Steve Hershauer of Larkin Township has many interests

Steve Hershauer, 56, and his wife, Anastasia, live in Larkin Township. They’ve been married for 30 years. They have three daughters: Laryssa, Lydia, and Laura, and one grandson, Jakai. Anastasia works as a solution manager for HR systems at Dow. Steve’s a graduate of South Decatur High School, south of Indianapolis. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer programming technology from Purdue University and a master’s of business administration from CMU.
How long have you lived in Midland and what brought you here? Thirty-four years. Coming out of college, my best job prospect was at Dow Corning, liked the area, never been in Michigan. I was 22 years old, decided to work for Dow Corning. I’ve been here ever since.
What is your profession and why? Currently, information security on the cyber defense team at Dow. My focus there is on business continuity and disaster recovery for IT systems. When I was in high school, personal computers were just taking off. A lot of it had to do with early gaming systems, you could do some programming on them. My brothers and I would fiddle around with them. In high school, I got a job working for an entrepreneur, creating computer solutions for small business, writing programs. I wrote the first point of sale program for antique malls. I sold it in Indiana, Tennessee, and Alabama, turnkey systems.
What are some of your interests and hobbies? Traveling with family on family vacations. I’ve always been active with sports in Midland. I played in a tennis league for 20 years, played volleyball for 30 years, organized a team. I play pickleball today. Things not sports related: gardening and metal detecting. I’ve been doing metal detecting for eight years. I got started with Jim Knarr and then the last three years with Dale Davis. My wife got me one for Christmas, got me hooked. I then got a professional one. I did the Ketchum logging site (on state land near Hope) and got hooked from that, the history side of it. It’s not about finding something valuable from the monetary aspect, but it’s from the historical aspect. We’re always learning, pull something out of the ground, look it up on Google. Some things haven’t seen the light of day for over 100 years. We find so much stuff. Found the little pin, Army/Navy E-Award, silver, something given to employees for companies who produced materials for the war effort (WWII), given to only less than 5% of companies. I think the one we found was for Dow. At the logging camp, we found horseshoes, railroad spikes, all from logging history. We called ourselves “Treasure Beyond Measure.” The treasure lies in the adventure, getting out, enjoying nature, hanging out as friends, meeting property owners. We call it “dirt fishing.”
What are your favorite things to do in Midland? When the kids were growing up, sports, coached girls’ basketball. Like to hang out downtown these days, enjoy the Tridge, the parks, so many parks in Midland. Done some metal detecting. Always been a fan of the Dow Tennis Classic and now the Great Lakes Bay Invitational. There’s a lot here.
What do you enjoy about this community? It’s a nice family-oriented community. It’s more laid back. We live on 20 acres in Larkin Township, beautiful, nice, peaceful area. We e njoy the size of the community. Lot of great resources, Midland Center for the Arts, and all the sports complexes.
What is a message you’d like to give the community? Kindness doesn’t cost a thing, yet it is the richest gift you can give!