Lewis C. Reimann, Author And Camp Expert Dies

Lewis C. Reimann, Author And Camp Expert Dies

Civic Leader Passes At 70 In Area Home

Lewis C. Reimann, author, youth worker and local church, political and civic leader, died Sunday at his home at 1725 Lansdowne Rd., Barton Hills, following a long illness.

Author of a number of popular books on the lumbering era in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and others on camping, Mr. Reimann was the founder and a former director of the University’s Fresh Air Camp for underprivileged children.

He founded the “National Boys and Girls Camp Week” for the American Camping Association, had served as national camp consultant for more than 150 camps throughout the nation, and was director of YMCA camps for a number of years.

Founder and operator of Camp Charlevoix, a private camp for boys, from 1927 to 1948, Mr. Reimann also had directed Presbyterian student activities at the U-M for a number of years, formerly served as general secretary of the Ann Arbor YMCA, and held membership on the Michigan Methodist Camp Commission.

Played Football

A 1915 graduate of the U-M, he played football under the late Fielding H. Yost and was Big Ten heavyweight wrestling champion as an undergraduate.

Formerly active in local Democratic politics, he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Ann Arbor in 1951, and state senator from Washtenaw county in 1954.

Mr. Reimann was active in local civic and church affairs and had served as president of the Ann Arbor Community Chest, parent organization of the Ann Arbor Area United Fund, chairman of the Dunbar Community Center board, and president of the Ann Arbor-Washtenaw Council of Churches.

Citation Awarded

Last year he was cited by the U-M for his religious work with students. The citation commended Mr. Reimann for his three terms on the board of governors of Lane Hall and the U-M Office of Religious Affairs, for his work in establishing the Fresh Air Camp, seven years of directing Presbyterian student work on campus, and aid in founding the Protestant Foundation for International Students.

An active Kiwanian, he had served as president of the local Kiwanis Club, president of Michigan Kiwanis clubs, and governor of the Michigan Kiwanis District.

He came to Ann Arbor from his native Upper Peninsula in 1912, and had lived here since.

He was the author of several books on the Upper Penninsula including “Between The Iron and the Pine,” “When Pine Was King,” “Incredible Seney,” “Hurley—Still No Angel,” and “The Game Warden and the Poachers,” all best sellers in their field. He also authored books on camping including “The Successful Camp” and “The Lake Poinsett Story,” and was a frequent contributor to “Camping Magazine.”

Mr. Reimann was born on Sept. 22, 1890, at Stanbaugh, Mich., a son of Ludwig and Augusta Reimann, and was graduated from Iron River High School. He and Pearle Shewell were married on June 2, 1917, at Genoa, O. She survives.

Survivors Listed

Other survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Maurice F. (Joan) Smith of Birmingham, Mich., three grandchildren; three brothers, Dr. Arthur Reimann of Sturgis, Edward Reimann of Belflower, Calif., and Ernest Reimann of Crystal Falls; and six sisters, Mrs. Walter Ludwig of Elmhurst, Ill., Mrs. Ruth de LaPointe of Chicago, Mrs. Joseph Manning of New Rochelle, N. Y., Mrs. Winifred Hawley of Chadron, Neb., Mrs. Vail Brown of Long Beach, Calif., and Mrs. Anthony Michaelski of Tacoma, Wash.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the First Methodist Church with the Rev. Burlin L. Main officiating. Burial will be in Washtenong Memorial Park. 

Friends may call at the Muehlig Funeral Chapel until noon on Tuesday, and after that at the church until the time of services.