Glenn Sexton Sr.

Glenn was one of 16 children of Emery and Edna Sexton. When he wasn’t being chased around by his sisters and getting yelled at, he was outdoors thinking up fun things to do, such as lighting toilet paper on fire and throwing it into the air. His favorite childhood memories were going to work with his grandpa and getting pop and candy.

Glenn was fortunate enough to find the woman of his dreams at the age of 18, Beverly Lou Martin, and married her a year later. Glenn and Bev started their family with their firstborn, Rodella, in Gladstone, Michigan. Soon after, they moved to Newton Falls, Ohio, so that Glenn could start his career at General Motors. It was at General Motors that Glenn’s spiritual life changed when he met his brother in the Lord, John Chegar. Before long, their second child, Glenn, Jr., was born. After having their third child, Tabitha, six years later and living in Ohio for two more years, the family returned to upper Michigan, where they were blessed with their final daughter, Christy.

In his early adulthood, when not working, he would often visit his siblings and have a cup of coffee. When his mom was still alive, he loved playing cards and marbles, which brought out the competitive side of everyone. Only those who were a part of those games could ever explain the intensity and eventual laughter. He loved watching his kids and grandkids play sports and was by far the loudest fan in the stands. Everyone knew when Glenn was present at any event. He used to love to play Bingo, especially when the fair was in town, when he could eat a plate full of fries and a funnel cake. But Glenn’s favorite pastimes were the days spent hunting and fishing with his siblings, children, grandchildren, and nephews. Nothing brought him more joy than bagging a big buck or reeling in fish after fish.

People around his parts knew him as the “Mayor of Flat Rock”, Buddha, and Frenchy, but one of his favorite titles besides husband and dad was grandpa or Papa. Besides his four children, Glenn had 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, many of whom knew him as more than just a grandfather figure. To some, he was a second dad. He would often be caught sharing his “secret” stash of candy when their parents weren’t around, and it didn’t take much more than a puppy dog please to make him do almost anything for his grandkids. He had special nicknames for them and bonds with each that words could never do justice.

In the last years of his life, Glenn enjoyed nothing more than sitting on his porch, growing his flowers and tomato plants, watching the humming birds, and talking to anyone who wanted to stop by. His door was always open, and he knew how to love people right where they were…unconditionally. His favorite thing to do on that porch, though, was to be still and praise and pray to God.

“But God”. That’s what Glenn said the last several months of his life. Every single day he got out of bed and lived the life God called him to live and relied on God to give him what he needed that day. He rejoiced with each day God gave him breath in his lungs to praise him. Glenn had the chance in his later adult years to fall in love with the Lord all over again. If you knew Glenn, then you knew his wishes for every person that he encountered, whether family, friends, strangers, or even telemarketers, to learn about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross so that we may live forever. He challenged his wife and kids just this summer to read through the Bible from start to finish. He would challenge anyone reading this to do the same.

Glenn got to spend 73 years on this Earth and used most of them to be a light on the hill for the Lord. With the biggest smile on his face, he would say, “Whether I live I’m the Lord’s, and whether I die I’m the Lord’s, so either way I am the Lord’s.”

Glenn was able to live a beautiful life with his wife of 54 years, his four children, and all of his grandkids. He found a church family that he loved and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. He loved getting to spend every day in his home in Michigan with his very best friend, his wife. He wouldn’t have changed a minute. And he wouldn’t want you to mourn for him because he knew with certainty where he was going when he died. People often comfort others in their grief by saying, “He’s in a better place now,” but Glenn knew that wasn’t true. He spread the gospel even in his last days so that everyone who encountered him would be in heaven with him.

If you knew and loved Glenn, then truly you love the Lord because God gave him that smile, that laugh, that zest for life, his enthusiasm to worship at church, his loud “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” to be the vessel God used to be a light on the hill. Please rejoice in his eternal life and take the challenge to begin or continue to fall deeply in love with God.

There will be a visitation with family on Monday, January 19 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the Bark River Bible Church. Funeral services will be at 3:00 PM followed by a luncheon in the fellowship hall. Glenn will be laid to rest in the Escanaba Township Cemetery in Flat Rock.

The family is being assisted by the Skradski Funeral Home in Gladstone. To leave the family a message of condolence, go to

http://www.skradskifuneralhomes.com.