Joe Stevens, Jr.  Page 520 - Joe Stevens, Jr., is the junior principal in the H. & J. Stevens Company, which conducts one of the leading general advertising agencies in his native city of Grand Rapids, with well appointed offices at 405-6 Murray building. Mr. Stevens was born in this city March 5, 1895, and is a son of Joseph and Matilda (Folkertsma) Stevens, who still maintain their home here, the father being now retired from active business life. In the public schools of Grand Rapids the youthful educational discipline of Joe Stevens, Jr., included that of high school. After leaving school he was for a time in the employ of a general advertising concern in Grand Rapids, and in 1917 he became associated in the same line of business with his brother Henry, who had fifteen years of practical experience in the business. Under the title of the H. & J. Stevens Company the brothers initiated operations in a modest way and the correct policies and efficient service given by the concern have gained to it a substantial and appreciative clientage and also rank among the largest and most important of similar concerns in the fair Valley City of Michigan. Of the other principal in the business, Henry Stevens, individual mention is made on another page of this publication. Joe Stevens, Jr., is a member of the Grand Rapids Board of Commerce, the Grand Rapids Advertising Club, the Cascade Hills Country Club and the Christian Reformed Church. In 1917 he was united in marriage to Miss Ann E. Ghysels, daughter of the late Abraham Ghysels, of Grand Rapids, and the names and respective birth dates of the children of this union are here recorded: Joan, February l, 1918; Miriam, May 11, 1920, and Esther, January 8, 1925. The pleasant home of the family is at 1220 Bates street, southeast.

Transcriber:  Nancy Myers
Created: 8 November 2002