Mazda Great Lakes Alumni

(Updated Tuesday, December 15, 2009 10:47 PM )

Additions or corrections? Please send a note to: Doug Wenzel

2000 News

December 2000 News   

• Mazda sales were up nearly 16% for the month and 4.8% for the full year 2000.
• Dave Seeber turns 60!!

November 2000 News   

• Scott and Kathy Lewis have moved into their new home in Columbia City, IN!
• Judy Bell-LeValley is having a baby!  Show up to the December party to find out when.
• October Sales for Mazda were up 4.9%.  The only vehicle line showing growth vs. last October was Tribute.  YTD sales are now up 3.7%.

October 2000 News   

• Drew Balcom is now a DSM for Toyota in West Michigan.
• Brian Farris has added his information to the site.  He is a DPSM for Hyundai.
• Holly Hanson is now Mrs. Jason McGavin and has joined the group at Woodland International Trucks as Controller.
• Mark Brink has joined the group at Woodland International Trucks and is charge of Sales and Marketing for Parts.
• Gail Schouwink has a new job with DPI Material Handling Systems  gschouwink@dpisystems.com and a new personal e-mail address dochd@earthlink.com
• Bob Hahn is now with The Rosen Automotive Group.
• Steve Heiss has accepted a position with Daewoo as a DSPM.  His new work e-mail is 

  sheiss@daewoous.com

• Chuck Fallos has a new personal e-mail address: CJFallos@aol.com
• Through the end of Sept. all Mazda model lines are down except for MPV, Tribute, and Miata.
• Bob Fellmer has a new work e-mail address.  bob.fellmer@kohlerco.com
• Cal Verduin has added his information and e-mail address to the page.  cpverduin@juno.com
• A few weeks ago, Bette Nowicki fell and broke her shoulder and is in tons of pain!  I'll bet you could lighten things up for her by sending a card to: 3815 Benjamin, NE  Grand Rapids, MI  49505.
• The Birthdays page is now sorted both by date and by name.

September 2000 News

• THANK-YOU David for pushing MNAO to offer a Mazda E-Plan New Vehicle Purchase Program for all MGL personnel employed at the time of the close!  This came just in time for those of us in the market for a new vehicle!
• Rose Gutschow has accepted a position with Felder Communications Group and her new work e-mail is rose@felder.com
• The Birthdays page has been revised to allow viewing by anyone, no matter what their computer configuration.
• Bill Cowen has changed his e-mail address to:  wcowen@neo.rr.com
• Don Jones has a new e-mail address dcjones@iserv.net and is now working for Coopersville Area Public Schools.
• Peter Cook was inducted to the Grand Rapids Magazine Medical Hall of Fame as a Significant Donor!
• Melodie LaHuis will be traveling to Russia and the Ukraine on Oct. 4, and returning on Oct. 24, as part of a missions and medical team providing health care screening, vaccinations for children and medical training.
• Check out the new Birthdays page link above which was the result of Carrie Boer's hard work!
• Jim Chandler had the good suggestion to change this page so the news was categorized by month.
• Rod Helgeson and family have moved into their new home and they have a new mailing address and phone #.
• Doug Dykstra has a new personal e-mail: wb8zsi@yahoo.com
• Phil Barnes has a new personal e-mail: phil408@home.com
• Judy Kidder's work e-mail has been added:  jkidder@jsjcorp.com
• As a result of Carrie's good suggestion, the "Name and Address" page has been combined with the "Where are they now" page.  

• Gord Mast has a new e-mail address and has added his street address to the site.  

  Mast, Gordon

  5143 Ridgeview Dr.

  Hudsonville, MI  49426

  GordMast@gateway.net

• Harry Auffenburg, the long-time Mazda dealer in Detroit at Livonia/Dearborn/Seaway has passed away.  The funeral was held 8/24/00 at Our Lady of Pillar in St. Louis, MO.
• Deb Wilkinson has updated her home e-mail address.
• Mark and Diane Carpenter's granddaughter Taylor passed away on August 13.  The obituary was published at http://gr.mlive.com/obits/index.ssf?queryType=single&date=20000815&number=12  David Hooker is sending flowers from all of us with the former MGL and Mark and Diane's home address is on the web site if you want to send a card.
• Forest DeMaagd's wife passed away during the first week of August.  His address has been added to the site.   I'm sure he could use our support during this time.  If you knew Forest, take a minute and send him a note.

