Well…since I volunteered to maintain the Pretty Lake website, with loads and loads of help from my very talented, creative, beautiful, and patient friend Erin Hochstatter, and since this whole “Meet Your Neighbor” thing was my idea, I’ll go ahead and feature us first!

Dave & Leesa Kern live full time in Huntertown, Indiana and for the past 10 years they have spent most of their summer weekends at their little slice of heaven on Pretty Lake (Cottage #108). For those of you who have been on the lake long enough, their place is the former “Dick’s Dock”, which was owned by Dick and Muriel Hornberger.

Dave & Leesa have two sons with families, one in Chicago IL and the other in Monrovia CA, and they do a fair amount of travel to spend time with them whenever possible. With 5 beautiful grandchildren to keep them entertained, when they do see them, it’s pretty exciting and fast paced.

Leesa is from the Fort Wayne area and grew up on Pretty Lake (sort of), as her family spent their summer vacations at the old Redwood Inn, a four unit rental that has since been replaced by homes. As a young girl and into her late teens, for a week every summer Leesa’s family would occupy one of the units while the other three were rented by cousins and close family friends…it was magical. Swimming across the lake to the old Merkling’s Beach to rent toboggans for the giant slide was a daily highlight. Aaaahhhhh…the memories… Leesa says, “You can take the girl away from Pretty Lake but you can’t take Pretty Lake away from the girl”. With that sentiment in mind, on September 13, 2002 Dave & Leesa bought their cottage, which they named “The Summer Kitchen”. Leesa loves to cook, entertain friends and family, and grow herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and flowers.  In addition to spending time with family, some of her other favorite pastimes are photography & scrapbooking, making jewelry, writing short stories for the grandkids, and the company of her two little sisters, who she is matched with through the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization.  Rose has been her little sister for nearly 9 years and Lindsay has been her new little sister for about 9 months (as of this post date).  As you can imagine, they also love the lake!

Dave is originally from Indianapolis and has lived in the Fort Wayne area for 34 years. He is an investment advisor and owner of David R. Kern Asset Management, a company which focuses on active management of client accounts using alternative strategies to help investors reach their retirement goals.  When he isn’t focused on designing investment models, Dave enjoys being active. He is an avid racquetball player and he participated in the Indianapolis 5K mini marathon this past summer.  And in the past, he also finished the Race to Wrigley 5K in Chicago. In addition to family events, Dave also enjoys photography, bird watching, reading, gardening, old cars, museums, and airplanes.

Dave & Leesa agree…”Spending time at the lake is the best part of the week. We get to get away, relax, enjoy each other, and do one of our favorite activities, spend time on the pontoon”.

So if you see Dave and Leesa walking around the lake, floating on the pontoon, picking tomatoes, or relaxing on the deck, take a minute to stop, introduce yourself, and say hi.