Toivo E. Luoma

Toivo E. Luoma, age 101, of Chatham, passed away on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at Brookridge Assisted Living in Marquette. Born on March 2, 1925 to Solomon and Selma (Torma) Luoma on their farm near Chatham, Michigan, he was the fifth of six children. After losing his mother at the age of three, Toivo learned early the values of resilience, hard work, and self-reliance. He developed a remarkable talent for transforming discarded materials into beautiful and useful objects.

Toivo attended school in Chatham and Eben. As a young man, he worked in the Rock River Canyons skidding logs with draft horses, becoming a skilled teamster through his knowledge of Finnish commands. On October 26, 1946, he married Clarita Shamberger. The couple lived briefly in Muskegon before returning to the family dairy farm near Chatham. In 1964, they purchased the Chatham Corner Store, which they operated until 1977. During those years, Toivo served on the Rock River Board of Education for more than two decades. He was an avid bowler who sponsored his own team and was widely admired for his gifted green thumb as a dedicated flower gardener.

After selling the store, Toivo and Clarita embraced retirement with enthusiasm, traveling extensively and taking cruises to Hawaii, the Caribbean, China, and the Mediterranean. They became “snowbirds,” spending winters in Florida and eventually building a home in Inverness. In 2013, they returned to Marquette, where Toivo once again tended beautiful flower gardens for his apartment complex. He was recently honored as Grand Marshall of the Chatham Homecoming parade.

Toivo was preceded in death by his wife of more than seventy-one years, Clarita, his parents Solomon and Selma, and his siblings Helen, Carl, Gertrude, Reino, and Helmi. He is survived by his sons Thomas (Vicki) of Sault Ste. Marie, Michael (Glenda) of Skandia, Mark (Jean) of Munising, and Timothy (Brenda) of Marquette; grandchildren Steve (Stacy), Karolyn, Eric (Alysia), Paul, Natalie (Dave), Andrew (Sarah), Jennifer (Carlos), Kevin (Myranda), Bryan, and Carrie; great-grandchildren Eli, Callie, Mari, Camryn, Maddy, Clark Toivo, Wyatt, Maxim, Kai, Charlie, Cooper, and Finley; and many nieces and nephews.