Ernest Earl Hunt was born January 4, 1915 near Eaton Rapids, Michigan, to Clayton Earl and Ida May Hunt, the oldest of four children. Ernie was a smart, inquisitive, and inventive child. Before the age of ten, he wired the family’s chicken coop with electric lights. Ernie attended Holt High School and graduated with the Class of 1933?, and was a multi-sport athlete in football and track. He held the school mile record for thirty years.

He met Virgilene Maye Levi at Holt High School and the two married June 6, 1935. Virgilene was born May 11, 1916, in Lansing to Howard and Bertha Levi. Family lore says Ernie took up violin to get to know Virgie. Ernest and Virgilene had three children Terry, Tom, and Carol.

The Hunts made their home in Mason in a blue farmhouse on Hagadorn Road, which they purchased in 1945. The farm has an apple orchard and plentiful nut trees. The home remained in the family for 71 years.

The Hunt family is most well known for Holt Products Company, which was founded in 1939 by Ernest Hunt and his father Clayton Earl Hunt. The business was founded at 1961 Walnut Street in a garage. The company expanded but remained on the original site until 2016 when it expanded and moved to Legion Drive in Mason.

Holt Products produced turned metal products and was a key employer in the community. During World War II, Holt Products produced internal tank engine parts for the military. Some of the original 1930s equipment, like a large production metal cutting screw machine is still in use today. The company supplied many local businesses with turned metal products, including Diamond REO, John Bean, and Oldsmobile, then grew to produce parts for larger scale operations like Harley Davidson, Toyota, Honda, and numerous other automotive and aerospace suppliers.

Ernest oversaw Holt Products from the beginning through the early 1980s, when his son Tom took over the operation. The business remains family owned and operated by the third/fourth generation.

In the 1940s, when Holt Products expanded, Ernest purchased the land south of Sycamore Street. There he had a small airstrip. He developed Hunt Acres, a small neighborhood with three main streets - Lynn, Lee, and Jeanne - named for his children’s middle names. The excess land at the extreme south of his property was donated by Hunt to Delhi Township as Kiwanis Park in 1951.

Ernie Hunt was a founding member and the founding president of the Kiwanis Club of Holt. He served as Governor for the Michigan District from 1975 to 1977. In 2006, Hunt’s estate left the barn at the Hagadorn Road family farm along with 100 acres to the Holt Kiwanis as Der Happy Hallow, a park which still hosts annual campouts for Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and family and group events.

The Hunts were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Holt for more than 75 years. Virgilene died March 28, 2005, at age 89. Ernest died January 23, 2006, at age 91. The Hunts are buried in Maple Ridge Cemetery in Holt.

Information courtesy of Ashley Hunt.