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Organization

Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids

Also Grand Rapids Beaver Island Club

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeOrganization
Founded1966
Coordinates42.9655° N, 85.6702° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
ErasModern era
On this page
Organization
Founded
1966
Coordinates
42.9655° N, 85.6702° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
communityeconomyheritagecatholicism

Summary

The Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based organization of former islanders, their descendants, and island supporters that has run an annual benefit party for Beaver Island institutions every year since 1966. Its first attested event, the “Beaver Island Caper,” was held 15 October 1966 for the Holy Cross Convent Fund; a numbered sequence of “annual” Capers through the Beaver Beacon – second in 1967, seventh in 1972, eleventh in 1976 – fixes 1966 as the founding year. Recorded beneficiaries span Holy Cross Church and its carillon and cemetery, the Medical Center, the Marine Museum, the Game Club, and the Community School’s sports program. Chicago and Lansing each had their own documented Beaver Island diaspora organizations in the same decades; the held record ties the Grand Rapids and Chicago clubs together only through a shared 1975 plan for memorial lights in Holy Cross Church, and establishes no connection to the Lansing group.

History

The earliest held record of the benefit is an August 1966 classified advertisement: “of Grand Rapids presents BEAVER ISLAND CAPER,” 15 October 1966 at the Plantation Ballroom, $5.00 per couple, “Proceeds to Holy Cross Convent Fund.”1 The October Beacon reported more than 500 attendees and said proceeds advanced plans for a new Dominican Sisters convent, while more funds were still needed.2 The August 1967 Beacon names the sponsor in full for the first time – “the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids” – announcing a second annual Caper, again for the Convent Fund, again at the Plantation Ballroom, where it continued through 1968, when Mrs. Brian Gallagher, of Wyoming, Michigan, first appears as contact.34 The 1969 fourth annual Caper moved briefly to a Grand Rapids venue called The Guest House, signed only “(Eleanor),” and by 1970 the party had settled at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Clyde Park Avenue in Wyoming, Michigan – the venue named in every held announcement through at least 1978 – with advance reservations and Larry McDonough joining Gallagher as a second Grand Rapids contact.567 The October 1971 sixth annual party drew more than 300 people, including a delegation of island residents named in the Beacon’s report.8

From 1972 the Beacon describes proceeds simply as “for the benefit of Beaver Island” rather than a single named fund, and the club’s donations begin recurring across the island’s institutions rather than one cause. The seventh annual Caper produced a $500 gift to the Medical Center Building Fund; a January 1974 notice thanks the club, after the eighth Caper, for $600 to Holy Cross Parish, $50 to the Cemetery Fund, and $100 to the Medical Center in a single accounting; the ninth, October 1974, sent $1,000 “to The Island”; and the tenth, October 1975, raffled a shipwreck-table lamp for $200, offered to the Bicentennial Committee toward a Marine Museum.91011121314 The same October 1975 issue carries Father Herbert Graf’s thanks for the club’s donation to the parish and his announcement of a planned memorial light in Holy Cross Church honoring the club’s members, “with a companion light… in memory of the Members of the Beaver Island Club of Chicago” – the one point in the held record where the Grand Rapids club and its Chicago counterpart, covered separately in Chicago, are tied to the same project.14

The eleventh annual Caper, October 1976, drew about 225 guests and $882 net, and the club’s letter that month announced a dedicated Holy Cross carillon fund already past $1,500 toward an estimated $3,500 total.15 The carillon was dedicated on Memorial Day weekend, 29 May 1977; the Beacon’s dedication report credits the idea and an initial donation to David and Helen Pike rather than the club, though the club’s own fund had contributed toward the project.16 Twelfth and thirteenth annual Capers followed in October 1977 and 1978, the latter’s proceeds designated for the Medical Center.1718

Documentation thins after 1978. A February 1980 note credits the club with a donation toward new Marine Museum flooring “following their fall party,” showing the event was still autumnal as of 1979.19 That May, officers were elected at Larry McDonough’s home – Richard O’Donnell as president, Mary Antrim as vice president, Esther Ricksgers as secretary, and Brian Gallagher, husband of the club’s long-serving contact, as treasurer – the earliest held record of a formal officer slate.20 By February 1989 the annual event had moved to March and taken the name it has kept since, a “St. Patrick’s” benefit, held that year at St. Isadore’s Hall in Grand Rapids; an April 1989 thank-you reports its proceeds applied to the Holy Cross Hall Improvement Fund.2122