• Connie Ellinger is enjoying her retirement and has added her name and e-mail address to our site.
• Dave Seeber has been blessed with another granddaughter!  
• Jason Bender has joined PRIMUS Automotive Financial Services as Business Development Manager.
• Terry Robrahn has joined Foremost Insurance Co. as Application Programming Supervisor.  Now he, John Cordes, Doug Dykstra, Jim Buffington and Larry Gray are all at Foremost!
• Melode LaHuis has added her name to our lists!  She's also working at Amway right now under contract with Diversified Computer Associates.
• Rod Helgeson and his family have packed up and moved to IL!  They are planning on moving into a house in Malta, IL but for now Kathy and the boys are staying in WI with Kathy's parents.  Their temporary address and phone number has been added to the site.
• Carolyn Ford has accepted a position with Country Fresh and starts there on August 14.  Congratulations on the end of your 5 month extended vacation!
• After his long battle with cancer, Al Dunning (Ann Arbor Mazda) passed away on Friday July 28, 2000.  
• Bob Hahn now has e-mail at home!  Say hello to Bob at bobhahn1@msn.com
• Mike Bronson is now the Shipping and Receiving Supervisor at Light Metals.
• Phil Barnes has successfully completed his Hardware/DOS/WIN computer certification!  He is also working on his Novell CNA and Microsoft MCP certifications and will have them soon.  (He doesn't know that I've put this in the news and would never brag about it so make sure you congratulate him on his hard work!)
• Steve and Sally Lockwood join the ranks of new grandparents!  Braden Lockwood was born 7/13 at 11:08am and weighed in at 7lbs. 1oz. and 20-3/4" long.
• Jo Burnham has added her personal e-mail address.
• Larry Goff has changed his e-mail address.
• Gail Schouwink has added her home phone and both her home and work e-mail addresses.
• Judy Kidder has accepted a position at Sparks Belting and will be starting there on 7/11/00.  

• Lynette Jensen & John Caras were married on 6/11/00. Congratulations!
• Shea Brown's new home address is in Eureka, CA! (Almost to the Oregon border.)
• Mark Brinks has changed his e-mail address to mrbrinks@home.com
• Jim Buffington has added his home e-mail address.
• Ken Woltjer has e-mail at home and work.
• Mike Poort has moved to Hudsonville.
• Becky Decker is a new Grandma! Brittany Ann was born on 6/20/00 weighing 6lbs. 3ozs. and stretching 18 1/2 inches long!  Check out pictures of the parents Jeni and Brian at http://208.156.134.22/mha/babies/baby.php3?id=334
• John Cordes has accepted an offer by Foremost to join their IT staff and started there on June 19!
• Jim Richter's e-mail, home address, and employment information have been added.
• Winnie Wulbrecht's e-mail has been added.
• Andrew Gardner has been promoted to Chicago District Sales Manager for MNAO
• Joyce Brown's home address has been added to the site.
• John Belcher has E-mail now at home and work.
• Jim Sliter's home address has been updated.
• Dennis Holland has a new home e-mail address.
• Ken Woltjer started his new job at Etna Supply.

• Tom Meeusen has E-mail at work now.
• Gail Kober's information has been added to the site.
• Paula Gundrum has E-mail now at home and work.
• Judy Bell-LaValley has a new home e-mail address.
• Judy Kidder has a new home e-mail address.
• Janet Korcal started her new job at Canteen Services.
• Laurie Grooters  has accepted a position with American Express Financial Advisors where Nancy Hoekstra has been working. (downtown office)

• Phil Barnes' dad passed away in Dade City, FL.

• Larry Goff has another grandchild! Kristen May Harig was born on May 5.  Congratulations Larry and Nancy!

• Jim Fouts has accepted a position at Byrne Electrical Specialists in Rockford.

April 2000 News

• Barb Abrahams has accepted a job at IKON Office Solutions!

• Jim Sliter was married on April 27 in St. Lucia. His wife's name is Tricia.

• See Scott Lewis' new address

• Sheryl Leatherman has added her name to the address list.

• Janet Cook has accepted a job with Harley Davidson!

• One of our past employees has joined MNAO.  Remember Jim Chandler? 

• Kim Peterson has accepted a job at Bissell.

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