tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91491689544144190592024-03-13T22:06:18.988-04:00Voices of NorthvilleSome long-time residents of Northville share their memories and experiences.NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-19435774622710934542013-06-26T23:59:00.000-04:002013-10-10T11:13:04.135-04:00About the Northville Oral History ProjectDuring the late 1980s the Historical Society cooperated with the Northville District Library on this Oral History Project. More than 100 long-time residents participated in the interviews and many volunteers worked many hours to transcribe <a href="http://www.northvillehistory.org/interviews.html">the cassettes</a>. Funding for the intial project was provided by the Friends of the Library and the Northville Historical Society and the work continues, thanks to members of the Northville Township Historical District Commission and library staff. This is a unique way to learn about the history of Northville as experienced by those who lived it and helped create it.NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-66023097533743141722013-06-26T06:56:00.001-04:002013-08-01T10:32:03.987-04:00Mike and Betty Allen<b>Int. </b>– 25th, 1988. I’d like to thank both of you for taking your time this evening to talk to us, and let’s start with Mr. Allen. Could you tell me some of your earliest memories of coming to Northville?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – I came to Northville in 1934, and I have seen many changes since the time I first came to Northville. I hadn’t been in Northville too many years til I was elected to the old Village Council. I served on that for eight years, and then we became a city, and I was the first mayor pro-tem of the City Council. Mr. Ely, who was the mayor, passed away shortly after he was elected and I became mayor and held the position for twenty years. During that time I can reminisce on many things that happened under my administration along with the Council I worked with – all very fine people, a great many of them have left the community. Some of them are still in the community.<br />
One of the major things was what we did with the money we received from the race track, and how it was used. When I became mayor there was not one square inch of public parking in Northville, and me and other people on the Council conceived the idea that parking was the life’s blood of any community. And we attempted to provide parking for the merchants in the downtown area. The money to buy these old houses and old buildings and tear them down and make parking came from the State reimbursement to the City of Northville from the pari-mutuel handle at the Northville Downs. During those days we spent every cent of State money for public improvements – parking, streets, sidewalks, parking deck and so on that the public is enjoying today. However, when the town was – Mainstreet 78 was enacted, a good bit of the public parking was used up, particularly on the streets and one particular lot across from the bank building used to have 45 spaces. Today, it only has nine.<br />
Prior to the race track in Northville, when it started in early days, we were a Village and we were not subject to the State money – the bill read, “a pari-mutual track existing in any city would receive a percentage of the mutual handle.” Us being a Village, we did not get that, but the management of the race track was good to the City of Northville, and in a sense, they gave the City $500 a night, which was used to build the Community Building. The Community Building was built with race track money. It did not cost the taxpayer any money to build the Community Building. However, the school was so short for school space, that the first year the city – the Village never did run it as a Community Building because the school needed it. We leased it to the school for $1 a year. And they maintained it for several years. They used it for school purposes. When the Village – now, we had become a City, and we got the regular State take, reimbursement for the pari-mutuel handle. And when the school got new buildings, and turned it back to the City, it required quite a lot of repair. The floors had buckled and so on. But now it’s being used for Recreation Department and City functions.<br />
Another area – some people didn’t think could be done, but we did it in Northville. That was when we built a public housing of Allen Terrace. It has 101 units, and it was done with local money. We didn’t take a dime of Federal assistance to build that building. And the way it was built, it was a general obligation bond to the faith and credit of Northville taxpayers. But the rent was set up on two phases – the first phase of the rent was what it cost per month to retire the bond issue, and added to that was the cost of heat, lights, maintenance, and so on, which was much less than people could rent homes in Northville for. And a lot of people up there were shuffling around these big old houses, and they couldn’t get anybody to shovel snow and cut grass, and maintain the lawn and so on. So it has worked very well. And these’s been people from many, many states come to Northville and talk about this and didn’t believe it could be done, but when we show’em it could be done and is being done, and is working very satisfactory, it is a warm spot in many people’s hearts.<br />
Another thing, our business – I’m in the monument business, as most of you know – and we deal with a great many old family and old people. We get a lot of the history of the community and the background of Northville through our business. I might mention the Rural Hill Cemetery, which was established in 1885 with public contributions with people donating their teams and wagons and helps and so on to cut down trees and grade and put in drives and so on. And that’s served the public very well, and there’s probably more of Northville people in the Cemetery than is walking streets today. But people like to go up there and be with their friends and so on.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– Can you tell me what year it is that Northville became a city? Do you know? Approximately?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – ’55 – Northville became a city.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – So that’s while you were serving on the Village Council?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – That’s right, and I was on the Charter Commission, any my father-in-law, Dr. Snow, and myself had quite a lot to do with Northville becoming a city. We worked very hard to become a city – not that we thought the city was that important, but the State revenue from the race track was very important. And that was our main reason for becoming a city. There was also another – two other votes for the City and Township to incorporate. One time the City passed it, and the Township voted it down. The next time the Township passed it, and the City voted it down because they didn’t want to divide the race track money is what it amounted to.<br />
<b>Int. </b>- And they it was successful eventually?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> - No, that’s when he means they wanted to be one unit – not a township and a city.<br />
<b>Int.</b> - Oh, the whole thing wanted to be –<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– To be one entity, but it failed both times.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – The next question I wanted to ask you is what year was Allen Terrace built? And how long did it take to build?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – I think it was started in ’74 or ’75 because it wasn’t all completed when I gave up as Mayor, I don’t think. I think the dedication come after that.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – So it took about three years to build, two or three?<br />
<b>Mr. A </b>– It was about two years in construction.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – So you served as Mayor of the City from 1957 to 1977?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – And eight years on the Village Council.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Eight years on the Village Council, prior to that?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – And I’ve been on Boards and Commissions ever since …. And under the old form of – the Village form of government and City form of government, I was on the Wayne County Board of Supervisors fourteen years. Because before they reduced the size of it and that District, all the mayors and supervisors were on the Wayne County Board of Supervisors. And I got to know a lot of people and worked with a lot of people in Wayne County from that aspect.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – Did you found Allen Monument yourself when you first moved to town in 1934?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – Yes, I moved, really, Allen Monument from Flint to Northville. I learned my trade in Flint, but I always wanted to be in a small town. I had an opportunity to start in a small town and came here in ’34.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– And when you first, when you first founded Allen Monument – where was it located?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – On Cady Street and Marr (?) right next to Foundry Flask now which was the bell foundry then that made dinner bells found almost all over the world. Even in England, we know that for a fact.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – And can you tell me about some of the other businesses that were in that area when you first founded it?<br />
<b>Mr. A </b>– Well, Stimson Scales was in the business where Bellingers is now, and there was another building. Shortly after that, they went out of business, and there was a Packard dealer in one of the buildings, and when they were – he got it – he bought the building, and when he got the deed to it, he owned both buildings at a bankrupt sale. And on down around the corner across from the Chamber of Commerce office was a factory that built church furniture – pews and so on for churches. That burned down about in the late 30’s. And then the Petz brothers built a garage – that building there was a garage, and they were Studebaker dealers.<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – We had nine car dealers.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – About nine different car dealers here?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – Yeah, yeah, and at that time, we had about nine automobile dealers in Northville.<br />
<b>Int.</b> – So, most of the automobile dealers were represented in the community?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – That’s correct.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – And you mentioned earlier this evening some information about the springs in the community?<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – Yes, I’d like to dwell on this for a moment. I think many of the people driving through their town and seeing Joe Denton Park would be very doubtful if they ever thought that that was Northville’s water supply. But it really was. Now, try and inertiate (?) where Joe Denton Park now exists was Northville water supply. There’s about five springs there, and it runs across Seven Mile Road, and on down below there’s a watercress bed and the watercress – the Lawrences used to gather that and sell it to hotels and restaurants in Detroit. Then we got into wells in Northville, so there was a pumping station at the northeast corner of the Joe Denton Park under those oak trees and a high fence about eight-foot cyclone fence around that. It was watched very careful to keep birds and ducks and things of that nature out. And that was Northville’s water supply for many years. And those springs are still in existence, but they’re tiled under Seven Mile Road. And then there was an individual in the Council at that time, when we abandoned that – well, it had been abandoned, but it was still there, and he had a friends that wanted to build a house there, and some of us got busy and got that dedicated in memory of Joe Denton, who was the police chief here for many, many years. And that’s the way it is today and it’s a nice neighborhood asset.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Mrs. Allen, could you tell me when your family first arrived in Northville, since I see you were born here?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – That’s correct. My mother and dad – my mother was a trained nurse and my father was a doctor; and they each graduated from the University of Michigan. And then they came to Northville – first they went to Leslie, then they came to Northville and settled. And dad has his practice on Main Street. He was – in addition to being an allopathic doctor, he was a homeopathic doctor. He was very proud of that degree – to be able to practice homeopathy. He was very active – he ended up being president of what was called The American Institute of Homeopathy in the United States.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Can you tell me the difference between allopathy and homeopathy?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Well, there was a homeopathic school at the University of Michigan, and there’s some in Washington and out in California, and in Philadelphia; and it’s more or less a “like-cures-like.” If you have like poison ivy, they take a minute, a very tiny bit of that and inject you – give you a shot – or in a tablet form. And that cures. And it takes a while. Their bible, like they call it, is called “Interia Medica” book. And you have different symptoms, and they treat by symptoms. Homeopathic – hm, hm.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – What is allopathic?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – That is more like these drugs, these wonder drugs. He called them wonder drugs, and they usually have contra indications – they can give you something – a shot or a tablet; it can cause something else. Where in homeopathy, there is no – nothing of seriously happen from taking whatever they prescribe in their tablet form.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – So they came here and set up practice?<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– Practice in the ‘20’s. Mm, hm, and they – the hospital, they were very happy to have Sessions Hospital. They know the people – Mrs. and Mrs. Ed Sessions that started the hospital. They were very fond of that family. And now their daughter – the Session’s daughter still lives here – Amy Siemasz (?). And then my dad was very active in politics and civic things. He truly enjoyed Northville. He was president of the Village, and then he was in school – he was president of the School Board in the ‘40’s for several terms. He started the Northville Optimists Club – he was the first president. And then he took another term at that later on, but that is no longer in existence in Northville.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– When did that cease to exist – do you know, or how long?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – I can’t tell – it was in the ‘40’s though – in ’48 or ’49 that the Optimists Club was started, as I remember. And then he was interested in politics, and he got – he was given the job as manager of the Michigan State Fair in Detroit. That was in 1939 and ’40. He was head of the State Fair. And then after that was when he was asked if – if Northville would like to start a pari-mutuel race track. So they pioneered harness racing in Michigan – in Northville. Correct.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – And that was in the 40’s?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Yes.<br />
<b>Int.</b> – Have we had racing in Northville since that time?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Yes, every year since then.<br />
<b>Int.</b> – And the race track, which we all know where it is, was built on the site of the former Wayne County Fair property?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Right.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Do you have some childhood memories you might like to tell me about, like the long walk you had to school?<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– Oh, yes. When I was growing up we were lucky enough to live right across from the school. So for my twelve years of my education, I just had to cross the street. I also remember the night – the morning – it was a morning the school burned down. And we could get in our front bedroom and watch it burn.<br />
<b>Int. </b>– You’re talking about the high school?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – It was the grade school.<br />
<b>Int.</b> – Weren’t you very little when the grade school…<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– Yes, it was on the street that’s closed now, but we watched it burn down and then they had to put all the classes in different buildings in the City. I went to school down by the – it was called then the Legion Hall, and it is down by the Gandy Dander – the next building – it may be an antique shop now. But that’s where I went to school for two years, and one of my teachers there was Mrs. Babbitt, a lovely lady. My brother went to school – it was the second grade and he went to the bank, the Lapham Bank, which was on the corner of Center and Main at the time. That was also the time I believe, when they were repaving streets because that was quite a deal – it was all cement and a lot of work – it was a mess down through there but I guess, I said I went right across the street to school, but those two years I did have to go down…<br />
<b>Int.</b> – And it took them two years to rebuild it?<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– Right, and then we went back to the new grade school, and that was in 1936. It was right across the street from my home again on Main.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– What’s – do you have any memories of the teens that stand out? What kinds of things did you do in Northville as a teenager?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – I don’t… It was just the football games. I guess things centered around our school and our church activities mainly. And then my father had hay fever – we did go up North in the summer to Bois Blanc Island which is near Cheboygan.<br />
<br />
<b>Int</b>. – And your father acted on behalf, acted as a physician for the …<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – That’s correct – he was the team physician years ago, and he examined all the boys for their sports activities – the football teams, the basketball teams. And he did this all gratis out of the goodness of his heart because he truly loved Northville and everything it entailed. He did also test eyes for children that needed to through the school nurse, Miss Knapp. She would send over students that needed glasses, and he did all that free of charge. He also drove teams to away games. We took teams because at that time, there were no buses. We had to do all that – have different people take teams. And then one year, since the football boys did not have blankets or covers-up – you know, something to keep them warm – he bought the whole team their hooded robes, whatever, to keep them warm. Those that weren’t on the fields and off, he was a big donator in that.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– Where did the teams play their home games?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Down, we went down to the park--Edward Hines--down in that field down there.<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Can you think of anything else about your childhood or teen years that I haven’t asked you about – you might want to discuss?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Oh, I don’t believe so.<br />
<br />
<b>Int. </b>– Can you tell me a little about the Chamber of Commerce and the building of the …<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Yes, I’d be happy to. The Chamber of Commerce is about 25 years old now in existence in Northville. First, we had a little office in City Hall. The very first was Margaret Zayti was the Secretary, and she took calls for the Chamber of Commerce from the race track. And then we had a – Ed C. Nyrider was our Director, and he had an office in City Hall. And then from there we moved to the front part of the Community Building, in the front where the glass office is, and that wasn’t very visible. So then in 19-, about 1977, I came on the Board and got interested in the Chamber, and we felt that it might be nice to have a more visible place in Northville. So through the help of my husband, we proceeded to see what we could do about getting a place for the Chamber office. So we went to the C & O Railroad and asked if we could rent some – get some of the property owned by the railroad down by the well. We thought that would be a nice place to have a office – there would be a nice little entrance to Northville. So we contacted several people, and everybody was receptive and I went in as President and during my term, we were happy to be able to put up a nice little building. And we moved in May of 1982, and it was all paid for – the entire building through public donations. And we – it is on railroad property like I say--so if we ever do not have a building and do not have a Chamber, that building will be moved off. But we hope that we grow, and I think we are, and we feel that we are doing quite a bit to Northville, promoting Northville, and we’re very happy to be down there. So that’s one of the things that I’m proud of – accomplishment in my years in Northville.<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Still actively involved with the …<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – I’m Secretary now of the Board.<br />
<b>Int</b>. – Approximately, how many members does the Chamber have? <br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – We have about 200, 214 or so. They started out with a small group, but it’s growing. And we’re happy about that.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – Mr. Allen, could you tell me what you might consider to be your greatest, or some of your greatest accomplishments during your time as Mayor?<br />
<b>Mr. A </b>– Well, I guess one f the things that I was most proud of – there were several things accomplished during my tenure of office as Mayor. And when I chose not to run as Mayor again because I was becoming involved in the race track, and I thought some people might think it was conflict of interest. But I’d like to say that we built a new City Hall, and it was paid in full the day that the contractor turned the key over to us. A little bit of a story, but I happened to be on the Wayne – I didn’t happen to be – I was on the Wayne County Board of Supervisors, as I mentioned earlier under the old system. An right after, shortly after World War II, the government – you know we went into a kind of recession – the government was putting up fifty percent money for public buildings, and I came home and reported to the Council that our old City Hall was an old house, and it really wasn’t big enough, and we had a watchman and his family living in the same house. They kind of laughed a little bit but this touched me, so I pursued the money matter, and we have a new City Hall in Northville. In 1963, it was dedicated, and we didn’t owe anybody a dime. Allen Terrace was built – I mentioned that earlier. All the parking downtown was accomplished through race track revenue at no cost to the tax payer. Griswold Street was put through to Beal Street. We bought four houses there, and that’s all paid. Wing Street was put through to alleviate some of the traffic problems for the development west of town – one had to use Main Street one hundred percent. We put Wing Street through there, and it has become very serviceable for the community.<br />
Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned I don’t think, is the United States Fish Hatchery that is a block or so went of the Joe Denton Park that I spoke about a while ago. That was quite a famous fish hatchery, and there was several people in Northville that worked there, and they raised millions of little fish, and they were shipped all over the country in like our milk cans. And the reason it was located there was because it was spring-fed like the Joe Denton Park. But the springs originated west of Clement Road. And when they started building houses up there and putting in septic tanks, apparently, they got into the veins of water, and the water was no longer conducive to raise fish and the fish began to die off. The Federal Government finally closed it, and it was dormant for several years and some of us got after the Federal Government to work out a deal whereby we could get it and tear the buildings down and create a park. And we were successful in doing that. And the buildings were burnt, and the burning was a training program for the fire department, which served two purposes. And it’s been a very active place with tennis courts and so on, and I think it’s something the City should really appreciate, and a lot of people are very proud of it.<br />
Another thing I might mention that when I became Mayor, Main Street was the only way to go through Northville. There was no Seven Mile by-pass and there was no Eight Mile by-pass. And there was four gravel pits west of Northville with all the trucks hauling gravel to and from town, and they’d have to go Main Street to Rogers Street out Seven Mile Road to two pits out that way. Well there was two pits out Eight Mile Road – they went Main Street and cut over to Griswold – no Randolph, Randolph and out that way. At the same time we had parking all up and down Main Street, and the north side of Main Street was angle parking and parallel parking on the south side. And I don’t believe we had any more traffic problems than we do now. Well, maybe less.<br />
<b>Mrs. A </b>– Maybury San – they came out – a bus line.<br />
<b>Mr. A</b> – And all the traffic to Maybury Sanitarium which was very active in those days. Buses and so forth had to go through town.<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Lots of buses – from Five Points out to Maybury San to see the people.<br />
<b>Mr. A </b>– Another thing that should be mentioned was the Detroit United Railway or the interurban it was called, came to Northville. Well, there was a lot of other communities, but it came from Plymouth direction – the west side of the then PM Railroad tracks and crossed where Main Street is now – well that was the D.U.R. right-away, and that was across that hole in the ground – the stream there – on piers – that was all hollow underneath and water under there. And the only way out of town then to the east was the bridge at Cady Street – Main street traffic had to go to Cady Street, and the C ady Street traffic – well the abutments are still there yet, but the bridge was active when I first came to town. That’s been done away with, and the hole has been filled up. People started using it for garbage and rubbish, which is where Dr. Handorf (?) built the office, and then part of it was deeded over to the Foundry Flask for a parking lot. That’s all taken care of.<br />
Another thing that the D.U.R. – when it came through Northville didn’t go uptown. It turned at Griswold Street – there was a Y there, and they backed uptown. And went on to Farmington or visa versa. And the old right-away is still out Randolph Street (means Griswold) – you can see it yet. But these are things that people would like to know about.<br />
And another thing that maybe some people have forgotten about – but that’s the spring, Northville Silver Springs which had a bottling plant back of where the depot used to be, which burnt a few years ago. And they used to have the PM train – in all the dining cars, “We serve only Northville Silver Springs Water”. And a great many of the better hotels found in Detroit and other places had this water in their restaurants, and some of them – they also had signs to that effect. And there were several people worked there during the years, and after it was eliminated, the last people owned it was Nesbit Orange Company, and they used that water to make their orange pop out of. And then the mining out of gravel pits hit the vein of water, and it dried up, and the City spring dried up. No other action has been taken, and I’m sorry to say the spring is dried up, but it is. I think we’ll get it back, get it in operation some way with a well. It has operated in a well capacity for ten to twelve – maybe more years--and the same quality of water was produced in the well as come out of the spring. That’s a little bit of my history of Northville – probably things I’ve left out, but I’ll do better next time.<br />
<br />
<b>Int.</b> – Can either of you think of anything that I’ve failed to ask you about that you feel might be important to include?<br />
<b>Mrs. A</b> – Not at this point in time – probably like he says, later, but right now, I guess not.<br />
<b>Int. </b>– Well then, I’d like to thank both of you very much for you’re taking your time to talk to me this evening, and I know that this is going to be a great addition to our collection.NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-73807405778055355692013-06-26T06:52:00.000-04:002013-07-20T14:52:28.789-04:00Charles Altman<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: July 14, 1989.
Charles Altman is being interviewed by Marian Zayti for the Northville
Historical Society’s oral history department. Charles, it's my pleasure to have
you here in Northville I'm doing this interview with you. Tell us a little bit
about your life in Northville.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
My family came to Northville in 1914. How my dad ever found the little town of
Northville from the city of Detroit I will never know. Thirty miles of the
roughest road you ever saw in your life. The pavement ended at Northwestern
High School in the city of Detroit and from there on it was a gravel road all
the way to Northville. He found six and a half acres at the edge of town, with
a house with outside plumbing, and a pump and that's what he bought. Of course
he modernized the house.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Where was that
located, Charles?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.:
That was down on Plymouth Avenue right on the edge of town.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Which is now
South Main.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Which is now South Main Street. We had the benefit, my sister and I, of being
brought up on six at half acres which was farm life, as opposed to in the city.
Of course all the kids thought it was great. We had places to play, we had a
big apple orchard, we had grapevines out there, an old farm building, an old
barn—I remember the old barn. Of course, my dad, being a city man, he had to
try, we had chickens, we had a goat, and nothing worked out. My dad was a
hunter and we raised Beagle dogs. It was kind of nice being able to live the
farm life, so to speak, and yet being near downtown. We were a long way from
school--pretty near a mile from school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Yes, you would
have bus service today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Bus service today. I hear these people walked eight or ten miles to school. We
didn't walk that far. Most times my dad would drive us to school and my mother
would pick us up. We did walk it in nice weather.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: You had a
sister?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I had a sister who was four years older than I and I was born in ’22 and of
course went to kindergarten in a house up on Main Street because that's the way
it was. The kindergarten was in…the Board of Education was upstairs and I think
the kindergarten was downstairs. My kindergarten teacher Miss Cavell which
ended up Mrs. Seden who was a State Senator, I believe, or State
Representative. State Senator, I think. She was my kindergarten teacher. The
Cavells were an old family. The father, of course, was a veterinarian on
Griswold Street and the son was a veterinarian, I think, is today, in East
Tawas, Ted Cavell. Our school life was just like every other kid’s, always
problems with the teacher. Mother would take me by the hand when the notes
would come home. “Charles will try to do better,” and I usually did. I tried to
do better. At one time you talked about the band in Northville. Both my sister
and I played in the band, and my dad, before he got the job as advertising
manager for Eddie Stair’s theaters in the city of Detroit, was always in show
business of some kind. When he was a kid, believe it or not, he toured with
Buffalo Bill’s Show.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Fantastic!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
People think of Buffalo Bill back in the Indian days, well, Buffalo Bill had a
show in the 1900s and my dad toured with him until the time that Buffalo Bill
took his show to Europe. My dad didn't want to leave the country, and left the
Buffalo Bill show and joined Barnum & Bailey's show and was an acrobat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Int:
</b>An acrobat?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Yes. He ended his career by a fall. He used to do a running somersault over
seven chairs. That was his big thing. We had show bills at home showing this.
One time he hit the last chair, broke his kneecap and that was the end. My dad
limped, not so people would notice it, but he always did have trouble with that
knee. Then, because he couldn’t do that he took the easiest job at the circus,
which was playing drums in the band (the circus band), and he played drums in
the circus band. Somehow or other, I guess, he got to Detroit and he got a job
with Eddie Stair, who owned four theaters in the city of Detroit. Back in those
days, it was the old Garrick Theater, the old Shubert Detroit, the Shubert
Lafayette, and the old Cass Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>None of them are there today. My sister has an autograph book of all the
famous people. I would hope that she still has this book. Marie Dressler, Eddie
Cantor, Al Jolson, all these people who ever came to any of the theaters that
Stair owned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My dad would have an
autograph book and he would do that. Eddie Guest wrote a poem about my sister
playing drums in the local band. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Int:</b>
Can you recite it? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
No, but it’s published somewhere. My dad coming to Northville and being in show
business then got involved with the community band. They had the gazebo, right
on Main Street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: The Crow’s
Nest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
The Crow’s Nest. Back in those days, I think there were… We have a picture (I
think we donated it to the Society). When they took some old pictures to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Northville Record</i>, we went through
and gave <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Northville Record </i>some
old pictures that we had that we could identify. I don’t know what happened to
them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: They may be at
the Historical Society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
They may be. I could pick out my dad and that was the only person I knew in
this band. There were about six members in this band. Then they decided they
were going to expand this band, and about this time they started the Northville
Fair. The local business people got together, my dad was one of the original
guys in this thing. They sold stock--if my memory serves me--they sold three
hundred shares. I think there were three, and I think the stock was $20 per
share, or $10 a share. Whatever the original stock, we had two shares. I don’t
think anybody had to start with too many, Lou Stewart, Lapham, Bill Forney (who
was in the coal and ice business in town), all the business people in town,
they all chipped in a few bucks and they bought that property and they started
the Northville Fair. They called it the Northville Wayne County Fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nonprofit and any money they made they
put back in. They needed a band. At that time, the high school didn’t have a
band. The first band that was formed, I can remember, was called the Northville
Community School Band and it had community members, older people, along with
the school people. They would play at the Fair, they played concerts on the
corner. My sister played the drums in the band when she got to be old enough. I
played the Alto, which today is a French horn (back in those days they called
them old Altos). We would have a Saturday night concert and then go to Horton’s
Drug Store on the corner. We’d all get tickets and we could go to Horton’s Drug
Store and get a sundae or a soda for playing in the band. The guy at the
vanilla factory, Langfield, then got involved in the band and money started to
come in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They brought in an instructor
by the name of Edwin Head, Mr. Head, came from Redford. I believe he was a teacher
in Redford, a band director. He came out and did Northville. He had four kids.
He had Glen Head, Sammy, and two daughters, Joyce and Peggy Head, the four
kids. And they joined the Northville band and they were almost professionals,
their father being a teacher and so forth. Langfield would donate money and, I
don’t know exactly, I don’t remember, uniforms, I would imagine and things like
this. He’d pay for trips. We’d go on trips and play places and Langfield was a
big benefactor to the band. About that time, when Head came, my dad dropped out
of it and it was mostly a high school band then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How
old were you when you first played in the band?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I was in seventh grade. I believe my sister, too, was in the seventh grade. My
dad, being in show business in Detroit, knew so many people that my sister took
piano lessons at the old Detroit Conservatory of Music. Of course, all my
mother’s relatives were in Detroit and we would go down on Saturday to visit a
relative and end up at the Conservatory of Music for a piano lesson for my
sister. From there we would take street cars or buses down to the Cass Theater
where my dad was working and then he would bring us home. Take us down in the
morning and drop us off at a street car stop and we’d go to my grandmother’s or
whatever. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> What was your
mother’s maiden name?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Marshall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Marshall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
After the piano lessons, my sister decided she wanted to be a drummer. She
could play the xylophone because of the fact that she had had piano lessons,
she knew the keys. But she really wanted to be a drummer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, like I say, my dad knew a lot of people
and by gosh, if he didn’t get the drummer from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
to give my sister drumming lessons. That man’s name was Cooper. She would go
down and take drum lessons from Cooper. As a matter of fact, she won a
scholarship to Interlochen in drums and percussion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Fantastic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I used to sit there. I couldn’t read music very well. I used to pretend. I’d
toot and I’d make my fingers go. Playing an Alto, you didn’t have to do too
many solos, so it wasn’t too bad.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Did you pass
that on to your children? Do they have that interest in music that you grew up
with?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
My daughter plays the…Can we ask my wife sitting over there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: We can.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mrs.
Altman</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Autoharp.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
She plays the autoharp and the dulcimer. She messes around with the dulcimer.
This is a thing that she plays with and then she takes time off to have one of
my grandchildren and that gets put on the side and then it comes out again.
What happen then is, out in our area, she goes to the Methodist Church in Oak
Grove and we go to Hartland and the choirs don’t sing in the summertime. So
what most churches do is they have people, “You be the musical entertainment
this Sunday.” So the autoharp gets brought out and she feverishly practices for
two weeks and does a piece at her church. With her two kids, she doesn’t have
too much time with it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Just wanted to
hopefully know that this is going, the Altman musical talent, will go on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I can remember them teaching me F A C E, and All Cows Eat Green Grass or
something like that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Or Every Good
Boy Does something.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
That’s the musical scale, that’s how you read notes. Believe me when I tell you
I can’t…I know that the blank spaces are F A C E. I can’t play, I can’t read a
note. Then came ’39 and we all graduated. We just had our fiftieth anniversary,
that fiftieth reunion here and that was really, really a fun thing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It’s good to
see those old faces.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It sure is. As far as school days are concerned, I probably got thrown out as
much as anybody in the class. I was with a bunch of rabble rousers. Jack
McCrumb (oh dear Jack), Dale Bray, E. K. Starkweather, Kenny Martens (I think
Kenny Martens was probably the worst kid in the school). We had G. V. Harrison,
Paul Thompson was our first principal I remember. I think probably he was the
first one who gave Kenny Martens and I a day off. Kenny Martens and I palled
around together. I think Paul Thompson gave us the first time and then the
other principal was G. V. Harrison. I can remember him telling me, “You know,
you’re never going to amount to anything.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> How wrong he
was!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Oh, not really. He was pretty right. As he sent me packing, I think what
happened, we had a skip day. They always had a senior skip day and if I
remember right there was Janet Stewart, E. K. Starkweather, Kenny Martens,
myself, maybe Lucille Lapham, there were six of us, three boys and three girls.
We made skip day a two-day affair. That didn't go over too good with Mr.
Harrison. We got put out of school and were told to bring our parents. I bummed
around for a week before my folks found out about it and that didn't go over
too good. We eventually got in and eventually graduated. We went to Washington
on our senior trip, which was a fantastic thing for a bunch of farm kids.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Really, truly
a great trip.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It really was. Ed Mollema and Miss Giltner were our sponsors, great people, and
we had a great time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Miss Giltner
was at your class reunion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Sure was, I’ll tell you what, I saw a lot of people walk up and say, “I’m so
and so. Do you remember me?” “Well, certainly I remember you,” and she would
bring an anecdote back. Miss Giltner taught Business pretty much. The only
thing I remember about her is her telling me that I'd better leave the typing
class because I was never going to make it. So after about three weeks in, I
didn’t take typing on Miss Giltner’s recommendation because my fingers were too
short or something. And I never did learn how to type. I kept thinking when I
walked up to her and said, “I’m Chuck Altman.” She said, “Oh, I remember you.”
