Page 653-657 - James Vander Waals, secretary, treasurer, manager and owner of the Glendon A. Richards Company, sheet metal roofing, has achieved a very successful career in this line of service. He is a native of the Netherlands, born October 2, 1877, and came to Grand Rapids in 1889 with his parents, Peter and Josie (Stehoueer) Vander Waals. The father, a native of the Netherlands, born May 1, 1845 is now retired at the age of eighty, but his wife passed on in 1895 at the age of fifty years. That worthy couple had eight children, born in the Netherlands, all of whom are now living. James Vander Waals received his preliminary education in the schools of Grand Rapids township. He began his business career by clerking in a hardware store in Grand Rapids. He remained in that employment for three years and then assumed duties in another hardware store and tin shop. Then he advanced in his work through a connection with the well-known W. C. Hopson Company, and remained there for three years. He then went with Barrett Daly and had charge of putting on the new roof on the state capitol at Lansing, Michigan. He remained with Mr. Daly for about nine months. In the fall of 1907 he took up work with the Richard-Kuennen Company. Mr. Richards purchased the interest of Mr. Kuennen and later sold out to Mr. Vander Waals, who became the sole proprietor and has operated the business under the name of Glendon A. Richards Company. In addition to his operation of this business Mr. Vander Waals was secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Sheet Metal Works, of Lansing, Michigan; secretary and treasurer of Flint Cornice and Roofing Company; vice-president of Richards Manufacturing Company, and vice-president of Brunel Rugels Company. In his fraternal relations Mr. Vander Waals is a thirty-second degree Mason, Shriner and a member of the B. P. O. E. He was joined in matrimony in 1919 with Miss Almeda Brost, of Big Rapids, Michigan. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Vander Waals, Andrew Stehoueer, came to this community in a very early day, about the same time that C. C. Comstock arrived. As one of the early settlers, Mr. Stehoueer owned a farm where the Grand Rapids Chair Company was located. He died in Grand Rapids at the age of ninety-six years.