1942. He served on an icebreaker/buoy tender in the Great Lakes protecting the iron ore pipeline, and later saw action in the South Pacific as a radioman, first aboard the USA Duluth, a Coast Guard manned Army Repair Ship, and then on an Army supply ship, the FS182. As part of MacArthur’s invasion fleet in the Philippines, he came under attack at Hollandia Harbor and Leyte Gulf. His notable memories included seeing General MacArthur stride past him on the pier at Leyte Gulf and having his ship hit sea bottom twice in the South China Sea during a typhoon. One of his shipmates aboard the Duluth was Groucho Marx’s son, Arthur, who wrote about their experiences in his memoir, Son of Groucho. After the war, Joe returned to Plymouth, and in 1947 married Dorothy Smith -- literally the girl next door -- in the rectory of Our Lady of Good Counsel church. He settled with his family on N. Holbrook Street and worked as an industrial engineer at the Burroughs Corporation’s Plymouth plant. His children attended Our Lady of Good Counsel and Plymouth public schools, and spent summers at Burroughs Farms in Brighton. Whenever possible, Joe pursued his passions of traveling and playing golf. He moved the family to California in 1969, returned to Plymouth briefly from 1994-97, and later continued to make frequent visits home to see family and friends. Joe will be remembered as a humble man with a sharp wit and self-deprecating sense of humor. He was self-reliant, fiercely patriotic, and believed in the values of frugality and hard work. In his later years, he spent his time gardening, woodcarving, and hunting for bargains at yard sales. He was a lifetime member of the Plymouth VFW. The last of the immediate family, he was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Lucinda Archer, his sisters Eileen (Archer) Williams and Rita (Archer) Stolte, and brothers Ernest Archer, Loren “Bud” Archer, and James Archer. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Dorothy Archer of Hagerstown, Maryland, and his four children: Ken Archer of Hagerstown, Gail (Archer) Barrett of Hagerstown, Mary Jo Archer of Carlsbad, California, Kelley Archer of New York, NY, and five grandsons: Joseph Barrett of Fairfax, Virginia, John Barrett of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Sebastian, Daeden, and Cairo Gordon-Somers-Archer, all of New York. Joe will have a military burial in Plymouth at a date to be determined. The Schrader-Howell Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.