When Herman’s Boy’s Floyd Havemeier sold his former business building to Aunt Candy’s Toy Company owner Candy Lancioni, he was sure his customers would follow Herman’s Boy to the new location. He liked the size of the former farm house, the three-seater outhouse in the back yard and the several outbuildings. He also appreciated the wooded site with two creeks running through the acreage. He probably never expected that his woods would be used to propose marriage.
Havemeier’s grandson Michael Curtiz Havemeier is the third generation to be working in the family business. He is the son of Jeff and Jan Havemeier and a graduate of Northpointe Christian High School in Grand Rapids. Now a new Davenport University graduate with a degree in marketing, he handles, among other duties, the marketing decisions for the family company. Working at Herman’s Boy is nothing new, as he’d been in the store regularly since he was a baby. Besides graduating from college, something else new happened to him this year, though—he fell in love.
“After a nice dinner at Red’s, he told Kendra he wanted to walk on the property and look for a wagon that was out here,” described Floyd. He said Michael and his girlfriend of just several months, Kendra Joy Velting, of Grand Rapids, each had flashlights and followed along the wooded path to the back of the property.
Kendra, the daughter of Robert and Nyla Velting of Grand Rapids, is also a graduate of Northpointe Christian High School. The couple knew each other for years but had only started dating this year. Out in the woods, they each walked along the paths shining their lights through the branches.
On one tree, the couple’s flashlights lit up a word tied around the trunk, the letter ‘I.’ Next they saw the word, ‘LOVE’ and finally, on a third tree, the word ‘YOU.’ Very romantic, despite being a Havemeier. The clincher came at the edge of a footbridge across Rum Creek. Tied to a tree, wrapped in plastic, a white piece of paper in the black woods. On it the words, “Will you marry me?”
The answer must have been a big yes, judging by the excitement in the store and among the family, and a September 2013 ceremony is planned. Congratulations to the young couple on their happiness. They certainly will have a story to tell for a long time to come.
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