Bruce Oaster:  

I remember my first home in Michigan, 3755 Byron Center Road, a small rural community outside Grand Rapids, the largest city in western Michigan. The house was a small two-story structure with a staircase that led up to my bedroom which was about one-third of the second floor. It had sloped walls. I thought that to be very strange. Just down the road was the Koeze Ranch, with a big house, barns, horses, dogs, and an atmosphere I was very familiar with. I quickly made friends with the Koeze kids and teamed up with one boy named Scott who was about my age. The Koeze’s had a peanut butter factory, and their products were in my mother's kitchen. I fit right in because I could handle horses, ride, feed, and muck stalls. That’s a farm or ranch term for shoveling horse manure. The Koeze family took a liking to me, and I often sat at their dinner table and was included in horse show activities, as I was very proactive when it came to doing chores. While my father now had a company car, and we lived in a white two-story house, things were looking up for our family. This was my first exposure to wealth through hard work and success. I watched my father grow from a farm hand to an engineer tending to five bakeries around Michigan, and now at age 11, I was enjoying the benefits of a new home and the hospitality, kindness, and wealth of the Koeze family. I had another new friend named Doug. Doug lived just across the road from our home in Byron Center. He was older, an athlete, a Boy Scout and I looked to him with admiration and as a role model. Doug took me to Boy Scout meetings, and I eventually joined the local Troop. This, in addition to the two years on Uncle Henry's farm, would prove to be the major factor in developing my proactive work ethic, self-efficacy, resilience, and leadership abilities. It's now 1947, and my parents purchased an old two-story farmhouse near a small village named Cutlerville, South of Grand Rapids. The house had burned down once and was rebuilt, but never finished, allowing my father to afford to buy it. It became a family project to finish the job and make it our home. My father did all the remodeling work, I did the cleanup, painting, and working on a new roof. My mother ran a drapery and curtain business out of the basement and introduced me to color and design. I walked a mile to attend Townline Elementary School and joined the local Boy Scout Troop that met every Wednesday at the school. I continued to be active in the Boy Scouts and attended summer camp at Camp Shawadsee, on Duck Lake in North Western Michigan. I eventually became an Eagle Scout and member of the Order of the Arrow, and a camp counselor. My Eagle Scout award was given to me by Gerald Ford, then-Congressman for Michigan's 5th district. He was the only Eagle Scout to ever rise t...Expand for more