There Really is a Kalamazoo: A Case of You'll Never Know If You Don't Ask
- Capt. Greg Handal
- Apr 27
- 4 min read
Yes there really is a Kalamazoo. And it produces some fine people, indeed.
Having chartered sails on the Folly River for the past 26 years, I'm blessed to have many repeat charters and referrals. It can be interesting to trace back referrals to their origins. Kalamazoo was brought to mind a couple of days ago, when I booked a trip for a woman and her daughter. Right after I booked the trip, I got a text from Kristin who was excited that I was taking her friend out. Now how I met Kristin goes back a ways...
...Back to 2018. It was June of that year and I took out a young woman and her friends on a sailing charter. The young woman was Lesley Murphy. She's not from Kalamazoo, she's from Arkansas, but she's an integral part of this story. Lesley writes a travel blog among other pursuits ( https://theroadlestraveled.com/) . She and her friends were a great group of women, and they apparently had a great time, because the evening after our sail, my phone rang and was a gal named Kristin. She said that Lesley had called her to let her know how much fun she had sailing and that I was well versed in bachelorette trips. Kristin's sister Kelsey had a bachelorette trip to Charleston coming up the following year, so Kristin went ahead and booked with me 13 months in advance. I was flattered to say the least. I was thankful that Lesley had recommended me and done so so quickly. I was also appreciative that she said she'd include me in her blog (she did!) https://theroadlestraveled.com/bucket-list-with-lesley-what-to-do-in-charleston-south-carolina/ .
Flash forward to the beginning of charter season 2019. When late summer arrives, it will be time for Kristin's sister's (Kelsey's) bachelorette sail. On a bit of a side note, as the season progressed towards Kelsey's sail, I had several girl-group (non-bachelorette) sails. On each of these sails, one of the gals posed the same question: "So you know Lesley Murphy??!!" Each time I replied, that I had taken her sailing the previous year and that she was a great young woman. I figured that they were friends of hers, but it was still sort of odd. Finally, one of the trips told me that Lesley had been a contestant on the reality show "The Bachelor" and that she had a huge fanbase following. I told them that I had never seen the show, but was aware of it. I was pleased to have the mystery solved.
Now to Kelsey's bachelorette trip; this is where the Kalamazoo connection comes into play. We were having a great sail and I was enjoying getting to know everyone, especially sisters Kristin and Kelsey. I asked them where they were from (I had known that Kristin was living in Colorado, as that was what her phone number indicated when we talked earlier), and they informed me that they were both from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In addition to my charter boat business, I was a special ed teacher (I retired in 2021). Steve Schonveld was my assistant principal at the time (he's currently principal in addition to being an author) and he is from Kalamazoo. He's a great guy as is his entire family, many of whom have sailed with me. I have had a personal standing rule that if I know someone from an area that another person lives, I bring it up just in case they know them, no matter the size of the city. I find that more often than one might expect, there turns out to be a common connection. So I asked them did they happen to know Steve Schonveld? Their eyes brightened, their faces lit up and they said, "No".
No they didn't know Steve Schonveld, however, a Carrie Schonveld used to babysit them when they were little. Bingo! Maybe! I knew one of Steve's sisters, Lindsay, as I'd taken her and her kids out sailing before, but I didn't know his oldest, so I called him. "Salt (I nicknamed him Salty as a joke when he got seasick a couple of times offshore fishing), what's your oldest sister's name?" He said...Carrie. I told him I was sailing with a couple of her former babysitting charges. He laughed and said no way. Kristin and Kelsey were amazed that way down in South Carolina that their charter captain was friends with their babysitter's brother!
You just never know about connections unless you ask. Over the years now I have had the pleasure of taking Kristin out many times, including sailing with her then boyfriend/now husband. Kelsey brought her husband out sailing with me just after their wedding and both sisters have referred Kalamazoo folks to me several times over the years. They have all been wonderful people. Both Kristin and Kelsey now have kids and I'm looking forward to taking them out in the future.
Steve and his family have been great friends over the years. I am always left with aching sides from laughing when I get an opportunity to spend time with them. His mom spoils me by baking me the most fantastic apple pies ever created. I also had the privilege of performing Lindsay's wedding ceremony a few years ago. It was at Lindsay's wedding that I FINALLY got a chance to meet Carrie, Kristin and Kelsey's babysitter!
Kalamazoo folks never disappoint, do yourself a favor and get to know a few!
As long as you are writing on small world matters, there is one associated with your name that I thought of while you were spinning your blog. While it has nothing to do with Kalamazoo, it is very much a small world tale. Years ago, our mother and father (the sainted Ann and Frank Handal) joined a Georgia Tech Alumni Tour to England. At one of their stops, some church with bells (I understand there a few in England), they ran into another tour group. I don't remember where that group was from, but amid the conversations struck by the two groups Mom and Dad mentioned that they were from South Carolina. Someone in the other group caught this, came…