Obituary
In the care of Solemn OaksDouglas Kreager, 73, of Hesperia, died Sunday, October 4, 2026, at home, with the corn two-thirds off and his son finishing the rest.
Doug was born July 7, 1953, in Hesperia, to Willard and Ruth Kreager, and farmed the same eight hundred acres his whole life, which he would tell you is not an accomplishment, it is a location. He married Bonnie Teitsma in 1975 and they raised three children on the place, all of whom learned to drive a grain cart before high school and two of whom farm today.
He was, by the reckoning of every coffee table in Hesperia, the first man in the township to get his corn off, every single year, by a margin he refused to explain. The general theory involved sleep. He never confirmed it.
He served on the drain commission for sixteen years, the co-op board for nine, and the school board for one term that he described as the worst decision of his life. He was on the phone at 5:30 every morning with the same four men, a call that had been going since 1988 and that nobody had ever formally started.
He was a quiet, dry, deeply funny man who said perhaps forty words at a family dinner, and made all of them count. He had begun to teach his granddaughter the ground — which corners hold water, which sand out, where the tile runs. Services are Wednesday.
He is survived by his wife of fifty-one years, Bonnie; his sons, Scott (Angie) Kreager and Brian Kreager, both of Hesperia; his daughter, Renee (Matt) Hoeker of Ludington; eight grandchildren; and his sister, Janice Kreager Bos of Fremont.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Dale.