Howdy! I'm Bill Newcomer. My family and I live in Ada, MI USA, about 6 miles east of Grand Rapids. Since 1979 I've worked at that part of Amway Corp. now known as Access Business Group. Since 1982 I've been working in the Production & Inventory Planning Department engaged in production scheduling and inventory planning and control. My current title is Sr. Planner. It was through my work at Amway that I became interested in the issues of quality and continuous improvement.
My family roots go back to Ulrich Neukomment, who came from Zurich Canton in Switzerland to the Pennsylvania Colony in 1754. He settled in what now is part of York County, PA. One of his son's, Jacob, moved west and settled on a farm near Masontown, Fayette Co., PA. Jacob's son John, moved on and in 1844 settled on a farm which is now part of the City of Wauseon, in Fulton Co., Ohio. John and his wife Naomi were real pioneers. It was in John's generation the family name was finally conformed to the English "Newcomer". John and Naomi's son, George, my great-grandfather, served in several Ohio Regiments during the Civil War. My grandfather grew up near Wauseon, but around 1908 he and my grandmother moved across the border to a farm near Waldron, in Hillsdale Co., Michigan. I lived the first five years of my life in the house where my father had been born, the house built by my grandparents.
Here is more some of my other family ties, including Debolt, Britton, Bavin, Gray, Sloan, and Beal. In our Britton line we have a connection to James Chilton of the Mayflower. Another interesting person in my ancestory is my great-great-great grandmother, Anna Margaret (Clark) Spade
My two sisters, one brother, and myself grew up on the farm near Waldron, MI, about 20 miles SE of Hillsdale, home of Hillsdale College. I graduated from Waldron High School in the Class of 1967, and spent the next 4 years at Michigan State University, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics. I also spent some time (1973-76) at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, IN, and did some work in the Masters in Management program at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI.
While at Michigan State I meet Nancy Williamson. We were married in 1972. Nancy's grandparents on her father's side came from Northern Ireland. Her mother's parents came from Romania.
It was sometime during my sophomore year at MSU that, to my surprise, I found I believed in the Triune God who created the heavens and the earth, and has revealed Himself to mankind in the Scriptures we call the Bible. I came to believe in Jesus Christ as the unique Son of God, fully God and also fully man. He became my Lord and Savior. I had gone to church most of my life, and had drifted into a mechanistic deism. Atheism never had any appeal for me. It was to simplistic and empty, like C.S. Lewis's Northlands in "Pilgrim's Regress", barren and bleak. At that time, my idols were shattered, and somewhat to my surprise, I found myself a believer.
Well since you got this far, you can see this picture done by my daughter Holly when she was younger.
"The Apple Tree", by Holly Newcomer, 1995, Age 9.
Holly loves music and is learning both piano and flute. This year she participated in the West Michigan Flute Association Jr. High Flute Choir.
We also have an older daughter Sarah. Sarah and her husband Duane have two children, Shuana and Tyrel. My wife and I really enjoy being grand-parents.
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