12/18/2025
On December 17, 2025, Cloyce Odell was presented with the 2025 Ingham County Heritage Award. This award recognizes individuals with knowledge about and commitment to Ingham County’s past. It is intended to celebrate and promote achievements that may otherwise go unnoticed.
The 94 year old Korean War veteran received the award at the Williamston Depot Museum where he is an emeritus member of the Museum's Board. Those present sharing the moment with Mr. Odell included his daughters Terri and Lori, Ingham County Commissioner Monica Schafer, members of the Historical Commission, members of the Museum's Board and long-time friend, Paul Tarr, and his wife. Light refreshments were enjoyed.
The letter of nomination shared a brief snippet of Mr. Odell's commitment to historical preservation.
Since 2013, Cloyce has been a frequent poster on a local page of old photographs of the Williamston area. His photos have been reproduced and used in local businesses and at the museum over the years. He adds comments to his postings or responds to queries on Facebook posts, too.
During his time on the museum board, he has offered countless comments, documents and photographs for our archives as we create local history displays. One year, he and another gentleman gave a talk on growing up in the 1930s and 1940s in town, which we recorded for posterity. He has contributed to research by authors, high school students, and has answered questions via email, on the phone or in person. During the Covid lockdown, he participated in an audio presentation created by the Williamston Theatre, (“Strolling Stories: The Fire Tour’), which featured five catastrophic fires in the history of Williamston. Cloyce met the Theatre producer at McCormick Park and gave his personal voice of how he watched the 1938 Williamston Enterprise building burn, along with 60 years of the town’s archives with it.
He unfailingly remembers people’s occupations and religious affiliations, women’s maiden names, locations of long-lost businesses, when asked to recall them to solve a history mystery. In my 20 years of serving on the museum board with Cloyce, I don’t believe he has ever been incorrect about a local history event, or person.
Cloyce has also collected two large, three ring binders of every postcard for Williamston he can locate and also several of Webberville (where he lived for a time), along with rare photos, in an effort to add to our local history. He was also featured in a chapter of Mitch Lutzke's local history book, "Stories from Williamston’s Past,"
