Valerie van Heest - Documentary Filmmaker

Valerie is an explorer who combines her passion for diving and documenting historic shipwrecks with her creative and interpretive abilities to preserve and promote Great Lakes maritime history. Her personal mission is to share the stories with adults and children alike through public lectures, museum exhibits, articles and books in ways to educate, entertain and inspire.

AWARDS AND HONORS
Thrice honored by the Historical Society of Michigan, Valerie received a State History Award in 2009 for her book Buckets and Belts, in 2008 for her book ICEBOUND! The Adventures of Young George Sheldon and the SS Michigan, and in 2007 for distinguished volunteer service in promoting Michigan's submerged maritime heritage. In 2006, Valerie was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in a ceremony in New Jersey’s Beneath the Seas program.
        Valerie is featured in the book “Voices from the Sweetwater Seas” by Bill Keefe, “Divers Guide to the Kitchen” by Joan Foresberg, and Shipwreck Hunter by Gerry Volgenau, and her work has been documented in several other feature stories and articles. She was a guest expert in an episode of the History Channel Cities Underground, as well as appearing with Stacey Keach in an episode of Missing Reward, as well as many other televised programs and newscasts. She has lectured extensively in the Midwest on the topic of shipwrecks and her books. Working with UASC and MSRA teammates and producer/editor Robert Gadbois, she wrote and directed over ten documentary films. Icebound Found! and She Died a Hard Death were selected for presentation at the prestigious Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan in 2006 and 2007. She is a regular contributor to several magazines and journals. Valerie also served two terms on Michigan’s Underwater Salvage and Preserve Committee.

CO-FOUNDER - MICHIGAN SHIPWRECK RESEARCH ASSOCIATES 2001- PRESENT
In 2001 Valerie, Jack van Heest, Craig Rich, Ross Richardson, and Geoffrey Reynolds to form the non-profit Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA), dedicated to research, exploration, documentation and educational interpretation on the shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. Working with experienced and successful shipwreck hunter, David Trotter, and nationally aclaimed author Clive Cussler, MSRA has conducted annual shipwreck searches in the waters off West Michigan covering over 300 square miles and discovering thirteen new shipwrecks in a decade. These include the SS Michigan, Ann Arbor No 5, Hennepin, Joseph P. Farnan, Hamilton, William Tell, Hattie Wells and several scuttled vessels not previously found.
         The discovery of the Hennepin, and its significance as the world's first self-unloading vessel, led to van Heest to apply for and receive a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for Humanities to develop a museum exhibit in collaboration with The Heritage Museum in St. Joseph, as well as a publication called Buckets and Belts: Evolution of the Great Lakes Self-Unloader. In addition, she and William Lafferty, a maritime historian and expert on the self-unloading industry, together nominated the Hennepin to the National Register of Historic Places and it was officially listed in February 2008. The success of the exhibit propelled Lafferty and van Heest to form a partnership called Lafferty van Heest specially in the design and fabrication of maritime-themed exhibits and publications.
          In 2004, MSRA began a multi-year joint venture project with Clive Cussler and members of the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) to search for Northwest Flight 2501, which crashed in Lake Michigan in 1950 killing all 58 persons aboard in what was then the Nation’s worst commercial aviation disaster. Cussler sent his side scan sonar experts, Ralph Wilbanks to West Michigan to work with MSRA. Wilbanks is best known for locating, with Cussler, the Civil War Submarine Hunley. After six expeditions, the plane wreck remains elusive, but Valerie has found something equally important. In compiling research on the crash, Valerie has interviewed dozens of individuals including witnesses, officials involved in the 1950 search effort, pilots, airline officials and in just two years, she located the families of nearly all of the airplane victims and remains in touch with them to deliver news of the teams search efforts. In September 2008, she hosted a memorial service for the families of the crash victims and oversaw the placement of a granite memorial at the site of a newly discovered mass grave where the remains of the victims had been buried 58 years earlier without any notice to families. The search for Flight 2501 will continue.

