Gerald Neil Wells, age 83, of Portland, passed away on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. He was born on August 2, 1943 in Portland, the son of Paul and Rhea (Dutcher) Wells. Jerry is retired from General Motors after many years of service, and was a veteran of the U.S. Army. He enjoyed farming and collecting tractors and farm equipment. He was preceded in death by his seven siblings. Surviving are his children, Jennifer (Mike) Alspaugh and David Wells; grandchildren, Emily and And

More than 1,880 students from Saginaw Valley State University earned a spot on the winter 2026 semester Deans' List. To be eligible for the Deans' List, a student must take at least 12 credit hours and carry a semester GPA of 3.4 or better. Among those honored from Portland were: Lydia Meredith Bryce Wendling Leah Nelson Kyle Edlund Ellayna Meredith Saginaw Valley State University is a comprehensive university with more than 90 programs of study for 7,000 students. Located

On October 1st, we publish a piece including reader submitted questions and answers from five candidates running for open seats on the Portland Public schools Board of Education. You can find that piece HERE. Since then, Joe Polasek has announced that he will be running as a write-in candidate for the election. To allow readers to learn a bit about Polasek, we posed the same set of 16 questions to him as we did to the other five candidates. Below you can see the questi

“Louie Spitzley owned the bowling alley and his daughter, Marie, ran it for her dad. There were three alleys when I was a young girl. You sat in the chairs on this little rise built in the floor and could look out over Kent Street. That was a wonderful era.” (Gina Larson) Tuesday night, October 27th at 6:30 the Portland Area Historical Society will be hosting Gene Spitzley who is the son of Louie Spitzley. He will be talking about the Barton Building and his father Louie

On Saturday, October 10th, the Portland St. Patrick Shamrocks travelled to Middleton to take on the 4-2 Fulton Pirates. Despite some early challenges, the Shamrocks handily defeated the Pirates 48-21. In the First quarter the Shamrocks shut out the Pirates and in businesslike fashion, scored twice. Sam Mustapha punched it in on two 13 yard runs and Tyler Thelen made both extra points to make the score 14-0 after one quarter. In the second quarter, Sam Mustapha again bro

Friday night was a party at Portland High School as the Raiders played for the CAAC White title while celebrating Homecoming. The Portland community showed up and showed out to support its Raiders football team. Before the game, there was what I would call a small parade recognizing Raiders athletes and their accomplishments. It was a great way to kick off the Homecoming football game. From the very beginning, Portland looked like the stronger squad. The Raiders were able

Scoutmaster Bryan Gehrcke says that Portland’s Scouts are having a fantastic year, making friends, serving their community, and learning new skills. Gehrcke is Scoutmaster of Scouting America Troop 129B that regularly meets at the Grand River Conservation Club in Portland. Troop 129B has produced three Eagle Scouts in the past twelve months. These young men include Matthew Simon and Sawyer Dakin of Portland High School, and Cooper Gehrcke of St. Patrick School. In addit

Constance (Connie) Louise Mallek-Fedewa, a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away on October 6, 2026. She was born Constance Louise Dembowski on October 13, 1944, in Lansing, Michigan. Devoted to God and family, Connie was always ready to help anyone in need. She was famous for her incredible desserts, especially her cinnamon rolls and pies, and for leading the family in heartfelt prayers, which she wrote herself and delivered beautifully before

While we in Portland may not have as much going on as the bigger cities do, we still have plenty of news worth sharing. Here at the Beacon, our goal is “to serve as a steward of the community by educating citizens so as to encourage a more engaged and vibrant community.” From our schools and city council, to local small businesses and nonprofits, we have a lot going on in this town. I started the Beacon in August of 2017 to establish a new local news source for Portland

David A. Brown, who grew up in Portland and still counts it as home, has published his first children's book — and it carries a story close to the heart of anyone who has ever loved a dog. Ava's Mackinac Adventure is a children's picture book narrated by Ava, the Brown family's Yorkshire Terrier of fifteen years, who passed away this past spring. Written in the months after her loss, the book follows the curious little dog as she explores Mackinac Island — the ferry ride ov