Student from January 1959 until 8th grade graduation in 1962.
I am 73 years old, terminally ill with cancer. Life has been good and wonderful, so I have no complaints. Today, I wish to let everyone on the planet know what a wonderful education I was given at, first, Newhall West Elementary at Byron Center and 36th St.(remember the old building on the corner?) and then on to Newhall Jr. High School on Taft St. After attending Newhall Schools, I realized what a superior education I had there. I transferred to Grandville High School, where the academic standards and student achievements were NOT as high. Why? Because we had teachers like Mr. Stone, Mr. Bernie Langerhorst, Mrs. Olive TenElshof, Miss Donna Beam, and a very no nonsense Principal, Mr. Adrian Vander Vere. I just have to tell you what a fine, progressive, thorough education I had there, which prepared me for high school, UofM, and going on to become an English teacher in San Diego, California. I once heard a teacher tell me that NOTHING in the world is like the thrill of having a former student come up to you, years later, to say "I became a teacher because of you." That happened to me in the San Diego airport.. There was Bernie Langerhorst, from way back then, and I actually made that old grouch cry by telling him that I had become a teacher because of him. And...because of the fine education we had a Newhall Jr. High. The education you receive as a young American is worth more than can be ever achieved at any other time. Your character, appreciation, gratitude and sense of being part of solutions originate then. So, thank you to all those wonderful teachers, even though they are all gone now. Imagine this.....who will you remember with fondness and love, 60 whole years later? Yes, only the best of the best.
Roger A. Hofstra, Palm Springs California, but Michigan is still home.