Lucia Virsis Erins, a native Latvian, was a displaced person herself following the second World War. She came to West Michigan during the Latvian immigration and sponsorship program. After taking a class in Michigan History at Grand Valley State University in 1985, she began collecting and researching the history of Latvians in Grand Rapids. She produced a more elaborate version of her 1985 paper and amassed many documents, articles and pictures of Latvian culture and Latvians in Grand Rapids.

Lucia Erins died in 1989 at the age of 64. Her husband Pavels died shortly thereafter. (Grand Rapids Press September 2, 1989).

Latvia was an independent Baltic country (from 1920-1940) between Estonia and Lithuania until the Soviet takeover during the second World War. At this time many Latvians were placed in displaced persons camps created by the United Nations. These displaced persons were able to immigrate to the United States only if they had a U.S. citizen as a sponsor.

The first Latvian immigrants came to Kalamazoo in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A Displaced People’s commission was established and headed by Dr. Robert J. McCandliss of Grand Rapids. Because of Dr. McCandliss’ residence, many immigrants came to Grand Rapids. Once the Latvian immigrants had arrived, they formed parishes and a Latvian Association, whose first hall was located on Bridge Street before being later moved to Front Street. Despite many hardships, in Latvia and in Grand Rapids, the Latvians were able to maintain their culture and to thrive in the United States.

The Grand Rapids Latvians continued to support the people of Latvia in their quest for independence through protests and demonstrations in Grand Rapids and across the United States. Many more immigrants were brought to Grand Rapids following the first wave of the 1940s and 1950s to avoid further Soviet persecution and socialist economic conditions. Eventually Latvia was reestablished as an independent nation following the Soviet coup and the Soviet defeat at Riga, the nation’s capitol. In 1991 the nation was officially declared independent.