I'm thinking, “Is she just saying this,” and two minutes later, Dale Bray walks
up to her and says hello and she says, “Hello, Dale,” and she's telling him
things that happened back in 1937 in 1938. The woman has a fantastic memory.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: She loved her
job. She was a good teacher.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
She had to, to teach as long as she did. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Charles,
you're old enough that you probably remember a little bit about the Great
Depression.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes,
I guess we were one of the fortunate few. My dad never really lost his job with
the Eddie Stair group of theaters, except that there was not much work. The
four theaters that Eddie Stair owned were not movie houses, these were
legitimate theaters. Nobody had any money to go to the theaters and so business
was bad. When a theater went down they called it the theater was “dark.” I tell
you what, there were times when all four theaters were dark and sometimes only
one theater was operating they would bring people in. I remember them bringing
in Thurston, I remember them bringing in Blackstone. Of course, with my dad
having the influence that he had, I would get a front row seat. Thurston would
say, “I need a little boy,” and everybody in the audience would hold up their
hand, and he'd say, “I'll take him right there,” and either my sister or I
usually got on the stage. Something drastic would happen but it was always a bunch
of fun. I would say in ‘33 or ’34 the W. P. A. was established and to keep
these actors busy they started a thing called Opera Under the Stars. Opera
Under the Stars was in Briggs Stadium. Because of the fact that my dad was an
advertising man, my dad got the job of doing advertising for Opera Under the
Stars, which meant we had to go down to Briggs Stadium. I can remember, as the
walkways that the people went to the ballgame, they had cards advertising. My
dad used to go down and change those cards every two weeks as the dates would
change and then we would go to the ballgame. I can remember meeting these
people. Dad would get me down in the dugout and I would shake… This was a big
deal, I was a little kid then and I can remember it happening and I'm sure I
was introduced to all these ballplayers. I remember being there but I don't
remember the players, I was too young. But I remember going down there and
going to the ballgames, and my dad got me a baseball that I have to this day,
that was signed by all the New York Yankees: Babe Ruth, Vernon Gomez, and I do
have that baseball yet today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> You probably
want to leave it to the Historical Society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Anyway, the Depression was worse. It seemed like our family was getting along but
being as small as I was, they didn't discuss the financial part of the family
with me but I assume that my dad had a cut in wages. The work wasn't there,
while he went in and was still working, I assume that everybody else had
tightened the belt. So my dad had a good friend in the Liquor Control
Commission and his name was Bill Henderson. Bill Henderson's relatives today
run Henderson Glass Company. Henderson Glass is a big company all the way
around. Bill Henderson was one of the original Liquor Control Commissioners,
and he said to my dad, “Why don't you put a liquor store in Northville?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: And do away
with our blind pigs?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Here we were a family of non-drinkers, none of our family ever drank. I guess
that's one of the only bad habits I didn't have here in Northville. My dad
said, “Oh, I don’t think that a town like Northville,” you know. Bill said,
“Hey, you can make yourself a few dollars.” So my dad opened up a store called
Center Street Grocery. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: And that was
located?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
That was located on North Center Street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
Between Main and </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Between Main and Dunlap.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> On the East
side of the street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
On the East side of that street. That store, before we moved, was in three different
locations. Why we moved, I have no idea. At one time, we were right on the
corner and Sam Pickard ended up with his meat market there. But we were there
for a short time and then we moved down into the Ely Building. Elys were on one
side and we were on the other. They opened up a music store. Cameron Lodge
opened up a music store. We were in that Ely Building, Ely had the ice in the
back and we were in the front. I don’t know if we were expanding or going
backwards. In that same building, that Ely Building, there were three stores,
at one time there were three stores: Lodge Music, our Center Street Grocery,
and then Dutch Sonenberg had his newspaper stand, that little tiny thing. I can
remember, at some point in time, Dutch moved up next to Kenny Radford’s place
on Main Street, West Main Street, and I remember our liquor store being in that
little building. I can’t put it all together but I know we were in three
locations up there, as the business expanded.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was successful in Northville, then, a liquor store?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was quite successful. My dad always said, “You know, you have to be on the
side streets. You can’t go on Main Street, because these people can’t have
their ministers watching them go in the liquor store.” That, of course, is a whole
different story. We needed an expansion place and my dad was smart enough to
know not to go on Main Street back in those days, so we went down the hill.
Back against the drug store was a vacant lot. We bought that vacant lot and
built the store there. It was still called Center Street Grocery and my dad was
still affiliated with the theaters when this store was built. It was a growing
business, successful and profitable. It was about this time when my dad got
sick. My dad had asthma bad, all his life. He got to be bedridden and we had to
hire people to run the store. One of the people who worked for us was Harvey
Ritchie, who worked for my dad for years at the store. My mother would keep the
books, do the banking and my dad got bedridden. At that point in time, he was
no longer affiliated with the theaters in Detroit and the only source of income
for the family was that particular store. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Now Charles,
was this in the days of scrip or had we passed that stage?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
We’re past scrip now, scrip was at the early part of the Depression, and as I
explained to you, to the best of my recollection (and I may be entirely wrong),
I think only municipal employees got scrip, government employees, either
Federal government, City, county, state employees. Not the federal employees
because the scrip was issued by the State of Michigan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: So then, in
’34, this probably didn’t exist when the business opened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I don’t think scrip was around that long. I think this Depression hit,
everybody lost their money in the banks, and everybody panicked, but I think
(and of course, I was really small when this happened), I don’t think like in
’29 when the crash came, I think everybody had a bad year. From then on, I
don’t think it continued to go down. I think it continued to go up, started up
slowly. Everybody was eating oatmeal three times a day, nobody had any money.
They were losing their homes. My wife’s father in Plymouth was a plumbing
contractor in the building business and was in the process of building homes, mortgaging
them, building them and renting them and so forth. Well, when the Depression
hit, nobody could pay their rent, he couldn’t pay the mortgage payments, and
lost everything. My father-in-law was only one of many. This was happening to
people. But I think the whole thing was actually going uphill. By ’33 I think
they were turning it around. It wasn’t quite as bad. People didn’t have money
yet but I think the governments were on a better footing and I don’t think they
were using scrip. I don’t know how long they were using scrip.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It seemed like
a short period of time. My father was paid half in scrip. He was a county
worker. There were stores, grocery stores, in town that accepted that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
And some wouldn’t.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: That’s right,
no chain store, but the Hills Brothers Meat Market, the E. M. B. Grocery Store.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
E. M. B. - Bogart’s</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Yes, those
stores accepted the scrip for food.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Back to the party store. My dad kept getting sick and I was a toolmaker at
Ford’s. I’d served my apprenticeship at Ford’s and was a toolmaker there for
about nine years. Help was hard to get in the store and my mother was just
getting progressively frustrated. My dad couldn’t do anything, was bedridden.
At that point in time we had to go and haul our own liquor from the City of
Detroit to Northville. The Liquor Control Commission rules were so unreal. Only
a couple of people whose names were on that license could sign for that liquor
in Detroit to bring it out. The Miller boys (Art and Vic) that lived out on Taft
and Nine Mile, had a truck and they hauled liquor to the party store for years
and years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was getting increasingly
tougher for my mother and I went up there one time and she was just terribly
frustrated and I said, “Mother, I tell you what, I’m going to quit my job and
I’ll come to work in the store, and take some of this off your hands.” Which I
did. So I worked there on Center Street for about three years. The business
just kept getting bigger and bigger, parking kept getting tougher and tougher.
We had two parking spots on Center Street at the bottom of that hill and half
the guys would come in and their cars would end up at the fairgrounds because
they forgot to put their brakes on. The town council constantly discussed no
parking at all on Center Street. And if they took my two parking spots there on
Center Street, I was out of business. So I discussed this with my folks and I
said, “I think we better build a new store.” In the meantime I had gone to New
York and saw a party store, what a real party store was like. Most of the
places where you bought liquor, back in those days, were either drug stores or
grocery stores. The state made all of the money on the liquor. The person who
sold the liquor to the public made ten percent. It was a sideline, it was like
the lottery is today. They put these lottery machines in there, you can’t make
a living selling lottery tickets, nor back in those days could you presumably
make a living selling liquor only. It was a sideline and that’s why we called
the store Center Street Grocery, because you had to have a grocery store first.
I can remember dusting the canned goods that we had on the shelf year after
year after year. Somebody would want to buy it and we’d beg them not to buy it
because we’d have to go to the grocery store, to Kroger or A & P and buy
another can of coffee and put it on the shelf. To keep up, back in those days,
we had to have $1500 worth of groceries in stock. When I went to New York and I
saw a liquor store that was fabulous and it had fancy food and things that
today is normal for a party store. I came back and I told my folks, “I think
this is the way we ought to go,” and we built the Good Time Party Store down on
Seven Mile back in 1949.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Seven Mile at
South Main.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
That was our property. Sometime if you want to talk about that property
developed and I can tell you about how the Seven Mile cut went through there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Yes, that must
have been through your property.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
That should be discussed at another time, right now we’re discussing the Good
Time Party Store. I built the Good Time Party Store, I went to New York to the
Fancy Food Show which, then and today, is one of the largest trade shows in the
world--The Fancy Food Show in the City of New York. I brought back stuff that
I’d never heard of and that a lot of people had never heard of, and we opened
up a pretty fancy store. It was the talk of the State of Michigan and we were
written up in several newspapers and it was a success right off the bat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It was the most
beautiful store in Northville, I can tell you that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was and people appreciated the party goods that they could buy there. We had
stuff that was imported from all over the world. We were, other than the store
in Bloomfield Hills, we were probably the first to really go in to the fancy
food business and have a party store. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
What year was that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I built it in ’49. I worked for my folks for twenty years at that store. My dad
passed away, my mother made me a partner in the business and so my mother and I
were partners in business up until the time she passed away. I had a sister in
New York. I’d worked in that store for twenty years, and frankly, in all that
time that I worked in that store, I never had a problem being held up or
anything like this. As it got to be more and more, these stores and these
liquor stores, were the ones being picked on and being held up. I had a fear of
being held up. Eighty percent of the robberies in Detroit are liquor stores. We
weren’t this far from Detroit, it was not that hard to come out, and I was
always afraid of being held up. About this time we moved to Hartland. We wanted
more land. We bought ten acres out in Hartland. My daughter wanted a horse and
my son wanted horses, so we moved. I was driving back and forth and I found Jim
Roth, who was a revelation in the business, because he had the same business
principles I did, and kept the store going. Today the Good Time Party Store is
one of the top five in the state of Michigan, as far as party stores are
concerned.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> But there will
be those of us in Northville who will always think of it as the Altman Party
Store, no matter who happens to be running it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
One of the first licenses, when they first started issuing liquor licenses,
they issued 1000 liquor licenses in the state of Michigan, and we had one of
the originals. Our original license number was 918, one of the first, and this
was due to my friend. Everybody was, there were about six or seven applications
in Northville for this liquor license. Nobody would admit it because nobody
wanted, I don’t know if Lou Stewart or Mike Gunsell submitted an application
for a liquor license or not. I just know that my dad knew the guy on the Liquor
Control Commission and that’s how he got it. The property is another story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Now we’re
talking six acres.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
We’re talking six and a half acres.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> To put it into
perspective, tell us now would that take in the Northville Record building?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It would take in the Northville Record building, it would take in the old Marathon
gas station which is now the Ford dealer’s used car place, it would take in the
corner, which was the Bel-Nor Drive-In, which would take in the Good Time Party
Store, of course, all of McDonald Ford’s on that side of the street, and all of
the Good Time Party Store now (he owns the north side of the street), then the
Clark Gas Station. My old homestead was on that. I think we sold that house to
Don Ware.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Don Ware bought
that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I think we sold that house to Don Ware. This was a very interesting thing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> You went right
up to the park, then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I want to tell you, if you could envision this piece of property, it’s just an
orchard. Just a piece of property, the house was at the Clark Station and the
rest was a field. We cut a little lawn there, we had twelve rows of grapes one
hundred feet long. We used to have a little fruit stand out front, just for
kicks, because we had an orchard. I’ll tell you how smart my dad was. When it comes
to farming, he knew absolutely nothing about farming. We had pear trees, peach
trees, cherry trees, and apple trees—all these beautiful trees there. All these
trees had to be trimmed. You know what my dad would do? He would call up Ralph
Foreman and say, “Ralph, I need some help. I gotta get these trees
trimmed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would presume he paid
somebody, but Ralph Foreman would send somebody down and trim the trees. My dad
wouldn’t trim those trees. There was an old guy, I wish I could think of his
name, I think I do remember his name. I think his name was Brown. Now, there
were two little houses that were right past where the VFW hall is now and an
old gentleman there by the name of Brown. I’m sure his name was Brown. I
remember he wore (I was fascinated) because he wore a beard like Grover
Cleveland, a big moustache and a beard. Mr. Brown would come down and trim
those grapes. You just can’t just walk in and cut grapes, you gotta know how to
do this. He would come down and do the grapes. That I remember Mr. Brown doing.
Then when the fruit would come, we’d all go out and pick. My relatives would
come out from Detroit and we had a little fruit stand. We had a couple of
bushel baskets and set a board on it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I remember
that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
We’d sell apples, and cherries, and things like this. Anyway, there was this
property, Kenny Rathburn, at this point in time, needed some property to build
a garage. It was kind of a thing where he needed a big piece of property for a
car dealership and there just wasn’t any property around where Kenny Rathburn
was. I was not involved in the deal. My mother and my dad talked about how
Kenny Rathburn came down and wanted to buy some property. I don’t know how much
be bought, but it’s the building where the Northville Record ended up. That was
the first piece of property of our six and a half acres that was sold.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That would be
the end of the property going towards South?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
South. That would put it very close to the city limits. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: Correct.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
The next house, there were two houses past there and one of them, the last one,
was owned by people by the name of Palmer, Lee Palmer and his mother. Lee,
unfortunately, had epileptic fits and back in those days they couldn’t control
them. When he would have a seizure, which is a better name than fits, I should
say. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Yes, but that’s
what we called them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
That’s what they called them. He would just lay right down any place. He would
walk up town and it would happen halfway between uptown. Everybody knew it;
they did everything they could to bring him back. They had a refreshment stand
out in front of their house. I don’t know how many people remember that. They’d
sell ice cream and things like that. We had a path from our house through the
field up to that refreshment stand. We would beg our folks, “Let’s go see Mrs.
Palmer and Lee.” We didn’t want to go see Mrs. Palmer and Lee but we wanted to
get up to the refreshment stand. Because we knew that if we got up to the
refreshment stand we would even get penny candy or an ice cream cone or pop or
something like that. That piece of property went too (it’s north of the funeral
home now and Allen Memorial is in there). Now we’ve got the piece of property
sold to Kenny Rathburn and my dad still had his fair stock. He was very loyal
to the fair but by now it was Northville Downs racing in there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I hope you
still have that stock. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Oh no, we sold it. We sold it to Margaret Zayti. About this time, the races
were going on and a lot of things were happening in Northville. One of the
things happening in Northville was a cut-off called the Seven Mile cut-off, for
lack of a better name. Because of traffic going through town</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It ended at
South Main.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Seven Mile and South Main. If you wanted to go up to the Maybury Sanitarium,
which was functioning, or anything, Foreman’s Orchard out Seven Mile Road, you
had to come through downtown. They had talked about the cut-off for years and
years and years. So about this time the engineering studies, I believe, were
being done. The county contacted my folks about selling the right-of-way down
through there and everything was in the talking stage. Now enter Northville
Downs, who needed more space for barns. Now you’ve got to understand that
Northville Downs is surrounded by park property, Wayne County park property.
Where the present barns are now, where the creek is, was all Wayne County park
property. Northville Downs wanted to expand their barns and so they approached
Wayne County on buying this lot. You can’t sell county park property. This was
Edward Hines Park property. Can you imagine what would happen if the County had
said to the racetrack, “Sure, we’ll sell you this piece of property”? The
people would have been up in arms so they couldn’t sell it. At this point in
time, I don’t know who put the deal together. I would presume Dr. Snow was
involved. I would think the Dr. Snow was very much involved in this. I’m not
sure that Orlo Owen was not involved in this thing. I really don’t know all the
people from the racetrack who were involved. Somebody got the bright idea of
coming to my folks and saying to my folks, “Let’s trade the County your
right-of-way through your six and a half acres for the swamp.” Here again, this
was between my folks and our attorney, who at this time, was Dunbar Davis, who
ended up as Municipal Judge. My mother and Judge Davis’ mother were very dear
friends and Mrs. Davis says to my mother, “My son has just got his license to
practice, if you need an attorney sometime.” And consequently my folks went to
see him and I think they were one of his first clients. When the racetrack deal
came up, of course, Dunbar, being the family attorney, took care of our end of
it. My dad, in effect, what really happened was my dad traded the right-of-way
for Seven Mile Road to go through our six and a half acres.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[End of Side 1]</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
think there are people today who do not know this. I believe that the paddock
is sitting on top of that creek or close to it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Probably,
because it must have been your property that, to get into the Northville Fair,
we used to walk across the tiles so we didn’t pay admission.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:<b>
</b>I remember that, that old tile across that creek. Yeah, that was on the
other side of River Street, though. That was next to Fred Wendt’s house and Mr.
Scipio’s house.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
that wasn’t on your property?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
No, that tile was not on our property but this is the property that we’re now
all talking about. You walked across that tile? You weren’t a Bealtowner. I
thought only the Bealtowners </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> No, but we knew
how to get to Bealtown.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
OK, because that crock, to get into the Fair for free, was strictly for
Bealtowners. About this time, Ann and I had (this was before the cut-off went
through there), Ann and I had got married and the property ran, of course, the
West end of the property was River Street. So at the end of River Street </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The south end</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
The south end where River Street ended at the Rouge River, Ann and I built a
log cabin and we were living there when the Seven Mile cut went through. Of
course, that was bad. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It was sad to
lose your home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was sad, really, and the moved the log cabin and I understand the log cabin
is out on Seven Mile someplace. It’s still out there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
think at Napier and Seven Mile. I could be correct, I’m not sure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
The other little corner of the property we sold to Hoffmans. Now Henry Hoffman
was a star high school basketball player and his father was a horseman who had horses,
who had the stable on South Center Street. Where they’re parking those cars
right now, McDonald’s is parking his used cars, and the racetrack uses for a
parking lot there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> And they rented
out horses, didn’t they, to ride? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Yes, he had a stable, he trained horses. He worked for the Kaiser. When he was
in Germany, Mr. Hoffman worked for the Kaiser as a horseman and that’s where he
learned the trade. And of course they came here, I can remember Mrs. Hoffman
and the German stollens we got every Christmas. She was a redheaded woman and
Henry was redheaded. I graduated in ’39 and Henry had to graduate ’35. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Benny’s
class, see him at the class reunion</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
A year in front of my sister. He was a basketball player and I often wonder
where he is now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">California.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Oh, is he?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
he comes every five years to the class reunion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Fantastic. Then of course, once they put the Seven Mile cutoff in there, that
opened up all this property and I built the Good Time Party Store right there.
We had sold the corner to Velma for the Bel-Nor Restaurant, we sold the old
homestead to (and I say “we,” I mean my mother) Don Ware and there we were.
Across the street from the Good Time Party Store was a vacant field. Then a
lady from Livonia came and wanted to develop the corner across from the Bel-Nor
Drive-in. She wanted to put a gas station in there, so we sold that. I don’t
know if the Marathon was the first gas station that went in there or not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It seems to me
it was Marathon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was a Marathon when it went out of business.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I only remember
Marathon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
So now we got this other piece of property there and the log cabin was there.
Across the street was the log cabin and I sold that cabin to a man by the name
of Leroy Brooks, who worked for me in the Party Store for many, many years. So
about this time (and I can’t tell you the year, it had to be very close to
1950), John Mack had bought the Ford Garage uptown. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The old Bunn
Building.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
The old Bunn Building, yup, and it is my understanding that Ford Motor Company
is saying to Mr. Mack, “If you want to be in business, do something.” All the
Ford dealers, the old Ford dealers that you see in every little town, you can
go in little towns Up North and see that same Bunn Building. They are all the
same. You know it was a Ford dealership. There are lots of those buildings
still around. Anyway, he had to expand his business or lose his franchise.
George Clark, I think, was John Clark’s real estate man and they came down and
there were two sites that were available. One of them was out where Guernsey
Dairy is today, out near there, and the other site was ours. With that log
cabin there it was tight. They needed more room. They wanted more room. Back
twenty years ago, it would’ve been sufficient if he could’ve got the log cabin.
So they got an option from Brooks on the cabin and by this time, my dad had
passed on, so I negotiated a deal for the property for my mother. John Mack
bought that property and that’s when John Mack Ford was built.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It’s still the
Ford dealership today. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Today, and of course, they bought the corner now and I don’t know if they
bought Velma out or are renting, but they’re using that whole thing, plus the
whole fairgrounds parking lot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
the races aren’t in there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
When the races aren’t on. That’s the story of the Seven Mile Road cut.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That six acres
has a history. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Yes, it really does. I can remember there’s a swamp across the railroad track
right due east of this whole thing. There used to be, I haven’t been back there
in years, and they had a crock running underneath that railroad track and it
came out. And then it got to the road and it went down and that crock used to
run across our field and it drained that whole swamp in there. Now they built
that whole thing up in there and I don’t know where that water’s going. I don’t
know if the swamp is still across the street there or not. I don’t even know
the name of the street that runs in the back of the railroad track.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gerald
Avenue</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Gerald Avenue. I guess it’s pretty well developed now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Yes, it is, we
have businesses back there. We used to go only back there to pick pussy willows
that grew on the hillside of the track there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
We used to cut from there and we’d walk all the way over to the lake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
go swimming where you weren’t supposed to?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Where we weren’t supposed to, and that was called Curtis Lake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Curtis
Lake, and now it’s in the Highland Lakes subdivision.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Oh is it? Well, I’ll tell you what, Dell Campbell used to live on that lake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
Correct.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Del Campbell used to put a shanty on that lake and Del Campbell and I got to be
pretty good friends. I’ve been a fisherman all my life and I’d sit in that shanty
in the wintertime and look down that hole and there’d be fish that would come
through there that would scare you, too big to spear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
that lake was deep, correct? We used to call it bottomless.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Back in those days they didn’t have all the depth finders and things they’ve
got now but you could put a rock on a rope and when it hit the marl, you’d
never know you were on the marl bottom. I presume at some point in time you’d
hit something solid but it was deep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Good cold
water.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was spring-fed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Good fish</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
I was always told that that spring system was part of the old Silver Springs
system.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Probably would
be, in that location.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It’s easy to point the finger. I remember the old Silver Spring building in the
back. I remember when they used to bottle the Silver Spring pop back there.
Cream Soda was my favorite. You can’t buy cream soda like that anymore. They
have cream soda on the market but it’s not like that Silver Springs cream soda.
We would go back there and I remember the front door of the building, you walk
in and as you walk in, there was a round railing. You could look down and see
the water coming up, the spring water. That was the original Silver Springs and
the overflow was coming out the spring down there. That was my first business
venture. Harvey Ritchie and I used to sell cups down at the Silver Springs. We
almost made a million dollars.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now
how old were you then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Small.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> And sold cups a
penny a piece?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Penny a piece. We’d pay 40 cents a hundred, $4 a thousand, $40 for ten
thousand, whatever it was. We’d pay less than a half cent a piece for them and
sold them for a penny, so we made a pretty good profit on this stuff. We’d sell
100 cups, 150 cups there on a Sunday and we used to do that. Well then we
expanded the business. We got a little pot and put ice cream in it and that’s
when the railroad stepped in. Boy, I can’t remember that guy’s name up there in
the depot, but he didn’t like us too well and we couldn’t sell there anymore.
They moved us across the street. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Almost
ruined your business.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
They did. About ruined our business, but when Manning and Locking went in
there, I think digging the gravel pits (my own personal opinion), I think they
dig it all out and lower the water table and that’s one of the reasons we have
this problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
lost the spring. It’s true, that can happen. It filled the holes they made,
turned them into lakes. Charles, your story’s been great, your memory is
fantastic, and I happen to know your age, younger than mine. Now tell us your
family, who you married and what year you got married and about your children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Oh goodness, now you’re asking things…the year I got married? You gotta be
fooling me! My wife has left the room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> We’ll ask her.
Hold on just a minute. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Tape stops.)</i>
And when were you married, Charles?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
June 26th, 1948 and that just happened to be the first day of bass season so I
went fishing before. We didn’t get married until 4:00 in the afternoon. My wife
about had a fit. They were looking for me and looking for me. They called my
house and my mother said, “Well I don’t know, but I think he was fishing.” And
I think I was fishing with Junior Hicks and Gill Perry and Mark Gunstellar. I
remember the fishing. I was married in ’48.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You
married a nice Plymouth girl?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Married a Plymouth girl whose father didn’t talk to me for about five years
after we were married. I remember him saying to me, I said, “We’re going to get
married.” And he said, “Have you got any money?” And I said, “No.” And he said,
“Well, where are you going to live?” And I said, “Well, I hadn’t thought about
that yet.” And he just got a funny look on his face and buried his nose back in
a newspaper and he didn’t talk to me too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He did come to the wedding. He did give her away. But after a while, you
know, we built the log cabin and I was working. I remember what I said. I said,
“We’re going to get married.” And he said, “Have you got a job?” And I said no.
I was laid off at Ford’s. That didn’t go over too good. Of course, I went back
to work tool-making and tool-makers were pretty well-paid. We built the log
cabin and everything was hunky-dory. I treated her well. She worked for a
couple of years for Tate’s Cleaners from the time she was in high school. We
decided to have a family so Susan was born first. Susan is today, 35, and then
ten years later Roger was born.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It takes time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It really did. We decided we should have another one. Susan was just so wrapped
up in horses all of her life. Remember, we moved to Hartland so that Susan
could have her first horse. She got her first horse when she was a freshman in
high school, so this was like ten years after we moved. My wife came back to
Northville and ran into Susan’s kindergarten teacher (can’t tell you her name).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Grace Pollack?
Ann Chizmar?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
No, Grace Pollack was, I believe, Roger’s. Anyway, I don’t remember who it was,
but it was Susan’s kindergarten teacher and Ann walked up to her and said, “Do
you remember me? I’m Ann Altman.” She said, “My daughter was Susan.” And this
teacher said to my wife, “Did Susan ever get her horse?” Now, you can imagine
what an impression a five-year-old girl made on a kindergarten teacher when the
kindergarten teacher, ten or twelve years later says, “Did the girl ever get
her horse?” So she must have been pretty horse crazy. So we got a horse and
being as interested as my daughter was in horses, she did well. I was a 4-H
leader in Livingston County for fifteen years and you could tell the kids whose
parents said, “We’d like to have you show horses,” and you could tell the kids
who said to their parents, “I want to show horses.” The kids that want to show
horses were all good and the kids whose parents were pushing, they could care less.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
kind of horse did she have?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Appaloosas. The only thing we ever had were Appaloosa horses. Of course, then
Roger came along and here’s big sister showing these horses. Nothing but what
he’s going to show her. He showed at the Michigan State Fair when he was five
years old. He won the class and went on. Now today Susan went to Alma,
graduated, and became a school teacher, taught school for about a year and a
half and hated every single minute of it, got married, bought thirty acres and
built an indoor arena. Now she gives riding lessons and her husband is an
electrician who wires robots on the robotic machinery and does the wires on
computers. They have a big indoor arena. She gives lessons. She is just so
happy. She’s teaching, she uses her teaching skills and yet she’s doing what
she wants to do. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fantastic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>C.
A.:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>My son is a pipe fitter. He installs
fire protection sprinkling systems in ceilings of buildings. Today, every
commercial building built has to have it so he’s busy. He runs a crew in the
daytime and at night, would you believe, he trains horses, he gives lessons, he
is a licensed judge, he judges horse shows all over the state, he’s got like
fourteen or fifteen horse shows to judge. He’s just going all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He really uses the pipe-fitting for an ad
vocation. Sometimes he doesn’t get home—he rides until 12 or 1:00 in the
morning training horses. But he enjoys it. The kids’ training and horses has
always been good to them and they enjoy it. 4-H kids, as a rule, as a group,
have less trouble than the general population. They have less problems, they
teach. Boy Scouts do this, too, don’t get me wrong, it’s not only 4-H, but my
kids were involved in 4-H. We had a club, they went through as officers in the
club, they were involved with the horses, and we never had any problems with
the kids. They learned responsibility. I’m not trying to be funny or facetious
with you, but twenty years ago when I first got to Hartland there was a big
controversy about sex education in the schools. When you’d go to the school
board meetings and they say, “Are we going to teach sex education or are we not
going to teach it?” An old farmer stands up and says, “My kids know where those
cats come from.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That’s right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
You’re not going to teach this farm kid much about sex education. But anyway,
they learned responsibility, they’ve got their animals, whether it’s horses or
cows or hogs or whatever and they do have a certain responsibility and I think
it taught them a lot. I remember that my daughter, when she was a senior in
high school, got invited to the senior prom and turned the kid down because she
had a horse show the next day and had to wash the horse that night and get it
all ready. That’s a true story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> It’s
priorities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
She went to college and I’ll never forget when I took Susan up there the first
day. She was a scared little kid. She had visions of going to Michigan State
College and went to Michigan State College on a 4-H project for three days and
that was the end of Michigan State College. It was just too big. Too big, she
couldn’t handle it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She ended up at the
little school of Alma and I remember when I took her up there, I said, “Now
Susan, you got to understand that you’re not being sentenced to prison or
anything like this. If you want to come home, you got a problem, you call Dad.
You know, you’re here because you want to be here, I hope. If you don’t want to
be here, call me up.” Knowing that this psychology was going to work, you know.
