Grand Ledge Area Historical Society Board of Directors
- The Grand Ledge Area Historical Society Board of Directors is composed of officers serving in the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Museum Curator, immediate past president and six to eight (6-8) directors.
- The President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer serve one-year terms; the directors serve two-year terms, three to four elected in alternate years.
- Nominations shall be made at the May Board of Directors’ meeting and officers are elected at the June general meeting.
2020-2021 Board of Directors
Joan Kane: Joan joined the Historical Society Board in August 2017. Before her board position, Joan has been a long-time Historical Society volunteer; Joan has helped with Museum exhibits for many years, including the labeling of items used in the exhibits and served as the Ticket Chairman and Treasurer of the annual GLAHS Holiday Home Tour for about 35 years. She volunteered for the digitizing of Home Tour information for the Archives. Currently, Joan is a docent at the Museum and helps during our Purse Bingo events. Not surprising, two of Joan’s homes have been on the Home Tour. Beyond her involvement with the Historical Society, Joan is the past President of the Grand Ledge Area District Library which partners with GLAHS on the Archives and other projects.
Lyle Clark: Lyle is a past president.
Jim Foster: Jim has been affiliated with the Historical Society since 2015 and also is a board member of the Grand Ledge Opera House Authority. Jim is a lifelong resident of Grand Ledge and graduate of Grand Ledge High School. He obtained a degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University and is now a licensed professional engineer in the State of Michigan. Jim is married to his wife Tammy with 3 children in the GLPS system. Jim is active with his children’s extracurricular activities and his church. He serves on his church archives committee and chairs the church building restoration committee.
Tom Hedlund:
Tom is acting President of the Historical Society’s Board and has been a member since the summer of 2020. Born and raised in Delta Township, Tom is a 1985 graduate of Waverly H.S. and Michigan State University in 1990, and he met his future wife Denise (also a board member) as a member of the Spartan Marching Band. Tom & Denise have been married since 1992 and have two adult children and a dog named Dozer.
Tom first moved to Grand Ledge in 1991 for (5) years and returned in 2018 when he and Denise had the opportunity to purchase a classic old house downtown. He loves old houses, antiquing, working in the yard, hiking, and traveling all over the state. Tom is co-owner of Hedlund Plumbing with his brother, a member of the Grand Ledge Planning Commission and Grand Ledge Chamber 503-c Board, and also recently finished up (6) years on the finance council at Saint Michael Parish.
Denise Hedlund:
Denise has been a member of the Board since June 2020 and is currently the chairperson of the membership committee. She originally lived in Grand Ledge from 1992-1996 and has been back living in the downtown area since 2018. Denise is a 1987 graduate of Lansing Eastern H.S. and Michigan State University in 1991 where she was also a member of the Spartan Marching Band.
Happily married to her husband Tom (also a board member), they have two adult children and a dog named Dozer. She is a long-time member of Saint Michael Parish where she taught 2nd grade religion education for many years. Denise also works part time both as a bookkeeper at Hedlund Plumbing as well as multiple positions at Flour Child Bakery three days a week, after spending 13 years working as a substitute teacher in the Grand Ledge school district. In her spare time she loves working in the flower garden, quilting, cross-stitching, and finding antique treasures for their old house.
Robert (Bob) Doty:
Bob is the treasurer for the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society and has been a member since November 2020. He was born and raised in Grand Ledge and has been a local history buff going back to 1966.
Bob has over 49000 Grand Ledge pictures and has maintained his own web site for 5 ½ years (Grand Ledge Scrapbook) all about Grand Ledge with over 2700 members.
He is a graduate of Grand Ledge High School class of 1966 and is married to Rozanne (Richardson) Doty for 53 years. Bob and Rozanne have two grown children, two granddaughters, and two grandsons.
Bob has also served on numerous City Boards, including City Council for 3 terms, Planning Commission for over 27 years, and was Chairman of the new Grand Ledge City Charter and other boards.
Suzanne Schramski:
Suzanne re-joined the board in 2021 and is also an archivist for the Historical Society.
Bob Myers:
Cindy Langenberg:
Cindy is the Board’s Secretary and the Historical Society’s Museum Curator. Cindy’s community involvement is extensive. She currently is the president of the Grand Ledge Garden Club.
Ethelen Herbstreit:
Ethelen Herbstreit has been a member of the GLAHS since the 1980s. She was born and raised in Ohio where history was ‘sacred,’ so it was very intriguing for her to learn and compare the cultural activities in this agricultural community to her native central Ohio farm community. The general meetings helped her learn about Grand Ledge and its people. When her husband, John, became involved, she easily found her way to volunteer experiences especially with Marilyn Smith’s urging. Lora Beth Fitzgerald invited Ethelen to come on the board through involvement with the museum. Originally, she helped with opening the museum with Marilyn Richmond’s direction for the Holiday Traditions tour. Ethelen’s role with the museum has expanded over the years and she has maintained the volunteer staff of docents who keep the museum open every Sunday of the year and during festivals.
In addition to her museum responsibilities, Ethelen also served as secretary 2 years, Vice President for 2 years, and then President for 4 years. She has particularly enjoyed the wrapping paper fundraiser, the creation of the newsletter, and work with our publications. Ethelen thanks all the many volunteers who have helped over the years shares her grateful heart and praise to God for the many opportunities GLAHS has provided her.
In 2016, Ethelen received an Eaton County Heritage Award with her husband and fellow board member, John Herbstreit.