Meet the Groendyks

from Encore November 2020

Events of Note

From Dave’s Glass to Belle Meade, the Groendyks are an enterprising family

In April 1978, when Dave Groendyk approached his wife, Shari, about starting their own glass business, he was met with a bit of resistance — Shari thoroughly enjoyed her occupation at the time as a reference librarian at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

“He dragged little Shari kicking and screaming out of the library,” she jokes, laughing. “We started our business, and the rest is history.”

Dave learned about the glass business working alongside his father, Henry Groendyk, who was a foreman at the former Koerts Paint & Glass, on Portage Street in downtown Kalamazoo. After working there for 10 years, Dave realized that they could operate their own glass business.

“We had nothing (monetarily),” Shari says. “But we both have work ethic and we know how to persevere. I mean we’re just persistent, disciplined people.”

The couple started Dave’s Glass inside of a garage and, after that, rented a farmer’s storage building. Their big business break came because of an act of nature.

“It’s sad to say it,” Shari says, “but it was the tornado of 1980.”

To replace all of the broken glass in area buildings, the couple, along with Dave’s dad, worked 20 hours a day seven days a week from May 14 until the end of November of that year, replacing glass damaged by the tornado. They also hired temporary workers to do some of the carrying and cleanup.

“The economy at that time was in a recession,” Shari says, “and there were men in trucks driving around town asking if they could be hired.”

On weekends, the Groendyks’ children, then-6-year-old Derek and then-4-year-old Stephanie would tag along “to be helpful in small ways.” “Maybe that’s when they began to learn a work ethic,” Shari jokes.

Eventually, Dave’s Glass rented a building at Texas Corners that had housed a hardware store and needed much repair and renovation.

The Groendyks, clockwise from bottom left: Shari, Dave, Derek and Erica on the glass staircase in the showroom of Dave’s Glass.

When Dave brought Shari to view the space, she was not pleased.

“He took me down there to that spot and I just thought, ‘Is this what we’ve come to?’” she says, grimacing. “It was so depressing. It was horrible!”

But she pushed past her initial reluctance, and they “begged and borrowed” enough money to purchase the building and renovate, Dave says. Dave’s Glass remained in that building for 30 years, until last January, when the company moved into a brand new building behind Texas Corners Plaza. Their son, Derek Groendyk, runs the business now with wife, Erica Groendyk, who helps in the showroom and handles the bookkeeping.

“It’s been a great ride,” Shari says, admitting that’s why she and Dave haven’t quite been able to fully retire yet. Then she chuckles and says of Derek and Erica, “Sometimes I’m sure they’re also thinking, ‘Why don’t they go away now?’”

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The Cavanaughs say they like having so many businesses and recreational opportunities within walking distance, including restaurants, fitness centers, physician offices, dog grooming and the Al Sabo Preserve. “While we have all this access, we are tucked into our own private and quiet little enclave surrounded by tall evergreens,” Cavanaugh says.

An aerial view showing the Belle Meade development which includes a clubhouse with a pool, seen adjacent to the development on the bottom right.

So far, 10 houses have been built in Belle Meade, with a total of 48 houses planned. House sizes range from 1,200 to 1,800 square feet of living space, and all of the houses have basements. The homes’ (continued on page 31)

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An Artistic Author Writing and illustrating feed the soul of Nerdy Babies creator

by JULIE SMITH

Brian Powers Emmy Kastner knew from an early age that she was a writer, but it took her decades to say it out loud.

“It’s such a weird thing because, in retrospect, I have been a student of picture books and children’s books my whole life,” she says from her Kalamazoo studio, located above Factory Coffee, the North Side coffee shop her husband, Dan, owns and operates.

Decades ago, it was another children’s author, Jon Scieszka, who first told a very young Kastner that she was a writer. “I told him I wanted to be a writer, and he told me as long as I was writing anything, I already was a writer,” she says.

That was in fourth grade. But, despite that nod from someone she looked up to, Kastner admits she fought imposter syndrome well into her adult life.

Today, however, she proudly calls herself an author and illustrator. She has had four children’s books published by Macmillan Publishers. They’re part of her Nerdy Baby series, which explores subjects related to nature and science. She also has two more books in the series coming out soon and has a stand-alone children’s picture book in the works.

Left: Emmy Kastner in her studio, where she has authored and illustrated four books in the Nerdy Babies series of children’s books. Above: An illustration from the Nerdy Babies Ocean.

