This year Ypsilanti will be holding its 96th annual 4th of July parade, and one of Ypsilanti’s oldest residents, Gordon Cahours, will be riding in Michigan’s longest-running independence day parade.
Cahours is 106 years old and has lived in Ypsilanti since he was just a 1 year old. His wife, Virgina, now deceased, also grew up in Ypsilanti; they started dating in 1939. When World War II started, he was a college student, and in 1940 he became a marine.
In 1945, while Cahours’ vessel was being repaired, he came back and married Virgina. He went back to sea for a year before coming back home to Ypsilanti in 1947. He purchased a plot of land and hired contractors to build a house for him and his wife to live in. Along with designing the home, he also helped in the construction. He and Virginia moved into the house in 1948, and he as resided there ever since…