Hiel Malcolm Rockwell Jr.

Rockwell, Jr., Hiel Malcolm Saginaw, Michigan Died on Monday, January 22, 2018. He was born on May 4, 1928, to Hiel and Elizabeth Liebermann Rockwell. He attended Saginaw schools. He graduated from Saginaw High in 1946 and was awarded the Michigan Honor Trophy. His college years were spent at Carleton, College, Northfield, Minnesota, where he was on the school's conference-winning football team and was a member of the Philathean society. After graduation in 1950, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was named Distinguished Cadet and won the wings of a radar observer in 1952. In 1957, he left the Air Force and joined his father in the family business, the Liebermann Trunk Company, founded by his grandfather in 1893. He continued his Air Force career in the Michigan Air National Guard. He was chosen "Best Radar Observer" in 1957 and retired with the rank of Colonel after some three decades of service. In September of 1958, he was married to the former Mary Bauer at Saginaw's First Presbyterian Church. They marked their fiftieth anniversary in 2008. Their two children are Peter Rockwell, living in Afghanistan and Sarah (Dr. John) Walgast of Fort Collins, Colorado. Hiel and Mary's five grandchildren are Emily and John Walgast of Fort Collins and Charlotte, Richard and Matty Rockwell who live with their mother, Becca Heaton Rockwell, in Bloomfield Hills, Mi. Hiel was a member of the Central Warehouse Board of Directors, Downtown Kiwanis, Germania, the Saginaw Club and the Jaycees, who named him "Outstanding New Member" in 1957. He was a member of Korean War Veterans and served as its President. He was preceded in death by his wife Mary and sister, Caroline Mardon DeVries of Evanston, II. Another sister, Jean R. Beach lives in Saginaw and Old Mission, Ml. Hiel especially treasured his family and his years in the Air Force and Michigan Air National Guard. The funeral service will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, February 3, 2018 at First Presbyterian Church, 121 S. Harrison St. Saginaw, MI. Rev. Ted McCulloch will officiate with Military burial in Forest Lawn Cemetery under the auspices of V.F. W. Post #1859. Friends may call at the W. L. Case and Co. Funeral Chapel, 4480 Mackinaw Rd. from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Friday and then on the Saturday at the Church from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the funeral service. www.casefuneralhome.com

Funeral Home:
W. L. Case and Company Mackinaw Funeral Chapel
4480 Mackinaw Road
Saginaw, MI
US 48603