East Grand Rapids lost one of its greatest champions when Dave Mehney, EGRHS class of 1957, passed away November 21. You can read his obituary here.
For decades, Dave and Linda Mehney (who passed away in 2020) provided opportunity, access, and experience to generations of kids in East Grand Rapids and all of west Michigan.
Dave Mehney was a founding member of the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation. From the very beginning, his vision of the Foundation was focused on the future, to benefit students in East Grand Rapids for generations to come. [You can see a video about the Foundation’s founding board members here.]
“Both Dave and Linda saw our schools as the key to our community,” says former EGRSF Executive Director Amy Stuursma, whose father, Dave Cook, was a close childhood friend of Mehney. “Dave was one of the most kind, gentle people I’ve ever known. Along with Peter Secchia, Dave was instrumental in starting the Jimmy Gerken Fund. Dave wanted to make sure the Gerken Fund supported more than just athletics. He wanted to make sure the fund would support all kids and all activities while remembering Jimmy.”
The Gerken Fund was established to remember Jimmy Gerken, a longtime East Grand Rapids resident who had special needs, and his value of human dignity, while ensuring that EGR athletics and co-curriculars—the activities Jimmy loved most— remain an integral part of our students’ education by providing enhancements that are not possible in the general school district budget. With this fund, EGRPS students will continue to experience personal excellence, just as Jimmy would have wanted.
The list of projects Mehney was involved in is endless. It includes donating Mehney Field to the district, serving as a volunteer freshman football head coach and varsity assistant coach, spearheading the creation of Gerken Plaza at Memorial Field, making a matching gift to the Foundation’s Now&Forever campaign, providing leading edge technology to our schools at the outset of the pandemic, serving as a Founding Scholar of the Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation, starting an athletic tutoring program at Grand Rapids Public Schools, and many more efforts that have benefited and will continue to benefit young people in west Michigan.
“Together, Dave and Linda Mehney gave their time, their heart, and their generosity to children, whether they knew them or not,” says current EGRSF Executive Director Amy Turner-Thole. “They were committed to all students, from kindergarten through graduation, in and out of East Grand Rapids.”