About three months down the road at about 10:00 at night, the phone rings and
it’s Susan and she says, “You remember what you said to me?” And I said, “Yes.”
She said, “I want to come home.” Oh my god, she wants to come home and she’s
crying. And I said, “Susan it’s 10:00 at night, I can’t come up there now. I’ll
be there in the morning. Your mother and I will be up there in the morning,
8:00 or whatever.” So we go up there and we pick her up at that dorm and we go
to Elias Brothers, and we’re having breakfast and she’s homesick. She’s
lonesome but that wasn’t the whole reason why. The reason was, she’d gotten a
letter from the Appaloosa Association with a list of the horse shows for the
next year. The first two shows were in April, two shows in May. School didn’t
get out ‘til May. She’s going to miss four horse shows and she couldn’t handle
it. This was breaking her heart. So I said, “Well, Susan,” I cut her a deal,
“I’ll tell you what. We’ll go to the horse shows. The horse shows are always on
Saturday and Sunday. We will go to the horse shows. You don’t want to miss
these horse shows. You stay in school.” She said, “But who’s going to get the
horse ready?” “Your old dad will get the horse ready. I’ll wash the horse, I’ll
trim his whiskers. I’ll do this.” Which we did do, it worked out very fine.
We’d pull into that dormitory with our motor home and the horse trailer in the
back. Friday night we’d go pick up Susan. We had Roger with us because he was
showing too, and two horses, and we’d drive to Muskegon, to Sault Ste. Marie,
to Timbuktu to the horse show, get her back to that dorm Sunday night and then
we drove home. It was only four times. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
family who loves horses stay together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Well, you know, when we show horses, when you go to a horse show it’s on
Saturday, as a rule. We had our motor home, we had the horse trailer, and the
horse shows were all over Michigan pretty much and all over the country. We
showed in Columbus, Ohio, we showed in Wheeling, West Virginia, we showed in
Kansas City, we showed pretty much all over. We went with the National
Appaloosa Association Show. The point is, that most of the time that we went,
it was in Michigan. We would go to the shows in Michigan: Muskegon and
Ludington and that area. But the whole point of my story is that when that
vehicle pulled out of the driveway it was the whole family. It was Roger and
Susan and Chuck and Ann. And Ann would get the clothes and take care of the
food and I would take care of the horses and the kids would show. They loved
it. They weren’t doing it because of us. I’d beg them, I’d say, “Are you sure
you want to go to the show this Sunday?” And they’d say, “Well yeah, we need
the points. We ought to go.” Ok, fine. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying it as
much as they were. That was horse showing. I, today, am a member of the Mounted
Division of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Posse and I ride in probably six
parades a year. They call us up, next week I work the Fowlerville Fair. I’ll be
on the dispatch desk for the whole week of the fair as a member of the
Livingston County Sheriff’s Department. So I ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Still in the
business, that’s great. I assume, by now, Charles, that you have retired, as
such.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
You’re touching a sore spot. At this very minute I’m not working but I am
actively seeking a job. I recently had the misfortune of having my company,
which was Heel and Tackle Company, was bought by an outsider in Yakima,
Washington and they moved the whole operation to Yakima, Washington and put fifty-five
of us right out on the street. So I’m without a job. I’ve been in the fishing
tackle business for about the last ten years. I worked for Ed Edinger for ten
years, really, and been in the fishing business longer than ten years. Ed was a
dear friend of mine as well as my boss and I was his plant manager. We’d go
fishing together, we hunted together, we fished in the Arctic Circle, and I
fished many many places with Ed and it was an enjoyable job. Unfortunately,
about three years ago, Ed died of cancer and I went to work for a company
called Heel and Tackle which makes plant fish and they were bought out by a
conglomerate here in town, a company called Sedco, which was owned by Valassis
Printing Company. These were money people. They bought the company as an
investment and didn’t have a fish person, per se. They had a president of the
company, they had a controller. They didn’t have anybody who could build and
run the factories and they had three factories. So they hired me as the general
manager and I had three factories that ran and I had three plant managers,
which were very knowledgeable in the business and I just sat back and fished.
How many people you know that get paid to go fishing? But, of course, I guess
we did too good a job for them because we turned the company around and made it
very profitable and they sold it. So next week I go to the tackle
manufacturers’ show and I’m going to be looking for a job. If it happens, fine.
If it doesn’t, I’m not going to worry about it and I guess I’m going to be
retired. When you get to be my age and you apply for a job, people kind of look
at you. But I want to work. I’ve been off since March and I’m serious when I
say I just can’t hack it. I fished, I fished until I can’t fish anymore and I
fought with the wife until I can’t (she wins all the cases) anymore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> So what you
need is a place to spend your energies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Well, you know, I had a bypass Christmas Day last year and I feel great right
now. I’ve just got to have something to do. I can’t hack retirement. When I
sold the store, I tried retirement twenty years ago and it didn’t work then.
I’m just very antsy now, whether I find something or not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I can say that
we here in Northville hope if you do find something, it’ll be in our area and
we’ll have an Altman back in Northville again doing something.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Well, that would be nice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Int:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Charles, I want
to thank you for taking the time to drive to Northville from Hartland and
making this tape for the Northville Historical Society, my own personal enjoyment
out of listening to you today, I know will be magnified many, many times, and I
want to thank you for taking part in our project.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">C.
A.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
It was my pleasure.</span></div>
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<![endif]-->NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-68779203300111955552013-06-26T06:48:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:52:16.315-04:00Richard and Jean Ambler<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. Amber</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I’m Dick Ambler and my wife, Jean, is with me.
This is Thursday, October 27, 1988. I was born in 1922 and Jean the same
year. My family had temporarily moved to Detroit at that time, so I was
born in Detroit, and my Dad built a home on Rogers Street. In 1925 we
moved into that home. However, prior to that I came out and we stayed
with my great grandfather who lived at the corner of Rogers and Main in that
brick home with kind of a tower. I remember that I always wanted to climb
that tower, but I was too little, and they wouldn’t allow that. But then
we moved into our home on 340 S. Rogers which was a nice home; and my Dad, at
that point in time, owned Ambler’s Furnace and Foundry Works which was on Cady
Street. They poured the metal, and I used to go down and watch
that. Talk about safety rules, boy, they didn’t have them then.
They would carry that molten metal in small pod carriers, I guess you call
them, and they would step over things and pour it into these molds that they
had made. But they ended up with furnaces and all the sheet metal work
that went with it, and it was kinda fun.<br />
Across the street from us were two young men who came over from England, the
Frid brothers, and they started the laundry, and they ran that laundry which
was in the building that’s still there. I think Bellinger’s is in there
now, that multi-story building. And that was the Northville Laundry owned
by the Fried brothers and they later, as you may recall, moved down here on
Center Street and built a place about where Hardy’s is now or in that general
vicinity.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION:</b> Is that spot actually where Friendly’s was and is now
offices?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, I think maybe. Yeah, and then Richard Brothers
took it over later. But at that time, and I happened to be reading in The
Record today, that Mike Allen was quoted as saying that Cady and S. Main joined
and they did. But ironically, I was riding with Lee Holland this morning,
and I mentioned to him asking if he ever remembered the little bridge. In
other words if you go down and you go by the car wash there was a little
landscaping office. If you veered to the right, that’s where the road
went. To the right of that and across that creek was an old steel bridge,
and that was the main street in and out of Northville.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: The street went from the mill on over underneath the
tracks?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, It continued on and really almost went behind my
dad’s foundry; but also at that point in time, the Stinson Aircraft Company
owned one of the buildings, and the Globe Furniture Company was in there, and
as a boy we used to go into those buildings. I don’t know how welcome we
were, but there would be old aircraft parts.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Was it still operating?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: No, not when I was there, but you know what was there
back in those years? We had the Northville Spring, but it was spring
water at that time. In fact, there was Silver Springs Pop Company.
Did you know that? It’s behind the railroad track. You go under the
railroad tracks, and you go back there, and they had an open glass-covered
casing with the lights so you could look down and actually see the
spring. Now that spring was all disrupted when they built Highland Lakes
and that’s why we’re now digging for a well to replace our well water.
But that was originally Ali spring water, and as a boy I clearly remember
hauling that water for my mother. She liked that spring water, and in
fact I had a pony, and I used to think it was good for him, and I’d haul it
over for him. But that old street and that old bridge I remember very
well. It came in almost where Ruby Office Supply is. I don’t know
whether it’s still there. Now my dad and my grandfather owned a lumber
and ice company, and it was on the park drive just what would that be, just
east of Rogers Street almost at the end of First Street, and the creek was dammed
up there. And there was a huge Ambler Pond, and that pond in the winter
time, they would cut the ice and then store it in sawdust and sell the ice in
summer. But as a boy, that dam had cracked and had about an eighteen inch
crack in it. It was a big dam. We used to be able to go down and
run across the dam and jump over that and hopefully not fall through.
There was also a slaughter house down there. It was closed up. So
they did have a slaughter house but that wasn’t ours. I don’t know who owned
that. And then of course, they came through with the park drive and I
remember that.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: So it went right on over to Rogers, from Center to
Rogers?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: When they put in the park drive? Yeah, because
previously they came right through town. They came in over that little
bridge, and they had to come up Main Street and then go through town that way.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: I think that was put through after we moved to
Northville. The fish hatchery was there at that time, wasn’t it above
Ambler Pond, upstream from it?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Oh yes. Where it is now where the tennis courts
are. That was a beautiful fish hatchery. It was a national fish
hatchery. <b><br />
Jean</b>: The U.S. Government owned it.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: The head of the fish hatchery lived across the street
in that huge home, and I used to go and play with his son. Of course, in
those days, we did our swimming in the gravel pits around here, and there’s a
gravel pit up behind Rural Hill Cemetery, in fact I think the Beals live there
now. It was Lawrence Gravel Pit at that time and some of these that now
advertise lakefront property front on those old gravel pits.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: The Thomson’s off Seven Mile Road?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah, that was a later development than
Lawrence’s gravel pit.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: And the Blue Heron Condominiums are on a gravel pit?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, that’s right. And of course, we had Taft
Gravel Pit and that was right here on Eight Mile and Taft. If you went up
the hill and they filled that all in. But there were two or three small
pond gravel pits up there that Taft owned.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Our children used to play up across that field?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Sure, sure they did, of course, and ours as well.
But also, of course, I remember that Cady Street and Dunlap Street were gravel
when I was a young boy, and I remember when they were paved. That was a
major paving project.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: What street was that?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Cady Street, Dunlap, all across West, Wing.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: I know it was about 1958, 1959, ‘60 when they paved
Center above Baseline?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: That’s correct.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: It was a dirt road when we first moved here?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah. I was active in attempting to join the
township and the city in the unification campaign. At that time it was
brought out that my great grandfather, William Ambler, was active in splitting
the township of Northville and Plymouth into two townships. They each
have half the territory of normal townships. So they split them apart, and
we were trying to put the two pieces back together, not Plymouth Township, but
so he was active in politics. He had a little office where the bookstore
is on Main Street, Bookstall on the Main. That was my great grandfather’s
office and was also my father’s office at one time, and I worked in there as a
boy working for Forney Coal and Jim Spagnuolo and Bill Forney also owned
Stroh’s distributorship. I would check the drivers in on a Saturday night
and would have all kinds of money. That was during the depression, but
they didn’t have a problem with sales of brew at that time. Another
thing, and this is rambling and going different directions, but one thing that
stands out so vividly in my mind: I started with Chrysler in 1955 and I
would say from 1955 until 1965 or maybe a little later, if I would in the
winter be involved in negotiations, and maybe leave Detroit at 3:00 or 4:00 in
the morning to drive home, I would cut a path in the snow from Farmington Road
to Northville in maybe four inches of snow. And that’s only twenty years
ago, and now the traffic. You’d never see a car coming home at that hour
of the morning. Another thing I remember very clearly, Jean was a
telephone operator. We went together in high school, and then I left and
I went up to Chelsea to work. She was working sometimes the midnight
shift. She would call me from the telephone office. I’d go to the
office at 6:00 in the morning to get a call from her. She would call me,
and then maybe every three or four minutes she’d have an interruption and she’d
say “Hold on.” You could hear a bell or something, and then I’d hear here
say, “Number please”, and he’d give her the number—she’d say, “Thank you” plug
him in and then she’d come back and we’d talk ‘til someone else. They were
darn few and the numbers would be, “I’d like to call 24 or 102 or 324J or
324N”. Remember, those were your numbers? <b><br />
Jean</b>: That was my number.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: That was the way our telephone system worked.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Was it a local telephone system in town?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: No, no, it was Michigan Bell. But they had the
office up above Orin Jewelry, up there was the telephone company.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: It wasn’t a separate exchange system then, it was part
of Michigan Bell system?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: No, part of Michigan Bell but it was the old system.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: How about your days at school-grade school and high
school? What kind of sports did you get involved in?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: We were involved in football, we had a football team.
We had the band. We had basketball. In those days we played schools such as
Trenton, Melvindale, and Berkley. Jean was very active and, in fact, she still
kinda thinks she was a superstar as a basketball player. But the girls did win
a lot of games.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: We won two years in a row, and we played other
schools—Berkley, Melvindale, Redford Union, and after that the girls didn’t
play other schools for a long time. But we had won the trophy for two years in
a row so we got to keep it. I’m only 5’2” and a lot of the gals were, maybe the
tallest on would be 5’6”. We were all shorter.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Who was the tallest?<b><br />
Jean</b>: Gladys Ludwig<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: And Mrs. Watts was the night telephone operator,
and if there was a fire or the police, you called Mrs. Watts and she’d alert…<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: She had a Watts Line?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah, exactly, and in addition, I don’t know whether you
heard this before, the way the police were notified, because they didn’t have
radios in the police car, there was a light. To call the police, she’d put the
light on which hung at the four corners on one of the poles. And this red light
would go on, and when the police circled back through, he see his light was on
and he’d call and find out what was happening. Have you heard that before?<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: No, I know the town I came from in New York State, they
had their own telephone exchange. Anytime anything happened, you could call the
telephone exchange and find out what was going on. She was usually at the
center. All the information would come back into there.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Grade school, we were in the building that burned. It
faced West Street and cornered on Cady. In fact, my dad was on the school board
at that time. I remember going to the fire early in the morning as I recall,
4:00 or 5:00, but we went to the fire; and there was a little boy, I mean I was
a little older that this kid, I must have been fifth or sixth grade. There was
a little boy standing next to us, and pretty soon a second floor of the room collapsed,
and the little boy said “Oh boy, there goes my room”. But then we were
all jammed up and a lot of kids were skipped – <br />
<b>Jean</b>: Including you, you skipped a very important grade. They put
him from the fifth to the seventh grade.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: I skipped the sixth grade, I wasn’t that smart, but I’ll
take it.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Speaking of that, learning at that time…(inaudible)<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: He lost out on everything they taught him since sixth grade.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Well, anyway, they did skip half of my class. I think
half of it skipped ahead of me because they were the smart ones and then we
caught up and we skipped. But they did skip a lot of kids.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: What building were you in then?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: When we went from that building, we moved into the old
red brick high school which faces Main, and the Junior High had an assembly on
the first floor and the senior high had an assembly on the second floor.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: and the Junior High was run by Ida B. Cooke. We had her in the
seventh and eighth grade and the school on Taft Road was named after her. As it
turned out, Rick, our son was major of that student council at that time, and
when they dedicated the school, Ida B. Cooke, he made a speech.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: And I didn’t think a young kid would have a
senior...(inaudible) But kids from Westpoint Park which was Farmington Road and
Seven Mile, they came to our high school came into our high school. They
had to find their own way, we didn’t have any buses. There weren’t any buses.
Another thing about school, one of the best things that ever happened to me, I
was goofin’ off in geometry class in probably the ninth grade and this teacher
finally lost all her patience, and she came over to me and grabbed me by the
hair, and I mean she shook me. And I combed loose hair out for at least a week.
And I’ve seen her at some class reunions, and from there on I had the best
grades in geometry I’ve ever had. I all of a sudden realized, and my parents
didn’t support me, they supported Miss Brasfere. Saw here at a class reunion
three years ago, and I said “Do you remember?” and she said, “I sure do, your
dad was on the school board and I’m giving you rough treatment”. But it
was good, and I think it is still good as long as it’s not abusive. Some
of those things have changed.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Attention must be paid?<b> <br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: That’s right.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: We’ve encountered your family name in political
connections in the 1880’s<b>.<br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, well my great grandfather, William, was active on
the town, I don’t know if it was a village or a township; they were both and
they overlapped. You got services from both. My dad was Township Clerk when we
lived in the village. The village and the township overlapped on a lot of
things. My dad was on the school board. My grandfather spent a lot of his
time in Detroit. He was a lumber salesman, and lumber was a big thing in those
days, and I did mention at one time that we did have a lumber company, and they
lived on Cady right at the bottom of the school. There’s a vacant lot there
now. That was my grandmother’s home, and I spent a great deal of my time there
as a boy. We had a farm there. You could have horses in town. We had
horses that we kept in that barn. In fact we had a colt born there. Now, or
course, you can’t have horses in town. As I mentioned before, that was a dirt
road back in the early days.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: How about you and the other boys in high school? What
kind of activities did you get involved in?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Well, all kinds of things. Speaking of Joe Spagnuolo,
I had a Model T Ford. I had Joe on the inside, and I had a boy on both
running boards. It was a coupe. We tipped it over down on the
fairgrounds. We were fooling around and we tipped over, and the fellow on
the board that it fell on, ran; his name was Art Mitchell. The fella on the
other side flew like a rocket and landed on his chest and skinned himself up
pretty bad. The car landed on Joe’s side; his foot was caught, and he was
squealing just like a … but he wasn’t really hurt. I crawled out, and we got
these other two fellas (the one that ran, and the one that was all scratched
up, Kenny Chapel) and we picked up the car to get Joe’s foot out and then we
told him “Quick, get out of here”.. “You gotta help us pick it up and we gotta
get outta here before we get in trouble”. So we tipped it up. You know
they were mean. You had the old rain trough on the side, but it like 1/8” thick
steel, it didn’t even dent that darned old Model T. But Joe and I when we both
worked in the summertime, we’d take a ride and drive up to Walled Lake in that
Model T. I worked always in the corner drugstore as a soda jerk for years and
enjoyed that. At that time the drugstore would be open until 10:00 every night
of the week and midnight on Saturday. That was just a way of life. I would go
from school to football practice and then I would run back and be at the
drugstore at 6:00 and work until 10:00 and then go home and go through the
routine again. It was the good old days. We had a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Speaking of the stores. How different are the businesses
now than when you moved here. What changes have been made? Like a so-and-so
store is now this, what was it then?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: One thing. The grocery store you were served everything.
You people remember that. C. F. Smith Store. We had an A&P
Store on the main street where in some of what are now the old buildings. We
had a meat market, and they would butcher the animals right there and you would
get fresh meat. I remember Mr. Freydl, that would be Charlie Freydl’s father
and Mr. Ponsford. Beth Lapham’s father. They both had stores here
when I was a boy. You would see them at dark in the wintertime; you’d go by,
and they’d be sewing. They’d have their eye shade on light, and they sewed
suits and made clothes right in their shops in their tailor shops.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Were they in the same location as Lapham’s and Fredl’s
still are?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: I thought Lapham’s was across the street. One of them was
across the street, but I don’t know which one. I remember the depression and
the bank failure, and that wiped out a great deal of people including my
father, absolutely went broke. He was a stockholder in the bank, and
stockholders at that time not only lost what they had but they had to match
what their stock was worth. In other words, if you had $2,000 worth of stock,
you lost that, and now you had to pay $2,000. Those were the rules back in the
old days. He had the foundry and of course he kept thinking things were going
to turn around, and he didn’t want to lay his people off. Before he got done,
he had a farm out here. I used to take my pony and cart and go off to the farm
at Ten Mile near Beck and pick up vegetables and bring them in and sell them in
town. That was before my dad went broke, that was back when he owned the farm.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Now this Great Salem Train Wreck, that was before your
time?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah, I don’t remember that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Jack Hoffman tells about it in his book. I don’t know
what year that was. Probably in the 1800’s.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah, I don’t remember that. Course, I do remember and
I’m sure you’ve heard of this hill Buchner’s Hill. We used to go to the top of
that with a sled, and we’d post someone at Randolph Street. You could go from
there to the Fairgrounds. You had to have a sentry posted along the route
because you flew out, and here comes a car.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Was there still ski jumping down there on the other side
of Seven Mile?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: I think there was some big ski jumps that were held
there, but that’s before my time. But as a boy, we did a lot of skiing
there and we built jumps. But I think there were some professional
jumpers there. Course, the Northville Fair was a big deal.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: It was the Wayne County Fair, wasn’t it?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Northville Wayne County Fair, and we used to have a
beautiful horse show. <b><br />
Jean</b>: They would come from all over to show their horses. There would
be the hunters, the jumpers, and I had good friends from Ann Arbor that came,
and all their children would jump and they’d have the judges and ribbons….<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Harness racing, but there was no betting. They had the
poultry exhibits and the sheep and the pigs and the whole thing. They had
the business exhibits. I remember my dad always had his furnaces on
display. There usually would be a contest. I remember he used to
have something for the person who guessed closest to the number of ears of
corn. It was a big attraction. And then we had the midway and side
shows, and it was run by Northville businessmen. I remember I worked for
Bill Foreman in his little office, and he was in charge of concessions at the
Fair. So I had free passes to all the concessions. It was a lot of
fun.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: How much building was there then? Was the
grandstand…?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: The grandstand was just a piece of what it is now.
I’m not sure, they probably tore that down. I can’t remember, but I would
say the grandstand would hold a thousand people, don’t you think, Jean?
At least. They’d come and they’d have fireworks, and they’d have harness
racing.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: And was the track the same size?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, I think it was always a half-mile track. On
the infield was where Northville High School played football. There were
no seats. People would stand along the sidelines, and they put the
goalposts up. All our track events were held here. The track was
used for running, and later, probably, in mid 30’s they moved the football out
to Hines Park. You know where that football field is?</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: That would be the Cass Benton Park? The
playing fields were in Cass Benton Park; where are they located now?<b> </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MR. AMBLER</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: In Hines Park, ‘cause Cass Benton Park was just that
little park. Then when the whole parkway went through, Hines Park
surrounded it; but if you recall Cass Benton is just that little circle
there. I used to go out there for picnics. You remember that Jean, going
out to Cass Benton for picnics, and then it became surrounded. That Hines
Park was a beautiful addition to the park system. Cass Benton, I think,
made the contribution of that original property for a park.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Where in that area is the precise location where they
played football?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: It would be west. Between Center and Northville
Downs, and Cass Benton Park, the first entrance way to the left going
east. You’re going south, the first entrance way going east, and would
run right into the football field. There are tennis courts down there.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: There are baseball fields… and soccer fields?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Probably now. At that time and again, I don’t
remember, they might have put up tiers of seats, but basically, you stood on
the sidelines and watched football. At one time, the only transportation
for the teams was people who would volunteer to drive.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Rather than walk?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Oh yeah. You ran down to that field, that was a
pretty good hike to start with. You practiced and then you ran
back. Those things are so different. The enthusiasm of the
coaches. I remember Ted Roth would organize breakfasts, and we’d go there
at 6:00 in the morning to breakfast basketball. You’d bring your cereal
and whatever you wanted to eat, and you’d practice for two hours, and they were
very enthusiastic. No different in that regard that I can see.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Quite a heritage of sports in high school here.
What do you remember about bowling on the green?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Oh yeah. Bowling on the green? You mean at
Clement and Seven Mile? Mr. Cobbflesh lived there and he was an
Englishman and he built a green. I remember my dad would go up there and
I would watch them and they would bowl on the green. About Mr.
Cobbflesh. I have a paper here which you’re welcome to look at if you
like and you’ll probably remember, and it shows a picture of Mr. Cobbflesh, Dr.
Cavell, Dr. Alexander and my dad and Fred Light, that was the school board at
that time. Mr. Cobbflesh was the fellow who lived on the corned that you
talked about. There is still a big house there.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Would that be the northeast corner of Clement and Main
Street?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes. If you went up Main Street, once you
got past Clement, there was nothing. In fact the road didn’t go all the
way through to Beck. We used to go up there, and it was Bloom’s
woods. It was beautiful in its natural setting. We’d bounce around
up there in our old Model T’s and things like that, but you didn’t drive a car
in that area. It was like driving through the woods. In fact, a
young man, Dale Bray, who later became head of the Entomology Department of
Delaware University, loved bugs and all nature when he was a boy, and he would
hike. He recently visited us because we live in that general vicinity,
and he said, “I remember across the street from where you are now there was an
artesian well, and I used to drink water over there”. And sure enough,
it’s still there. We went over there and looked at it. In fact, he
had it dredged it out and made a pond there. <b><br />
Jean</b>: You remember the Hammonds who lived there? In fact that’s
the property where the artesian well is.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: I probably should search my memory for some of
the interesting things that I’m sure I can’t remember. <b><br />
Jean</b>: You had a grandmother…<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: My grandmother Ambler that was the wife of the lumber
company, Ambler Pond, lived to be 103 and she still had all her
faculties. She lived there below the school almost until she was in her
80’s and then she went to a rest home. She had all kinds of tales, and I
didn’t learn enough from her. <b><br />
Jean</b>: It’s too bad we didn’t take more down.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: It’s too bad we didn’t have tape recorders back in those
days. It’s hard to take dictation and write some things down.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: And to get people like you to draw this
out. You don’t find too many who will do it. I think it’s a real
service to the community.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Thank you. It’s amazing what you learn.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: You talked about the Depression. I remember my dad
telling me that he had this employee, and he had to lay him off, and he didn’t
have unemployment compensation, and they had very little money. This
fellow would go home and my dad would tell me, he’d ask the kids, “What do you
want? We can have hamburger tonight or a meal of meat or you can just have rice
and potatoes. If you forego the meat you can each have a dime to go to
the movies.” And the kids would like to take the dime and go to the
movies. But it was sometime and I can’t remember but I’m sure this is
recorded in history, Henry Ford came along with that $5 a day. I don’t
know when that was but it was during the Depression. That was big
money. People were working for thirty cents an hour and less. A $1
a day was not uncommon. I would go out to Meadowbrook and caddy and I
would get a dollar, and men would work all day for a dollar. There have
been a lot of changes. I thought that little piece of about some of the
suffering that people endured during the depression was important.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Was your means of employment caddying at the golf
course?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: I caddied, I mowed lawns, I worked in the drugstore, I
pedaled papers. I’d start downtown and I would walk down to the Ford
Plant, and then I would go up Griswold Street to the railroad bridge; then I
would walk down the railroad track and over to the cider mill and back and
catch the part of town and go back. There was a problem. I don’t
know what it was, I don’t think I ever measured it, but it was a good hike.<br />
<b>QUESTION:</b> What paper was it?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The News</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Times</i>. The afternoon papers.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Did you have any trouble collecting? Most kids
did.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: We did. I had one lady stop me one morning. I
collected maybe $2 at that point. She stopped me. She lived right
on Main Street. She was with her husband. He was an invalid.
They were on some kind of state aid. She called me in and said “Can you
loan me $2?” She was in tears. “Our money hasn’t come and we don’t
have anything to eat.” And I gave her $2. When I got back to the
paper station, did I catch hell for doing that. But by golly, she got her
check within a couple days, and she called me in and paid me back the $2.
To borrow from a paperboy, you gotta be in pretty dire straits.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: It’s a good reflection of the times.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: It sure is. I remember Saturday nights, very distinctly,
and I’m sure Jean does too. You’d go downtown and the farmers came in with
their horses and buggies. And they tied them and they did their shopping. Maybe
you remember we had treasure hunts. Whenever you bought something from a
participating merchant you got a little ticket with a number on it, maybe a six
digit number. Then on Saturday night, they would draw numbers and each store
would have a giveaway. It might be an electric clock here, or a toaster here,
or a shirt here. They’d put up the numbers, and everyone would come and look at
all their numbers and see if they won a prize, and the same thing with the
theater. You’d go in the theater. Remember when they advertised? <b><br />
Jean</b>: Remember the dishes? What were those dishes called?
Depression Glass. They would have sets of those that they would give away at
the movie theaters. On Saturday nights they would always have a street dance.
This was every Saturday night.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Where was the held? What part of the street?<b><br />
Jean</b>: I would say between Main and Dunlap.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: I can remember them in both locations, between Main
and Dunlap on Center and between Center and the next street on Main-Center and
the Theater on Main.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: What music was it?<br />
<b>Jean</b>: They had a band.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: They’d bring in a band. When races first started, they
started having harness races. There was a fellow who owned Coles Bar, Mr. Cole
and he actually went down and figured the odds and took the bets, and there was
no government control. He was a bookie. Then, when they finally came in with
the track they wanted an announcer. We had a clothier named
____(inaudible) and he had a P.A. system on top of his car, and he would go
down there and announce the races. He then ended up as General Manager of
Northville Downs. They came in from Livonia Rack Track, Wolverine, and actually
offered him double his salary if he would come and take that over. So he started
off with just this P.A. system and doing kind of a community service, and boom,
ended up as his career.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: This might be a good time. I don’t know whether
anyone else has covered this. What is the difference between the Racing Club
and Northville Downs?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yeah. Yeah. The property is not owned by the Downs. That
was the original Wayne County Fair property. My father was a stockholder in
that and each share was worth about $10 as originally purchased. I can’t tell
you how many shares, but there weren’t a great number of shares. When the
race track started, some of the people went out and bought up the shares wherever
they could. I remember I was working in Chelsea and a fella came to me and
said, “I have four shares of Northville Wayne County stock, and I’ve been
offered $50 a share.” I said, “Don’t sell it, it’s worth a lot more than
that.” I think today it’s worth several thousand dollars per share.
Anyway, the Driving Club owns the property and the Downs leases the property
from the Driving Club. They are two different organizations.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Is it the Driving Club then that’s expanding the
grounds?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes, I think the grandstand may be the responsibility of
the Downs based on their contract but the Driving Club owns the property. Mike
Allen, of course, have you talked to Mike? He would be a good one.
He started his monument work in his garage down next to my dad’s foundry.
When I was a boy, Mike was just a young guy. He’s quite an artist.
