Legendary Locals of Grand Rapids

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.