A statement released Monday by Mindy McCready's publicist says a Nashville tribute to the late singer is in the works.
"To complement formal family arrangements, preliminary plans are being made by Mindy's 'friends in music' to organize a memorial in Nashville in the coming days," said the statement from Music City News Media & Marketing. No date or location has been announced.
McCready, known for '90s country singles Ten Thousand Angels and Guys Do It All the Time, apparently shot herself Sunday afternoon on the front porch of her Arkansas home. Her boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, died in a similar fashion in the same place just a month before.
Nashville television reporter Stacy McCloud tweeted Monday afternoon that "close friends of Mindy McCready tell me that her body will be taken to her home state of Florida."
Meanwhile, friends, acquaintances and other entertainers continued to relate their sympathies and memories of the 37-year-old mother of two.
Former labelmate John Rich recalled meeting McCready at the 1996 Academy of Country Music Awards. "She was a bright ball of energy back then. She was all about making great country music," Rich said on The Big D and Bubba syndicated radio show Monday morning. "I do want positive things to be said about her, because I know everybody's talking about all the troubles she had. That's obviously all too real. But there was another side of her I knew, especially back when she was really coming on in country music. She was a ball of fire."
Wynonna Judd tweeted: "This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life. Addiction is a disease & not a character flaw. When the pain becomes too much, it causes people to want that pain to stop."
Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott said, "My heart is breaking hearing of the loss of Mindy McCready. Pray for her 2 precious little boys ... may God's peace & protection be on them!"
In his initial interview with the Michigan Employment Development Corporation, Dusty Duistermars was asked why the organization, whose goal is to create jobs by attracting new businesses to the state, should bother hiring him at all.
He couldn’t help but smile at that question.
“Yeah, they asked me, ‘Why should we hire you?’ I told them I’ve been selling Michigan for most of my life,” said Duistermars, a Holland Christian High School and Grand Valley State University graduate who was honored as one of the top 40 up-and-coming economic development professionals in the nation recently.
“I grew up in Holland and my mom, Mary, was the former president of Tulip Time. I used to wear a Dutch costume as a kid at the festival booth,” he added. “And then I got into residential and commercial real estate before landing this job with the MEDC. So, I really have been selling the state of Michigan for a long time.”
Duistermars, 34, is among four business professionals in the state of Michigan younger than 40 named to Development Counselors International’s prestigious list announced last month at the DCI Leadership Summit in Orlando, Fla.
A five-member committee chose the winners from a pool of more than 150 nominees throughout the U.S. The honorees included 26 men and 14 women.
Duistermars, who resides in Holland, was nominated because of his outstanding efforts as MEDC’s site location services manager and helping connect companies to communities around the state during Michigan’s economic recovery.
“It’s very cool,” Duistermars said. “It’s a huge team effort at the MEDC. We get companies to notice our state. Attracting those companies is more of an art than a science sometimes, but I wake up every morning happy to work my butt off so friends of mine can have jobs. I’m busier than I have ever been right now.
“Business is good. We’re heading in the right direction.”
Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, had high praise for Duistermars.
"He's a real go-getter. He has proven himself to be a great asset to the MEDC and certainly a great partner to Lakeshore Advantage," Thelen said.
Since the beginning of fiscal 2012, the MEDC has successfully attracted more than 1,000 jobs and $100 million in capital investment from site selection-led projects, he said.
“I’m going to credit Gov. Snyder for changing that perception (of Michigan as a difficult place to do business) and getting things turned around,” said Duistermars, who taught English at Holland High School for two years before embarking on a real estate career that put him on the path to becoming an economic leader.
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