Ethel Visser beginning 43rd year on Dorr Township ZBA

There aren’t many who can claim to have served in local public office for more than 40 years.

Leighton Township Clerk Lydia Frey was famous for her longevity, as are Dorr Township Planning Commission Chairman Bob Wagner and Dorr Zoning Board of Appeals Secretary Ethel Visser.

Visser last month was re-elected recording secretary of the ZBA and is beginning her 43^rd year.

She was was born in Fairview Park, Ohio, and moved at age 12 to Brunswick, Ohio, on a farm and graduated from Brunswick High School. She came to West Michigan to go to Calvin College for two years and met her husband.

She moved to Dorr with husband. They built their home and had two children, Mary and Bruce.

Visser has worked for the election board of Dorr for more than 50 years and Township Clerk Richard Dutkiewicz appointed her to the Dorr Zoning Board of Appeals in 1974.

She worked for an insurance agency for 20 years and then worked for Sandy Pines Resort for nine years as executive assistant.

“I like the people on the (zoning) board and as long as the Township Board kept renewing me, I was more than willing to serve,” Visser said. “Robert Wagner was chairman (of the ZBA) for a good many and we both have seen a lot of people come and go.

“When I started, Dorr was a small community and knew most of the people, which you don’t today. I am glad that Dorr is growing and new people are getting involved in the township government. It is really important that the people of Dorr know what is going on in their township.

“It has been very interesting serving Dorr Township.”

Other members of the current ZBA are Chairman Robert Traxler, Jim Schaendorf, Les Myers and Vice Chairman Jim Vote.

Traxler, while being re-elected to the ZBA last month, said, “Mrs. Visser was commended by all members of the ZBA for the high quality of her work as secretary and her decades of selfless service.”

PHOTO: Ethel Visser