Grand Rapids began as an Indian trading post. Louis Campau became the
first permanent white settler in 1826. Today, the city on the Grand River is
Michigan's second largest with a population of nearly 200,000, more than
triple when adding the surrounding metropolitan area. Though best known
as the hometown of President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford, the
city lays claim to others who are, or have been, in the national spotlight
as well. These include astronauts Roger Chaffee and Jack Lousma; sports
figures Stan Ketchel, Dave Rozema, Mickey Stanley, and Chris Kaman;
screenwriter and director Paul Schrader; actors Lorna Gray and Dick York;
writers Meindert DeJong, Chris Van Allsburg, and Bich Ngyuen, to name
just a few. In these pages are legends named Meijer, Van Andel, De Vos,
Trotter, Belknap, Hekman, and Wege. Others are lesser known, or even
unknown, but their heartwarming stories make them equally worthy of
legendary status.
Norma Lewis has written extensively for national and regional magazines.
She is the author of Grand Rapids: Furniture City and Going for the Gold. This
is her third collaboration with her husband, Jay de Vries. They coauthored
Dutch Heritage in Kent and Ottawa Counties and Wyoming, Michigan.