Mrs. Bonnie Strand
About Ms. Strand. . .
Bonnie Strand is a fifth grade teacher here at Westwoods Elementary, where she has been teaching for seven years. She spent three years teaching in Frankfort. Worked summer at Interlochen Center for the Arts. She worked at the Interlochen Arts Acadecy library while raising kids. Mrs. Strand taught grades 4-6 at Interlochen Elementary for fourteen years. She received Bachelors in Elementary Education-Fine Arts, Language Arts and Social Studies and Masters in Curriculum and Teaching all from Michigan State University. She attended by award-NASA teacher's institutes in space science. Ms. Strand has her 90 year old mom in Ludington and sister Mary in Georgia, daughter Mandy is the Art Director at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, son Brant is a Computer Engineer in San Francisco, daughter Kendra is a hair stylist and manages a doggie daycare center in Los Angeles. She also raised three step sons; John (deceased), Lindall a mechanical engineer and Kevin is a LPN. She enjoys reading, movies, music, cross-country skiing, some rollerblading, bicycling and sailing. Mrs. Strand has a bald Yorkshire Terrier dog named Kissel and a Garfield-type cat named Buffy.
Fun Fact Story about Mrs. Strand. She is interested in vintage automobiles. She recently attended the 100th Anniversary of the Kissel Kar Company in Wisconsin with her bright red newly-restored 1929 Kissel White Eagle Brougham sedan. The reason she is interested in this particular car is because her great-grandfather and great-uncle started the Kissel Kar Company which existed from 1906-1930 when the Great Depression hit. In those days, it was a custom-built auto and was very snazzy! The Kissel company also made hearses, fire trucks, delivery trucks, and war vehicles. The classiest of all the Kissel autos was a bright yellow sportster called the Kissel Goldbug. Amelia Arehart owned one, Fatty Arbuckle of "Our Gang" comedies owned one, Al Jolson had a Kissel Kar, and so did Hopalong Cassidy, an old-time cowboy of early television days. She's the only one of her family left that has a Kissel Kar; there are only about 200-300 left in the world and they are all in museums or private collections. Of course, she had to refinance her house to restore it, but since her father's mother was a Kissel, she felt that someone in the family should have one!
"While we cannot control the wind, we can adjust our sails".
"Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, Dance like no one's watching!"