Phone:

Bethany (27), Phil (26), Tim (23)

Biography: Here goes! Hopefully you don't fall asleep while reading.

After graduation I attended NCMC for one year. Andy and I were married the summer of 1967. We then went on to complete our degrees at WMU in Kalamazoo, I majored in elementary education with minors in biology and history, and Andy received a business degree with a major in accounting.

After college we returned to Petoskey and began work. I taught 3rd grade at Central and Ottawa Schools while Andy did accounting for various companies and finally became a partner with Hills Wimer and Hoover.

We built a house outside of town and did everything ourselves except the outer shell and began raising our family.

The next years were busy ones between our jobs and our children. Each year we took a family trip to some new place and managed to visit every state except Alaska and Hawaii. One of our most enjoyable trips was when all the kids were in high school and we spent a week skiing in Colorado.

We also began investing in other business adventures including apartments, car washes, motels, etc.

As our children grew older and became involved in many after school programs, we decided to move to town so we wouldn't have to chauffeur them to so many things. So we moved to our present address which is close to downtown, the schools, and sportpark. Andy also changed jobs and became comptroller of Tube Fab Manufacturing in Afton.

During the time our kids attended PHS we enjoyed attending their various activities. The boys participated in basketball and track, while our daughter was more interested in things like band, yearbook, etc. All 3 kids were in the Madrigal Singers and did a lot of performances with this group especially at Christmas time. They also spent a lot of time with their church youth groups.

Our daughter,Bethany, went on to 8 years of college to become a veterinarian. She now works at an animal clinic in Grand Rapids. She lives on the south end of town with her husband Rob.

Our oldest son, Phil, lives in Grand Rapids and teaches high school sciences in Zeeland.

Our youngest son, Tim, recently graduated from college and is now employed in the accounting department of a manufacturing firm in Kalamazoo. It feel so great to have them all out on their own!

We have always had several pets including dogs, cats, mice, fish, etc. Right now we have 5 cats: Orange Juice, Simba, Sebastian, Sierra, and Fillmore who range in age from 1-16.

After 28 years of teaching I couldn't resist a buy-out that Petoskey Schools offered for early retirement. I have been now been retired for 3 years and have never experienced a boring day. Andy is semi-retired and is only supposed to work one week per month but that seldom happens. We also have part ownership in a trailer rental business and the Super 8 Motel in Petoskey.

We spent 2 falls in Arizona and 3 winters in Florida since retirement. We also redid a 40 ft. houseboat and took it from Petoskey to Punta Gorda, Florida via the Mississsippi River and the Tenn-Tom Waterway. It took us 8 weeks and we experienced many interesting adventures. We hope to bring the boat back to Petoskey next year along the east coast and Trent-Severn Waterway in Canada.

We really enjoyed Arizona but have decided to concentrate our time more between Florida and Michigan. We are building a house by ourselves in Lakeland close to our mothers where we can watch over them.

Recently we purchased some wooded property south of Grand Rapids where we intend to build a house and polebarn in the next year or so. We will be leaving Petoskey and selling our home here. Our reasons for this are twofold. First, we want to be closer to our kids and future grandkids and second, my daughter and I would like to establish a cat shelter and eventually add dog kennels.

God has blessed us in our lives and we are very grateful to Him. We have always been active in churchwork. In the 80s we went to Alanson and reopened a church that had been closed many years. We worked to build it back up for about 9 years, and today Liberty Baptist is doing well with its own pastor and over 100 people in attendance. A church on Mackinac Island was also begun through our efforts and several people from Liberty. We are looking for future ministries in the Grand Rapids area and are also coordinating an effort to extend church services on Bois Blanc Island to year round. As we think of how quickly time has passed, it makes us even more keenly aware of how important it is to be prepared for the eternal life that will follow this one.

It's been great fun reading about everyone and catching up on what's happening in your lives. Many thanks to Dave Parrish for setting up the website so we could do this. Hope to see lots of you at the reunion.