Dr. Lewis Lew or Rusty R Van Camp

Lewis was born November 23, 1923 in Camden, New Jersey, the eldest of five children of Mary (Kaupp) Van Camp and Lewis R. Van Camp Sr. He was raised largely in Michigan (Battle Creek) where his father worked at Kelloggs. He was a gifted athlete -- a High School letter winner in football, baseball and basketball -- once scoring 37 points in a basketball game where the final score for his team totaled in the 50s.

Like many of his generation he went to the recruiting office shortly after High School graduation and enlisted in the armed forces - in his case, in the United States Marine Corps. The first pair of new shoes he ever owned were those issued at boot camp in San Diego. He trained to drive tanks at Camp Pendleton and shipped off to the Pacific in late 1942.

He served in 'A' Company, 3d Tank Battalion, 3d Marine Division in the Pacific from 1942 through 1945. He survived "direct actions against the enemy" on the Pacific islands of Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima, returning home as "Sgt Van Camp" to become "Mr Van Camp" in late 1945. After the war he worked at Kelloggs and attended Western Michigan University on the GI Bill; he was the first of his family to attend college.

He met his future wife Virginia Ward on a bus headed to class at Western in Kalamazoo in 1948; both became school teachers - he at the HS level, and she in elementary schools. They were married in June 1949 and remained-so until Virginia's passing in January last year. For a period of time in the '50s, she was the breadwinner while he completed his B.A. in Education and his M.A. in Secondary School Administration.

He was a successful teacher, mentor and molder of young lives at Wayland (MI) High School during the 50s, at Muskegon (MI) High School in the late 50s through 1961, and at Muskegon Mona Shores High School until his retirement in 198__. He also led two groups of over 50 high school students in summer study abroad (France) during the summers of 1966 and 1967.

Lewis instilled in his children a great love of the outdoors - camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing in the winter, and traveling widely around the U.S. and Canada in the summers. He and Virginia also made their children part of the summer study trip to Europe when they were 12 and 10 respectively, establishing early in their lives a broader perspective about the world in which they lived. For a couple who started their married life living in a trailer on a farm with just a rain barrel for water and an outhouse for amenities, they came a long, long way.

At his passing, Lewis Van Camp was 92 -- a good man, of humble origins, perceptive and wise, with a strong soul and kind heart. As the eldest of 5 children, he was as much a father as a brother to the three youngest when his own father passed at the age of 54. He was their rock...their foundation of love and faith and trust.

Lewis is survived by his son Eric and daughter Diane; his brother Jim; his sisters Lona and Juanita; and his grandchildren Amy, Wendy and Isabel.

Like his wife Virginia, he will be missed -- but not mourned; he lived a full, happy and rewarding life. His children, his extended family, and those who knew them have all laughed imagining the scene of their reunion.

A gathering to remember both he and Virginia is planned for this coming summer in the Muskegon area.