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.