He designs all those tombstones. He would be up there chiseling away at
that granite making tombstones. He knows the history very well of
Northville. Course he was the mayor here-longest serving mayor of any
community. He would have a lot of history for you.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I’ll look him up. Tell us about your dad
again.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: My dad’s name was Sherill Ambler, and he owned the Ambler
Furnace and Foundry Works. He was on the school board, he was on the
Village Council, and was clerk on the Township. He served in many
political categories, and he was active in the Exchange Club and active on the
Bank Boards which helped wipe him out. He owned a lot of property.
He owned three or four stores and several houses and lost all of them including
that one hundred-twenty acre farm which I wish I owned right now out on Ten
Mile. I had a little brother who died at age nine and that was a terrible
tragedy for our family naturally.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: What was it, an accident?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: He had an asthmatic attack. He was given some
adrenaline that speeds up your heart. It was going too fast, and they
gave him a counteractive shot and it ___(inaudible). Remember, Jean, this
was back when we were probably in high school or in junior high when they redid
the street of downtown Northville. There used to be curbs there 30”
high. You’d have to step up to get up to the sidewalks. The sidewalks
were the upper level. They came through and redid the downtown streets,
and now they have done them again. What was that five years ago?
1982? I would imagine that’s about 50 years that they redid them the
first time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: [Inaudible question about church.]<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: This was 1928 I remember that. They dedicated
Fellowship Hall at the Methodist Church. They built that Fellowship
Hall. Now they built the new Methodist Church. The Catholic Church
was a little old church.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Rebuilt considerably?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Oh, completely rebuilt.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Was it in the same location?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes. Same location. And the Lutheran Church was
completely rebuilt. Presbyterian Church has been renovated, but it’s the
same original structure. The same with the Baptist Church. They’ve
all stayed pretty much the same, as I recall.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Which is your church?<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MR. AMBLER</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: The Methodist Church.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: Your father and mother were married in the Methodist Church
and we were married there and our daughter there. <br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: My mother graduated from Northville High School
in 1912.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: What was her name?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Liotta Kenyon. I don’t think my dad graduated
here. I think he went to business school in Detroit. Jean had a
pin; we lost it; that was my mother’s that said 1912. It fell off.
My great grandfather was instrumental in splitting Northville Township and
Plymouth Township out of the combined townships. Each of them are
one-half the size. They’re eighteen square miles instead of thirty-six
square miles.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: Why did they split, do you think?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: I don’t remember. This was about Mr. Amerman and
there’s those school board members that I mentioned. You’ve probably seen
that in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Northville Record</i>. That
was about Russ Amerman--musta been when he retired. <b><br />
Jean</b>: This is Dr. Alexander. He was a dentist. You
remember Lu and Ed Angold, they’re both gone now. Louise is dead.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: I read of an old cousin of my dad’s who is still
alive and he gave me those prints along with a letter. <b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jean</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:
Here’s Ida B. Cooke, right here. This lady right here. Oh, these
are all the teachers. Here’s Mrs. Chapman. Miss Palmer was the
Latin and the French teacher. There’s Thad Mann and Mr. Amerman that you
were talking about.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: What about the opera house?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: The opera house, of course, was no longer in use when
we were youngsters. My mother and her sister did perform there at one
time in the distant past. I remember, if you call it, “breaking in”, and
as I recall, the stage was upstairs on the second floor and there were big
stage curtains. The lower floor was shops.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Jack Hoffman’s book has pictures taken inside there.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: I have the book, but I don’t remember.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: I think these were taken from the Ford Archives.
It says Henry Ford was dying to get his hands on that building and move it to
Greenfield Village. The fellow that owned it refused to sell it to
Ford. He burned it down instead.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Henry, of course, used to drive out here. He was
out here weekly. He drove around, and my father knew him a little bit
because he had a business. I don’t recall that he ever sold anything to
the Ford Motor Company; they at least became associated through their business
connections.<br />
<b>Jean</b>: Where was Sam Pickard’s meat market?<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: That was in the opera house on the first floor. <b><br />
Jean</b>: You would walk in the opera house and there would be the wood
shavings on the floor and he would have his meat. You would get a pound
of hamburger for ten cents.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: I imagine Dr. Atchison probably told you, but you know
Jean and I lived above the office when he was a young practicing physician.<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: You mean the place on the corner of Dunlap and…?<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes. It was a hospital when Jean was a girl. Her
father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse. They had a pretty good
size hospital. <br />
<b>Jean: </b>We would have the surgeons come out there, and they would
operate and deliver babies and everything else.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: Then, Russell had his practice, but there weren’t all the
hospitals around like there are now. Any accidents that took place on
Grand River between Brighton and Redford, they’d bring to his office and he
would work them over and fix them up. Freddie Casterline’s ambulance was
just running all the time with Grand River accidents and bringing them in
here. Another thing, the main road coming in from Novi came straight down
and curved around by the cider mill. They used to have a lot of
accidents there. That was a sharp curve. There was a railroad track
there; we had lots of accidents with cards getting hit by trains. You
crossed the old black top.<br />
<br />
<b>QUESTION</b>: When we first visited Northville, we could drive right
on through there.<b><br />
MR. AMBLER</b>: Yes. If anybody was going out Eight Mile, they had
to come up through town and go up and right through Randolph. They’d come
right down to Baseline and turn and go up Center. If they came Seven Mile
they went through town and around Rogers and out. That’s all they had.<br />
<b>MR. AMBLER</b>: That’s probably it.</span></div>
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<![endif]-->NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-17396494495923304692013-06-26T06:44:00.000-04:002013-07-20T15:27:20.536-04:00Russell A. Amerman<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Past Superintendent of
Schools<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>212 West Street</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Northville, MI<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>48167</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Tuesday, July 19, 1988</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">NOTE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions (Q) have been edited;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Answers of Mr. Amerman (A) are exact as
possible;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…. Indicates inaudible
portion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I’m Russell Amerman, Superintendent of Schools in Northville.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Would you tell us when you came here, Mr. Amerman, and what it was like?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I came here in the Fall of 1927 – there weren’t any paved streets and they
had just discarded the electric trolleys.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– What schools did we have in town then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– As one, we had the old high school on Main Street, back of that was the grade
school that burned in 1936; then we built the one over on Main Street.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So we had the grade school facing Cady Street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– That was facing the old West Street.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Were you a teacher, in which school were you teaching?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
<b>A</b>– I started out as high school principal, served in that capacity for six
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Superintendent was Thad
Knapp, he died suddenly in April, 1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The School Board let me take his place.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">An
interesting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sidelight, he came to me on
Thursday afternoon, the Superintendent – said we’re in a mess financially, out
of money, got to have a Board meeting Friday, I mean Monday, and tell the
faculty what’s up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know any
reason why we shouldn’t hold a meeting?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
said, “No, that’s all right with me.”</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
went home and died that night, and I had to call the meeting Monday, take over.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So when you took it over, the finances were in a mess?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Oh yes, we had to issue script to the teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t know how to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went to the Superintendent in Plymouth, a
good friend of mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said he didn’t
know anything about it either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We’ll
have to work it out together.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we did.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Who was the Plymouth Superintendent that helped you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– George Smith.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So they had issued scrip to teachers?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– No, they had to, he says let’s work it out together. We did.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– How long did that situation last, do you think?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– About a year, and then people began to pay their back taxes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– They hadn’t paid their taxes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– They gave them a ten-year moratorium, pay their taxes as they could.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Why had things been so bad here in town?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– The beginning of the Depression, the banks closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put my paycheck in at the end of the school
years and when I was ready to draw it, I heard that the bank was closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were two of them, one closed before the
other one did – mine was in the bank that closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had nothing to live on that summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got in touch with my insurance company and
borrowed enough to get by on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So you borrowed on your insurance to get through the summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The school was able to open in the Fall?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– On a shoestring – cut everybody’s salary 27%, got the scrip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Who would accept the scrip?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A </b>– Here in town, Ed Bogart ran the E & B
Grocery (now Genitti’s, 108 E. Main Street); Bob Willoughby of Plymouth, the
same way, he’d take it if we’d buy shoes, and we’d need shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those were hard times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– How long did that last?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
remember?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– About a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it began to come
in, and we could begin to retire the scrip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As they would pay the taxes, we’d end scrip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b>Q</b></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
– Just plain the mechanics – how did you get scrip?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you have somebody print it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I think I got the help of an attorney to word it, so it’d be legal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the <i>Northville Record</i> printed it, if
I’m not mistaken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So the attorney advised the <i>Record</i> on how to print it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because you’re a good money man, did you know
how much scrip to print?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– We had to guess at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– You’d print a thousand dollars at a time?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I don’t know whether we had more than one printing or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a lot of it – quite a bit to
destroy..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>………</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– After that calamity year (what a heck of a way to start, huh?) – how did
things go after that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Slowly.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Oh, it didn’t pick up fast?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A
–</b> It was bad until the war (WWII) came on, everything turned again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So you had seven years of coping with no money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– In the meantime, we had the building burn, in 1936 the old grade school that
faced West Street, burned in January.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
placed those kids in different buildings around town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>American Legion loaned us their
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bank that had closed, they
loaned us the first floor of their building (Lapham State Bank, northeast
corner of Main and Center Streets).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where Harry Vellum is, that belonged to Ray Richardson and he loaned
that to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to put partitions
down through the middle, put two classrooms in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A house on Main Street, where the Recreation
Building is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the Boy Scouts had
a building where the drive-in bank is now, that nice little brick building (northwest
corner Dunlap and Hutton), used to be the kindergarten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one woman was trying to muster up the
people in the district about the school system, better do something about it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– In the middle of all this, she complained?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– A man, he sent me a copy of the letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I invited her to come and see me, we’d talk this over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She couldn’t understand why we couldn’t have
a school as good as Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she got
in a fight with her neighbor and moved away, so that was that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– She wouldn’t have been happy anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What building was built to replace this grade school then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>- The grade school on Main Street which
opened in 1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a prize winning
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll tell you how we got that
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got $30,000 from that
building that burned, WPA put in $40,000, we passed a bond issue for
$27,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thirty-some people voted for
the bond issue, most of them teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No
cheap building - $97,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had $100,000
to work on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got through, we had
$5,000 left over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I got in touch
with the WPA to (return) that extra money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They said “Landscape the building, since you did so well, with coming
through, with something left over.”</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– So the WPA would also give money to places, did you use WPA workers on the
job?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Yes, lot of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The contractor did
all right by us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– What buildings did we have next?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– About five years later, we built and addition to that building on the
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then about 1950, we built the
first section of the Amerman School.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– How did you feel about it being named for you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I fainted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the committee to
set up the name for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They announced
at a PTA meeting, “We’re going to give the name for the new school
tonight.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “How can you do that,
you never had a meeting.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They smiled a
little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They announced it at a PTA
meeting in Main Street School.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
first part of Amerman School opened in 1950-55 (1953 by records) and the grade
school children were split between Amerman and Main Street Schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music, art and gym teachers shuttled between
the two buildings, shared time.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
–What buildings came next?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Well,…buying property, bond issued, we planned for a new high school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– How did you get that prime property?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I went up there looking around, it was all covered with cattails and so on,
and I said to Eural Clark, who was on the School Board, “That’s the place for
the new high school.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went along with
me and he said, “That’s it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we got
ready to choose a site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They formed a
committee, along with the architect, they reviewed five different places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they got through, that was the place for
the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an old gravel pit,
so it wasn’t worth much at that time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Who owned<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I don’t know – first we bought the Amerman School site off’n; that property,
ten acres, I think it was, then we bought the rest of it for the high
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as we were buying it, the
county (Wayne) came to us and said, “We want to put a cut-off through
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, are you going to stop
us?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “No, you may have the land
for so much an acre, put a bridge over to the north area so we can get to the athletic
field and fence in the Amerman School on the highway.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They jumped at the offer, did everything they
said they would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thought they’d put a
decent little hand bridge across there, but they built – I understand it cost
them $50,000 to build that bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
was around 1955 (1958 by records).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
when the high school was almost built, that’s when the airplane came down in
the backyard next to the Amerman School, just a few feet missing where the kids
were loading the buses to go home.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– It tore all those trees down as it went through that little grove.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b>A</b></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
– No, it was Main Street School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(There
were two plane crashes, one near Main Street School (1959) and one on the high
school grounds (1982).)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– How about Cooke School on Taft Road?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– We discovered we needed two more schools, another elementary and a junior
high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when we selected the sites
for Cooke School, and the one on Eight Mile Road, the Moraine School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was my last year on the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the Board, I said, “I think you’re
going to throw dirt on these sites when a new man comes on.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They said, “We’re going to do it while you’re
here and we know what that is.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said,
“You’re only kidding me!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I never
really knew what<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For another three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No decision was made, so age 65 came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I didn’t build those two schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b>Q</b></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
– Was there anything in your time that was especially pleasing to you, that
really made you happy or proud?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
- ……… well, I have to back up – it was a bond issue we were after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raising the money to build a building, to
finance it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Board of Education came
up with the idea we’d ask for eight mils for five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The PTA came in and said, “That isn’t enough,
if you’ll vote ten mils for ten years, we’ll see that it passes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was a delightful day, I must say
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was put on the ballot and it
passed, so we got our new school and we had the funds to operate it, for the
high school – all the necessary expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That ten years ran out the year I retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said to the Board ……<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I don’t have to have another bond
issue.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh, yes you do, if you do it
now, it’ll pass.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– You served on some kind of financial group for schools, after you retired as
Superintendent, didn’t you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Not for schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was chairman of the
committee that built the Allen Terrace, and the parking deck – been on that
committee since 1970, still on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
parking deck is all paid off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
building authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allen Terrace
preceded me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they got ready to do
it, then they tapped me to be on the committee to float the bond issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– That’s the trouble with people trusting you.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– Jack Hoffman was Secretary, Bob Freydl was Treasurer and I was Chairman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still Chairman; we don’t have anything to
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to stay in existence until
the bond issue’s paid off on Allen Terrace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s our building until the city finishes paying for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the committee has Elroy Ellison on it,
and Bruce Turnbull.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to meet once
a year to see that the city’s paying its bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are, so far, no problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They keep raising the rent so they can meet the bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now they have a financial department, for
some other things that wore out in 10 years time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Building some more to Allen Terrace is just
talk, as far as I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– We were once talking about consolidation, when a bunch of one-room schools
decided to close ….</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– In the fifties, we absorbed – I think it was eight, primary school districts
(in surrounding political areas).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
haven’t asked a one of them to come in, they asked to be annexed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The (DeKay) school, west of Northville on
Seven Mile Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building burned,
they had to do something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thayer was on
Napier at Six Mile Road.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Mrs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A </b>– Chapman School District (at Nine Mile and
Taft).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A
-</b> ………. Rosella Lee taught school there for awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was another on Seven Mile near Haggerty
(Hinman) and one near Meadowbrook Road (Yerkes) we split with Novi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took the part that had Meadowbrook (Golf
Course) and was in Wayne County, Novi took the part that was in Novi Township.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p>B</o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">aseline,
there’s an academy there now (William Allen Academy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Waterford School District at Six Mile and
Bradner Road – eighteen acres in there and they came to us and said, “I’d like
to sell that property.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think they
paid $25,000 an acre for it, bought the whole business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we took over the Waterford School
District….. said, “What’s in it for us?”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We
said, “Well you can help pay taxes in the school district and have a high
school to send your kids to and if you ever need a big school out here, we’ll
build one for you, and look what they have in Waterford, there’s awfully good
schools out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meads Mill and
Winchester – instead of one school, we built them two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That satisfied them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Waterford District went east to Haggerty Road, and south to Five Mile, part of
that was in the Plymouth School District.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The part near Five Mile didn’t want to come to Northville; they had been
sending their high school kids to Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Needless to say, we worked that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“If you’ll vote to join Northville District, we’ll let Plymouth District
have what they want.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So
the Waterford District was split – small section went to Plymouth, the rest
came to Northville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Did any of the teachers come to Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– One came, she actually taught in the old school building, but left at the end
of the year. K Can’t think of any others that came our way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Did you have any other characters to deal with?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– There was a man whose kids went to high school with us, and he came in and he
wanted to dictate how we operate the program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He and I had quite a few rounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I always won out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he told a
man I know, “Amerman and I are very close friends, we’ve been buddies for
years.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Amerman School celebrates Amerman Day each spring, the kids are so thrilled
to see you and Mrs. Amerman!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– They had a very beautiful one this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The teachers and the PTA – they had the regular ice cream social.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– What date did the Union School burn?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– 1916.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a public school,
tax-supported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building that I told
you about first (burned in 1936), that was built as a high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the next building, where the Union
School was, was an elementary school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When they did build a new high school, they turned the old high school
over to grade school purposes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When our
grade school burned, some of the people thought we ought to build a new high
school and use the present high school for a grade school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Let’s do it right for once and build
a building that’s built for elementary school kids!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do they always have to be
second-best?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our School Board thought
that that was a good idea.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Main Street was an award-winning school, what was your idea of a grade
school?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– They said that building (Main Street) is obsolete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “I must be too, ‘cause I helped build
it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, they have different
libraries and facilities – we couldn’t afford it in those days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We
owned that property where they built the building before I got here; took out
two or three houses, I don’t know why – so we’d build the grade school there,
……. They had no play yard to speak of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Had five hundred kids in that building once… When they built the Amerman
School, they decided that could be a building for walkers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m quite proud of many things that did
happen over the years.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– You could plan and forecast so well, you could look ahead.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– It took a lot of work to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School
censuses we took in those days- house to house, people – (we paid them), and
they’d ask what age children were there. ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They don’t take the census like that anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know how they manage it now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You
know the building that burned, the grade school, they had spent a year with the
WPA helping renovate it, rewired it, built a new chimney for it, and fire
escapes, this was a two–story building all –wood structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In January (1936) the building burned down,
but before that, in the Fall, I went over to the building during recess and the
teachers were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Have you
folks used this fire escape yet?” (chutes)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“No,”
they told me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Every
teacher’s supposed to use that fire escape to see how it’ll work out for the
kids.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">May
Babbitt spoke up to me, and she said, “Have you been down the fire escape?”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
said, “No, I’m over here to do that.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">She
said, “I’ll go right now, if you will.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Okay.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">She
said, “You go first.”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
didn’t know kids had been coasting down on was paper – they were slippery as
they could get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I could just see a white sheet following me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That teacher got in so quick, she came
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I landed on my back, rolled over,
and she landed right on top of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
thought those teachers would die laughing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had a lot of fun with the staff over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went back to work, she went home to change
her clothes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She remembers it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She taught fourth grade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Mrs.
A</b> – Dave (their son) was in her grade down<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>…….. at the time of the fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their class was housed in that building on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the Legion Building; it’s the
bedspread place or flower shop now (341 E. Main Street).</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– People were so good to us, to help us house those kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within a week after that building burned, we
were back in business again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Legion house, Henry Ford had given it to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ford bought all that property, he owned everything, most of it anyway,
up to Hutton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He might not have owned
the corner building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He built the valve
plant about that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think they said
he built the building in 1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was
the years we had our fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
Wisconsin as we left, they were celebrating their hundredth anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we moved to Northville in August 1927,
they celebrated their hundredth anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told ‘em we thought they were celebrating our arrival in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Centennial set-up that Sliger
(<i>Northville Record</i> Jack Hoffman) intended to start in 1969, I got him out my
copy to use in his next book seeing the way he needed to get hold of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So foolishly I lent it to him and never saw
it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if you can run that down
and get your fingers on it, you can verify what I told you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jack
was sick with his heart attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were
very good friends, we worked together so many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He moved to Indian River.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought Bruce Turnbull told me one day,
he’d seen a copy of my paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody
has it here in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent a lot
of research on that, with access to the books in the school and so on.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– The write-up – is it typed, is it 8 ½ x 11 pages. How many pages?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– I’m not sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t, say, sense it
to the early years of Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
the Depression years, the War years, and the building years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did it after I retired………<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did the typing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Took a lot out of my brain, not much left
now.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Interviewer
note – Diane Rockall, Archivist for the Northville Historical Society, located
his six-page manuscript in Mill Race files and we were able to return it
Wednesday, July 20, 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had made
copies for the Historical Society and the Library.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
– Did the War years affect the schools?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A
–</b> Averil Green and I were co-chairmen to sell bonds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s since dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We headed a group to sell bonds for the war
effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we had super rationing –
they put that on the schools too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
to ration the sugar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We set two or three
days for it. These days the people would pile in there, tell how much sugar
they had on hand, so then we could ration sugar to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d give them stamp books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not gasoline rationing.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Mrs.
A</b> – Tell about the woman who came to the door, she’d forgotten to tell them
that she had some sugar in the sugar bowl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And she wouldn’t want her John to have to go to prison.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>
– She said, “This is terrible, keep my husband out of jail!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Don’t worry, we’ll save him from the
authorities.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was honest. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Ford dealer had a hundred pounds of sugar on hand, he loved canning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he didn’t get any sugar from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was his bit – he was honest when he said
he had it ………</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Another
thing for the reputation of Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were one of the first schools to put in driver education (1946).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was mandated by the state legislature,
supposed to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They paid the cost of
driver ed, Ford Motor furnished the cars, did for years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We
had the first safety patrols in schools (1937).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were no crossing guards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Interviewed
by C. Phelps Hines and Marian Hines</span>NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-5238689833900878362013-06-26T06:40:00.000-04:002013-07-25T11:43:05.671-04:00Ruth Angell<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Interviewed
by Diane Rockall on July 22, 1988.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>DR:</b> Let’s start with your early childhood. I noticed that
you were not born in Northville. Where were you born?<br /><b>Angell:</b> I was born in Redford, Michigan, July the 4<sup>th</sup>, 1915
on a farm that Grandpa Angell owned on Grand River right across from Grandlawn
Cemetery.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> How big of a
farm was it?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> It reached from Grand River to Seven Mile. In the
spring of 1916, he bought a farm at Nine Mile and Napier for my father.
So we moved up on the farm. It was on the Northeast corner of Napier and
Eight Mile. So they farmed until the spring of 1926 when our father
passed away and mother was left at age 38 with three children to raise and 80
acres. My sister was ready for high school so she had this house built
and that’s where we’ve been ever since.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So your family
is the only family that has lived in this home then?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Mother had the house built. She paid $1200 for the
lot and had the house built for $7500 material and labor. We kids all
finished high school and my sister got married, my brother got married, but I
never did.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Were you the
youngest?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I was in the middle. My sister’s older. She
lives in Royal Oak. She’s a widow and my brother lives down on
Meadowbrook Road and he’s a carpenter at Schoolcraft College. It’ll be 17
years next month that he’s been a carpenter over there and he’s retirement age
but doesn’t want to retire.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What are their
names?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> John and Jean</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What are some
of the first things you remember about living in Northville when you were
eleven years old?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> There was lots of children in the neighborhood then.
In 1928 was when they first paved our street and we had lots of fun roller
skating.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Were most of the
other streets paved?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Just the main streets, I guess. The side street
wasn’t, I don’t think.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Were most of
the other houses in this neighborhood also built in that same time-period?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> They were all here and this one right next door was built
by a Civil War veteran.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> You said that
your father had died. Did he die in a farming accident?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> He and his father were spraying the orchard and in those
days you got a barrel of spray material. There was some other poison in
that barrel of spray. Dr. Atchison’s father was his doctor, Dr. R. E.
Atchison, and all they could do was put lead poisoning on the death
certificate. In those days you didn’t go off to a hospital. Then
his father died five days later.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> They both died
as result of this?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yes.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Was his wife
still living too, your grandmother?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yeah.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did she come
to live with you here?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> She lived at 324 S. Wing. They had moved up from
Redford in 1923.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did you come
to visit her before you moved into town?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Oh, yeah. We didn’t move in here until the
seventeenth of November so my sister and I stayed with Grandma Angell and just
went back home on weekends.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> You were
staying here so that you could go to school?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yes.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What kind of
memories do you have of your early schooling in Northville?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, I started here in the fifth grade and I went right
straight through graduation in the old High School building. That’s all
there was then. Well, there was another school building for the lower
grades but I went from the fifth right through graduation.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And all the
school buildings were right here only a few blocks away?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> The old High School was the one and then there was one
south of that that burned.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And that’s
where you went to grade school?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I didn’t’ go there, my brother did but he started the
fifth grade in the other high school.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And the
building that was the high school is the one that they use for the Board of
Education Offices now?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> It’s the other one. The old dark-colored brick one.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Can you
remember any of your teachers or any of the friends you had then?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> My first teacher here was Francis Steward. I think,
in the fifth grade and in the sixth grade I had Olive Eldon who had also been
my teacher in the country school out Eight Mile. I had a Mrs. Phillips
who was Yvonne Rawlings’ mother. Then there was quite a few
teachers. Mrs. Chapman was one of my teachers. Ione Palmer was a teacher.
Of course Mr. Amerman, I can remember when he came here in 1928 as
principal. Thad Knapp was one of the superintendents. We had a Mr.
Gordon.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What kind
classes did you take in high school?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Just the regular courses and I had a year of Latin and a
year of French from Ione Palmer. There was only 48 in our graduation
class and we have had our 25<sup>th</sup>, 35<sup>th</sup>, 45<sup>th</sup>, 50<sup>th</sup>
class reunion and next year we’ll have our 55<sup>th</sup>.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Are many of
the graduates still in the area?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Not too many. One girl, Vera Buckles down on Horton,
Ethel Hartner on Horton. Ware, her name is now and Vera’s name was
Horsfall, her maiden name. I’m trying to think who else. Well
Alfred Parmenter. I really don’t think there are any others.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> How many
graduates still come back to the reunions?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, there’s sixteen of them that have passed away and
we’re lucky if we have fifteen or sixteen. Probably half of the remaining
ones.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What kind of
things did you and your classmates do for recreation or entertainment?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Like I say, we rollerskated part of the time and then in
those days, too, we had the Wayne County Fair and so that was something to go
to every year before it got turned into the race track. Sometimes the
whole neighborhood would congregate out here on the driveway and we’d play
“spin the bottle” or something like that then come in the house when it got
dark and move the dining room table and we had a piano at that time and one of
the girls would play the piano and we’d play musical chairs. It’s a
wonder it didn’t drive Mother crazy.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What kind of
things do you remember that they had at the Wayne County Fair?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Oh, lots of things. Animals. All the animals
and then the farm produce displays. Mother used to raise vegetables when
we were still on the farm. My father would exhibit the grain and things
like that and Mother would take vegetables that she had raised. We’d come
down from the farm every afternoon and go to the Fair and go home and do the
chores, come back at night and see the program or whatever was out in front of
the grandstand and watch the fireworks.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> They had
fireworks every night?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I think they did, pretty much so.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did you have a
car on the farm at that time or did you have to come in on a horse and buggy?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I think we had a 1914 Ford. That was the first car I
know that we had. Before that when we used to come down to town in a
horse and buggy or a sleigh if it was winter time and leave the horse in a farm
there in town and then we’d take the street car and go down to Redford to
Grandma Angell’s.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And the street
car you could pick up in the center of Northville?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yes, right in the center of town. Then they’d go
down to the Ford factory and over to 8 mile and 8 Mile to Grand River and on
down. We’d get on right in from of Grandma’s house. That was a long
time ago. It was fun. I was downtown a couple years ago and went on
the People Mover and that was not exciting, no more than the street car.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What can you
remember about life in Northville in the 1920’s and the 1930’s?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> We came in 1926. It was just a nice little country
town. In those years you probably knew most everybody you saw and then as
it expanded, you didn’t know everybody. Of course in the Depression when
banks closed, that wasn’t very good either. I think then some of the
folks that wouldn’t speak to you before, got so they would.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Was there kind
of a class difference?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I suppose maybe there was, because there was some that
thought they were a little bit better than some of the other folks.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Do you think
that’s gone away now for the most part?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Everybody’s friendly now except there’s so many strangers
in town, you don’t know them. We used to be able to go uptown and speak
to most everybody we saw. Now you can’t.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Can you
remember any of the local businesses and the local business people?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, there was one man that ran the dry goods store, Mr.
White. There is a picture somewhere in the Historical Village that Mother
gave to them that he had given to her. We came down from the farm.
