A late arrival to the canine world, Grace didn’t get serious about training or competing with her dogs until she was in her 30s. Although she had owned a stray mutt as a child as well as an adopted Beagle, an old adopted Afghan Hound and even even a Doberman and a couple of Boxers along the way to finally settling on Golden Retrievers, she didn’t discover the "fun things" she could enjoy with dogs until she began classes with the Kalamazoo Dog Training Club.

After her first beginning class with her first Golden Retriever, Deuce, Grace joined the Kalamazoo Dog Training Club. She thought this would be a way to learn more and to become active in dog activities. And it was! After joining KDTC in 1982, Grace began competing with Deuce at the novice obedience level. Although Deuce never really enjoyed being in the ring, Grace did -- and Deuce would always go along to please her. Grace and Deuce earned the American and Canadian KC Companion Dog titles and then Deuce got to retire because he didn’t like trials at all. Grace’s next Golden, Chamois, enjoyed obedience work and quickly earned her CD titles in Canada and the USA. Chamois was trained for her open obedience competitition and competed in only one open trial, where she suddenly refused to jump. It turned out that Chamois had the beginnings of bone cancer, so she was withdrawn from further competition.

As part of her growing interest in dog activities, Grace decided to become a puppy raiser for the Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan. In the late 1980s, she took her first Leader Dog pup, a little Golden she named Radar. Following Radar, she raised a series of pups - both Labrador and Golden retrievers - and is now raising her eighth puppy for that program, a Golden named Cruiser. Grace also does some Therapy Dog work with her own Golden, Triscuit, who has earned his UKC, CKC and AKC CD titles and has one leg toward his AKC CDX. She and Triscuit also do some agility, but have not yet ventured into agility competition. Triscuit, good boy that he is, earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen Award a couple of years ago.

Very active in KDTC, Grace has served on committees and in various club offices, including president and secretary as well as editor of the club newsletter, the Canine Chronicle. After a period of assisting in puppy and beginning classes, Grace became a KDTC volunteer class instructor. She has taught puppy, beginning and advanced beginning classes and continues to teach at least one class per session. The members of KDTC have recognized her service and contributions by presenting her with the Committee’s Choice Award, the President’s Choice Award and the Founders’ Award, honors she has greatly appreciated.

Within the community, Grace has been involved for several years in the Kalamazoo Humane Society’s Annual Dog Walkathone, being the top adult fund raiser for three years and among the top fund raisers two other years. She also does volunteer service in providing homeless Golden Retrievers foster home care for the Ft. Detroit Golden Retriever Rescue Service.

A retired teacher and elementary school principal, Grace continues her interest in work with young people by working as a substitute principal often. She frequently serves on several local or state committees regarding educational grants, parent involvement in education, the school improvement process, the arts in education, etc. She is a volunteer for the Visiting Nurses Association and has been a "big sister" to a Dept. of Social Services child for the past nine years. Grace also does some work as a Circuit Court advocate for adults under court guardianship and provides consultant services to the Kalamazoo Public Schools’ administrators’ union.

Grace’s hobbies and other interests include genealogy, camping, birding, nature study, photography, reading and creative writing. She also loves living in the age of technology and enjoys learning how to use computers and just about any new gadget that comes along. She is a dedicated life-long learner, for she has convinced herself that, in being active and in continuing to explore and learn, she will -- even though she is fast becoming a senior in the senior citizen ranks -- manage to remain fresh in outlook and young at heart all the days of her life.