The Shoreline Amateur Astronomical Association was started by two school teachers at West Ottawa High School, just north of Holland, MI. The school was one of the few High Schools in the state that offered students access to a planetarium that was located in the school itself. Its faculty included Philip Hill and Sandy Plakke. Mr. Hill was the first president of SAAA and an astronomy teacher at the high school. Ms. Plakke also taught astronomy at West Ottawa Middle School.
In 1989 SAAA welcomed John Dobson, one of the country’s most well-known amateur astronomers and the inventor of the Dobsonian Telescope. It was during this time that SAAA member Peter Burkey worked with Mr. Dobson to build his own telescope. The work was done at the Vivekananda Monastery near Ganges. It took a full week of grinding (by hand) and testing the telescope before Dobson did the final grinding of the glass mirror.
Peter painted the finished ‘scope black and blue, leading Mr. Dobson to name it “Bruiser”. The telescope is still in use at the school and available to students for observing sessions.