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.

2023-2024 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. 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.

Richard Child:

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Ben Cwayna:

Ben is currently the managing partner of Hicks, Millbrook and Cwayna, PLLC, a law firm in Grand Ledge focusing on estate planning, commercial litigation, real estate transactions, and general practice. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from James Madison College at Michigan State University and received his Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University College of Law in 2006. Ben has lived in the Grand Ledge area since 2008. He has served on the Downtown Development Authority and currently serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the City of Grand Ledge. Ben has a deep interest in American history focusing on the Civil War, and participates as a living historian with a regional reenactment group which recreates historical battles and camp life for the general public.

Robert Doty

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.