Steve Folino has been an Abbey Park resident for the past seven years, but his history in the Lyon area spans almost a century.

In 1925, Folino was born to Italian immigrants in Northville. He was raised during a time when “New Hudson was just the New Hudson Inn and a gas station, and South Lyon didn’t have much more,” his son, Luigi, said.

In 1944, Folino was drafted into World War II out of high school, and the natural talent he discovered he had for typing came in handy when the military asked for draftees’ special skills.

No one believed he could type over 100 words per minute on a manual typewriter but Folino proved his skills, beat everyone else in the clerical group and was assigned to clerical operations in the Army.

After his time training in Texas and at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Folino was deployed and served as a T/3 Sergeant – Technician Third Grade under General Douglas MacArthur’s flotilla of ships headed to the Pacific War front in the Philippines.

Folino was the clerk of the ship, typing orders and strategy and overseeing logistics and ship requisitions while onboard. When they arrived in the Philippines, he was assigned as an administrative clerk in Manila, where he handled coordination, troop deployment, battle strategies, lieutenant colonels’ and generals’ plans, etc.

When he looks back at his time in the war, Folino remembers losing many friends on the front lines in combat and feels fortunate that the skills he had allowed him to stay on the administrative side of battle coordination and strategy.

Folino was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon and the Philippine Independence Medal for his service.

When the war ended, Folino returned to Michigan and followed in his father’s footsteps, getting a job at Ford Motor Company, where he worked for 48 years. He was also a renowned high school football and basketball referee for Michigan high schools for 45 years.

In December, Folino was awarded a Quilt of Valor from the Michigan Quilt of Valor organization for his efforts in WWII and was honored at Abbey Park, the place he now calls home.

Folino enjoys the combination of freedom and care he gets at Abbey Park. He participates in Veterans Day and Memorial Day events in addition to spending time with other residents he has made friends with over the years, especially after the passing of his wife shortly after they both moved in.

Folino’s son said the consistency and quality of Abbey Park staff has made his father’s end-of-life living so much more rewarding.

“It’s a nice, safe environment for my dad,” Luigi said. “He really enjoys the camaraderie of the other folks. The staff and residents get to know each other and it’s truly a nice little community in itself.”

From the Abbey Park community to the New Hudson and Lyon area communities, Folino expressed his amazement in the growth of the area over the years and is happy to still be around to see the continual improvements being made, even after almost 100 years.