GRAAA Reflections: July 2025

Each month this year, we will share with you a significant image from the GRAAA archives as the group commemorates 70 years of existence in 2025. The images are selected to reveal not only significant history, but also some lighter moments.

The impressive new Glow Path walkway (above) at Veen Observatory is a major safety upgrade for members and guests alike. This latest improvement from our Capital Campaign to-do list would not have been possible without significant contributions from the Lowell Cable TV Foundation and from former GRAAA leader Mark Boyd and his wife Anita.

Mark was an energetic contributor to the final phases of Veen construction as a student member in the early 1970s, and later grew to serve on the Board and as President. He and his family moved away from the area in the 1980s when Mark became a leading product engineer with General Mills. He has long maintained his contact with and appreciation for GRAAA for its importance in inspiring a lifelong interest in astronomy. GRAAA sincerely thanks Mark and Anita Boyd for their role in making possible this stunning new addition to our observatory complex.

Mark Boyd (fourth from right, arms crossed) at age 15, participates in a GRAAA class about telescope mirror grinding taught by GRAAA leader John Holmquist at the Public Museum in 1970.

Mark Boyd returned to Grand Rapids as one of the featured speakers at the 50th anniversary celebration of Veen Observatory, June 2021.