It was near Christmas time. He was a painter or had done oil paintings so
he had three pictures and he asked her which one she liked best. She
picked out this picture with a stone wall. It was a little old farm,
run-down barn or shack or shed or some sort behind it and she told him she
liked that the best. So he said, “Well, Merry Christmas!” So that we
have given to the Historical Society. And then there was Mr. Ponsford
that had the clothing store. We used to go in there to shop. Don
Ware’s mother had sort of a candy-ice cream store.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Where was that
located?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> On our side of Main Street, pretty much near where the
theatre or 5 and 10 cent store is, I think.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And the
clothing store was on the south side?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> South side, where Lapham’s store is now.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What about the
dry goods store?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> It was on the south side of Main Street, too as I
remember. Elliot’s Bakery was there for quite awhile. Schrader’s
store was up on North Center. Of course Schrader’s had been there a long
time. Old Nelson Schrader had the funeral parlor, too, at the time my
father and grandfather died. Ambler’s Hotel was on the southwest corner
of Center and Main. I think we used to go in there and get an ice cream
cone.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Do you
remember the fire that destroyed that hotel?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I think so. I remember the fire when these factories
down at the end of Cady Street burned. I remember when the Grade School
burned, because we stood here in the kitchen window and watched it. Oh,
and it was cold that morning, oh, gee! Then they had a big fire on Main
Street. I think that was in the Chevrolet Garage. As near as I can
remember, it was along where Harold Bloom’s Insurance office is. There
was a barber shop, Mr. Heatley’s Barber Shop… Bruce Turnbull’s father-in-law.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<b>DR:</b> And that was on the north side of Main Street?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yes.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> You’ve been
active in some organizations in town.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I used to belong to the B.P.W. (Business and Professional
Women’s Club). I belonged to the King’s Daughters and the Senior
Citizens, of course. In August of 1955, I started working in the
accounting office at the Northville State Hospital. Then I retired the
seventh of February, 1979.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Do you have
any stories from the Northville State Hospital?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> (laughing) Not that I’d want to tell.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> How long has
that hospital been there?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I think they brought the first patients in ’51.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So you were
one of the first employees.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Not really, because some of the first ones rode bulldozers
and walked planks to get in across the mud and all that but it was pretty well
settled when I got there. It wasn’t a bad place to work. In the earlier
years I was there, they had some patients that could come in and help with
typing or filing or little things like that. Then when I retired they had
a party at the Plymouth Hilton for me.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Between the
time you graduated from high school and the time you started working at
Northville State Hospital did you do anything else?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> For about five months, I was part-time help at the Ford
Garage, Ford Sales and Service. Before that, I guess, I don’t know, I
must have goofed off.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> How long have
you been a member of the King’s Daughters?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yvonne Rawlings could tell me right off the bat, I think,
because she has all those dates in her book.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What kind of
things did the organization do?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> They work with the poor people at Thanksgiving and
Christmas time handing out baskets and like that and then we do a lot of work
for Motts Children’s Hospital out there in Ann Arbor. The women knit,
crochet, or whatever and then we buy things for the children, coloring books
and crayons, things like that. It’s more a service club than anything,
really. So many of the older ones are passing on and there isn’t so many
of the younger one joining, although they do have some new members. It’s
just a good group to belong to. A lot of them in there that I’ve known
for years.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR: </span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did they have a
building in town?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> They meet at the Methodist Church.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Is it
affiliated with the church at all?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No, we just use it. We have pot luck dinners at the
beginning of the season. In the summertime we don’t have meetings and
then in January and February, we don’t because it’s too dangerous for the older
folks to get out on the ice. I’m getting so I’m one of them. I
don’t like to walk on the ice.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Can you tell
me the most memorable community event that you can recall?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Was it in 1927 when they had the 100<sup>th</sup>? I
can remember some of that. Well, I know we came to it because we were
here in town. They had speakers, I guess and the old City Hall then was
on the corner.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The street went
through at that time?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Wing Street did, yeah. Other than going to the Fair,
there wasn’t much excitement that we went through. Maybe the show once in
awhile.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> There was a
theatre in town?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I don’t know when that started, but we used to go up to
the show.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Where the
Marquis is now?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Penniman Allen Theatre, I guess is what it was called
then.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> In more recent
times, the airplane crash which happened in your own back yard… Would you like
to tell me about that?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Eighth of May, 1959 and we weren’t home. Thank
goodness I’d taken the afternoon off from work and Mother and I had gone to
Plymouth. When we came home I couldn’t get up Cady Street so I went down
Wing Street back to Fairbrook and came up 1<sup>st</sup> street. Here was
fire engines, police cars, people, and as we got nearer to this street, Mother
says, “Well, my house in on fire!” I said, “No it isn’t. There’s no
smoke.” They did let me in with my car. Well, out here in the
driveway was just all fragments of steel and metal. If my car had been
setting there it’d probably looked like it had swamp pox. We were just
fortunate that we weren’t here because if we had been and heard the noise that
everybody tells us there was, we’d have rushed right to the back door and had
it right in my face.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Your porch did
burn?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> A little bit. Mrs. Kohs put out one part of the fire
and then, of course, the firemen were here to put out the little spots on the
roof that were burning, but we were just lucky.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> There was the
one injury, the little boy that was playing?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Two children. Two King children.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> But there were
no fatalities?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No, because the pilot bailed out over in the park.
They next day, I think we had hundreds and hundreds of people here just to look
at the damage and at that time I had, a, at that time, 165 kinds of bearded
Iris which got burned and soaked with oil and our strawberry bed was just white
with blossoms and we’d have had 100 quarts if we’d have had one quart.
That was all gone, and of course the Government paid us for some of it.
So, that was the end of our Iris collection and I never got started again.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did they ever
say why the pilot bailed out of the airplane and let it crash into a city?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> The story went that he had what they call a stick
lock. He had no control, nothing.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So he couldn’t
move it away from the city?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> He’d probably been killed if he’d landed or stayed with
it. That’s all the real damage it did. It missed all the wires and
everything out here which was a miracle because he came straight down instead
of coming flat, why it was right straight down.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> How long did
it take you, after the crash, to get your house back in order?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> See, all it really did, beside the spots on the roof that
were burned, was knock the curtain rod off on one end of the back door.
We were just so lucky because one of the pieces of the airplane went across the
street, went through their front window and landed under the TV, but it didn’t
burn. Another part, it was part of the seat, I think it was, was in a
tree over on the east side of this lot next door to us.</span><br />
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Was that on a
school day?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> They were having grade-school at that time. That was
so close to the school yard. And the one bus driver said he almost froze
because he had a bus load of kids.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> He wasn’t too
far away from the school building was he?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No, ‘cause it was right when school was getting out.
It could’ve been a terrible thing if he’d have come in on a slant, but it
wasn’t to be.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What are some
of the biggest changes that you can see in the community over the past sixty
years?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> All the new subdivisions and houses. Every site you
look at, they’re building. And of course larger houses than what are
here, a lot of them. And the apartments and condos.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> At the time
that you moved in, there were other people building houses?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I suppose so, yes, but not in this neighborhood because
there was no place for them except this one next door. That was built in
1955. Grandma Ambler’s house was next to this one, next to the school
yard. She lived there for quite a while after we loved here. She
had three granddaughters that lived with her so we were together quite a bit.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Is that why you
called her Grandma Ambler because you knew her granddaughters?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> She was Grandma Ambler to everybody.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Was she the
wife of the man who had built the Ambler Hotel?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No. Thelma Ambler Shoultz. It was her folks
that had the hotel.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So the Grandma
Ambler you knew was a relative?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Her husband was a relative, I guess. A lot of these
houses around here were built by some of the Amblers but I don’t know which
ones. Of course they tore her house down so that’s just a vacant lot now.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> That’s the house
that they tore down because they were going to make the bus turn around for the
schools?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I think so. They had ideas over here that some
doctor or dentist had bought it and they were going to move a house there but I
don’t know.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What would
like to see come back that is gone?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, I’m sure if they had the Fair come back, it wouldn’t
be like the old Country Fair. We used to go up to the old Fish Hatchery
sometimes to look at the fish ponds or whatever they called them… I really
don’t know. I guess we stayed home. Well we had no car. We
had no way of getting anyplace. We’d take the streetcar or then when the
buses started running between here and Redford, why we could go on the
bus. Mr. Biddle used to have the bus company, at least I suppose he owned
it. I don’t know. We always called it Biddle’s Buses, anyhow.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Were they
operating in the 30s?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Must’ve been. I would think so. I don’t know
when the streetcar stopped running. It would have to be in that
Northville book somewhere, I would think. I still haven’t read that
book. I thought maybe when I retired, I’d sit down and read it, but I
haven’t yet. I’ll have to wait now ‘til I get moved before I have any
spare time.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Do you think
you are going to miss the house that you lived in for so many years?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. I
think I’m going to be glad to get into something smaller. That’s what I
think now. Maybe when it comes right down to the nitty gritty… but I
don’t think so. I don’t know why I don’t think I’ll feel bad, but I don’t
think I will because there’s so many people up there at Allen Terrace that I
know that there’s no way I’m going to be lonesome. I’ll see more people
than I do right here.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Can you think
of any other people, places, or things that we haven’t talked about that you
might like to share?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> We’ll when we moved here, Frank Hill and George Hill lived
up here where Mrs. Kohs lives now. Frank Hill had a son and George Hill
had a daughter that used to come down here and be with the rest of the
neighborhood kids. I can’t think who came in there after they
moved. There’s been a couple different families in there, I think, before
Mrs. Kohs came, but they’ve been there quite a long time. There’s been
several families across the street. When we came here some of the
Casterlines lived there. Ray Casterline’s parents. It has changed
hands quite a few times. And of course this house next door, when we
moved here, Mrs. Rowle and her two maiden daughters. I have a doll bed
that their father made and it has the square nails and just all made by
hand. They wanted me to have it before they passed on. So it’s
antique. Real antique. And that house has changed hands a few
times. The little house on the corner has changed hands. The one
across the middle of the block has. In back of us, they’ve all changed
hands. We’ve stayed put! Mother was 99 years and almost 5 months
old. She would’ve been 100 in December, so she probably was the oldest
person in Northville.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Did she ever
tell you any interesting stories about her growing up or her childhood?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> You mean before we came here?</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Yeah.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, she taught country school for three years before she
got married.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And where was
that?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Down in Redford. She was born in Redford. So
was my father. She used to tell about walking to school, building her own
fire, and doing her own janitor work.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> There was no
help at all?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> She was it.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And then when
you started school in Novi Township, you went to one of those schools?<b><br />
Angell:</b> We went to what is the William Allen Academy out there on 8
Mile. So we walked to school and Don Miller’s sister was my first school
teacher. Helen Miller.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Is that school
still there?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Yeah, but they’ve built on to the original school and then
there’s a couple other little buildings, I think. My sister and I went
back a few years ago when they had a reunion and there was a few that we
knew. Some of the old-timers were there. But, we walked to
school. Even waded the snow banks. You didn’t get bused to school
in those days.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And then when
you moved to town, you didn’t have very far to walk.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No, just across the … Before they built this wall around
the school yard and filled it in, there used to be a nice hill. Of
course, we didn’t have to worry about cars much in those days so we’d start up
in back of the school, come down across here, and go down First Street on our
sleds.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> A lot of people
who have lived in Northville a long time talk about the sledding on Buchner’s
Hill. Do you remember that?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> No.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> That was
before you came here?<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Oh yeah. I think Mrs. Buchner was one of Mother’s
school teachers. I’ve heard her tell that.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I always
wondered how they could do that with the traffic, so it was probably before
there were very many cars.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> It was horse and buggies, ‘cause I think one story goes
that somebody went right between the horses legs. I don’t know whether
it’s true or not.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DR:</span></b><span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Well, I would
like to thank you.<br />
<b>Angell:</b> Well, I hope it’s turned out all right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<![endif]-->NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-48520619853155493142013-06-26T06:36:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:54:03.645-04:00Dr. Russell M. Atchison<b>RMA:</b> My name is Dr. Atchison, and for purpose of identification, I have been practicing in Northville up until the present time approximately 53 years. Our family background is such that my father was born in Salem, Michigan, in the late 1800’s, and my life has been situated around this locality for most of my time. My first recollection is that we lived in Ann Arbor, and my father was Superintendent of the Homeopathic Medical School, University of Michigan Hospital. <br />
We lived on Glen Avenue and moved to Huron Avenue, and then from Ann Arbor, we moved to Strathmoor, which was then a suburb of Detroit. That was in 1919, and then in 1924, and then in 1922, we moved to Virginia Park near LaSalle Boulevard in Detroit. And then in 1924, we moved to Northville, where my father – he then reestablished a medical practice. He had been building houses from 1919 until 1924. This was after World War I, and there was an era of prosperity at that time. But in ‘22 and ’23, we had another recession and building houses wasn’t very profitable, so we moved to Northville. We moved to a home on the corner of Dunlap and Linden Street at 501 W. Dunlap. Anyway, my recollection at that time as a young boy, at age of fourteen, was that we were living in a very nice, it was a village; it was not a city as it is called now. The streets were not paved; Linden Street was not paved; Dunlap Street was not paved. The only street that was paved was Main Street and Center Street through the end of the fairground lot. This used to be the Northville Fairground – the big track, the track was still the same, but the grandstand was not anywhere near as large as it was at that time, at the time we moved here in ’24. <br />
The town, itself, was beginning to expand a little bit. I had ridden out from Detroit on the interurban to visit my father’s brother, who lived on Rogers Street. He lived in the second house on the left after you turn right onto Rogers from Main. The home has not been restored and is a nice looking home. He was in the real estate business as well as owning a farm at Salem at the corner of Tower Road and Six Mile Road. Northville at that time, when the interurban came in, had a bandstand, a mushroom type grandstand, at the corner of Main and Center. Any every Saturday night, the band played. Saturday nights were something to look forward to because our area was surrounded by farms, and the only time that the farmers had a chance to talk with one another or come in and shop was Saturday night. And so on Saturday night with the bank playing, and with everybody in town, it was almost impossible to walk down the sidewalk. The curbs on Main Street were about two and a half feet high, so they could accommodate the running board of the Model T’s, as they parked parallel with the curb; you could step right out of the car onto the sidewalk. These curbs remained for quite a long time, almost until they reconstructed the town approximately eight years ago. The interurban was extremely interesting because this was a means of transportation which would be very valuable for us if we had it today. The interurban depot was in Detroit, down on Jefferson. And from there, it branched out, and you could take the interurban from Detroit, which went down Grand River – it went through Farmington. And then at Farmington Road designation, it turned and went south until it came to Eight Mile Road, and then followed Eight Mile Road into Northville. There was one track coming up the street, and in order to turn the trolley around – what you had to do was take rope and take the chain – the trolley from one end of the interurban to the other. After that successfully reversed the motor, and we could then go out of town again. The interurban went from there to Plymouth and to Wayne, where it picked up another branch that you could take to Ann Arbor or Jackson, Albion, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo. And the interurban also went north, and you could take it as far as Port Huron. A lot of people took the interurban to visit people in Canada, as they could take the interurban to Walker’s Landing or Port Huron and then take the ferry across to Canada – then pick up the train, which would take them to Toronto. Since my mother – my grandmothers lived in Wallaceburg, we often did this, and we would also go up in the wintertime and walk on the ice across the St. Clair River and pick up the train, and then take it to Wallaceburg. <br />
Well, we moved here in 1924, and my father started practice again. And eventually, I think in <br />
approximately 1925, opened a little hospital above the clinic because there were no hospital <br />
facilities in the area at that time. The nearest hospital was the University of Michigan and old Grace and Harper down in Detroit. And with Dr. Andrew Brunk, who was a surgeon who helped Dr. Whitcomb at Eastlawn Sanatorium, which was a tubercular sanatorium at the end of High Street. They also did surgery; they delivered babies in this small hospital; we did hysterectomies, appendectomies, thyroidectomies. And one of the things I remember the most of is the fact that following pneumonia, which was very prevalent at that time, and this was bacterial type of pneumonia – most everybody would develop an empinma or an abscess between the lung and the chest wall. And one of the things that I remember them doing is taking out a rib and draining the abscess so that a person can survive. At this same time, of course, I was attending Northville High School and managed to make the football team and also the debating team... <br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> What year would this be? <br />
<b>RMA:</b> This was 1927, ’27 – I graduated in ’28. And one of the things that we always looked <br />
forward to was playing Plymouth down at the fairgrounds, when the Northville Fair was in <br />
progress. And both communities – both Northville and Plymouth – would come over to watch the game, and invariably, during the time that I played, we were able to beat them, which was a great deal of satisfaction. And we also on our debating team, we had – we debated upon. “Should the government – should the United States government own the coal mines”, was one of the subjects I remember. And we came in and finished third in the State. We missed one debate by not going to Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor) for the final debating session. So, it was quite a bit of – I had quite a bit of activity. In the same time when my father and Dr. Brunk needed a hand for surgery, I would scrub up and hold the retractors, and my father would give the anesthetic. <br />
So, I had an early training in medicine. We would also – also make calls with them occasionally as a senior in high school and particularly when I got into college, I would go with them on home deliveries. In 1928, I graduated from Northville High School, and immediately that summer went into <br />
summer school at the University of Michigan. And by taking four summer schools, I completed a four-year course in three years and got an A.B. Degree. I graduated from University of Michigan Literary College in 1931, and by taking my major in Science and my minor in History, I applied for the University of Michigan Medical School, the University of Michigan Law School, and the Harvard School of Divinity – and was accepted at all three. But because of the training with my father, I chose medicine. <br />
During this time I drove – my father bought me a Graham-Paige. This was a beautiful old car. It was the first car I really owned. It was blue and had six wire wheels; two of them were of course in fender wells. It had no heater, it had no windshield defroster, and it had no windshield wiper. They didn’t make things like that at the time for the cars. So, I drove every day to college – eight o’clock classes, and I continued this until my senior year in Medical School. Consequently, during this time I managed to go into the ditch about every mile between here and Ann Arbor. Because at that time, we didn’t have the snow plows. But they did put snow fences along the road so that the snow drifts weren’t too high. And if you judged the height of the snow drift and the speed of your car, and you figured it correctly, you could usually drive to school, but if you didn’t, why you would end up in a – in the snow drift stuck. <br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> Did you go by the way of Eight Mile and Pontiac Trail? <br />
<b>RMA:</b> I went every way in order to vary it. Usually, we went down Center Street to old M-14. But you could go through Salem; you could go down Territorial. There were many ways to go to <br />
Ann Arbor if you had to go every day for about eight years.<br />
<br />
(Takes a break in the taping.) <br />
<br />
<b>RMA:</b> In reference to this daily driving to Ann Arbor, my father had a cousin by the name of Effie Trent. And Effie lived in Detroit in Highland Park. And she was very nervous, and my father had been treating her and couldn’t seem to get her over this particular complex symptom. And he asked me to drive her to the University Hospital to the Neurology Department of an eight o’clock appointment in my junior year in Medical School. And so we started out here at about seven in the morning. And we’d been on the road just three or four minutes when it started to sleet. Well, when you don’t have any windshield defroster and no heater, the thing that you do is lower the window and stick your head out the window and drive. And we did very well – we got to Plymouth and turned onto M-14 and started on down towards Ann Arbor. And I got almost to Curtis Road because I recognize the area even today, and it also became foggy and sleeting, and there was a car in front of me, who apparently hadn’t been used to driving in this sort of stuff, and I decided to pass him. So I pulled out along side of him and saw this car coming through the fog, and I said to Effie, this nervous patient, I said, “We’re going to – I’m going to come inside, put my head inside and move over and tough the running board of the other car because we had running boards. I think that will give this man a chance to get b me: So I turned, pulled to my right and felt my running board contact the running board of the other car, and the other car did successfully go by me. And I said, “Well, I think we’d better get off at the road because there is a possibility there might be another car behind him.” So, I turned the wheel sharply to the left, and we went into the ditch. Well, on my side I could touch the telephone pole and I said to Effie, “Lower your window, and let’s see what we got on the other side.” And so Effie lowered her window – she was very nervously lowered it. I’m quite sure, and she was able to touch a tree on that side. So, we were successful; we had come in between the telephone pole and the tree. And I said, “Well, it’s all in a day’s work, Effie.” Sowe backed out and started down the road again. This time we were behind a truck and this was a flatbed truck. I can remember this because it was quite interesting, and he was following the yellow line or the white line on the road with his left front wheel, but this truck bed was about two and a half feet over the line. And I said to Effie, “I think we’d better stay behind him because I can see potentialities developing here. <br />
Because if somebody comes down the other direction of the road following the white line, that he’d going to hit the edge of that truck”. So, we got up almost to Ann Arbor and there used to be a beautiful dairy farm there. There was a little sloping hill and a beautiful dairy farm. It’s now been completely taken over by stores and things. And out of the fog comes this other car. He did exactly what I expected him to do. He hit the projection of the flat bed of the truck and spun him around. And I thought I was far enough back that I wouldn’t get hurt at all. What happened was his left front wheel came off, and it started down the road right towards us, and I said to Effie, “Don’t worry”, I said, “But we’ve got to go in the ditch again to avoid this wheel” So, we drove into the ditch on the right side, and the wheel went by us and I backed out. We drove up and saw that nobody was exactly hurt. And she was only five minutes late for her appointment. But I think that she was in pretty good physical condition at that time for the neurologist at the University Hospital to see about her nervous condition because it had been exaggerated a little bit by that time. But that was just one of the few experiences that I had in driving to school. There were many of them. <br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> Well, cars were of great interest to you for many years, weren’t they? <br />
<b>RMA:</b> We used to take it apart every summer. And it had a continental engine in it, and all the parts, they were numbered, all the wrist pins, and pistons and valves. Everything was numbered so you could put them all in a basket and reassemble the engine, putting in new rings and things – getting it ready for the next school year. That was a real good little engine because it – I’m sure they don’t make them that way any more. The parts were interchangeable and I kept it going for 150,000 miles. So, it did very well, and it didn’t have a dent in it when I left it. So that was pretty lucky too. <br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> When you first came here, you had a Jaguar, I think. <br />
<b>RMA:</b> No, I didn’t buy that until 1954. So, that’s been quite a long time. I graduated from University of Michigan in 1935, and we were in a very severe Depression at that time. No one had any money; we were on script that was given to us by the City of Detroit for Maybury Sanatorium, where I worked for – where I worked ever summer during my summer school holiday at medical school. I worked mowing the lawn, delivering laundry. And that was quite a bit of fun too because Mr. Rattenbury, Bill Rattenbury was the Head – was the Groundskeeper out there. And I got a job through Mr. Willis because I needed money to go to school – the only way I could pay my tuition. So, Bill saw me as a young, apparently cocky guy, and he decided to probably teach me a lesson. There was a delivery truck, which started out in the morning at six o’clock, and you picked up milk from the dairy because they had a farm over at DeHoCo, and Maybury was getting the milk, and we had a pasteurizing unit out at the San. There were 1,500 patients there, and you had to deliver the milk to four units, and they put me on the truck alone, and they didn’t tell me that you couldn’t set down four cases of milk. You could set down two, perhaps three, but if you add the fourth one, when you bend over, the top case hits your chin, and you couldn’t put the cases on the floor. So, the first morning that I went to the No. 1 kitchen, I grabbed four cases of milk and took them into the ice box, which had a sliding door, which was also a hazard on the way. And I tried to set these four cases of milk down, and it just didn’t set, so I had to clean up four cases of milk on my first attempt. And then after you got the milk delivered, your next step was to pick up the dirty laundry. And I was working alone, and there were fairly large hampers, and the hampers weighed about 125 pounds apiece, but not as heavy as they were when they were all pressed and put back into the hamper. And then after delivering this to the four units, you took food from the No. 1 kitchen to all of the Nurses’ Home, and to the Children’s Division, and to the Ambulatory Unit. So, we had four kitchens we had to deliver this to. But in the meantime you had to go down and pick up the ice at the ice storage area, where we <br />
made ice and climb up a ladder and stick it in the big overhead ice compartments for our walk-in refrigerators. And Bill put me on this all by myself, and if you didn’t put the stakes on the side of the truck, you could do your job faster. So, one Sunday – one Saturday, I was a little behind, and that road is pretty curvy, and I had to deliver chicken and chocolate cake to the Children’s Unit. So, I went around the corner too fast, and by the time I got there, I only had one dishpan full of chicken left and one cake. I retraced my steps, and found the chicken in various curves as I made the way to the Children’s Unit. And I had an oily rag – I knew they were going to cook it anyway – I brushed the chicken off. And I was fortunate that the chocolate cake landed right side up, and all I had to do was knock the flies off, and nobody would know the difference. I took it back to the kitchen. So, the kids still had their cake; I’m sure it didn’t hurt them. But when you picked up the laundry, the hampers weighed 275 pounds, and it was my job to pull these hampers off and take them into the various units. And you learned how to do this. You’d tug on it with one hand and pull it over the edge of the truck and catch it with your knee as it came on down, then roll it into – but Bill later on, lived down on I’ve forgotten the name of the street – I think it was near River Street. And he was painting his house, and I was in practice at that time, and he was a patient of mine. He fell off the ladder, and he had a compression fracture of his spine. We x-rayed him, but he didn’t want to go to the hospital so he went home. We put a plaster cast on fractures at that time. So, I figured if I took a short piece of pipe, about six inches long – two pieces, put a rope through it, and then put a pieces of canvas around each pipe as a band; tied each one of these ropes to the end of the bed – one in the front, one in the back and with the sling in the middle and laid him on his stomach – that I could apply the plaster. And the plaster cast would have to stay on about two months. And it worked pretty well until one of the ropes broke, and bill tumbled down onto the bed, and he start to say something. And I said, “God damn it, Bill, I’ve been waiting for this for years.” I said, “This is – we’re even, I’m going to pay you back for what you did to me, when you hired me to work out at Maybury Sanatorium.” He didn’t say one word- he didn’t say one word ‘cause he knew exactly what it was he had coming to him. He died out at Whitehall several years later. But I always – that’s the only time that I ever smiled at somebody that fell that way, when I had a medical accident because it was a long time coming. And I had not complained because if I complained, they would say he’s just a young college student, not capable of doing this. <br />
And one of the things that I did out there which was very interesting… they had a cesspool, and the cesspool took care of all of the – there was actually a holding tank that took care of all the sewage from 1,500 patients, plus other people. There was quite a bit. There was one character out there, and I forget his name, whose job it was to – they had two of these pools, two of these septic tanks, which he wanted to get clean, and the other; and nobody would talk to him because he had the particular odor about the job around himself. And I felt sorry for him; and nobody told me this. So, when we went into the cafeteria for lunch, he made friends with me. And so, I was always his friend all summer because nobody else would talk to him. It got so nobody would talk to me either. But it was a very good experience. <br />
And in medical school, I had one or two experiences which were very interesting. We had no Emergency Rooms, as we have them now. They did have an Emergency Room per se, but we didn’t do the things in the Emergency Room that we usually do now. And they brought this one young man in. He had been run over by a car while he was sliding down a hill in the winter time. He had been sliding down the hill – I think it was Geddes Road, which was rather hilly in Ann Arbor. And he’d been run over by a car, and his spine was crushed, and he had internal injuries. And he was lying on a gurney out in the hall in our Surgical Section because it was not possible to operate on him. And I was a senior at that time, and as I walked down the hall, I stopped and saw him because there was nobody around him. As I said, we didn’t have the Intensive Care units we have now. And the philosophy was probably a little bit different as far as life was concerned. And as I examined him, I noted a cyanosisa-blunis occurring in the low extremities, and it extended up to the pelvis and ended with a bow, like a bow in bow and arrow, configuration above the pelvis. It was bilateral on both sides, and I was curious as to why this would happen. And I stayed with him and watched him for two or three hours. I forgot my classes because I became so interested in this. Finally, I went down to the Neurological Division and talked to doctor, talked to the doctor in the Neurological Section – Dr. Eddie Cahn. And I asked him to come up and see the boy, and when he saw him, he said, “That’s the answer.” I said, “What do you mean, Dr. Cahn?” He said, “Well, we have been working in the animal Laboratory for several years to determine what these nerves do. There is a nerve that runs along the side of the spine, along the vertebral column on each side and belongs to the sympatic (?) nerve system. We have been trying for years to determine what these nerves do.” And he said, “Both of these nerves that have been crushed, and what they have to do is stimulate dilation of the peripheral veins of the lower extremities or the extremities to which they are designated. And he became very excited. He wrote a paper on it which was presented to the Neurological Division. When it came time for me to have my oral examination in Surgery, we had to – there were three doctors that were giving me an oral examination. One was from the Neurological Section, one was in General Surgery, and the other one was from Orthopedic Surgery. And the moderation said, “OK, gentlemen, please begin the examination.” And the Neurosurgeon said, “I have no questions.” And the others subsequently didn’t ask any questions, and I got an ‘A’ out of the course. And I had applied to go to Cottage Hospital in California – residencies were very difficult to get. And all the movie actresses like that hospital, so I thought if I went down there that I could run into Greta Garbo or somebody else of this type. And we had a class in Surgical Anatomy taught by Dr. Collard who was charge of the Surgical Section – Surgical Division at Ann Arbor at that time, very famous; and he at the end of class asked me to stay so he could talk to me. And I wondered what I had done now. But he offered me a residency in Surgery at the University, and the day after I had the residency, I was accepted at Cottage Hospital. So, by one day, I missed going to California, where I probably would have stayed. So, that’s the way that life is. I subsequently did then go into medical-surgical residency at the University. <br />
