Nancy Kanitz and Richard Steiger

Nancy Kanitz and Richard Steiger had their first date in 1952 when they were 15 years old at Rounds restaurant here in Traverse City. Nancy’s father, Tharel Kanitz, was Richard’s math teacher and football coach at Traverse City Central High School and told Nancy not to date that boy! Which of course meant they stayed together and married in 1958. Nancy’s mother Marian and Richard’s mother Genevieve were more supportive.

The couple raised their three children, Laura, Tom, and Jana downstate in Belleville, MI where Nancy was an elementary school teacher and Richard taught American History at Belleville High School and coached football.

Richard has always been very proud of his mother, Genevieve “Gen” Steiger Richardson, a pioneering Traverse City businesswoman and single mother to her four children. Gen was a charter member and one-time president of the Wigwam Club, a booster organization which fundraised for the College. Upon her death in 1984, Richard and his brother Douglas established a scholarship in her honor: Genevieve Steiger Richardson and Harold Richardson Scholarship

Now in his senior years, Richard is establishing his own scholarship fund for himself and in memory of his beloved Nancy. He chose Northwestern Michigan College in honor of their lifetime devotion to education, Traverse City, and Gen’s legacy.