PRESIDENT - THE SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN UNDERWATER PRESERVE 1995 - 2001
In 1995, Valerie married and relocated to Western Michigan, where she joined the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve Committee as the grass-roots organization was beginning efforts to initiate Michigan’s 10^th Underwater Preserve. Serving as its President for over six years, and working with archaeologist and museum curator, Kenneth Pott, she coordinated activities of the group until the preserve was made official in 1999. Valerie was responsible for the documentation of several sites and the creation of a preserve brochure. She won a Michigan Humanities Council grant in 1997 to produce educational programming on the pleasure yacht Verano. She spearheaded the “Quest for the Chicora”, an unprecedented search for the region’s most enigmatic shipwreck. That quest instead led to the discovery of the H.C. Akeley

CO-FOUNDER - THE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CHICAGO 1988-1995
Valerie co-founded the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, serving as Director for eight years. Her first project was documenting the wreck of the 5-masted schooner David Dows occurred under the mentorship of Archeologist David Keene. Later, she led archaeological documentation efforts on numerous Chicago-area shipwrecks including the intact and shallow schooner Wells Burt, the side-wheel steamer Seabird, the tug Tacoma and the Lake Huron schooner Goshawk. She worked on the initial reconnaissance documentation of the Civil War era side-wheeler Lady Elgin and then worked with Smithsonian archaeologist, Paul Johnston, to further detail the site. In 1992 she worked with UASC teammates, archaeologist Philip Wright, to document the Alva Bradley in northern Lake Michigan. In 1994 she traveled to Florida to participate in a project with archaeologist John Gifford of the University of Miami to document the Germania in Biscayne Bay. Valerie is responsible for producing in-situ drawings on over thirty shipwrecks, many of which have been published in a variety of maritime books and are held in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Library. She is also responsible for co-authoring three reports on shipwreck projects as well as co-producing numerous multi-media presentations about her work with the UASC.

BACKGROUND
While now focusing her efforts on the interpretation of shipwrecks, Valerie holds her degree from a dual program with Loyola University and The Harrington Institute of Design in Chicago and has for 25 years specialized in architectural and graphic design, marketing and project management in both Illinois and Michigan. She begin her new venture as a professional author, lecturer and exhibit designer in 2004. Valerie and her husband Jack live in Holland, Michigan with their two daughters.