I had one experience there that was quite interesting. We had a lot of transversemyalitis patients <br />
there. Transversemyalitis means a severed spinal cord. And we had probably about thirty cases <br />
scattered throughout the hospital. It was about a 1,050-bed hospital. These people were professors, some of them were graduate students, some of them were high school students. They were all paralyzed, some of them were quadriplegic and some paraplegic. Quadriplegic meaning both arms and both legs, Paraplegic meaning both legs. And they had been scattered throughout the whole hospital. And I went to Dr. Collard and I said, “I think that we could give these people a lot better moral support if I could put them all in one group – put all the men in one group in one big ward. And we’ll put all the women in another ward. We can use the old east tunnel as a hospital.” And he thought that that was a good idea. So, we gathered these people up from all the divisions in the hospital and moved them into the Convalescent Hospital. And in so doing, we had – we had some bed frames that had an over and under frame so that you could turn the frame and turn the person over on his stomach, or turn the person over on their back. And these were in bad repair, so for every one of these patients, I drew a new frame design for the upper and lower frame and sent it to the Appliance Division to make these frames. Dr. Collard called me down to his office, he said, “The whole Surgical Department’s in trouble. The Administration is on my back, and you may be out of here.” And I said, “Why?” And he said, “Because when we moved all these people over to the new hospital, all these frames were too short and too narrow, and they wouldn’t fit the bed and they’re all very expensive.” I said, “Dr. Collard, I anticipated this, and I made a carbon copy of every plan that I sent out there.” And so we checked, and it wasn’t our fault. It was the Frame Department’s fault. So, that was another experience that we had in the hospital, which goes to show you, just one of many that happened. Subsequently, my father became ill with Parkinsonism, and the family had no money. So at the end of two years on a four-year residency, I had to come home and support the family. And I entered into private practice at that time. I had many experience in private practice. I closed my <br />
father’s hospital and went over to Sessions Hospital and subsequently reopened it again in 1950 and had it open until 1960. There were a lot of politics involved during this time, and I’d much rather not get into this. <br />
The experiences that we had in an active practice because we were a small community – we were isolated from Detroit. The only hospital near us was Redford Receiving. In 1941, they built Mt. Carmel. Then we had some relief. We could drive down to Mt. Carmel, for instance, and make <br />
deliveries, and then after office hours at twelve o’clock, I would leave the office and go down to <br />
the hospital and make rounds. We had office hours from eight in the morning until twelve at night – six days a week, including Saturday. Laura Bolton came on and started helping me in 1939 and helped me during that time until the end of World War II. We had blackouts at that time in which we had to have curtains on the windows and close off all our lights. So, when the siren sounded, why, we would have a complete blackout of our community. <br />
We also had a Medical Division (see accompanying material at end of transcription), which I was in charge of, which consisted of ten station wagons with eight people on it – eight people on a station wagon – composing of a lot of medical supplies – plasters, first-aids, triage – all type of material. And we would practice every two weeks all during the war. When we had this Medical Corps, we would give demonstrations down at the Fairgrounds, when they had the Northville Fair at that time. And I remember one very sterling and sort of exciting experience that we had. We went out on Seven Mile Road and went down Valencia. Anybody know where Valencia is? It’s out Seven Mile Road just almost to the city limits. There weren’t too many houses there then, and we were going to simulate somebody down in the field. In order to put some reality into it, I had three or four of the men go out there with shotguns and hide in the grass, so that when the caravan of station wagons came into the area, they would start shooting shotguns and everybody would get used to the noise. But there happened to be a young couple making love in the car at the end of this road, and they didn’t see our men come into the field, and it was a dead end road. And when they stood up in the field and started shooting shotguns, I never saw a young couple get out of a situation any faster than this group did. And they had to go by all of our ten station wagons, and then we waved to them as they went by. <br />
That’s just one of the experiences that we had as a Medical Team. We went to – it was our duty, for instance to go over to Evans Products, where they were making machine guns, and to analyze the factory so if they were hit by a bomb, we could move in with our equipment and take care of them. We did this with any number of factories around here that were making war supplies. At that time you could sit down on your front porch and hear them testing the machine guns over at – they were fifty caliber machine guns, and they were used on the B-24’s that they were making over at Willow Run. And one of the reasons that I wasn’t in the war as an enlisted man was because they said that we were necessary to stay home and take care of our people who were working. During the war years I had one afternoon off in four years, so we were very busy. This included Sundays, and so there was a big effort made to continue in this direction. The community worked together very well. We went a lot of boys to service; we worked one afternoon a week examining people who were called up for the draft. We worked over a machine shop in Plymouth that was a – a Plymouth machine shop with the lathes going down below us and all the machinery noise, and it was very difficult to really assess people, but if we didn’t pick them up, why then they would be caught up at the final draft station. I remember one young man coming through, who’d lost the index finger of his right hand, and he was smiling, and he said, “There’s no way you could take me.” And I said, “Son, we’ll teach you how to <br />
shoot left-handed.” And so, he was in the War, in service. We lost quite a few of our boys that we sent because a lot of them were in the Air Corp.<br />
<br />
<b>(END OF SIDE A)</b> <br />
<br />
During the War years when some of this history is rather disjointed, Mr. Amerman came to me and asked me if I wished to run for the School Board, which I did. It was quite interesting because there were no teachers available for us, and I remember that we needed a Science teacher. And I think he lived in Kalamazoo or someplace, you see, most people were in the Service. And Plymouth needed a Science teacher too, Plymouth Schools. The man lived in Kalamazoo, and the Superintendent of Schools, and he came to Plymouth by train, where we were to pick him up and to interview him. The Superintendent of Schools in Plymouth heard about this too. He got on the train in Albion and found this Science teacher, and by the time the train stopped in Plymouth, he already had a contract. So, we had to go without a Science teacher. This is the type of thing that we were – that he had to contend with during World War II as far as teaching facilities were concerned. <br />
We also needed a Shop – a wood-working shop. Primarily, we had one in the old high school, which as you know was Main Street, but it was quite small. They had just finished the new grade school building for which the architect, Scotten and Ward, before World War II started. But the whole eastern end of the school ad not been dug out – there was a foundation that went down, but the basement hadn’t been dug out in order to save money. So, we needed a new Manual Training Department. So, I said, “You know I think that what we should do is that we should put an ad in the paper and have people come with their shovels and their wheelbarrows, and we’ll dig the thing out ourselves. And we’ll put cement down ourselves. We won’t need a contractor.” And the city – the village turned out, and it was one of the most thrilling things to see because they came with their shovels and their wheelbarrows, and we cut a hole in the basement – in the wall at the back of the building, and we dug out this area. It must have been 50 feet wide by 150 feet long. And we dug it all out and we put cement down. And we made the Manual Training Shop with our own hands. And the community was very proud of it! This is the type of thing that we need today. There is nothing that ties our community together. It’s a very – it’s sort of a one-man endeavor in an effort to keep up with his home, and his family and the school. But beneath all this, I still think that there is a desire for community participation. And I think that something should be done – that we should not forget this element because it’s part of human nature to desire companionship and to desire accomplishment within oneself. And I think that – I hope that nobody forgets this, but I do know that it was a very thrilling time in my life to see this accomplished. And when we opened the Shop and dedicated it, it gave us a great deal of satisfaction. <br />
I was on the School Board for approximately fourteen years. We, if I remember correctly, and I may be wrong – you’d have to check with Mr. Amerman about this – but any requisitions that cost over $500.00 has to be approved by the Board. So that we were able then to keep our expenses down and to still give a satisfactory type of education. I think that things like this should also occur today. I think that there’s too much leverage in order to try to keep up with community schools, and we lose a lot by not doing this type of thing. <br />
Well, getting back to the War years again – now, there is one other experience I had along with many others because people then didn’t have Blue Cross – we didn’t have insurances as we have now. And we were taking care of factories; we were taking care of press accidents, we were taking care of chemical exposures that nobody knew anything about. And we had four or five OB packs that we kept in the back room because at least once or twice a month somebody would run into the waiting room and say, “My wife’s having a baby in the car.” And we would go out and deliver the baby in the car and then send them to the hospital because these people didn’t have any hospitalization. But those were sort of thrilling days. I remember one time we had 25 emergency surgical packs, and we were down to our eighteenth pack one day. And we had a train wreck at the corner of – where the train crosses Baseline Road near the Northville Lumber Company and hit a carload of people. The nurse in charge says, “You just can’t do this to me. I don’t have anymore packs.” But that’s the type of thing that we did. <br />
And we also had a butcher that was employed in the butcher store down where Mr. Johnson now has his insurance office next to the bank. And he caught his fingers in the neat saw, and he came in and had three of them off. Now, you can put them all back on with microsurgery, but we didn’t have that then. So, our surgeon, Dr. Cappuzi, operated on him and repaired stumps of the fingers. We kept him in our little hospital. He was so grateful that he got us a 35-pound rolled rib roast. And all four of the doctors at the clinic at that time were taking care of him, and we discharged him on the tenth day, and we never saw him again. And the only thing that we had was a 35-pound rib roast. We weren’t paid for it, and he didn’t pay the hospital. So, we decided to have a dinner at our home on Rogers Street. So, we got the wives of all the doctors together, and we cut the roast in two because that’s the only way to get it in the oven. And we were going distance. And you could always – you were keyed to hearing these ambulance sirens. And at this time, there were two, and they stopped up at our little hospital. A car taking some General Motors engineers to Lansing to work at the Oldsmobile plant had been in a head-on collision on old Grand River, where we used to have one death a week. And we had to leave our dinner, and we didn’t get through until daylight. We had two of them that were dead on the front verandah, and the other three we were able to help. But we never got – event got paid by eating a round rib road for repairing the butcher’s fingers. But that’s just one example. The years went by very quickly. We used to be able to go to Mt. Carmel in twenty minutes. I’m sure it would take you a lot longer than that today. Because we did OB – we did a lot of deliveries there. We also did surgery there. I had the first telephone car – with a telephone in a car in Wayne County after World War II. And I would be on the way home from Mt. Carmel, and Ruth would call me – it was called Mobile Phone– and she would call the mobile phone number and tell me that another lady in labor had started in. And I probably should turn around and go back. And that happened many times. But one of the funny things was that when you have a short-wave radio, you also get the skip phenomenon, and you have to be very careful because I’d pick up the phone to call home, and I would hear this voice with a very southern accent on the line. And I would say, “Mobile operator?” And she said, “Yes”. And I would say, “Is this Mobile, Alabama or the mobile operator in Detroit?” And occasionally she would say, “Mobile, Alabama.” And then I’d hang up because a long distance call on a mobile phone from Mobile, Alabama, to Northville, Michigan was rather expensive. So, that was another one of the experiences we had. The distance between Northville and Highland Park General was not as great then because occasionally we would have a patient in Highland Park. And one day I made the trip to Highland Park in 20 minutes, because I had one person in delivery that was hemorrhaging to death, and fortunately, we were able to do a hysterectomy, and save her life. But that was a very horrendous type of trip. And going through that many red lights all the way to Highland Park was sort of risky. But fortunately, you don’t have to do that any more. You can take a helicopter <br />
or something else of that sort. One of the things that might interest you is that Richard Baldwin purchased the <i>Northville Record</i>, and two days after he put $35,000 in the bank, which he had obtained by the sale of the previous newspaper, the banks closed. So, the <i>Northville Record</i> was starting out with a terrific handicap right from the start. They had had to buy new Linotype, and all new equipment because the <i>Record</i> office just previous to his purchase had burned. Orlo Owen at that time – shortly after – was the Boy Scout leader, and they had rented a store, which at the present time I think is the Northville Camera Shop. The <i>Northville Record</i> was directly behind them, across a small alley. And in order to raise money, they had a shooting gallery that they charged five to ten cents to go in and shoot in the shooting gallery. And they had targets at the back of the store, and they had steel plates across the window. This one day one of the helpers in the <i>Northville Record</i>, who was a trainee from the Northville Training School, kept complaining about bees in the press room. Mr. Baldwin went down into the basement to check the furnace and then as he came up, he was struck in the chest with a bullet, which had passed through the window opposite the door leading into the press room from the shooting gallery on Main Street. And being a young doctor, they called me down there. And being a young doctor, I had a pair of bandage scissors in my pocket. If you’re a young doctor, you’re always more dramatic than you are when you get older. So, I rushed in and I cut his tie off, and I cut his short because he’d been shot in the back. His wife had just bought this tie, and it was during the Depression when ties – if you got a tie, you were lucky because nobody had any money to buy a tie. And so, I committed my first error. And I examined him, and he’d been hit in the chest on the right side just below the right shoulder blade. I took him to the clinic, where we had a bare wire x-ray machine and took a PA of the chest. It was a pin marker at the point of entry of the bullet. The bullet was directly underneath the pin. So, I put him on the bed in our small hospital and started cutting down to remove the bullet. Well, I got down to the pleura between the ribs, and I didn’t find any hole. So, then I took a lateral x-ray of the chest and learned a big lesson because the bullet had ricocheted completely around the chest and it stopped in front exactly opposite the point of entry. I left the bullet in and sewed up the wound. <br />
And Ruth Baldwin – Ruth Baldwin at that time was up at a sorority meeting in northern Michigan, and they informed her the next morning that he father had been shot. So, she came down to visit her father, and that’s the first time that I had met her. But I became quite interested in meeting her again. So I wrote her a letter, and she wrote back and said that she couldn’t read my letter because I was such a poor writer. And consequently, I’ve never written her again. But we did – I did have a date with her. And in order to appease her mother, who complained of the fact that I’d cut her husband’s tie off, and I’ve never done that since, I sent her a primrose plant. And so that night when I came to pick Ruth up, my future wife, Mrs. Baldwin came to the door with her eyes completely shut because she was allergic to primrose. And I’d not only cut the tie, but I had caused my future mother-in-law’s eyes to become swollen shut because of the primrose. I’ve never sent anybody another primrose either. <br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> You almost cut the ties with her, didn’t you? <br />
<b>RMA:</b> Yes, I did. So that’s how I met my wife, and we subsequently, I think, have made a very good team. It’s only due to team effort that we’ve been able to accomplish what I think that we have accomplished. <br />
Several years into – following World War II – they had a gravel pit out on the end of Seven Mile Road beyond Napier Road, which was a very active gravel pit. And the trucks would come through down Seven Mile Road, turn left onto Rogers, and then turn right on the Main Street, and go by our schools. There would be so many there going by that we couldn’t really teach the students adequately because there was so much noise. So, I took my camera, and I sat out on the front lawn one afternoon and did nothing but take movies of the trucks passing up and down in front of our house. And then, I started a telephone call group in which one person would call two others, and we covered the community – all agreeing to meet at the City Hall at the next Council Meeting. And I took the films – we had so many people at the meeting that they even blocked Main Street because traffic couldn’t get through. And we influenced Council to put pressure on Wayne County, and that’s how we happen to have the Seven Mile Road cutoff. And that’s how that developed. <br />
Just reminiscing – during the days when I was in high school, we used to have a motorcycle hill climb. And people would come out from Detroit on Sundays, and motorcycle hill climb was at the top of the hill on the end of Rogers Street. And they would come out, and they would have motorcycle hill climb during the fall. And then in the winter, the Hall brothers – we had a big ski lift on Baldwin Hill, and we would have ski jump competitions – people coming from all over the state – the northern peninsula – during the winter to our ski jumping contests, which was quite exciting. I know I climbed up to the top of the ski jump one summer, and I was awfully happy to get back again.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> Where was Baldwin Hill? <br />
<b>RMA:</b> Baldwin Hill was on Sheldon Road just beyond the Seven Mile Road cut-off right now, and the hill would come down – there was no road across then, so they had a nice steep hill that they – for their landing from the ski jump. But that was rather exciting too. I’m just bringing these things in as I sort of remember then – sort of disjointed, but I think that is rather important. When the Clinic developed, we had Dr. Wetterstrom came into the Clinic – R.G. Wetterstrom came into the Clinic from northern Michigan about 1948; followed by Dr. Orlo Robinson – I think in about 1950. And then Dr. Capuzzi, Eugene Capuzzi, was a Ford surgeon who came with us in 1954. We had Dr. Robert Yoder, who was the head of the Northville State Hospital, when he semi-retired, came in as a psychiatrist. Dr. Doust and Dr. Sheehan were retinologists. Dr. Harold Morris was a urologist. Dr. Eugene Secord was an orthopedic surgeon. So, we had a fairly good group that we could give adequate medical care to the community with. I was fortunate inasmuch as when I started practice, we had no antibiotics. My father was a homeopath, and homeopathic medicine differs from allopathic medicine inasmuch as homeopaths believe that ‘like treats like’, and the higher the titration, the stronger the drug. For instance, the homeopaths had a pharmacopeia that was hundred of items long, and in establishing the criteria for the use of the drug, the students in medical school would have to take the particular drug to the toxic dose, so that they toxic doses – the toxic dose produced symptoms. I could cause congestion of the lungs, coughing up of blood. I can cause many things depending upon the drug. And then this drug was used to treat symptoms of a like nature. So that this was a homeopathic drug and if you diluted the drug to 1to 10,000 or 1 to 100,000 they felt that it <br />
broke the molecule up and made the drug more effective. So, if you wanted to use the drug in effective dosage, you would use a highly titrated dose. They had tablets that went from 1X to 10X – 1X meaning 10 to 100 dilution. So 10X would be 1 to 100,000. The reason that I’m bringing this up was that I graduated from the allopathic school. And the allopathic school believed that drugs were given for what they did. We also believe in bacterial causes of disease, and the homeopaths did too, but they felt that the method of treating diseases was correct inasmuch as they would produce the same by the drug use. <br />
My father used the drug called bryonium (?), and bryonium we used by putting 30 drops in half a glass of water and giving it one teaspoonful every hour or two. My father did not lose a case of <br />
pneumonia. The mortality rate for the allopath was60%, so when I came into practice I had nothing to treat pneumonia with, so my father taught me about the homeopathic drugs. And so, when a person had pneumonia, I had a cylinder of oxygen in back of the car – I would get the call – this was commercial welding oxygen with a gauge on top – I had a water bottle to pull the oxygen through. And I would go into the home, and I would use homeopathic drug, and I would stay with the patient until he either died or survived. And during that time, sometimes you were away from home for 72 hours. But we were able to not lose a patient, but I did mention previously in the tape that we did have to do a lot of opening of chests because we did get an abscess between the lungs and the chest wall, which was a residual of a very severe pneumonia. We were desperate at that time because we had no antibiotics. We had nothing to treat polio with. I dreaded to see summer come because we’d always lose two or three of our friends with polio. Our first antibiotic that we had was neoprotizone (?) – this was a red-looking drug that came either in a liquid or a red tablet. It was a sulfa tablet developed during – just shortly after the beginning of World War II. And I can remember making a house call one morning about 4 o’clock to a home the other side of Commerce Lake because doctors were hard to get. And I saw a 3-month baby die while I was attempting to use my first dose of neoprotizone. The child died of pneumonia. We used to have people brought into the clinic, with meningial pneumococcal which is a cockeyed type of organism, and die while we were examining them. I remember one mother took her child shopping downtown to the grocery store, and the child became sick. She brought her into the office, and she died on the table in what we call Room 4, of pneumococcal meningitis. So, it struck pretty hard, and it was pretty contagious at that time. Strep throat was exactly the same way. You could have a strep throat and develop either rheumatic fever from it because of the toxins liberated by the bacteria, or you could die within 72 hours. You could have __?__ which is a strep infection of the skin, and I had a patient who had this. I admitted him to <br />
Mt. Carmel Hospital. When penicillin first came in, it was grown in liter bottles, and we gave it in 100,000 unit doses every three hours by hypodermic. And in order to get it, we had to appear before a committee and tell them that you either had a terminal pneumonia or bloodstream infection or aero syphilis. And we treated this gentleman with aero syphilis, he survived that, I’d never know of an aero syphilis case that had gone that far that had survived in my practice. I’m also quite proud the fact that we had the first case of typhoid that survived at the University Hospital. The deaths up to this time were usually 100%. The patient’s still living. In fact, her sister lives in the home across the street from my present home. I made the diagnosis in her home – positive culture of strep. I told her husband that the mortality rate was 100%, but I wanted to put her in the hospital. He said he couldn’t afford it. And I said, “I’m sorry, but the assisting that you do, and if you can’t do it, I’ll pay for it.” We sent her to the University Hospital. We had sulfa available to us at this time. So, we gave her intravenous typhoid vaccine and raised her temperature to 107 to 108, and supplemented this high temperature with sulfa. And she survived – we eliminated the bacterial infections in the blood stream, and she survived. We’re also proud of the fact that we had the first survival of a case of influenza bacterial meningitis, which up to that time had been 100% fatal. This child came into the office at age 8 with stiff neck and high temperature, and we did a spinal tap and found that she had meningitis – <br />
influenza bacterial meningitis. We sent her into quarantine at University Hospital and started her on a new drug called Streptomycin. It’s the first time it had been used. We didn’t know how to use it, but we saved her life, but it made her completely deaf, She was just total toxic (?), and it caused extreme deafness. It wasn’t in the literature at that time. But she survived, and she later raised a family and was a very courageous girl because she would take the bus from Northville to Five Points, when she was ten, alone; get on the streetcar and go to the School for the Deaf at the corner of Grand River and Grand Boulevard until she learned how to express herself completely with sign language. She subsequently married and had three children. So that was our second case. So we turned the meningitis around from a killer to not so serious. <br />
We also had the first Caesarian Section in the new University Hospital in the OB Unit. It had only been open an hour before I had sent in a very complicated OB case, and we did the Caesarian Section. It saved this person’s life too. She subsequently developed abdominal distention to the point where we operated on her on her bed and put in a decompression tube and she finally made it. Drum out polio. When the Salk vaccine came out – Salk developed the first vaccine – and it was given to us by the State. And we were told not to change anything for the vaccine, which we did not do. And we had patients that had to line up from the corner and would go into the Clinic and pass through a line and receive a shot, then come out again. This was the first thing that we had against polio. Up until that time, we had three and four cases of infantile paralysis a summer – occasionally death and always a residual type of paralysis. But with the new polio vaccine, this again has been subjugated. I’m sure it does exist in the undeveloped countries. We’re very fortunate. It’s the same way with the diphtheria we had. As far as I know, we had the last diphtheria death within the State. This little girl came into the Clinic at 12:30 one night, semicomatose with membranes on the ___?___, she died at three in the morning. She had not been given any immunization; so that when I was on the School Board, I put to a resolution “no child should be allowed to enter Kindergarten unless they had diphtheria and the tetanus, and the pertussis shots.” I think we were sort of pioneers in this type of thing because it had not been made a State ruling yet. But I could see the advantages of being able to check up on children of this nature. <br />
Of course, we had penicillin. Sulfa came on as our first antibiotic. Neopronicil (?), and then came along sulfonamide. Each one of them left toxic, but they all had capabilities in the early days of creating problem as well as helping a great deal. And I remember this one lady in Plymouth, who had pneumonia that I gave sulfatiocide (?) to. It was not as toxic as sulfonamide; but she took it for five days and on repeat count, her white cells had disappeared, and she died within two more days. So, there isn’t any drug that you use that can’t have the capability of causing problems. So, it is very important that you do not mix up the normal disease process with conditions caused by the drugs that a patient is taking. And I think that this is becoming more and more of a problem as we get into more and more drugs that are more and more sophisticated. The use of antibiotics has also created carelessness among people. It used to be that we were extremely careful during surgical procedures and in handling diseases. The old contagious hospital at the University of Michigan, for instance, was the first hospital, I think, in the United States that could treat measles and chicken pox in the same room. But we also had to when we went in there had to put on a cap and gown and gloves when we treated the person with chicken pox and take them off and put on another cap and gown and gloves to treat the person with measles. We used to be on call there, so if a child started choking on diphtheria, we could run up and stick an endotracheal tube in and allow the child to breath. There was a mat on the front door that was saturated with formaldehyde, so that when you walked out of the building, none of the bacteria that was in the building could come out with you. You see, we had nothing to treat any of these things. We had no diphtheria shots, we had no polio; we had no antibiotics – so the <br />
mortality rate from this was very high. And that’s all mostly been corrected. I could go on like this for a number of others, but I think I am going to draw it to a close. <br />
<br />
That was certainly an abrupt ending. I have reviewed this tape, and I find there are a number of <br />
misquotes or words that were used that were not in context. <br />
1- The first one was talking about the bandstand, which I called the grandstand, at the corner <br />
of Main and Center Street. <br />
2- Number 2 correction is that they did make wipers for cars at that time, I said they did not. <br />
They did not make defrosters. <br />
3- I used to work for Mr. Willis instead of “Doctor” out at Maybury Sanitarium. <br />
4- In reference to the strengthening nerves was the dilation of the peripheral arteries rather than the vein. <br />
5- In talking about the OB pack, I said we make deliveries, rather than ‘do’ deliveries, as it should have been. <br />
6- I also mentioned that Mr. Johnson had an office next to the bank. He was in real estate really and not insurance. <br />
7- Richard Baldwin sold the paper in Jonesville beforehe came to Northville. <br />
8- My wife (Ruth Baldwin) was at the Women’s Self-Government Meeting in Mt. Pleasant when her father was shot. <br />
9- The Thompson Gravel Pit was at the corner of Beck Road and Seven Mile Road rather than Napier Road. <br />
10- And in the treatment for the man with aero syphilisof the face, we gave him 10,000 units of penicillin rather than 100,000 units. And certainly we gave him penicillin to treat his aero syphilis. <br />
11- And there was a time in which I used the word ‘fatal’ rather than …. <br />
12- I also wish to apologize for all the pronoun “I’s” and to have avoided more of the history of the community, such as the three fires that I helped fight when I was going through high school, and such as the building of the Stinson airplane and how Eddie Stinson used to loop his way over the town to let everybody knowthat he was back. He was eventually killed when he had to fly in Chicago. <br />
13- I could be told how we used to watch the Grand Zeppelin fly over Northville on its way to the anchorage tower at the Ford Test Track in Dearborn, which is now Greenfield Village. <br />
14- And before I forget it, I should mention that someplace in this tape, I used the word "dramatical”, and it should have been dramatic. <br />
I believe that this is a better ending that the first one, so that is all. Thank you. NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-85400313985863766832013-06-26T06:32:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:57:44.707-04:00Dr. Ruth Mary (Baldwin) Atchison<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oral History of Dr. Ruth Mary (Baldwin) Atchison at 487 W. Cady, Northville<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Interviewed
by Lois Winters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Edited
by Sally Henrikson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When did you first come to Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, we came in, in January, the end of
January, 1931.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, I was in my ah,
well my father had been the editor of Albion Evening Record for seventeen
years, and then he wasn’t feeling well so we went to California thinking it
would help have a newspaper there that would print twice a week, which was
murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then in a year and a half we
went back to Albion, and in the meantime for a year, he was looking for a
newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jonesville Paper came up
– Jonesville, Michigan, and so he bought that from the old gentleman and who
was never going to see, but he sold it to my father, and then in six months he
had a chance to buy the Northville Record, which he has always wanted because
he thought it was the ideal location between Detroit, which was a commercial center,
and Ann Arbor, which was a cultural center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So he sold the Jonesville paper, and we moved to Northville, and I
always remember we stopped out at a little rest station out on north of
Plymouth Road in the park, and mother said, “Well, we must make a good
impression in our new town.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we had
to go in and wash our hands and comb our hair before we came into
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, we couldn’t - we
didn’t have any place to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We lived
in what is now Veteran’s Hall next to Casterline’s, and that was turned around
as you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It faced North Center – the
other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lovely home that Mrs.
Um, oh the man that owned The Record has owned it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh geez, what was her name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, anyway that’s where we lived for about four
or five weeks – then we rented a house down on South Wing Street for a while,
and then we lived at the end of Wing and Fairbrook, where Mrs. Carlson lived
for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we lived up here on
Ely in Ely’s old house on Rogers Street next to that little white house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, when we moved into town we had to
just kind of settle in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the
meantime, the building had burned – the Northville Record building had burned
so the only thing that was left was the printing press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Mr. Eaton, who had owned the paper
not-my father didn’t buy it right from him; he bought it from someone who had
bought it from Mr. Eaton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this man
had another paper…he wanted, so it didn’t-I mean he wasn’t the owner very
long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that, Mr. Eaton had taken all the
typewriters, all the printers ink – he’d taken everything out of there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then the building did burn, and we had to
print across that little alley, which is now the little antique store and then
– what’s her name – the craft shop there -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b> -Anne’s</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>and I can remember
everybody was so scared because with the weight of the printing press, the
floor would sort of sink every time it would go on, you know, it was a lot of
weight and a lot of noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, we
printed there until – I imagine it must’ve been Mr. Carrington that built the
building because it’s called the Carrington Building, so it was or was it
called something else now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Warner
– Neal’s – Neal’s was the place we stayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So you basically did come to Northville
with your parents?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You did not come as a new bride?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I came in the last half of my junior year, so I had my last half year
and my senior year, and I was graduated in ’32.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So then you graduated from Northville High
School then?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, ’32 right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I went to Albion College.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now did you have brothers or sisters?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, I had two brothers – Philip who’s an
attorney at Albion and Paul who is deceased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now did they go to school here?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, they both went to school here, and then
Phil – Phil was only four when we came to Northville, and I remember Mrs.
