The Sparta Township Historical Commission is pleased to honor one of Sparta’s most beloved citizens as Grand Marshall of the 2025 Town & Country Parade. Sue Hawley Blackall was born February 19, 1955. She has lived in Sparta for 50 years and taught third graders in Sparta for 32 years. In her own words:

    “ Thank you for choosing me as Grand Marshall of the Town & Country Parade for 2025. I think my red car and trailer, full of weeds, has become a common sight in town! Jim and I have been married for 50 years and raised our sons, Brian and Troy, in Sparta. I retired as a third-grade teacher nine years ago in 2016. Since then, I have been involved in Appleview’s mentor program, the math homework club, and the Sparta Education Foundation. I teach catechism and help with the Youth Group and where I am needed at Holy Family Church. I also try to connect children and adults to nature and create critically diminishing habitats. I read that if children do not connect with their environment by age eleven, they won’t protect it as adults. My passion is to restore God’s Earth and His children.

     My seven siblings and I played outside until dark on our old 60-acre farm in Kent City. We explored the fields, pasture, creek, and woods. Once when we packed into the car, little brother, Gale, said, “We are rich in love.” Our mother, Mariel Hawley, often helped others, volunteered at Church, and was a teacher’s aide. She is the reason I became a teacher. I graduated from GVSU with a minor in elementary education, a major in group sciences, and a masters in reading, and started teaching in 1984. My Blackall family enjoys the U.P. at Grandpa Frank’s hunting cabin.

     In 2008, I learned at a workshop how we are basically destroying the foundation of the food chain by eliminating native plants. It sounded like an emergency to me, and I began writing grants to pay for native restoration projects.

     In 2009, while I was convalescing from cancer, the teachers and staff at Appleview Elementary finished planting a large rain garden at the school. Since then, hundreds of students, church and community groups have planted thousands of seedlings throughout the community.

     Sometimes I worry, ‘How can this really get done?’ Then, out of the blue, I get a call from a group of volunteers! I am very grateful for all of these friends and groups and the Village and Township of Sparta for their support. My best helper is Jim. I couldn’t do any of it without him. He helps with his power tools, and patiently holds supper for me.”

     The Sparta Township Historical Commission in naming Sue as Grand Marshall asked her to compile some numbers re: her ability to promote volunteerism as well as her prolific grant-writing skills.  For 20 of her teaching years, Sue distributed pine trees-supplied by the Michigan United Conservation Club-for each Ridgeview and Appleview student to plant, 6,000 students in all. Add to that 4,000 more students and youth group members who volunteered to help with her native species plantings. Sue has written a total of 50 grants, resulting in $50,000 to fund her projects.

     Due to her expertise, in 2020 Sue was tasked by Township officials to author what would become her largest grant request-seeking funds to enhance parts of 85 acres on Sparta’s north side where a number of athletic fields were built. This resulted in a $285,000 Community Development Block Grant to beautify the then-new Sparta Sports Park.

Among many other endeavors in which Sue is still active, she has recently taken on leadership in providing educational opportunities associated with the Myers School Museum, the beautification of the east end of the Village for visitors to our community, as well as, she has been working on a Sparta Sports Park Nature Trail with community partners this spring. 

    Three major honors have come Sue’s way that recognize her efforts: a 2012 Michigan Alliance for Outdoor Education award, a 2014 Michigan United Conservation Club (MUCC) Exceptional Outdoor Woman award, and a 2018 Kent County Conservationist of the Year award.

     Sometimes when I am at Nash Creek, I get asked, “How long are you going to do this? Then I see a Monarch butterfly, or a child says, “Mrs. Blackall, how is my flower doing?” And I answer, “As long as God inspires me to keep going.” 

Sue embodies much of what is good about this community we call ours—a Big Heart, Community Spirit, Energetic Defender of the Environment and Promoter of the Community’s Legacy.  Sparta is proud to call Sue one of its own and is proud to honor her with the title – 2025 Parade Grand Marshall.