In its monthly newsletter, the Allegan County Community Foundation includes a “Humans of ACCF” section that features a person or people who have made a positive impact on the foundation.
Cathy and Bob Green of Plainwell are the subjects of this month’s “Humans of ACCF.”
The couple shared 30 years of marriage prior to Bob’s death in March. They lived in Allegan County for two decades, with Plainwell being their home since 2016.
Over the years, given their good jobs and their frugal lifestyle, the Greens were able to achieve their dream of becoming debt-free. They enjoyed this financial freedom for the last 15 years of their marriage, which allowed them to travel the world and build their dream home.
More importantly, it allowed them to look around their community and see where they could make a difference.
As Bob started to slow down as he aged—yet still doing all the yard work and playing golf three times per week—he and Cathy started to talk about his legacy.
So, after Bob’s death, Cathy established the Robert C. Green Art Scholarship Award. This award is accessible to any Plainwell Community School graduate who has financial need and is pursuing a degree in the performing or visual arts.
Cathy had become familiar with the Allegan County Community Foundation in her role on the Board of the Plainwell Arts Council.
She knew ACCF awarded grants to local non-profits and scholarships to students pursuing post-secondary education. She also knew ACCF had a solid reputation and had been doing impactful work in the larger community for almost 60 years.
That’s how Cathy and Bob landed on the idea of starting a scholarship in Bob’s honor at the ACCF to support local Plainwell students. They both deeply loved and felt fortunate to live and work in the Plainwell community, making this the perfect way for them to give back.
Not only did this idea sound great to Cathy and Bob, but Bob’s three children from his late wife also loved the idea.
When sharing about what motivated her and Bob to give back to their community, Cathy said, “It’s the interconnectedness in our community. Neighbors look after one another. We take care of each other. That type of thing doesn’t happen in a bigger city. This community is my family, and we want to invest in our family.”
Cathy knows what it’s like for have someone help with the cost of education.
Cathy grew up in Grand Rapids and from the age of 13 worked in her family’s screen-printing business. Her first two years post high school were spent at a junior college before she finished her college career at Ferris State University.
She remembers vividly how her grandparents paid for her last two years at Ferris.
“That financial gift from my grandparents was a God send,” she said. “I was able to graduate with my bachelor’s degree with no debt. With the costs of post-secondary education today, I don’t know how students today do it without taking on burdensome debt.”
This generous gift in Cathy’s early adult years gave her a taste of how truly beneficial helping others can be.
Cathy moved to Allegan County in 1989 to work in the Human Resources Department at the Plainwell Paper Mill. Before this job, she had worked for Stowe Davis, a furniture company in Grand Rapids and for the City of Grand Rapids.
Cathy has also long been involved in the local arts scene. Her most loved medium is clay.
“In 1990, I took a class at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art and fell in love with pottery,” she said.
She has since opened the Bridge Street Gallery in downtown Plainwell, which displays works by local artists, provides custom framing and showcases consignment pieces.
“I will probably die with clay in my hands,” she said.
Cathy proudly shared that Bob was a mechanical genius.
Growing up on a farm on the east side of the state, Bob and his family shared love for each other a pride in fixing what needed fixing.
From a young age, Bob learned from his grandfather to value perseverance and the importance of maintaining and investing in what matters to you. For Bob’s family, that meant farm equipment. There was no money to pay someone to fix things, so they just figured it out as they went.
Doing this kind of mechanical problem solving from a young age, and certainly through some innate ability, Bob grew in knowledge.
After high school, Bob served in the Navy and was a veteran of the Korean War. Upon returning home and with the GI bill’s help, Bob attended engineering school in Chicago.
Before moving to Allegan County in 1981 to be a Production Manager at Plainwell Paper Mill, Bob worked at a paper mill closer to his childhood home in Port Huron, Michigan.
Cathy and Bob met while working at the Plainwell Paper Mill and got to know each other while playing in the company’s golf league. Bob’s first wife had died in 1990.
Given their significant age difference, Cathy was cautious about allowing their relationship to grow. But love won and it turned out and Bob proved that, despite being older, he was very young at heart.
They were married in 1993.
Over their decades-long marriage, they designed and built three houses on their own. They enjoyed having huge gardens where they grew all their own produce, canning and freezing throughout the summer and fall with bountiful harvests.
“I loved every single second of our life together,” Cathy said.