The party’s own numbering carried forward through the 1990s and 2000s even as its name, date, and venue kept changing. President Jim McDonough reported in June 1997 that the 31st annual “St. Pat’s Party” drew 235 attendees, with proceeds split among Beaver Island EMS’s new ambulance fund, Holy Cross Cemetery, the Game Club, the Community House, and a Holy Cross Hall roofing fund; door prizes came, in turn, from island businesses including the Shamrock and McDonough’s Market.2324 By 2000 the 34th Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration, at the American Legion in Grand Rapids, was tied to a club gift funding roughly half the cost of new gymnasium bleachers at the Beaver Island Community School.2526 By 2009 the party had moved again, to the Grand Rapids Hilton Hotel, with its own website, beaverislandclub.com, and an Island Airways fare discount for the weekend.2728 The last held attestation places the 45th Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration on 26 February 2011.29 A retrospective column in that same issue, recapping items from twenty years earlier, records the death of Bob Delaney – the club’s first president – and names its 1991 officers: Guy Fase, Ron Antrim, and Rich O’Donnell.30

Names

The organization’s own name has stayed constant since the Beacon first gave it in full in 1967, with only the word-order variant “Grand Rapids Beaver Island Club” attested, in a 1971 report.8 The annual event it runs is a different matter: an autumn “Beaver Island Caper” from at least 1966 into 1979, it became a February or March “St. Patrick’s” party or celebration by 1989, keeping a continuous numbering across that change – 31st in 1997, 45th in 2011 – that runs roughly a year behind a strict, uninterrupted count from 1966, suggesting a skipped year somewhere in the undocumented 1979-1996 span rather than a wrong start date.

Significance

Held Beacon reporting shows the club’s giving touching nearly every major documented island institution over five decades: the parish and its Holy Cross Church, the cemetery, the Medical Center, the Marine Museum, the Game Club, and the school’s sports program. That breadth, and its continuous run of named annual benefits since 1966, place the club alongside two other off-island associations: a Chicago club that funded Holy Cross Church through the 1950s and 1960s, and a Lansing-based Beaver Island Association of Michigan that published its own newsletter, the Beaver Island Beam. The three read as a pattern of diaspora fundraising rather than parts of one organization – the only documented tie between any two is the 1975 plan for companion memorial lights honoring the Grand Rapids and Chicago clubs – and island commerce recurs as both cause and beneficiary of the giving: several of the club’s door-prize donors are the same island merchants its proceeds supported.

Open questions

  • Who founded the club in 1966, and was Bob Delaney – named in a 2011 retrospective as its “first president” – its founding president or an early successor? No held source gives an initial officer roster.
  • What happened to the annual party between the thirteenth Caper in October 1978 and the 31st St. Pat’s Party in 1997? The numbering implies at least one missed year in that span, but no held issue documents it directly.
  • Exactly when did the event move from an October Caper to a February or March St. Patrick’s celebration, and why?
  • Is there any documented connection among the Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Lansing organizations beyond the 1975 memorial-light plan?
  • Did the club continue past its last held attestation in February 2011?
  • What was the club’s total lifetime giving to the island? No held source supplies a cumulative figure.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, August 1966, classified advertisement, “Beaver Island Caper.” ↩

  2. Project article, “Grand Rapids Beaver Island Club holds a convent-fund party (1966),” citing Beaver Beacon, September and October 1966. ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, August 1967, “Second Grand Rapids Party”; September 1967, “The Beaver Island Caper.” ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, August 1968, “A Date to Remember”; September 1968, “The Beaver Island Caper.” ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, August 1969, “Announcing the Fourth Annual Beaver Island Caper.” ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, August 1970, letter announcing the fifth annual Beaver Island Caper. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, September 1970, “Tickets Available.” ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, August 1971, sixth-annual announcement; October 1971, “Beaver Island ‘Caper.’” ↩ ↩2

  9. Beaver Beacon, June-July, August, September, and October-November 1972. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, October-November 1972, “Beaver Island Medical Center Auxiliary News.” ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, July and August 1973. ↩

