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Bethany, Phil, and, Tim

Sept. 11, 2016 and time for another update. 

It's amazing how things change in 5 years. We now have 6 grandsons. Kelton (8), Liam (6), and Wyatt (6 mths.) belong to our oldest son Phil and his wife Anne. Phil teaches HS physics and Anne is an elementary special ed teacher. Our daughter Beth and her husband Rob have Javan (4), Parker (3), and Braxton (4 mths.). Bethany is a part time veterinarian and Rob a real estate agent. They all live in the Grand Rapids area so we get to see and do things with them often. Our other son Tim and his wife Mary recently lost twin boys who were born too early. It was a tough time but we know Alexander and Gabriel's souls are in Heaven. Tim and Mary live in Auburn Hills where he is a comptroller of several manufacturing firms and she is a psychologist.

We sold our home and my mother's home in Florida last year. There were lots of things to clean out and reorganize.

Feral Fanciers (the nonprofit TNR group in Lakeland, FL that I worked with) came under the local SPCA there, and they are continuing our program among the feral cats in that area. Our own pet count has decreased due to the deaths of some of our furry friends. We now have only 9 cats. :-). Now we go to Florida to have fun. Last March we rented a home between Orlando and Lakeland for several weeks. Different family members came and went including my mom, brother, and our kids and grandkids. We enjoyed times at Disney and visiting friends in Lakeland. We plan to do that again next year.

We have been renting our cottage which is in Oden many weeks during the last several summers. We still have part ownership in the Super 8 in Petoskey and my husband does all the finances for this.

We come to Petoskey often as a lot of our family and friends still live there. My husband Andy is no longer doing church services on Bois Blanc Island several times during the summer months. He did this for 13 years. But in this area we are very involved with our church and our Life Group. Andy is the teacher of this class which involves about 60 people. We are a very active class in learning God's word, social activities, and outreach. Most of our good friends are a part of this class. I also coordinate the greeter schedule for the church, direct puppet activities for the children, and enjoy singing in choir and a ladies group.

I love to travel but Andy would prefer puttering around our property or flying his airplane. So I plan the trips and off we go.

Last Sept. we went with my brother and his wife on a cruise that went through New England, many of the Canadian provinces, down the St. Lawrence River, and ended in Quebec City. We have also traveled to many of the southern states recently including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

I recently had pneumonia which caused my heart to go into A-fib and ended up in the hospital for a couple days. But I am very thankful for the good health God has blessed me with. I enjoy being active and hope I can continue to do so for many years.

Looking forward to our 50th and visiting with many of you.

Updated 6/18/11:

Here's a quick update about the last 5 years.  The most exciting happening was the addition of our 2 grandsons Kelton and Liam who we are able to care for about once a week and then send them home to their parents Phil and Anne.  We really enjoy every minute with them and watching them grow and change.  We will also soon be adding a new daughter-in-law to our family as our youngest son Tim just became engaged to Mary.  Our daughter Beth and husband Rob are in the process of adoption. 

(See family photo below)

My most worthwhile activity in the last few years was being one of the founders of Feral Fanciers, Inc. a nonprofit TNR (trap, neuter/spay, return) group for feral cats in Polk County, FL.  We spend our winters in Lakeland and there are so many feral cats who usually are being fed but are reproducing quickly.  Since 2007 our group has assisted almost 3000 cats.  I have been treasurer, contact person, and newsletter writer.  Now the group has enough volunteers for other  people to assume these responsibilities, and I can concentrate on trapping and recovery of the cats when in FL as this is my greatest passion.  Our own pets consist of 12 cats and 2 dogs who were all rescued. 

My husband Andy and I have also been very active in church and mission activities.  Our class from church meets monthly to pack supplies for the work in Haiti.  All our family remains healthy for which we are thankful.  In the summer I enjoy caring for all my flowers and we make many trips north to our cottage in Oden. Andy and I also were able to take trips to British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California in the past couple years. 

I look forward to seeing many of you at the reunion in July. 

Leslie Hoover
7880 Cottonwood Dr.
Jenison, MI  49428

_____End of Update_____

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.