Babbitt down the way saying to my mother, “He is an exceptional young
boy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was, he’s very smart, I
mean he was the brain of the family really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To anyway, we… let’s see… my father had gotten $27,000 for the
Jonesville paper which we thought, you know, was a lot of money in those
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put it in our Lapham Bank which
President Roosevelt closed and all my father’s money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had signed notes for Linotypes, ah, all
sorts of things so it was really very rough going, and then, you know,
Northville went on script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All we did –
we did a lot of bartering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, my
father would exchange advertising for milk, and I remember Mrs. Hunter on Wing
Street – her son told my uncle, who lived in Indiana in the same town – he
said, “I remember your uncle furnishing us with milk,” because she was a widow
and had three sons and no income – so you know, by exchanging advertising for
the milk and so forth she got her extra milk and things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So people did a lot of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember when I went to Albion when I was
going to go, the lady who bought that little antique shop is – who’s next to
the craft shop had – or maybe it was part of the craft shop too, they’ve
remodeled it so many times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You don’t know what a fish tank place of what
it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it’s Banbury…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Who knows …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gift shop at one time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, that’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, this lady in exchange for advertising
knit me a sweater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except when the
sweater came and I got to school, it came down to my knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just far too big.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, anyway, that’s what people did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my father, after the office was rebuilt
and they moved in, had a big dinner for three hundred of the business men and
people in Northville, and Mr. Bingay, who was the editor of the Detroit News,
was the chief speaker; and I remember my mother was furious because my father
paid for that, see you know for his dinner, and we didn’t have …<br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where did you have it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Methodist Church – at the Church House,
and so anyway, he was editor – I can’t – I was trying to think for how many
years but then in the meantime, as I say, I went to Albion my freshman year,
and then every time – well even before I went to Albion when I got up here to
high school, my father would have me come down and write – I was a good typist
– write letters, take phone calls, and so all this – write news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I did that the minute I got home from
vacation from Albion, I would be down in the office working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any my mother had to go east to take care of
her sister who had a stroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she took
my young brother Phil, and left me here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was 16 – left me here to keep house, do the cooking and work at The
<i>Record</i> office, which was an education in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sure, sure.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So anyway, I didn’t resent it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was also a piano major – a piano student –
I’d taken since the age of 4, and I was studying to be a concert pianist, and I
took from Miss an, Miss Halverson’s up at Shipley’s House net to the office,
next to Atchison House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she was an
excellent teacher from Detroit, and I gave my student – my final senior recital
down at the Presbyterian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
remember memorizing 84 pages of the Greek Concerto for the final – you know –
finale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, then I was offered a
scholarship out in Iowa, but I didn’t want to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to go to Albion because all of my
relatives had, and our family – Baldwin Hall is named after our family and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, let’s go back a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you came to Northville, you went to
Northville High.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you remember
anything about your high school days?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember the worst time in the world was
walking up from the front of the room to the back with Mariam Mitchell, who was
Mariam, and gee her father was a minister – a Methodist minister, and oh you
know, how awful it is in a strange school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was also – had a lead in a couple of plays, and but …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you recall any of y our teachers?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, Betty Chapman was my first English
teacher – was my English teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
think it was her first teaching job, and I always liked Betty very much, and
she always referred to me as her prize student, but I don’t think I was, but
she just had – we had a feeling for one another, and she also, you know, had
the plays, was in charge of it – the theater group and so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you recall any of your classmates?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oh gee, there was one called Peanut Clark, who lived up on Linden
Street, but she married a professor from Albion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Arlene Barry was there, and was
Catherine Stauburn, who had died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those
were the main ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a club called
“Just Us Girls”, the J.U.G. Club only I couldn’t go very often because I was
working at The<i> Record</i> office, and they played bridge and stuff – I never
learned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did you have a nickname?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, I don’t think so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because that’s one thing I found out –
several of the people going to school all had nicknames.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh really?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Betty Schrader asked me what Cootie’s
real name was.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ker – that was the Kerr fellow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But it’s Kenneth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, she’s all these years, you know …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Isn’t that funny?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I guess that was – everybody had a
nickname, and that’s why I …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">RMA:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, I probably – I don’t know …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because you’re talking about Peanut –
you know.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the kids were not too nice to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to tell you that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know why, but they just weren’t and
not too friendly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, that’s a hard time to …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was on the spot, you know, you’re on the
spot, you’re a new girl in town, and the boys usually go for the new girls, and
you know that didn’t make you friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, and then I was so busy working I couldn’t, and then my parents were
so strict, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the dance was
over at 12:00, I had to be home by 12:15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I couldn’t go into Detroit for things to eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where did you go to the dances?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right up here at the high school, yeah, we
weren’t allowed out at Walled Lake and things like that…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK, because I’ve heard about the Walled
Lake.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think I went once after I was out of college
with Alex Mill, who lived up on Thayer or Eaton Drive – Eaton Drive, and he was
a little bit older and very responsible so my Mom let me go with him, but
that’s all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Were you Methodists?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so they were strict?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yes, my mother and father were both
Methodist minister’s children, and we could play Flinch, and we could play Rook
and that’s it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t play other
cards, we didn’t – her father thought, you know, dancing was the work of the
devil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we were very limited as to
what we could do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where did you graduate?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From Northville High.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When? Where, what building?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Up at the High School, and we had to make our
white graduation dresses, and I made one of organdy that kept curling, you
know, all the time, so but that, well it was Depression, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody had any money, and you had to really
do the best you could with the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think we took a Senior Trip to Washington on the bus, but that’s all I
remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Ward was in our class too,
and he – did he die recently?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I
think he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the Senior Prom with
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember, and we went to see – to
show his grandmother my dress, which I bought for $17.00 in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Um, it was a turquoise kind of chiffon type
of thing or net, you know, and I had to hunt a long time for that, and I found
it at the Learner’s Shop, and then I got to the dance, and I had black shoes,
and black gloves, you know, up to here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Any somebody else had the same color combination as I did and the same
darn dress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, how crushing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway, how cruel, huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we went up to see his grandmother who
was in a little house across from our office or from the clinic, that little
Victorian house, to show her how he looked and how I looked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I had the prom with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember too many other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got good marks, good enough to get into
Albion, I know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I can’t think of too
many other things that happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, you weren’t there that long.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, I really wasn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then you went away to Albion.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, I went away to Albion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No scholarship – your parents by this time?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, well see what happened was the first year
I guess my uncle – I had a wealthy uncle in Detroit, that’s how we survived
here on the paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My uncle was
President of Standard Savings & Loan, so he shoved all the legal notices to
the newspaper here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had to be in
Wayne County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were in Wayne County,
so my father got all those legal notices, and I learned to ready “legals”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, I pick up a magazine or a paper, and
there’s the mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just, it’s you
just see it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That and Stinson
Aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we did job printing for
Stinson Aircraft, which maybe they’d have thirty copies in all different colors
in the same number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You had to be sure
everything was just perfect, and we had to deliver it, I know, over at
Wayne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because Stinson used to be over
here but you know he moved to Wayne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
that’s what kept us going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
remember, I think my uncle helped the first year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got home after my first year in
college, and my father said, “I can’t send you back.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “We don’t have any money.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “That’s OK.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I worked a year for him for nothing –
supposedly $5.00, but who had $5.00?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
as I said I did the books; I took “legal’s”; I wrote his letters; I had a
column called…I had a column in high school called… something I forgot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did you know?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it was all about the things that kids
were doing in high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I learned
a lot that one year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember I went
back to school, and then he signed notes, and I never knew this,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lois, until – when was it – not too many
years ago we were still living in that house over on Rogers, and somebody told
me – I think it was Tom Star told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tom Star was editor of the Michigan Bell Magazine, and he ended up with
M. S. out here at White Hall (nursing home).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had me – us come over one time and we saw him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had one of those switchboards so he could
call anywhere in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
was years ago, I mean, that had to be forty years ago and um…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They plugged in?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Uh-huh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, learned on one of those.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so he said, “There’s someone who’d like to
talk to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I got on the phone, and
it was Dr. Seaton, the president of Albion College, who had signed all my
notes, and I never knew this until years after I was out of college that and
Tom Star.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that “Did you know Dr.
Seaton signed your notes personally?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
said, “No, I never knew that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
doubt that he was ever paid back because when my father developed cancer, you
see, when I met Russell he had just operated, finished sewing up my father with
a cancerous tumor and removed a kidney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So anyhow, I came right back with I always knew he was – he always took
a partial, you know, liking to me and every time – I worked as waitress my sophomore
year on the ground – two meals a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I worked as head waitress for two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And every time we’d have the birthday dinner
with Dr. Seaton’s birthday, he would ask to have me bring in the cake, and he
would pull me down and give me a big kiss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have letters from him still that say, “I love you dearly, John L.
Seaton.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which was a really special
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, did your brothers go to Albion?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Um-now Phil went into the Air Force at
eighteen and then he went to – he went to Albion after he got out of the war,
he went to Albion, and then he went to Michigan Law School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My other brother never finished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think he – he went through high
school, but that was it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s get into the romantic part of your
life.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yes, OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When and where did you meet Russ?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since you both were born in Ann Arbor.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You moved to Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, but a lot had gone on in between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See he had been in there – his review will
tell you he’d been in Ann Arbor – they lived in Detroit, Virginia Park, and
then came back to Ann Arbor and then to Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, oh, I’d heard about him, and my
mother, you know, was friends with his parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I’d heard of his record – ah, then his accomplishments would be in
the paper, and my mother would tell about this doctor, wonderful Dr. Russell
Atchison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was going with somebody else
very seriously at Albion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could have
cared less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But well I didn’t meet him the
first time when he finished sewing up my father when he had his operation,
urological operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where was that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ann Arbor – over at the University Hospital,
and Russell was in the surgical residency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had to give that up, you know, to come home, and his father had
developed “Parkinson’s”, and it was the Depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he gave up two years of surgical
residency, and he was one of seven chosen out of his whole class to take his
residency at the University of Michigan, which was quite an honor...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It really was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he’d been very good anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So he happened to be in this urological services, and boy, the young man
that was sewing up my father following the main part of the surgery passed
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Russell was scrubbed so he
stepped in and said, “Who’s the patient?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And they said Mr. Baldwin from Northville, and he said, “Oh, he’s a
friend of my parents.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I never swathe
man, he was still in school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any then my
father was shot, you know, down here at the…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No I didn’t know that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, that’s I said – we had – it was just
destined for us to be married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell
had just been home a few weeks from U of M and my father went down into the
basement of The Record office on Wednesday night. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were printing, and he went down to fix
the furnace and came up and was shot by a lad from the shooting gallery, which
is Little People Shoppe (Main Street) … had a Boy Scout shooting thing there to
give the kids something to do, but either they didn’t use the proper backdrop
or a too high-powered rifle – it came across that alley through this huge oak
door, and I mean that oak door was that thick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the boy from the Training School that we had printing, doing,
running the press, you know, they could be trained to …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>M’hm.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had the mentality of an eleven year old or
so, but was 27.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kept saying there’s
bees in here, there’s bees in here, and what it was, was the bullets flying
around and they missed him, but they caught my father, and he staggered into
the office and said, “I think I’ve been shot.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, my friend, Virginia Anderson from Detroit was his right-hand gal
then, and he’d gone to Kansas to get her, and she’s been my friend ever
since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This 1933 about… and um, so when
we first met, when she first came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
anyway we… she called Russell, who was just home, and they had this small
hospital – his father had a hospital upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, Russell always laughs because he cut off his new tie that my mother
had given my father, which my mother didn’t let me forget; and then the upshot
of the whole thing was to appease her for having – cutting off his tie, he sent
her a primrose and she – he met her at the door, or she met him at the door,
and her eyes were all swollen shut and her face was all swollen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was allergic to the primrose but anyway…
so I was, as I say, I was at Albion and …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, did your father survive the
shooting?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They took him up there, and Russell began, he probably tells about this
– about cutting down tie and to find the bullet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had taken some sort of an x-ray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He realizes he should have the other side too
because it had ricocheted all around the ribs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But my father was kind of weakened, you know, I mean he’d had this major
surgery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Dean of Women met me at my
door one morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was head of self-government
at Albion, and I had a special room with a bath, which the other didn’t
have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she said, “Have you seen the
Free Press about your father?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
said, “No, is he dead?” because, you know, it was just so soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “No, but he’s been shot.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I called home, and everything was all
right, and I was due up at Mt. Pleasant for a meeting, which I went to and then
came right down here, and that’s when I met Russell – so we had to get
married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to – it was just
inevitable, although he dated others, while I was back at Albion and things
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then I came back from
Albion and worked for my father again, and we were married in January of 1938.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, with no home to go to, we lived up on
Rouge Street in a little tiny house for $25.00 a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember asking the man that owned it if I
could paint the kitchen walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well, he
said, if you don’t mess it up.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I
mean they were brown – everything was brown, and I was so scared the walls were
beaver board, or whatever you call it, it wasn’t even plywood, and they would shift,
you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it would sound like people
walking, so I would go with Russell on house calls until three in the morning
sometimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lost fifteen pounds the
first month we were married because I was afraid to stay up there, and if I
went with him he would have office hours until twelve; then he would go on
house calls, and I would just sit in the car or else in somebody’s front room
and wait for him, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I lost
quite a bit of weight, and then we bought the little house on Fairbrook six
months later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got that little house
around the corner, the one that has shutters on it and a fenced back yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s see, it’d be our first real house that
we had, and then our kids were born while we were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved to S. Rogers when Rhonda was about
to be born because we didn’t have enough room in the other house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it was ’45 that we moved to S. Rogers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway – do you want to know what the
town looked like – I was trying to figure out what the town looked like when we
first came?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that what you were going
to ask me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, what basically when you first came
– saw Northville – what was your impression?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Was it a tiny town, was it – did it seem cosmopolitan?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it didn’t seem cosmopolitan because I
had come from a college town which was Albion, and I had lived in California,
which was a little more sophisticated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It just seemed like a small town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But you know, you didn’t question things then so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I don’t know, it was – my mother was the
type of person that met everybody very well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Georgianna (Couse Chase) tells me this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a little restaurant – I suppose it was maybe where Genitti’s
Hole in the Wall Restaurant is now that just had lunches, as I recall – not
dinners; and Georgianna and Walter (Couse) ate there the first day they came,
and my mother greeted them and said, “Welcome to Northville,” She was great a
doing this, and besides she worked with my father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could not have run any of these papers
without her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had written for magazine and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she was the best asset he ever had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, the business district – </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The business district was very similar – well
you know how it looked a few years ago without anything done to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not the pretty village it is now – the
City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I remember Fredyl’s women’s
store and I remember Nellie Freydl – whatever her last name was – she married
someone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The older mother was
there, and the daughter was there, and the daughter lived above Freydl’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the soda fountains in the Stuart’s
Drugstore and Gunzel’s – each had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
Stuart’s kept their soda fountains longer than Gunzel’s did and across the
street – Russell said the A & P Store was where Genitti's is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the A & P Store being I
thought on the north side – a very small store on the north side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All right – what about C. A. Smith
Store?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before A & P wasn’t there …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That probably was it, and that might have been
what I was thinking of because a friend of mine, Pat Dickey, that lived up on
Thayer, on Eaton Drive, yeah Eaton Drive built that darling house up there, was
pregnant, and she went in to ask for a pound of meat, and then the man told her
how much it was, she fainted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she
didn’t faint from the meat price – she just…the smell was terrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing I do remember, and I wrote this
down – the meat market, which was Baldwin’s Meat Market, which was like where
the insurance company (building just north of walkway from parking lot on N.
Center St.), Lee’s Insurance – it was an old rickety building – of course, they
built those over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was a meat
market there – Butch Baldwin, I think Baldwin filled out here – it’s not
Baldwin – it was Baldin, you know, named after that family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway he had a meat market and, you
know, they’d sweep all the leavings in with the sawdust, and that place smelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was no health control in this town
until Russell took over as Health Officer and made a world of enemies, but he
insisted on covering the barrels of open cookies and open things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now they get back to that in, you know,
some of these stores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What made him quit
being health officer was Mrs. Rackham who was forever calling him and asking
him to get the dogs off her lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said, “I’m not the dog catcher, I’m the Health Officer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But back of Stuart’s Drug Store back of
Northville Drugs, they found junk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
found a fence under four feet, no four – well yes – six feet of junk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cleared it all out, and there was a
fence, and on top of that was all this stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He made them clean up the alley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He made them clean up their stores, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, Fred Kerr will never eat at
MacKinnon’s, particularly if he has to overlook the alley because he swept
that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, is that right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And he worked at Stuart’s at Northville
Drug.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right, he did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And there was a bathroom back there on
the back that has now – is no longer there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it was, you know, and he did work the soda fountains.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, I see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember that now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh my gosh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So that actually the business district
sort of stopped there and then went on to Gunsel’s?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yeah, yes it did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was trying to think, there was a
Seifrost Bakery was on the north side of the street, where the bakery is
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Seifrost ran it for years, and
that’s where Roxy – I couldn’t get – we couldn’t get Roxanne a job anywhere to
earn any money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know “Doctors
children never needed any money,” was the attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mrs. Seifrost, bless her heart, let her
work there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She earned $100.00 to go to
Europe, you know, for her spending money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway, there was that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then
– did anybody ever tell you about Alfred Sibley having a store?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I think it was where the Marquis is,
next – this side of the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had
a little shop …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was the P & A then, wasn’t it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, the P & A Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had women’s clothes, and then some people
bought him out, and they moved over to what was Lapham’s for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lapham’s I think, you know Mr. Ponsford had
owned it, and then back when her husband bought it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in between there was another couple and I
can’t – they went up north after this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had wonderful Scottish woolens and English china.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought my… I think what they had left went
to Alfred Sibley, and he started up again… I bought my Spoke from them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we had some very nice shops that
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, you know, Laphams came
in, and Beth had yard goods and things like that to begin with, or else
Ponsford’s did – I don’t remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, where’d you buy the material for
your graduation dress?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Probably there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imagine that’s where we probably bought it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, you recall when Schraders came to
town?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, because …oh, Nelson Schrader, you know,
the father had…was here when we came to town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know Eliza said to me one time, “Do you remember that day – you
remember the gazebo in the middle of the ‘four corners’?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “I wasn’t here.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, you were too.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “No, I wasn’t Eliza.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The street car tracks were no longer in use,
and there was no gazebo there, so… And see Mrs. Schrader and my father – one
was a Democrat and one was a Republican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And my father and he would run back and forth with all this wonderful
news about their parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was a
very nice man, and then they had the funeral parlor right next to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But see, I didn’t come here until…he was here
in ’31 – yeah, ’31 when I was here – well established, so I assume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you know the Casterline’s and they had a
big falling out and all this stuff, which we won’t go into.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok, I don’t know anything about it so…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, that was when the broke up their
furniture and …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Their funeral business?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, the funeral business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right, well they were in Plymouth and
then they moved…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So that’s…let’s see if I have anything else down here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, what else do you want to find out
about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, OK, you were active as a doctor’s
wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I presume you were supposed to be
active in the community?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everything – so the Methodist Church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I taught Sunday School there six years,
and oh I did lots of other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
used to play for Sunday School of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I imagine you did if you were a pianist.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, and I was the Board of Trustees and on
that because Russell and I were invited…they had – was it two years ago – they
had the people who had been members twenty-five years or more were honored out
at the new church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I said to
Russell, “Do you want to go?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he
said, “I don’t really, but we will.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
so we went, and they first asked for those twenty-five years, and some stood
up, and then thirty years, forty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that we’d been – I’d been – he’d been a member fifty-five years,
and I’d been a member fifty years at least or fifty-five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t … We were the last ones to stand up,
except one lady in a wheelchair that they’d wheeled up to the front.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh dear.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I thought, “Oh gee, there we are.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All right, was the church …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was right on Dunlap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, right where the other church is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then the parsonage was right next to
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, right on the corner
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a wooden structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And um…then after the…after the church, you
know, got the other parsonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s
her name…Black…the Black…the daughter of the Black’s, the sister to Del Black,
had the White Kitchen Restaurant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hmm.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And Pat Goodrich and I used to give
going-back-to-school coffees or something there, or we’d give luncheons or
Christmas luncheons, and she had wonderful food, she really did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So that, you went to not the present
church, but the original Methodist Church?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, the original Methodist Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then the one that was now turned
into the Drawbridge was the second?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And were you instrumental in raising
funds for that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, wait a minute; was that the second
Methodist Church?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don’t know, was it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, no that was the first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was the first?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the original?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The only one I know of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok, ok.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, that was the first, and Roxy’s was the
last, I guess, big wedding that they had there, you know, before they changed
to the new church out there on Eight Mile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How’d you feel about the change - moving?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was unhappy about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to be perfectly frank, I didn’t like the
architecture of the new church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel
that Northville – I still feel this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t like that building across from that Presbyterian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s terrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we should have kept it within a
certain architecture, but I know who planned the church out there, and I know
their taste is all in the mouth, you know …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It just, it isn’t … to me, it isn’t a …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it isn’t the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, it’s not, but …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, you know, you do what you can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We aren’t so active anymore because we don’t
know anybody out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I know they
called Russell to rake the yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wondered if he’d come out and help them rake recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “Well, I’ve done that – I’ve already
done that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a little too old for
that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the man said, “How old are
you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “I’m 78.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
he said, “You are?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, that’s true, he shouldn’t be doing that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, you go through phases in your
church life.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I think once your children are
grown, and they have children, you feel like it’s time to step back and…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes … right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And…your children all went to the
Methodist Church?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, sure, and I was President of Service
Guild.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know when that started, and
my mother was a charter member.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was she really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I was with the church group up until the last probably – what fifteen
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I don’t like to leave
Russell at night sitting here watching TV or something and I go off to these
meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, I did that for so
many years while he was busy with office hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was always at a meeting somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so now …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Don’t you find too – my husband has the
feeling he doesn’t care what I do all day but…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, he’d like to have you home at night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why’d we get married?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember Georgianna saying, “You know, Walter and I used to meet each
other going out the door.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was
a stage in my life when I felt the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I might have to give the scholarship for Women’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was having a tea in the afternoon for a new
doctor’s wife, you know, and it would just be almost more than you could
bear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember this one doctor,
Dr. Kapuzi’s wife, we gave a tea for her, and that was the day we had to give
the – present the scholarship for Women’s Club up at the school at the Honors Convocation,
and she hadn’t planned to leave, I think, until he was through with office
hours which was about 9 pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to be
there at 7:30, and I had to really take her to the office and leave her because
people didn’t leave the tea until almost six, and then we had hamburgs or
something and her, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well OK, was Russ the only doctor in
town?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, there was Dr. Snow was here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh, that’s right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And Dr. Handorf was here, and I think Dr.
Holcomb, and Russell worked out of Sessions Hospital until things… It didn’t
have the reputation he wanted surrounding his name – I won’t say anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But ah, no, it just didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that why we started our own little
hospital which was the only one, you know, between Howell and Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to get all these accident cases, I
can’t tell you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t see Russell
for maybe well, during the flu epidemic, four days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and Laura Hicks were laughing about it
because I said, “Did you ever get tired of the bologna and tomato sandwiches I
made?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell asked me, “Please don’t
make anymore of those, they fell apart.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But they would come home, and she would go – her husband win the War in
the Army, so she was glad to be busy, and she was his only nurse up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean she did everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She kept books, she took the phone, she did
everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful girl, and
anyway…we just …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> And that building was located?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which one, now?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hospital.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Doctors’ Clinic - his father’s home for
our office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our clinic -
building- yeah, the Doctors’ Clinic, which is now the…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Atchison
House.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was gone an awful, awful lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Who
then when he was there, who did, who were the doctors that came in with
him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You mentioned Dr., Kapuzi…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">RMA:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well Dir Kapuzi came in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First
came Dr. Wetterstrom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had been in
Public Health up in the Upper Peninsula, and then Russell got him in, and what I
always remember about Bob is that a good Catholic had to eat fish on Friday,
and I was pregnant with Roxanne and sick as a horse, and we were doing over the
kitchen completely in the house on Rogers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So we had to walk across the boards to the dining room, and I had to
cook in the basement and do the dishes in the laundry tubs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had to have fish, and I can still, you
know, remember taking the bones out of this fish and feeling so sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mr. Goetz, who was the world’s best
carpenter, but the slowest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took him
three months to do that kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean
we had Christmas do across those boards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
Annabel’s husband?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, that was his uncle (oh, okay) Fred Goetz
– wonderful carpenter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, yeah,
Russell took him in then he got Bud Robinson in with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well then, he had other doctors too that came
maybe one or two days a week, and orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lamberson for ‘P and
‘A’s’ and ear, nose and throat things, and then, of course, Dr. Kapuzi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Rogers was in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave is OP work to Dr. Rogers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Dr. Rogers was the grandson of the Rogers
out here that the – what is it called now – that restaurant on Nine Mile Road,
that beautiful old house they turned…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Home
Sweet Home.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, that was the one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shouldn’t have said that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
haven’t been in it, but from what I’ve heard, I…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to see it because Russell took
care of them all their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
we have a needlepoint stool downstairs that Mrs. Rogers did for him, and he
won’t let me change the top because he sat with them for four days and four
nights while Mr. Rogers was dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they were friends of my parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They –
I remember when they built the house – they had ten coats of channel finish
woodwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just beautiful, and it
would break my parents’ heart, and it broke ours when we went to the other
restaurant that was out there, and that was done more tastefully than it is
now, I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But those black pillars, they just kill it,
you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
went by, and I thought – well of course, people say “Home Cooking” – we can get
that at home anyway.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So anyway….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I know that the Rogers House was – I’m going through some of…We haven’t got
into Women’s Club yet, but going through some of the minutes, hers, I couldn’t
imagine who had a house big enough that you could combine Plymouth, Farmington,
and Northville Woman’s Club, and then Ruth Porter said, “Oh that was Rogers
House,” and I thought….</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably was with the dining room and
living room, and then because Marie Caruso bought that later, you know, and she
used to give big parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it was a
large house, but a beautiful house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
then you and Russ did have some free time…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like when?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
did you ever have family outings or get together with other couples?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, there were a lot, we had a lot- yes, we
had a lot of fun in those years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
a lot of couples that got together, but invariably we would get to the party
and Russell would be called out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean,
there was just…I always remember a New Year’s Eve party and Eden and Russell
Clark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, he was with the bank,
and Russell went over to Novi to get the babysitter for me, and he walked in
the door, and he was called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some kids,
some kids had been riding out on Nine Mile Road, and apparently there’s a curve
on Nine Mile west, Nine Mile someplace – a very sharp turn, and they had run
into the end of the road because it was icy, and he and he called Dr.