  12. Beaver Beacon, January 1974, “To The Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids – Thank You.” ↩

  13. Beaver Beacon, August and November 1974. ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, August-September and October 1975. ↩ ↩2

  15. Beaver Beacon, August and October 1976. ↩

  16. Project articles, “Holy Cross carillon dedication and Memorial Day chicken dinner announced (1977)” and “Holy Cross carillon dedication is completed on Memorial Day weekend (1977).” ↩

  17. Project article, “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids announces its twelfth annual Caper (1977).” ↩

  18. Project article, “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids announces its thirteenth annual Caper (1978).” ↩

  19. Beaver Beacon, February 1980, Beaver Island Historical Society notes. ↩

  20. Beaver Beacon, May 1980, officer-election notice. ↩

  21. Beaver Beacon, February 1989, “The Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids.” ↩

  22. Beaver Beacon, April 1989, thank-you notice. ↩

  23. Beaver Beacon, February 1997, contact listing. ↩

  24. Beaver Beacon, June 1997, “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids holds 31st Annual St. Pat’s Party.” ↩

  25. Beaver Beacon, January and February 2000, “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids” advertisement. ↩

  26. Beaver Beacon, January 2000. ↩

  27. Beaver Beacon, January 2009, “Save the Date for the Grand Rapids Party.” ↩

  28. Beaver Beacon, February 2009, Island Airways announcements. ↩

  29. Beaver Beacon, February 2011, calendar listing. ↩

  30. Beaver Beacon, February 2011, “Twenty Years Ago” retrospective column. ↩

The dated record

22 dated events · 1966–2011These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. The club announced an October 21 fall meeting in East Grand Rapids to gather participation and plan its 41st celebration. This is an organizer notice and evidence of continuing club activity, not minutes, attendance, or proof of the later celebration's outcome.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000763
  2. The earliest held advertisement for the benefit: "of Grand Rapids presents BEAVER ISLAND CAPER" on 15 October 1966 at the Plantation Ballroom, $5.00 per couple, proceeds to the Holy Cross Convent Fund. It does not name the sponsoring club in full or supply an officer roster.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1966-08_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Project article, event/beaver-island-convent-fund-party-1966, citing Beaver Beacon, September and October 1966.
    Reports the September announcement (Plantation Ballroom, donated prizes) and the October result (more than 500 attendees, proceeds toward a new Dominican Sisters convent, with more funds still needed). Not a complete financial statement. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-convent-fund-party-1966
  4. Announces the club's second annual Beaver Island Caper for October 7, 1967, at the Plantation Ballroom, proceeds to the Convent Fund. First held issue to name the sponsor "the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids" in full.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-08_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Repeats the October 7, 1967 announcement, adds cocktails at 7 p.m., dancing from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., music by a seventeen-piece group, the Royal Aires, and states proceeds are for the new Holy Cross Convent.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-09_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Announces the third annual Beaver Island Club Party for October 12, 1968, at the Plantation, Grand Rapids, and names Mrs. Brian Gallagher, 941 Ariebill S.W., Wyoming, Michigan, as contact -- the earliest held record of the Gallagher family's long involvement with the club.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-08_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Repeats the October 12, 1968 announcement for the Plantation Ballroom.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-09_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Announces October 18, 1969 at a new venue, The Guest House, 634 Stocking N.W. at 4th Street, Grand Rapids; signed "Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids (Eleanor)." Does not identify "Eleanor" by surname or office.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-08_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Announces October 10, 1970 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 5830 Clyde Park Ave. S.W., Wyoming, Michigan -- the venue used through at least 1978 -- with advance reservations required by a $3.00-per-person donation before September 10, 1970; contact Mrs. Brian Gallagher.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1970-08_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Reminds readers of the October 10 fifth annual Caper and names two Grand Rapids reservation contacts, Larry McDonough and Brian Gallagher, with phone numbers.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1970-09_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Announces October 2, 1971 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, Wyoming, Michigan.