Home Contact Biography Associates Valerie is an explorer who combines her passion for diving and documenting historic shipwrecks with her creative and interpretive abilities to preserve and promote Great Lakes maritime history. Her personal mission is to share the stories with adults and children alike through public lectures, museum exhibits, articles and books in ways to educate, entertain and inspire. AWARDS AND HONORS Thrice honored by the Historical Society of Michigan, Valerie received a State History Award in 2009 for her book Buckets and Belts, in 2008 for her book ICEBOUND! The Adventures of Young George Sheldon and the SS Michigan, and in 2007 for distinguished volunteer service in promoting Michigan's submerged maritime heritage. In 2006, Valerie was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in a ceremony in New Jersey’s Beneath the Seas program. Valerie is featured in the book “Voices from the Sweetwater Seas” by Bill Keefe, “Divers Guide to the Kitchen” by Joan Foresberg, and Shipwreck Hunter by Gerry Volgenau, and her work has been documented in several other feature stories and articles. She was a guest expert in an episode of the History Channel Cities Underground, as well as appearing with Stacey Keach in an episode of Missing Reward, as well as many other televised programs and newscasts. She has lectured extensively in the Midwest on the topic of shipwrecks and her books. Working with UASC and MSRA teammates and producer/editor Robert Gadbois, she wrote and directed over ten documentary films. Icebound Found! and She Died a Hard Death were selected for presentation at the prestigious Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan in 2006 and 2007. She is a regular contributor to several magazines and journals. Valerie also served two terms on Michigan’s Underwater Salvage and Preserve Committee. CO-FOUNDER - MICHIGAN SHIPWRECK RESEARCH ASSOCIATES 2001- PRESENT In 2001 Valerie, Jack van Heest, Craig Rich, Ross Richardson, and Geoffrey Reynolds to form the non-profit Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA), dedicated to research, exploration, documentation and educational interpretation on the shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. Working with experienced and successful shipwreck hunter, David Trotter, and nationally aclaimed author Clive Cussler, MSRA has conducted annual shipwreck searches in the waters off West Michigan covering over 300 square miles and discovering thirteen new shipwrecks in a decade. These include the SS Michigan, Ann Arbor No 5, Hennepin, Joseph P. Farnan, Hamilton, William Tell, Hattie Wells and several scuttled vessels not previously found. The discovery of the Hennepin, and its significance as the world's first self-unloading vessel, led to van Heest to apply for and receive a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for Humanities to develop a museum exhibit in collaboration with The Heritage Museum in St. Joseph, as well as a publication called Buckets and Belts: Evolution of the Great Lakes Self-Unloader. In addition, she and William Lafferty, a maritime historian and expert on the self-unloading industry, together nominated the Hennepin to the National Register of Historic Places and it was officially listed in February 2008. The success of the exhibit propelled Lafferty and van Heest to form a partnership called Lafferty van Heest specially in the design and fabrication of maritime-themed exhibits and publications. In 2004, MSRA began a multi-year joint venture project with Clive Cussler and members of the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) to search for Northwest Flight 2501, which crashed in Lake Michigan in 1950 killing all 58 persons aboard in what was then the Nation’s worst commercial aviation disaster. Cussler sent his side scan sonar experts, Ralph Wilbanks to West Michigan to work with MSRA. Wilbanks is best known for locating, with Cussler, the Civil War Submarine Hunley. After six expeditions, the plane wreck remains elusive, but Valerie has found something equally important. In compiling research on the crash, Valerie has interviewed dozens of individuals including witnesses, officials involved in the 1950 search effort, pilots, airline officials and in just two years, she located the families of nearly all of the airplane victims and remains in touch with them to deliver news of the teams search efforts. In September 2008, she hosted a memorial service for the families of the crash victims and oversaw the placement of a granite memorial at the site of a newly discovered mass grave where the remains of the victims had been buried 58 years earlier without any notice to families. The search for Flight 2501 will continue. PRESIDENT - THE SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN UNDERWATER PRESERVE 1995 - 2001 In 1995, Valerie married and relocated to Western Michigan, where she joined the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve Committee as the grass-roots organization was beginning efforts to initiate Michigan’s 10^th Underwater Preserve. Serving as its President for over six years, and working with archaeologist and museum curator, Kenneth Pott, she coordinated activities of the group until the preserve was made official in 1999. Valerie was responsible for the documentation of several sites and the creation of a preserve brochure. She won a Michigan Humanities Council grant in 1997 to produce educational programming on the pleasure yacht Verano. She spearheaded the “Quest for the Chicora”, an unprecedented search for the region’s most enigmatic shipwreck. That quest instead led to the discovery of the H.C. Akeley CO-FOUNDER - THE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CHICAGO 1988-1995 Valerie co-founded the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, serving as Director for eight years. Her first project was documenting the wreck of the 5-masted schooner David Dows occurred under the mentorship of Archeologist David Keene. Later, she led archaeological documentation efforts on numerous Chicago-area shipwrecks including the intact and shallow schooner Wells Burt, the side-wheel steamer Seabird, the tug Tacoma and the Lake Huron schooner Goshawk. She worked on the initial reconnaissance documentation of the Civil War era side-wheeler Lady Elgin and then worked with Smithsonian archaeologist, Paul Johnston, to further detail the site. In 1992 she worked with UASC teammates, archaeologist Philip Wright, to document the Alva Bradley in northern Lake Michigan. In 1994 she traveled to Florida to participate in a project with archaeologist John Gifford of the University of Miami to document the Germania in Biscayne Bay. Valerie is responsible for producing in-situ drawings on over thirty shipwrecks, many of which have been published in a variety of maritime books and are held in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Library. She is also responsible for co-authoring three reports on shipwreck projects as well as co-producing numerous multi-media presentations about her work with the UASC. BACKGROUND While now focusing her efforts on the interpretation of shipwrecks, Valerie holds her degree from a dual program with Loyola University and The Harrington Institute of Design in Chicago and has for 25 years specialized in architectural and graphic design, marketing and project management in both Illinois and Michigan. She begin her new venture as a professional author, lecturer and exhibit designer in 2004. Valerie and her husband Jack live in Holland, Michigan with their two daughters.