NEWS LETTER

JANUARY 1973

GRAND MERE ASSOCIATION _ Box 140 Stevensville, Michigan 49127

 

Welcome to all of the new members who have joined with us since our last news-
letter. Our membership is growing rapidly and, while we are unable to list each

individual name, we extend a greeting to each one of you.

KeREKKEK SK

It has been a little while since our last letter, but we assure you that the
Grande Mere Association is alive and well and things are happening.

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The first item of business is to announce the current slate of officers follow-
ing the recent election:

President John Florian
Vice President : Mrs. F. V. Cupp
Recording Secretary Mrs. Dean Asselin
Executive Secretary Karl H. Goy
Treasurer Dr. J. Sharon

Other Directors are:

Charles Nelson Robert Hammond
Clete Brummel Don Galloway
Max Medley Peter Roe

Dale Park

Five alternates to the Board were appointed and they include Mrs. J. L. Hren,

who will serve as assistant to the secretaries, Frank Lahr as auditor, Jeff Brown,
a high school senior who will be representing the student membership, Mrs. Fred
Donnell, a past Board member and Mrs. Thomas Wach, a past secretary, One more
appointment will be made soon.

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Newsflash ... Currently the chief project that the Grande Mere Association has

been concerned with is the publishing of a new reference book on Grande Mere.

Much research has gone into the writing of this book in order to insure its authen-
ticity. The book will have a complete listing of all plant life, birds, animals,
and reptiles of the area, as well as the geological and archeological history,

spiced with human interest stories and many photographs. It is reasonable to
assume that the book will sell for approximately $2.00 and those wishing to order
now may do so. A big thank you to The Kalamazoo Nature Center, especially to

Dr. H. Lewis Batts who so kindly consented to edit the material. We are deeply
indebted to a number of our conservation friends who have contributed substan-
tially to the underwriting of the book. More about all of this in the next news-

letter.

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Newsflash ... The Berrien County Coordinating and Development Council has requested
the Berrien County Parks and Recreation Commission and the Berrien County Board

of Commissioners to purchase 20 acres in Grande Mere immediately adjacent to the
22-acre Nature Study Preserve. This acreage is a beautiful section of Grande

Mere and by all means should be kept in its present condition. The PRC has res-
ponded to the Coordinating Council's request by instructing Mr. William Gebbard

to ascertain from Manley Sand Mining Company if they will sell the 20 acres to

the County for preservation purposes. Our membership should support this effort
and, hopefully, purchase will be made and provide a little more of our natural
resources for us all to enjoy.

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Plans are well on the way for a number of spring activities, one of which will
be a joint meeting between the Grande Mere Association and another conservation
group, United for Survival. This event will be held sometime in April. Don
Galloway will be one of the co-chairmen and will provide a program which will be
representative of the Grande Mere Association's prime interests.

Of course, the annual spring hike will be conducted during the month of May with
Clete Brummel, Instructor at Lake Michigan College, as the chairman. All final
details will be outlined in the next letter.

Qur President, John Florian, is about to appoint a chairman and committee for the
annual Grande Mere cleanup campaign and we hope that it will be the success that
it was last year.

At the last meeting of the Board of Directors it was agreed that student member-
ship should become an integral part of GMA activities. Students will be accepted
as associate members for $1.00 annual dues.

Appointed to the Chairmanship of the Membership Committee was Karl Goy who so
thoroughly enjoys picking up the mail each day at Box 140, Stevensville, and find-
ing checks from new members as well as long-time friends of the Association. In
this respect, he urges all members to interest their friends and encourage them

to become members.

Juniata Cupp was reappointed as Legislative Chairman. All of us who know Juniata,
know that she will not slacken her efforts for legislation for the acquisition of
Grande Mere.

According to the newspapers, our Mrs. Peter Roe has been appointed by the Lincoln
Township Board to the Parks and Recreation Committee in that Township. We are
hopeful that this appointment will serve as a liaison between the Township and
the Grande Mere Association.

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