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-08_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports the October 2 party drew more than 300 attendees; names the grand-prize winner (a trip to Beaver Island, won by Jim Erdley of Grand Rapids) and other prize winners, and lists island residents who attended, including Madonna and Bing McCafferty, Rose Connaghan, Dick and Jean LaFreniere, Frank and Grace Nackerman, Paul LaFreniere, and Emmett Martin.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-10_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Announces the club’s October 14 benefit at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Wyoming, Michigan, with proceeds to benefit Beaver Island.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-06_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-06_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Repeats the club’s October 14 Wyoming benefit announcement; also records door prizes contributed to the Beaver Lodge Golf Club by Dick & Jean LaFreniere (“The Beaver Island Classic” tournament) and other island merchants, evidence of the club’s ties running in both directions between Grand Rapids and the island.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-08_Beaver-Beacon
  16. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice; it repeats the seventh annual Caper announcement without new detail.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-09_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Thanks contributors for the success of the October 14 party and lists the door-prize winners: Gene Burke, Dick LaFreniere, Joe LaFreniere, Bob Armstrong, Jack Cull, Richard Vaughan, Don Malloy, Lawrence Porter, Katherine Gatliff, and Delores Pachulski.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-10_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Identifies the club as the donor of $500 to the Medical Center Building Fund; no receipt or transaction date is supplied.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-10_Beaver-Beacon
  19. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notices.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1972-10_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Announces the club’s October 13, 1973 Caper benefit with proceeds intended for Beaver Island.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Repeats the October 13, 1973 eighth-annual Caper announcement, same venue and donation amount as the July notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-08_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Records thanks for the club’s $600 donation to Holy Cross Parish, $50 donation to the Cemetery Fund, and $100 donation to the Medical Center; no receipts or a financial ledger are supplied.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-01_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Announces the club’s October 5, 1974 Caper benefit at the Knights of Columbus Hall, a $5.00-per-person donation, music by U.S. Mails, and beer/mix/ice furnished, B.Y.O.B.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-08_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Thanks people who attended the ninth Caper and reports the club sent $1,000 to “The Island”; does not identify the recipient account.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  25. Announces the tenth annual October 11 Caper at the Knights of Columbus Hall, a $5.00 donation, and music by Country Editions. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-08_Beaver-Beacon
  26. Reports the October 11 tenth annual party “its usual success”; a shipwreck table lamp raffle, donated by Robert Gillespie’s Beaver Gems, netted $200 offered to the Beaver Island Bicentennial Committee for a Marine Museum; a separate Bicentennial Report cash-contributions table lists the same $200 from “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids,” apparently the same gift recorded twice. Fr. Herbert Graf’s column in the same issue thanks the club for “its most generous donation to the Parish’s funds” and states plans for a memorial light in Holy Cross Church honoring the club’s members, with a companion light planned in memory of the members of the Beaver Island Club of Chicago. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  27. Advertises the club’s October 9, 1976 Caper in Wyoming, Michigan, with a $6.00 donation and proceeds for Beaver Island. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-08_Beaver-Beacon
  28. Reports the completed October 9 eleventh annual Caper, approximately 225 guests, $882 in net proceeds, and the club’s public appeal for a Holy Cross carillon fund already exceeding $1,500 toward an estimated $3,500 total cost; contact L. W. McDonough, 4535 Leonard N.E., Grand Rapids. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-10_Beaver-Beacon
  29. Project article, event/beaver-island-holy-cross-carillon-and-chicken-dinner-1977, citing Beaver Beacon, May 1977.
    Repeats a Memorial Day weekend invitation to the May 29, 1977 carillon dedication. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-holy-cross-carillon-and-chicken-dinner-1977
  30. Project article, event/beaver-island-holy-cross-carillon-dedication-1977, citing Beaver Beacon, April and June 1977.
    Reports the completed May 29, 1977 dedication after Mass; states the carillon memorial originated as an idea and donation from David and Helen Pike, not the club itself, though the club had raised its own fund toward the project. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-holy-cross-carillon-dedication-1977
  31. Project article, event/beaver-island-caper-1977, citing Beaver Beacon, September 1977.
