The Year in Review: Coming and going, some forever, in 2015

Going and Coming in 2015:

• City Manager Mike Selden left for a job with the Michigan Townships Association, succeeded by Tim McLean of Jonesville.
• Sara Najar resigned as director of the Main Street program, succeeded by Ingrid Miller.
• Elisha Cloyd resigned as director of Henika District Library, succeeded by Molly Walker.
• Deanna Ray Hayes, retired as director of instruction for Wayland Union Schools, succeeded by Theresa Fulk.
• Jeff Schilthroat, director of transportation for Wayland schools, succeeded by Brenda Kriama.
• Wayland City Councilman Ron Kobish left to take a job in Auburn Hills, succeeded by John Sloan.
• John Frigmanski resigned as chairman of Wayland City Planning Commission, succeeded by former Chairman J.D. Gonzales.
• Chris Teller, director of the Wayland High School Fine Arts Center to take a job with Cornerstone Church, succeeded by Courtney Baaremen.
• Head Wayland varsity football coach Jerry Diorio, resigned and took assistant job at Benton Harbor, succeeded by Mike Doupe.
• Head Martin varsity football coach Travis Farris, resigned to remain as assistant, succeeded by Randy Hunt.
• Wayland Director of Public Services Pierre Brazeau retired, succeeded by Cole Lutz and Ben Bachelder.
• Pam Coleman, administrative secretary to the Wayland schools superintendent, succeeded by Dawn Stein.
• John Schipper, fire chief for Martin Township, resigned and succeeded by Earl Wykstra.
• Carrie Coburn, Martin Township Clerk, resigned to take position with Allegan County, succeeded by Rachelle Smit.
• Jenny Osentoski, not going, but coming to take first directorship of Green Acres senior housing facility.
• Natalie Bazan, superstar director of Hopkins District and Dorr Township libraries, was courted by Belding, but apparently she decided to stick around.

Those who left us permanently in 2015, an incomplete list:

• Bill Merchant, former Hopkins High School basketball star who also was father of four girls, Nicki Carosa, and Jessie, Macy and Brittni, who made up the most famous female athletic family in Wayland history, in a traffic crash.
• Longtime veterans’ advocate Vera “Connie” Ward.
• Linda Dykstra, wife of Planning Commissioner Sam Dykstra, in a car accident near Huntington, Ind.
• Rose Marie Feldwisch, former Wayland city treasurer.
• Caleb Duley, 5-year-old son of two Wayland High School graduates, in a traffic crash.
• Debbie Blackmore of Gun Lake, an accomplished local golfer.
• Tom Andrews, president of the Wayland Athletic Boosters Club.
• Art Smith, an artist who drew a lot of political cartoons for the Penasee Globe.
• Jon Bednarsky, not yet 50, whose wife was a cause celeb during her fatal and tragic ordeal with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
• Francisco Medina, 50, in a car-truck crash.
• Joan Weick, longtime women’s club activist for Gun Lake and Hopkins.
• Marian Longstreet, longtime community activist in Wayland.
• Terry Sturgis, only 57, former Martin Township Supervisor.
• Capt. Terry Thompson of the Leighton Township Fire Department.
• Dorothy Morton, Hopkins educator and librarian.
• Randy Winchester, husband of Hopkins teacher who died of cancer just before a fund-raiser in his honor.
• Former Wayland Deputy Fire Chief Dick Kugelard.
• Former Wayland Schools Transportation Director Stan Jansen.
• Former longtime educator Geneva Wykoski.
• Former start athlete and 1965 WHS graduate Terry Frank.
• Longtime Wayland vocal music educator Helen Gambee.
• Laurie Pawlowski, standout player on the Hopkins girls’ basketball team that went all the way to the Class C state finals.
• Former Wayland City Police Chief and State Police Commander Harold Ernst.
• Anna Marie Wynne of Hopkins, who died just days before her 106^th birthday.

Those who left us as victims or perpetrators of crime:

• Debbra Shepherd, mother, Emma McComber, daughter, and son Corey LaValley Jr., all of who were alleged to have been murdered by Corey LaValley Sr. in Dorr Township.
• Joshua Lee Keyzer, 16, who pleaded guilty to an amended charge of stabbing his cousin, Kassandra, to death in Wayland Township in 2014 and will spend 40 to 65 years in prison
• Steven Michael Kauffman, 34, who was shot and killed on Wildwood Road near Marsh Road, Gun Lake, resulting in the arrest of Sigmund Floyd Rumpf.

PHOTOS: Mike Selden   Tim McLean

Christina Golm   Molly Walker

Theresa Fulk   Brenda Kraima   Ingrid Miller

Corey LaValley, Sr.