An evolution

Kastner is originally from Ortonville, Michigan. After graduating from Western Michigan University, she taught high school science and language arts, first in Battle Creek and then in San Francisco. Although she and her husband loved California, they returned to Kalamazoo, where she co-founded the nonprofit youth literacy program Read and Write Kalamazoo (RAWK) with Anne Hensley and served as its co-executive director until 2018.

Through all the moves and changes, Kastner says, art and storytelling have been constants in her life. But her writing and illustrating career and creative process have

This page, top: An illustration from Nerdy Babies Space. Bottom: There are four books in the Nerdy Babies series so far. Opposite page, from left: Kastner at work in her studio on a new book titled A Very Big Fall; pages from Nerdy Babies Weather.

come a long way since her father first handed over an electric typewriter to her. She laughs as she recalls that she skipped most of the creative process for her first book manuscript, “The Bear Who Came Alive,” which she wrote in elementary school and that was based on her stuffed bear. “I just went to town,” she says. “I went straight to final draft.”

That first book is still unpublished, but it started Kastner on her path. She created the Nerdy Babies series after watching her daughter memorize and recite her picture books. “I thought it would be great for kids to learn about science in the same way,” says Kastner.

With that spark of an idea, she created the first two Nerdy Babies books, Nerdy Babies Space and Nerdy Babies Ocean. As she wrote the stories, the characters — a cast of babies that Kastner illustrated and developed as an inclusive representation of scientists — came to life.

Brian Powers

Kastner lets the characters take turns being the lead character of their own book, and she spends about six months writing and illustrating each book. Using inspirations from her love for science and nature and her children, she has had a different creative process for each book, she says. “I kind of go with the flow for every book. Some start with visuals. Some start with the theme or idea.”

While Kastner has drawn from the knowledge she already had as a science teacher for the first books, she says as the series grows and the topics expand she spends more time researching and reaching out to expert scientists for vetting. The next two books in the Nerdy Babies series will focus on dinosaurs and transportation and will hit store bookshelves in 2021. “What’s really fun about writing this series is that it is not 100 percent essential for the readers to read all of the books in order,” she explains.

Sources of inspiration

Kastner’s latest book project came about after she created a painting of three leaves that turned out to look like characters. She stepped back and realized there was a bigger story to be told. Words and more images followed, resulting in the book A Very Big Fall, which will be released in 2022.

Kastner says she devotes time each day to creating art. She works from her studio, a large, open space that she currently shares with her three kids while they learn remotely. “I love to paint," she says. “I love the traditional medium. It’s exciting to me.”

Kastner says she finds inspiration for her books in unexpected places. “I’m in a lot of different places when ideas come up,” she says. To make sure the inspirations are not lost, she keeps a running list of ideas on her phone and always carries a sketch pad. “I love art, and I love storytelling,” she says. “There is something magical when those things collide.”

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The 1838, the clubhouse at Belle Meade, is named for the year Texas Township was founded.

Pocket Neighborhood (continued from page 26) interiors can be customized by homeowners and have so far proven as distinct as the exteriors.

Take a home currently under construction, for example. “It’s going to look like a Florida house,” Dave says. “It’s got these beautiful, bright colors.” A nod to history

Before going into business with her husband at Dave’s Glass, Shari was a reference librarian in the government documents area of the Kalamazoo Public Library. Understanding the importance of history, Shari wanted to incorporate Texas Township’s past into Belle Meade.

“I had a blast going back into the (Local) History room and researching about who the founding fathers (of Texas Township) were and how this (township) came about,” she says.

Belle Meade’s clubhouse is named for the year Texas Township was founded: The 1838. The house models are named for six of Texas Corners’ founders: The McClin, The Campbell, The Ambrose, The Towers, The Bishop and The Julia.

“We had to have a woman,” Shari says. “I could not not have a woman.”

The Julia bears the name of Julia Mills Morton, an early teacher in the township. Morton was trained at the (former) Cedar Park Female Seminary, in Schoolcraft, and went on to teach for schools in Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties. Based on Shari’s research, when Julia married Owen P. Morton from Texas Township, she became one of the township’s first teachers.

Even the names of Belle Meade’s streets, such as Switch Grass Ridge, Milkweed Trail and Coneflower Cove, were chosen by research.

“They’re all named after native plants that thrive in Michigan,” she says.

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