Gear plant manager opened RV park in '84

1/31/2005

MORENCI, Mich. - Marvin "Hal" Bachelder, 73, who opened the Green Valley Campground here after more than 30 years at the Wayne Broach plant, died of a stroke Saturday in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Mr. Bachelder and his wife Mary built and opened the RV campground in 1984, his son Keith said. The Bachelders put in water and electrical lines at the campground, which is open six months a year. Many visitors are regulars who return every year. Most people come on weekends.

Campsites are generally booked a few years in advance, his son said. "I told them they were nuts, but it's done real good by them," he said.

Mr. Bachelder began working at Wayne Broach, a former automotive gear plant owned by what is now General Broach Co., in 1948 after attending high school through 10th grade. In the mid 1960s, as plant manager, Mr. Bachelder helped start a manufacturing division in an empty building across Salisbury Street from the plant. By the end of the decade, operations had expanded enough that an addition had to be built.

Mr. Bachelder took early retirement from Wayne Broach when the company closed the plant here in 1979.

His first wife, the former Mary Derby, whom he married in 1950, died in 1994.

Surviving are his second wife, the former Linda Marshall, whom he married in 2002; daughters, Carol Steck and Connie Shaffer; sons, Keith, David, and Doug; stepdaughters, Kathy Elisha and Karen Borton; stepson, Kenneth Marshall; sister, Jean King; 11 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; five step-grandchildren; and two step-great-grandchildren.

The body will be in the Eagle Funeral Home, Charles Fink Chapel, from 6 to 8 p.m. today and 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

The family suggests tributes to the American Cancer Society.