    Announces the twelfth annual Caper for October 8, 1977, at the Knights of Columbus Hall, a $6.50 donation, proceeds for Beaver Island. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-caper-1977
  32. Project article, event/beaver-island-caper-1978, citing Beaver Beacon, August–September 1978.
    Announces the thirteenth annual Caper for October 14, 1978, with $6.00 donations designated for the Beaver Island Medical Center. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-caper-1978
  33. Credits the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids with “a generous donation” toward new pine flooring for the Marine Museum, given “following their fall party” -- evidence the party remained an autumn event as of the 1979 season, before the later shift to a winter date. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-02_Beaver-Beacon
  34. Reports officers elected at a meeting at Mr. & Mrs. Larry McDonough’s home on May 3, 1980: President Richard O’Donnell, Vice President Mary Antrim, Secretary Esther Ricksgers, Treasurer Brian Gallagher -- the earliest held record of the club’s internal officer structure. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-05_Beaver-Beacon
  35. Invites readers to the club’s annual St. Patrick’s party on March 11, 1989, at St. Isadore’s Hall, 435 Diamond Ave. N.E., Grand Rapids; names members Richie and Janet O’Donnell, Bob Delaney, Art and Grace Lemire, Brian and Dee Gallagher, Phil and Joan Becker, Glen and Eleanor McDonough, and Ron and Mary Antrim; signed by Joan Becker. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1989-02_Beaver-Beacon
  36. Thanks contributors to the annual March benefit party and reports a contribution to the Holy Cross Hall Improvement Fund; announces the next party tentatively for March 10, 1990. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1989-04_Beaver-Beacon
  37. Names Jim McDonough as club president, with home and work telephone numbers. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1997-02_Beaver-Beacon
  38. An open letter from president Jim McDonough reports 235 attendees at the 31st annual party and names the proceeds’ beneficiaries: Beaver Island EMS (New Ambulance Fund), Holy Cross Cemetery, the Beaver Island Game Club, the Beaver Island Community House, and the Holy Cross Hall Roofing Fund (in memory of Jack Cull); also thanks island businesses that donated door prizes, including the Shamrock, the Baileys of Beaver Island Lodge, Beaver Island Realty, McDonough’s Market, Beaver Gems & Shipwreck Shirts, Tammy McDonough Photography, and Jean Frazer. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1997-06_Beaver-Beacon
  39. Announces the 34th Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration for February 26, 2000, at the American Legion, 2327 Wilson Ave., Grand Rapids, $8.00 per person, “Proceeds benefit of Beaver Island.” A separate item in the same issue credits the club, alongside a local donor, with funding roughly half the cost of new bleachers for the Beaver Island Community School’s BICS Sports Booster Club. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2000-01_Beaver-Beacon
  40. Repeats the 34th Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration announcement. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2000-02_Beaver-Beacon
  41. Beaver Beacon, January 2009, “Save the Date for the Grand Rapids Party.”
    Announces the annual party for the weekend of February 27–28, 2009, at the Grand Rapids Hilton Hotel, with a Friday-night appearance by the island band the Boodlers, and directs readers to the club’s website, beaverislandclub.com. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-01_Beaver-Beacon
  42. Beaver Beacon, February 2009, Island Airways announcements.
    Advertises a special Island Airways fare tied to the “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids annual Party weekend,” evidence the event was still drawing island-bound travel in 2009. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-02_Beaver-Beacon
  43. Beaver Beacon, February 2011, calendar listing.
    Lists “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids 45th Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration” for February 26, 2011 -- the last held attestation of the event in this project’s sources. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2011-02_Beaver-Beacon
  44. Beaver Beacon, February 2011, “Twenty Years Ago” retrospective column.
    A retrospective column recapping the February 1991 issue records the death of Bob Delaney, described as “first president of the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids,” and names the club’s officers as of that 1991 report: Guy Fase, Ron Antrim, and Rich O’Donnell. These facts describe 1991, not 2011; the column is dated by its own heading, not by the issue it appears in. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2011-02_Beaver-Beacon
  45. Returned a city-level point at longitude -85.6701714, latitude 42.9654617. The club is repeatedly identified as a Grand Rapids organization, but the held sources give venues and reservation contacts rather than a club office; this point is not a venue locator.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/beaver-island-club-of-grand-rapids/, accessed [date], citing Shirley Cole, “BEAVER ISLAND CLUB OF GRAND RAPIDS,” Beaver Island Forum, October 9, 2006. (and 44 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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