7/14/23 Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, and Grand Rapids
Started our morning with a lovely stroll on the many paths that our hosts created through their woods. Throughout they placed little treasures for the children in their life to find, and then some of the children placed things of their own. It was charming.
The xylophone
The rat placed by neighbor children
Matthew's dad, Charles Julius Westra, came from Michigan and that's where their family lived until Matthew was 3. There hasn't been much connection to that part of the family's life but I've been dabbling a bit into genealogy so we decided to explore the area. From various census records we were able to find where the grandparents lived, where his dad lived, and where the family lived at different points in time.
The Benton Harbor school Dad left as a Principal to go to California
House the family left in Benton Harbor to move to Garden Grove, CA
Details above the door of Dad's Junior High - Creston High in Grand Rapids
High School Dad graduated from
Grand Rapids house where the great grandfather lived when he registered for the draft at age 44
Grand Rapids house where Dad lived at 1 year of age
Dad's parents' gravesite at Rosedale Memorial Park
Finished the day with a stop at Bell's Eccentric Cafe for a Bell's beer.
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