Erik & Susan (Crawford) Oosterwal

9-24-07 It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since we graduated from AA. Erik and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in July. We settled in Sister Lakes (20 miles east of BS). I have always had a love for old houses and Erik renovated a 1800s farm house on one of my family's farms. Our own "Money Pit". It has been a great place to raise our sons, Erik-Philip and Matthew. Two hundred acres of woods and fields. Plenty of room for boys to go dirt biking, snowmobiling, horseback riding, fishing and hunting.

Erik graduated from AU with a BS in Computer Science and is working on his masters. He has worked at Whirlpool Corporation for 20 years. He is active in the company's diversity program and is currently working on a project with the Indian Division. For the last several years he has had a weekend band called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Our sons lovingly refer to it as the old man band. We have great fun going to the local festivals.

I have a BSN from Ferris State University and an am also working on my master's--GO BULLDOGS! I spent three years working on the med-surg floor and also worked at Whirlpool in the corporate nursing department. I eventually settled into public health where I have worked for fourteen years. I supervise the HIV program for Van Buren/Cass District Health Department. I spend too much time writing grant proposals and driving to Lansing. The good news is that I just received my award letters and all my projects are fully funded for the next fiscal year. Anyone who works in public health knows what a miracle that is. My pet project is the local SART Program (Sexual Assault Response Team) operated by forensic nurses. We collect rape kits, provide counseling, and occasionally testify in court. During my free time I volunteer at the Domestic Violence Coalition for St Joseph, VanBuren and Cass Counties. For stress relief I enjoy long walks and am the #1 groupie for WYSIWYG.

When the boys were five and eight we spent a month traveling in Europe. Erik has family in Holland and Germany. His brother Dantar was working in Paris at that time. Now that the kids have a vote our family trips involve bikes, tents and very tall hills. I guess the cruises and cathedrals will have to wait. Some of our favorite destinations have been Yellowstone, the Tetons, Daytona Speedway and countless ball parks and arenas. Erik went with friends to Woodstock '94. I went with Erik to Woodstock '99.

Our sons are our joy. We are very proud of them. Matthew is a sophmore at AA. He enjoys motor sports and hunting. He also plays the guitar. Last summer his favorite past time was working on his 4x4 and taking it to Silver Lake, Michigan.



Erik-Philip is also a graduate from AA, Class of '07. He is a freshman at AU majoring in business. He enjoys anything sports related and is a distance runner. In the Spring he was honored with the Accumen Award on his class night. Congratulations Erik-Philip! Erik and I have been very blessed.