Port Huron resident Gregg DeVoogd releases first book: ‘Easy Lesson Learned the Hard Way’

It has often been said that experience is the best teacher.

Port Huron resident Greg DeVoogd would agree. After having his fair share of life lessons, he knew it was time to help others learn from one of his experiences that helped shape his adolescent years.

DeVoogd recently released his first book, ‘Easy Lesson Learned the Hard Way.’ It centers around fire safety and the importance of children respecting their parents.

“It was a fall, cool brisk day,” DeVoogd recalled. “Working on farms, we cooked a lot of our meals over fires. On a weekend we asked my friend’s mom if we could start a fire to cook our hot dogs. She told us, no, but we grabbed a match and did it anyway. We started a fire near the tractor trail that separated two fields. It was wet that day, but we found some hay that appeared to be dry.

“We lit the fire and it caught fire pretty good and when we made a bundle of it, a gust of wind came and the field caught fire. It was burning a good 45 minutes before the firefighters got there. It was a grass fire that burnt about 80 acres before the firefighters got it under control. Looking back, it felt like a circus that day with all of the people that showed up to put it out.”

I hope those who read the book take away an understanding of fire safety and why parents might say no, DeVoogd says.

“I’ve tried to make the book fun and exciting with the lessons I experienced,” he adds. “No matter how bad the incident is, it’s important to come clean and be honest. The book also shows the forgiveness from all the parties involved that we experienced that day.” 

Front cover of Greg DeVoogd's book "Easy Lessons Learned the Hard Way."

Interest in the story has taken off locally, as teachers have begun incorporating the story into their classrooms to teach their students important life lessons.

“There are great lessons in this book,” says Special Education Teacher Nancy Gardner. “I’ve read it twice and I thought it was a good idea to read it to some of my students. I actually use it when I test comprehension skills.

“We talked about it and kind of highlighted the things he learned and the children really enjoyed the fun things in the story. We all loved that it was a local person. The book shows how important it is to listen to your parents. It’s a great story to read to children and the illustrations are very nice and clean. It’s a great lesson learned.”

DeVoogd says he was surprised by how the interest in his book has grown. This all occurred after delaying its release for several years.

“I want people to be able to learn from the book,” he adds. “I learned a lesson the hard way but I hope this will show kids that you don’t have to learn this lesson that way. You can learn it the easy way.”

Easy Lessons Learned the Hard Way is available at retailers such as Walmart and Barnes and on his website www.greggauthor.com.