I’ve known Jon Workman for a long time. When we met, he had been home from Vietnam for a while, daughter Erin had been born and he was in school and playing music in local bars. We didn’t have much in common at that time. Jon was much more experienced and much, much, much cooler than I was.

I have made some progress in the experience category, very little in the coolness part. Jon, on the other hand, has continued to build on his experience and is still crushing the cool part.

Jon has been a student, a teacher, a soldier, a coach, a musician, an artist and a dad/grandfather. And later in the spring, he will add boat builder to his already impressive list when he launches his first homemade boat. These were not hobbies. The student and soldier bits aside, Jon taught in the Spring Lake and Muskegon districts and also coached volleyball in those districts. He is a professional artist and sells his work out of his studio in Muskegon or by commission   and as a musician, he has opened for artists like John Prine, Leo Kottke and Jimmy Buffett. He also has six granddaughters - he receives no compensation for that.

Through it all, Jon has remained unfailingly positive. You sort of have to be to undertake building your first boat - by yourself.