Lamberson, and they were down at Mt. Carmel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Russell was on the staff of Mt. Carmel then – down there until I think
six in the morning, and then the people wouldn’t pay them because they didn’t –
the doctors didn’t want a certain – oh, what do you call them when, you know,
they have to line up the teeth or whatever…orthodontist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dentist.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Orthodontist doctor because they didn’t know
of his work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was new in the field,
and they didn’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wanted
someone whose work they were acquainted with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, just another one who didn’t get paid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too many parties we went to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That night I always remember sitting there
‘till three in the morning, and finally Russ Clark took he home and took the
babysitter home, which was hard because and often times we gave parties at our
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a bunch of people like the
Schraeders and the Clarks and, oh gee, all kinds of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you ever know PEEWEE Hoffman and Paul
Hoffman?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the Ford Motor and Edsel
Ford’s right hand man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was another
crowd and another group and a couple and Harriet and Rick Goodrich and just an
awful lot of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had Jo Hahn and
Del Hahn and the Blooms and all those.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember giving dinner parties for 42 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The neighbor next door said, “You’re running all the time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Yes, I have to.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had four children then then have to, you
know, you fix a big cooker full of chicken with wine or something, but we had a
awful a nice group, a lot of fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They used
to have dances up here at the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did anybody tell you about those?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was that club called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
a dance club, and then we’d go out to Hillside to eat afterwards, when Hillside
still had wood floors, and it wasn’t very fancy, but it was a lot of fun up
here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you remember any picnics at the park?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah, our family used to go on picnics,
and Rick and Harriet would go with us, and you know Harriet’s a great cook, so
we’d have fried potatoes and everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’d either go to Kensington, or we’d go out here, and I remember taking
our son Rick and his new baby and his wife out here for picnics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a lot of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite picnic dessert was that I…we used
to take doctors out here on picnics if they would come out, and they’d be
working with Russell – then you’d say, “Let’s go on a picnic.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I would make…I don’t remember what the
main course was- probably we cooked something, but I can just…lime pie that was
about 4” tall, and, you know, from the summer time, and everybody loved that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I don’t know, we always had a lot of
fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did a lot with the children alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was just no way Russell – he was too
tied to that office delivering babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He finally had the first car phone in Wayne County, and it did save him
some miles, and I would catch him on the way home from delivering one and say,
“You’ve got another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go back.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember one night- the worst night of
my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I was upstairs and
getting ready for bed and… You know Billy Leon?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You know Mrs. Leon?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband
had a bleeding ulcer all over the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Um…somebody was having a heart attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sent the ambulance there in three times, and the next one was a boy
that was home working on a wrecker, and some local boys were home from the Navy
and had been drinking and ran into him – he was trying to get fixed or
something and ran into him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Betty
Willis’ brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t think of what
his name is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, Russell…I had
to send him in, and he didn’t live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mean, he went into shock, and they couldn’t do anything about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, you know, I was alone an awful lot, and
we laugh about Rhonda, her horse and all her horse shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I would be out there all by myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d have to take a bunch of kids and the
horse tack and everything and go to these shows because Russell would be on call.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
you’re – so Rhonda – she owned a horse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know that Betty Schrader’s daughter had a horse.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably Sarah did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rhonda’s became, you know State Pleasure
Champion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sold it to Milton Cole
because Rhonda was going to college, and we couldn’t manage $125 a month just
to feed the darned thing – so it broke her heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But on the other hand, as you say, life is a
series of stages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to do these
things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were a Girl Scout leader?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah, first – Girl Scout leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Betty…Ware – what were her … not Mary
Ware – the other Ware, Dorothy Ware, his (Don Ware) first wife, was the
Campfire leader, and we worked together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then I was a Girl Scout leader, for quite a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the Girl Scout Council for a couple
of years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a Cub Scout leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I met a boy, a man now, over in the waiting
room at St. Joe’s a couple years ago, and he came towards me and said “Are you
Mrs. Atchison?”, and I said, “Yes.” “You used to be my Cub Scout leader.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Dennis, I remember you,” because I
took him down here, you know, what do you do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You could handle about 24 girls to seven boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by the end, when spring came, you were so
tired of trying to think of things for them to do every week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we went on a hike down here by the river,
and there was still a little snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were
looking for animal tracks – you know rabbits or whatever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of a sudden, I’m missing two boys, and I
thought, “Oh my God!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, here I
am with these kids, and they’re gone, and the river was right up to the
bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they had done was hide under
the viaduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could’ve killed them
cheerfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Dennis, I remember
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were one of the two who hid
under the viaduct.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that…that’s
normal kids for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right
– Russ was not able to be active in any of the things with the boys?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well he...no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was on the School Board, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But not in with the kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was no way he could, you know, he was just so tied down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And his practice came first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Definitely.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to go with him a
lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to go with him on house
calls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mothers’
Club.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m
sure. When did it…where…?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh my.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well Mother’s Club started, I think, about the year before we were
married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when Iris and Lillian
Dorsey and all those started Mothers’ Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And you know the reason for it was to give milk to children that
couldn’t afford milk during the Depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s what it was started as.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not the big business it is today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s wonderful what’s being accomplished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, as soon as I was married – I guess
I was pregnant – I was taken into Mothers’ Club, and I had various offices in
that, and I was president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
remember what years I was president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
we had an entirely different group then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I mean, you know, some left and some…but I thought we did a lot of good
work, and we used to have these…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
remember the – you probably don’t remember the carnivals up at the school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I only had one son that went to Northville schools.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, our two boys went away to school
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <i> </i></span><i>(Telephone rings)</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell can get that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Money
makers- what’s the carnival in the basement of the grade school?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was a money maker for the school, and
all the different clubs, like Mothers’ Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Womans’ Club had the cake booth, and you know, everybody would donate
cakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with the Girl Scouts – I was
thinking about that tool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d have this
Girl Scout card party, and we’d raffle off the cakes that were left and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a lot of money that
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cliff Hill was the auctioneer, and
if could do it anybody could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We earned
a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well anyway, we earned a lot at this
carnival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had it about four years in
a row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lot of work, you know. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I say, Rotary took one, Exchange took
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was terrific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Woman’s Club had this cake booth, and the
ice cream was donated by Guernsey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Guernsey?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cloverdale, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it would be hard as rocks, you know, and
you’d have to have a man to help us do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, one time I came home from so-called managing this thing, and the
boys had gotten in a fight,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pushed each
other down the stairs and broken a door knob, and Russell came home, and the
sitter was complaining – an older woman we had was telling me about it, and
Russell looked at me very quietly, and he said, “Couldn’t someone who doesn’t
have four children manage that?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he
was so right, you know – he really was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But you think – you’re into this – you have to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what was some of the money makers we
had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>[Tape stops]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
were really never alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You never felt
left out of anything in town?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no, I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I know Harriet Gibbins said to me at one
time, we were talking about prestige one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said, “You know, prestige has never bothered me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “Ruth, you had it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, a newcomer coming to town found
Northville very cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harriet always
said if it hadn’t been for me, “I don’t know where I’d of been in this
town.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she said, “You know what I
liked you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “I saw you get up
in front of a meeting at school,” I suppose it was PTA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “You had a slip on that had the
kind of lace on I liked, and it was down about half inch below in the back of
your dress,” but she said, “It was the kind I liked, so I figured I liked you
too.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “It wasn’t what Harriet
said.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “No.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway…well, you know, you’re
automatically just pushed into everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
so, what I’m thinking, because Russ couldn’t be there, people just – they took
more or less care of you.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>People were wonderful that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah, I never felt…I never felt ostracized or excluded or anything like
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, of course, our family had
always been in community things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean,
in Albion, my father was editor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did
things because you were part of the community, and when we cam here, boy we
were told that we were part of this community, and we should assume – take
these responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
and as a doctor’s wife.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you get it, you know?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would imagine more so than anyone other
than the minister’s wife.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was always funny because the new
doctor – the young, new doctor in town, you know, you get…There’s a lot of talk
that goes on around I suppose among the other doctors and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you have to watch what you’re doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You’re
the new kid on the block – but he used to do it his way, and we didn’t do it
that way?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember the first OB I ever got in on, and I was no nurse, you
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People say “Are you a nurse?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say, “No, heavens no.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were trying to get one day off – one half
afternoon off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Wednesdays
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we were going to go up to Port
Huron and have dinner by the water and come back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had this Packard convertible – Russell
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we were married, he even
had a Packard convertible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mother
said that’s why I married him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That and
his money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t have any money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
he had the Packard – that was enough.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, and I’d go on house calls with him
– one up to Rochester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we were
courting, he would pick me up at maybe nine o’clock at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d sit there embroidering ‘till he got
through office house or even later and go up to see a mental patient, and he’d
leave my sitting out front with the top down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d think, “Oh gee, I don’t want to be out here with these kinds of
loonies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And em, so the next time he
took me in, and it was worse because they could come and look at me, you
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’d just look you all up and
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway, I was used to going
with him on places like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we
went up to Port Huron, and I remember we ordered a fish dinner, and we got the
tomato juice, and we started to drink the tomato juice, and the phone
range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here was an OB down here,
down in Northville, and it was out on Seven Mile in Orvil Owen’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people had nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t mention names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had absolutely nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman was on newspapers in the bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this baby was being born a breech, and
Russell kept me busy poring mercrescent on cotton or on gauze bandages or stuff
just to keep me, so I wouldn’t probably faint, OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was the first and last I ever sat in
on or wanted to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
you never really were a member of his office staff, so to speak?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no, I just took phone calls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
took the phone calls.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the phone girl – all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Okay, we know that you’ve been a
member of Northville Woman’s Club for over fifty years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fifty years!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah, isn’t that amazing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q: </b>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b>RMA: </b></span>I feel it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also surprised that I’ve lived that long,
you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really, and I’ve loved Woman’s Club ever
since…I remember..The first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Okay,
let’s go back and just sort of reminisce about when you…Who got you to – asked
you to join?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Jo Hahn was the one…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
you sponsor?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Jo Hahn was my sponsor, and I hear
that she’s not in very good shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s
over in Ann Arbor now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was, when I
was President, she was my Program Chairman, and I always felt in good hands
with her because she was so very excellent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But anyway, the first thing they did was give me the office of Secretary
– I think the second year I was in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secretary, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not treasurer – I
could never be treasurer of anything, I’m sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was Secretary, and that was all right except all the new members had
to participate in a program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was to
write a paper on the history of American music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you know the history of American music incorporates everything in
Europe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might say anything from
anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked hard on that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh I worked hard, and then I got pregnant
with Rick and was sick as a horse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
so sick I couldn’t give the paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
how many members went in when you did?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh gosh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
you say new members, and you met every week?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not.. we didn’t.. gosh, I can’t remember who
went in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Georgianna has been a
member fifty years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>M’hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m thinking… you say all the new members
had to give papers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that was the… No, they had to do
something – give a program, and I don’t know that it was that year, but if you
were a new member, that’s when you took part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I mean, there were more people taking part in the meetings than have
guest speakers and stuff, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we put on little skits and plays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
tell me about the skits.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh my gosh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We would dress up in our worst – our nightgowns or whatever and do
dances like the can-can and things like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember my hair all up in bobby pins, and other people, I don’t
remember nightcaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember the
theme of it, you know, ‘cause we did this three or four times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we put on…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
many people recall the skits and are sorry that we don’t do them anymore.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were fun, and it was a good way of
getting acquainted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was part of your
initiation is really what it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
think it’s good to have more people participate – somebody give a book review,
or something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because that paper,
although I couldn’t give it, I was so sick at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had my friends, Pat Dickey, who came in
with me, but she was living in the East – she gave it for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, you know, that was kind of a neat idea
as part of your being new in the Club to take part that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
when the Club was first formed, the members did all the programs?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And,
as I said, they did meet every week and …well, and it was the Club to belong
to, I understand.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah really!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, you know, when I was President, there were – we had a waiting list
for two or three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My lord, there
wasn’t any room for anybody because there was a lower number, fewer people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
you were meeting…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old library building?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>(ED:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New School Church/Mill Race Village)</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I loved it that way, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really nice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about – did you have the same kind of teas that we put on, so to speak?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had very nice teas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, we
did, and the Christmas program, and…you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
are a couple things that we don’t do anymore that you wish…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
miss the Mother-Daughter tea.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a nice thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know – I can’t think of what else
except the skits and having somebody, more maybe book review or some other
program, of course travel log or something like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More anticipation, anticipation –
participation by members might be kind of nice, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we’re coming up to celebrating our 100<sup>th</sup> in four years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had a style show – you would probably remember that – of the old…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…costumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mary Haney, I think got that together, didn’t she?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve suggested that they
talk to her because I think she was quite instrumental in that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, I think she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Betty Chapman loaned some of her things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
to find people tiny enough to wear them?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s true, yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That would be part of it wouldn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I think it would be nice to have something like that, if we possibly
could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
a committee is being formed to work on it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
I sort of try to take notes on things like that so we can have some kind of a
plan for that year.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, we used to dress up to Woman’s
Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d wear our furs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d wear, you know, very good looking suits
and we sometimes had our opening lunches in Ann Arbor and things like that and…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
you did go further afield.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, yeah!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I was President, one year we went to the over there in the North
Campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a – what is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An Engineering Society or something over
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a building where at least
you could – they had a nice lunch room thing, and that’s where we went one
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you ever go to the Woman’s City Club for lunch there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I think we went one year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, of course, we’ve been at Botsford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about Plymouth?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll never forget that Botsford one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a lady in this town noted for
putting her foot in her mouth, and apparently the speaker that they had lined
up, at the last minute or something, couldn’t come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here introduction of the speaker was,
“We’re so glad to have you with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve tried and tried and tried to get somebody else…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all of us just sat there just thinking,
“Oh no, please don’t let her say these things.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We just kind of shrunk down in our chairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
my!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was at – I remember that was Botsford’s
– one I’ll never forget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was kind
of fun to dress up, but, you know, I was used to being a doctor’s wife, and
everybody thinks doctors have all this money and stuff, which is really
ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe some do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe they do today – more than they
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would go home and change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would never go to the grocery store or
never go anywhere in my good looking suit or my fur scarf or anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would come home and change before I’d ever
go out around people that might be Russell’s patients.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
right!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just wouldn’t do it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah
– my dad always had the policy that you never drove a car bigger than the
customer you might be calling on.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh that’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except, you know, one time we were going to
buy a secondhand Cadillac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t have
new cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell believes in secondhand
cars ‘cause everything, you know, all the troubles are out of them, he
thinks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, he said “Well, we
shouldn’t really drive a Cadillac.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
said “Russell, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t because if you
drive a big car, they’ll say, “Oh my goodness, he’s making all that
money.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you drive a rickety old car,
they’ll say, “He can’t be a very good doctor because he doesn’t drive a very
good car.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I said, “You do what you
want to do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know you have to in
this life to a certain point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we
were kind of cognizant of...we didn’t try to throw anything around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember how hurt I was one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lady – two women from the Maybury San had
been drinking down at the bar on North Center, and they hit out car out in
front of our garages because it was snowing; you couldn’t get up that drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That drive was made for horses and
buggies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we would gun it and try to
make it up, but half the time we couldn’t so we were parked out there, and I
heard this crash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I grabbed my
fifteen-year-old beaver coat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it
was beaver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, seal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fifteen years old and ratty and
everything, but it was there on the chair or something, and I grabbed, put it
on, and ran down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This woman says to me,
“Well, here comes Mrs. Rich Bitch.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
I thought, "I never!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I just came to help
you, you know.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “I just came to
see if you were all right.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, you
know, you never know what people are thinking about you or saying about you,
Lois, really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all you can do is walk
as straight a path as you think you should and just ignore that people are
saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, did the Woman’s Club just meet
in the library building and then did they switch over to the Presbyterian
Church?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presbyterian Church – yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nothing in between or anything?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not
like Town Hall has switched around.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, no, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, there weren’t too many places to switch around, you know, that
large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean that you could
accommodate….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
they used to have combination meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I mean, you know, with Farmington and Plymouth, and they were active
with the Detroit Chapter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I know
that people are upset because we don’t pay dues anymore to the…’cause we’re not
federated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, tell me about that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does give…we – we were with the Federation
when I was President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mary Haney and
I went down to the meetings, you, know, to the training courses and all this
stuff they offered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never felt we got
anything for our money from the Detroit Federation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were doing just fine by ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Mary and I went to this one meeting down
there in their building on Jefferson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was on how to conduct a
meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we sat there, and the woman
said, “well, you know you’re not supposed to put your hands in your pockets, “and
told us how to conduct ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
looked at May and Mary looked at me, and I poled her, and this woman had her
thumbs over the top of her skirt band or trousers or whatever she had on, I
don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just almost got
hysterical and had to leave because, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, that was neither here nor there, but it was just funny because
this was a workshop on how to conduct a meeting, and she was doing all the
wrong things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
now…Detroit City Club – was that anything like Northville Woman’s Club?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I don’t know the City Club.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
the City Club is privately owned.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that’s where I’ve had lunch there
several times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because they’ve had people come into
Northville, who want to become a member of Northville Woman’s Club, but our
dues are so small, they say, “Oh, then you must not be…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the City Club is a place you could go swim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to, and they have wonderful
lunches – beautiful food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was more
like a Meadowbrook Country Club in the middle of the city or something….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right….</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
we’ve had that, that…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, really!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>People
will say, “My goodness, your dues are too low and”…Well, we don’t own a
building.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was a different kind of club, I think – maybe more like Ann Arbor
City Club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right,
right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not Northville Woman’s Club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we kept thinking – wouldn’t it be nice if the White House <i>(ED:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nine Mile east of Novi Rd.) </i>would have been
donated to the Woman’s Club?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would’ve
had this…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh hey, wouldn’t that have been
something?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never thought of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
a pipe dream!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, we could paint the pillars white again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, do you remember any of the common – the
meetings with Farmington and Plymouth?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s funny, I really don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember any with Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve never had lunches with Farmington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Opening lunches?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not in my tenure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember any of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
because we certainly don’t do it any more.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Uh, huh. No, we never…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
big was the membership when you were… “Cause we’re up to…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re up to what now?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hmmm..175.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were at the most… It seemed to… Was it 65?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I wrong?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we’ve just redone the
bylaws again.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or 125 at the most.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
that’s right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that library didn’t take over 65
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I recall, 65 or 75 was our
limit then, and that’s why we had such a long waiting list, because you
couldn’t get any more in.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
right, yeah, yeah,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a… everybody looked
their vest best.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was really great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember –
you remember Ed Yerkes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you ever
know Ed and his wife?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was such a
lovely girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had, you know, had so
many troubles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember she had
just had that first stroke, and she was living at her mother’s in Plymouth, and
I went over and got Buzz so that she could come back to Woman’s Club to the
Christmas Tea, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she
struggled in, and I’ll never forget that gal had more backbone that anybody I’d
ever known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to watch her tying Chucky’s
little baby shoes with here teeth and one hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I’ll never forget the night that she had the stroke because I was…
you know, how you associate foods with things?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was making a big kettle of homemade soup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was wintertime, I guess, and Russell was
off on a call or out at the hospital, and Ed called, and he said, “Get Russ
quick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buzz had had a stroke or
something.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got Russell, and they rushed her to Ann
Arbor, and she almost died of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But anyway, then she had another and almost died. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I still associate the soup with it and in
that little house over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also
associate…. Well, we have a funny sort of thing – we have records, a phonograph
record we made with Sally Britton, the Schraders, the Clarks, all of them on what
they thought about the war, because war had just been declared, when they were
over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember that day too
because Rick, our son Rick, was always climbing up into this great big radio
thing we had, and I was getting him down because I couldn’t hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “You have to get down out of
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t hear, and then they’re
declaring war.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So war and the soup and
this party with the Schraders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
remember somebody saying, “Now here’s Giggles Schrader,” meaning Betty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we would listen to what she thought
about how long the war was going to last – same way with Sally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess she’s gone too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it really makes you feel like Moses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I know that people did a lot of things that a lot of people don’t know about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you – did you sort of be a
philanthropist too, when there was a needy family or something?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Russell – yes absolutely – Russell had
the most wonderful… Well, Roxy was so thrilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she went up to Central, there was this little girl that came to
her, and she was hunchback, you know, and I don’t know what all wrong with
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she said, “Your father saved my
life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Roxy said, “What do you
mean?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “They told me..my
mother at the hospital…take me home and let me die because I wasn’t going to
survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she said she called your
husband (ED – father) and he came out and made a little homemade incubator out
of box with an electric light bulb or something in it and put her in it and had
the mother feed her with a dropper.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
he told me what happened later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said
she…he saw her..she came in the office – I don’t know how many years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has a child, and she was so thrilled
because she said, “You know I never would have lived.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember out across the railroad tracks
there was a – he went out on a house call, and they had no neat of any
sort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he had Ely’s bring them coal
and stuff like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t know
how long he paid for… He bought them a stove in the first place and then had
Ely’s supply that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about you?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did I do, you mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, one time Russell came home from a call
out on Five Mile Road there – this side of Beck – halfway – in an old
farmhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this family was up from
Tennessee or some place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he went
out, or maybe somebody was sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they had rags just stuffed in the windows and nothing to eat but a box of salt
on the table and half a tin of Carnation Milk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So Russell comes home again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was pregnant with Sue, but he… it seems I spent half of my life that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came home, and he said, “Oh, this is
almost Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, they just have
nothing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said “Could you get some
people to get things together?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
Marian Silver, Pat Hickey, and Jean Wetterstrom all – we got blankets – we gave
blankets of our own, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We gave
towels, we gave pillows, we gave…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
some people gave money, and we bought… Some people we called gave money, so we
bought groceries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then Jean
Wetterstrom… I had a little Studebaker, a cute little Studebaker, and we went
out with this thing loaded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean we
had to make two trips out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
this man practically met us with a gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was a very belligerent man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said, “Where’d you get all these things?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We said, “Well, we just collected them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We thought maybe you could use them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, he did let us bring them in, but we had some meat, and they had an
old hound dog there that was after the meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And they put all this stuff on top of this brand new baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of a sudden somebody said, “Where’s the
baby?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we began looking, and it was under the
bedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could’ve suffocated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so the County worker or something call up
out at… wanted to know why we had done this, and Russell said because they felt
so sorry for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was going to
get a little Christmas tree together and all, and Russell said, “I think that
would be a little much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they have
nothing, maybe that would just emphasize it that much more.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, she said when she went out – this
worker whatever – this social worker, they’d taken the coat and stuffed the windows
again with the clothing, and they still – the food was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t know what ever happened to
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, you know, we did things like
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And oh, you know, if you knew
somebody was sick, you would take food to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And if people died, you took – a case I remember – Becky Lenhardt was a
member of Mother’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband
worked for my father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He now has a … I
guess he’s retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he had a
printing company in Royal Oak, and they came from South Dakota, and when we
lived on South Rogers, my mother… Fern had just had this baby but was bleeding
badly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So my mother, out on the side
porch there, made a little hospital for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My mother always wanted to be a nurse, and my father said she’s not
strong enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother lived through a
lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And – but anyway, she took care of
her, but Frank – oh geez, what was I going to tell you about…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
baby?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Fern Hart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made her… Well, mother took care of Fern
and the baby ‘till she was well enough to be on her feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my mother not only had to, you know, work
at The Record all day, she had to cook for… My father was always inviting
itinerant printers home with their little dogs, and she’d have to cook for
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one time she came in and lay
on the davenport at night before dinner, and she said, “I am so tired, so bone
tired,” you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she worked so
hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, Frank.. what was I doing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes, here I go again, telling you about
Frank and then… we were talking about providing food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, I made Fern’s cake – Fern was a Mother’s
Club member, and she had a wonderful black, chocolate cake recipe, and the
frosting was the kind that you cooked almost like a pudding, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t the frosting as we know it today,
sort of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked so hard over that
cake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Took me all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got to the back seat of this car and to
take it to somebody’s home, slid around the corner of Main Street and North
Center or of Dunlap and North Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The top of the cake went right off on the floor of the car and broke
into three pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So ended my good deed
for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you know, you did a lot
of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was part of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
part of Northville.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, Northville is a unique town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it is, and I’m sorry that people –
some people do not like it, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some people don’t feel at home, and then they leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the people that just sold a house
down on Thayer and Rogers felt that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She intimated that to me one time, and so they sold it and left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know where they went.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thayer
and..oh that…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… that little white house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They sold for $160,000.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
she – they were quite instrumental in donating toward the gazebo?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think when we had the dedication, she
had that pretty little parasol?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could be.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you recall her name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Greenwall?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she used to live here…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
thought it was a double name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
remember the parasol, and I kept thinking during this hot summer – oh, I wish I
had the parasol.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But wasn’t he a retired Army Colonel or
something like that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Could
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think so – something like
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just loved that little house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, well it’s a darling house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s next to the one that we used to live in,
and when my mother had it, we had a lot of …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Next
to where?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That little white house where McKernan’s
lived there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one that’s the junky
place where they have all the stuff in the backyard.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
you said it all right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my mother had, you know, flower boxes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
mother –that was your mother?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where we lived when I was in
college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They moved there, and that’s
where<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
must just break your heart to go by there and see that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah, I don’t even like to even think of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where I left from to be married down
at Albion, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I left from that
house and…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
looks like such a pretty house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a pretty house, and my mother was…you
know, she did a lot with flowers, and we had a nice backyard with a picnic
table, and we always had picnics out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
maybe when the new ordinance on maintenance goes through…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope so, but, you know they took that to
court, and that man won.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t …the
neighbors took it to court, and he won, and I don’t know how he could possible
win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t either.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…Well, that stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its just - it’s really an eyesore to the whole
street.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
it is!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It definitely is!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, it is – yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I was trying to think of anything more
about Woman’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was always a lot
of fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opening lunches were always
wonderful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we’re going back to Meadowbrook this year.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least, we won’t have Bob Talbert for a speaker.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
listen…..</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wasn’t that…?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
I was the Program Chairman.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were the Chair?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, were you really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
thought – would he ever get out of the bathroom jokes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was never so embarrassed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read…I look at his column, and sometimes I
can hardly bear to even skim it, you know.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
know..I was… Well, we all have warm memories.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One would never think that he would be that
way.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I had no idea.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s a renowned…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s why you should always go hear somebody
before you…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
he was so highly recommended that…And I think he wore denims with studs in…Oh,
it was…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh probably, and then he probably didn’t have
his ponytail yet?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
he didn’t.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He now has that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
you did have to remember something.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I didn’t know you were Program
Chairman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t have mentioned it,
but…No, that’s true, but I always laugh about that because…Well, that goes
right along with my Christmas program that I had that somebody didn’t like the
Santa Claus we had.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I had gotten a little tired of somebody
reading the Bible all the time…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sure.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…So I thought let’s have something different,
and Glad Evans said, “What are we doing to do?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had the Music Committee, you know; she’s in charge of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I said, “Well, let’s have a Santa Claus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know a good one, Andy Bertoni.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I said, “He comes to our office
breakfasts, and I’ll tell him to tone down the jokes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And…because I know some of them he told at
our office breakfast, I wouldn’t want him to tell at…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I heard him come in with the sleigh bells
ringing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was supposed to have sleigh
bells and given everyone…give the ladies in the front a candy cane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it would be really a cute idea for
a change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I heard him at the kitchen
door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He got the wrong door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then he came out the other one, and Marge
Davis was standing by at the door from the church, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “I hope he isn’t going to tell that
one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he came down the side, “Ho, ho,
ho,” you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the first joke he
said – the first thing he said, “Oh, look at all those lovely dolls, just like
those I laid under the Christmas tree last year.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with that he was off-and-running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And people – Pat Brown, I’ll never forget
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sat there with her tears just
rolling down her face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us were
just in hysterics, and he said – he did say, “I hope I haven’t offended any of
you ladies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we all said, “Oh
no.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But one gal we never saw her again
at Woman’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know who she
was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She just glared like this, you
know, and I never saw her again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
I’ve never been asked to do that again – thank goodness!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes along with Bob Talbert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re even. I think Lois.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
I guess so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll call it a draw on that
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh dear we were…I was at the Mill
Race this morning, and your talk – you said that he got it – he came first to
the wrong door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did that building have
two doors?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m talking about your church <i>(ED –
Presbyterian).<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
the church.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Woman’s Club – the church – yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok
– yeah, because we were discussing…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no, now the little old one..not the
library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the church.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
it was the church.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was quite a program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Liz Allison says it was the best one she ever
went to.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we’ve had, you know, when we’ve had things like Mohawk Distillery do a program
at Mill Race rather than… There were people that were offended by that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you’re going..you can’t have a cross
section of humanity and not have somebody…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
I think, well you know, I always think of liqueurs as a festive kind of
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we..I…of course I enjoy
the people like chefs come in.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Em, hem.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of
course, I think you can always learn.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I do too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it takes all kinds to make a world, I
guess…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you know…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
your daughters followed after you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
Roxanne and…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rhonda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both
are members of Woman’s Club?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh no, Rhonda isn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rhonda lives up in Troy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
well Roxanne, though?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah, Roxanne is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she can get there on time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, poor dear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s talking about teaching full time at
Montessori again, and I said, “How’re you going to be able to do anything
else?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she’s got little Whitney in
first grade at St. Paul, and Whitney has food allergies and can’t sit still a
lot of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may end up in
kindergarten in public school ‘till she gets a little bit older and learns… No
Roxy, but Roxy is – she’s – I said, “Do you ever say ‘No?’”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “Not very often.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s got the Mother’s Club cocktail party
again this year…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Does
she?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year she didn’t, well – first year she
hasn’t had it in five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well she
says, “I get my house decorated that way.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said, “I know, honey, but when you’re doing all these other things,
how about just…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s very inventive,
and she’s very – she just does a lot of wonderful things… with children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s so good with children, and she loves
those kids out at Montessori.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re
darling!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
she was very active with the drug program.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, she still is, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wednesday night at City Hall, they’re having a meeting with the State
Substance Abuse Committee, and Roxy was the one that started this red ribbon
campaign, and she has taken it over and in fact, it’s been… They had a letter
from Washington about it…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
great!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they’re having something at the City Hall,
and there’s supposed to be a meeting at her house of our regular committee
that’s trying to find a new way of – we want anybody that wants to – to come
because this is not a money-raising one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a – we need people’s brains and expertise in how we can have
permanent solution to having our counselor at school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see we had a meeting, and the school was
not going to renew his grant as of September or November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we had the second meeting over at
Roxanne’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first meeting
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had about twenty over there,
and Mr. Hamilton was on the phone to Dr. Bell and came back and said, “They’ve
agreed to do it for another year,” and Paul...you know, Bruce Miller…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Em,
hem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bruce turned to me and said, “My, isn’t it
wonderful what a little pressure can do?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we’re trying to find… We’re trying to get
the town’s people… It might even be a maybe small millage although everybody
jumps at that word, but if it were $10.00 a family, so what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it would given, you know, us – they need
it very badly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They need this man, and
he is very good, and we were going to lose him this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plymouth wanted him very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Em, hem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah, no wait a minute, Livonia wanted him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, she’s very active in that and still
continues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
when your…where does Richard live?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rick’s a Colonel in the Air Force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lives in Springfield, Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s in the Pentagon right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
Russell?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rusty’s in..out in Montana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helena, Montana, and he’s married and loves
it out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wouldn’t come back to the
East for anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came back for our
party, but he thinks it’s far too crowded back here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Does
he…Ok…They came back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did..did they
notice a change?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes, they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They noticed…But they liked what has been
done to the City, the town itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They…I’m
not sure they were happy with all the building around, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean all the condominiums and all the
apartments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just such a complete
change for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I know Rusty, when
he came home once before, we were driving out to Troy – to Metamora where
Rhonda lives and coming back, and he noticed all these small, you know, little
malls like on the corner of Ten Mile and all this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “How do these people survive?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I don’t know how they
survive.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said..of course out there
in Montana…we were out there last Fall…I mean 65 miles before you hit another
town, or 85 or 100, and there’s nothing in between.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
so it..Not even a rest stop.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no, they like the
downtown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They think it’s just darling,
and the homes – they can’t get over the price of homes here.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They really can’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
have you noticed that people are adding on to their homes more now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think, than they did even ten years ago
rather than move into another house?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’re putting another bedroom on or adding on to it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did you know that young Rick Ambler just bought Ruth Angell’s house?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
is that who bought it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, and they want to put on a bigger
kitchen, a larger kitchen and above that a master bedroom and a bath, which
would be wonderful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
they’ve been your neighbors…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ruth Angell?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oh my gosh, ever since…Of course, we’ve only lived here thirteen
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she’s...I don’t know how long
she’s been here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would be one to
interview.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has been.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, my lord, she’s been here forever.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
just too bad…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with her mother.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she’s going up to Allen Terrace.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She won’t be so lonesome up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know she did a wonderful job with her
mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goodness, she took care of
her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>See,
now our kids bought Emma Reed’s house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I know where they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
I’ve walked by there with Whitney on occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, they’ve done a lot with that too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
are still.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And are still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, I know, yeah, I just… But you know, it’s
really amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, the price of
houses may go down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was talking to
Russell Clark; they stopped – Russell and Marilyn Clark, this summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “Oh, if I’d only bought the
house next door.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They bought their
house for tax…oh, what do you call it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Back taxes, for, I think $4,500 or $2,500 – it was a very small
amount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This house could’ve been bought
– Kerrs' house could’ve been bought for $5,600, you know, at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But nobody had any money.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ok, the house on the corner of Rogers and Cady?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Rogers and Cady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little white house?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s supposed to be one of the oldest houses in Northville.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, Ellen Whipple lived there for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, before that I was trying to…Alex Milne’s
aunt lived there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I can’t remember
her name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother liked her very much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lovely lady…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, who lives there now?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Um…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can’t think of …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…wait a minute now.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because she remarried…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, she’s Ray Swallow’s mother.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Russell could tell you their name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can’t think of it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh well, the thing is… the front part is
the oldest part.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, uh, huh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because you – when you walk in and she
has that gorgeous Wedgewood collection.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never…did you go in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you in there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, several years ago when home tours
were still…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, well I didn’t realize.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And we tried to get the Swallow house
and her house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, uh, huh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I can’t think of her name either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Rosalie, Rosalie…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, she …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Russell could tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know he knows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s not very…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But then they added on in the back, and
it’s so unique to go from that very old part where everything is slanty to …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And into… What a wonderful way of adding
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It blends so well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then Chuck Ely was telling me that the
house on the corner of West and Dunlap (Ed. Randolph – 247 West St) is also
very very old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like…it was built
in… He said, “Well, you know, Northville was founded in 1825, and that house
was built in 1826.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now which house is that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>West…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s where…West.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s where Henrikson’s live now.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The big white house?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it’s a white house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sits back from…but then I…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m thinking of High, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>West is next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But isn’t that the big white house on the corner that was…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is across the street up on the hill.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Up on the hill?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, you know where Chuck lives?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK, then there’s that house next door
which used to be the dump.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Betty Schrader lived there.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right and then the house on the corner.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, that’s where the …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can’t think of their names.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can’t think of it, either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But then I understood that where Bob Kruger, and I don’t know who lived
there before him, across Randolph, has one of the older houses in town, which
is sort of a saltbox, and they’ve added on to that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wouldn’t doubt that at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of course, that one that… the one that …</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Canterbury.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Canterbury lived in… is one of the old ones,
and Miss Timball – what was her name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Timmons, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah that was her
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or was it the one next to
it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, that was her house, and then
they built it all over and did a wonderful job.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well that was …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so was Jo Hahn’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My gosh, that was just a wreck before Jo Hahn
bought it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jo and (?) had it all done
over – on the corner of Main and Rogers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was just a little white frame house, and
they just, you know, did a lot to that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They all change, but I think for the better,
you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, the little house across the – from
Atchisons’ House is getting a nice addition on the top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I was worried for fear the Historical District Committee wouldn’t
let young Rick and Kathy add on out here or change it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They really should take the asbestos siding
off, and I know that Blair Miller, next door, would love it if they would
because it’s really an eyesore – the siding is.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>M’hmm.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If they could take if off and just even put
the narrow…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…aluminum siding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was afraid they might not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if they allow that little house to have
it, I’m sure they would have to allow this one.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, that’s it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one of those things.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because that’s even more authentic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean that’s an older house by far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that slipped through the cracks, but I…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you really?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, but a….</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wouldn’t Hilda turn over in her grave if she
saw that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, you know, they’re having
a baby, I understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well there just is – upstairs the bathroom is
made out of a closet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just tiny…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, see now Karen’s house does not
have a bathroom upstairs.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Don’t they?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They only have the one downstairs.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so does Kerrs'.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, just a … and a…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Are they going to put one in?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I… (laughter)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Who knows?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They need an addition like – well, their house is very similar to the
house there…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…and , no, they were very fortunate to
have Emma sell it to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Emma was
looking for people, a Northville couple, they – she didn’t want to sell it as
rental property.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, uh, uh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I think that’s what you notice with
Wing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You know what Jerry’s talking of doing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of having somebody buy it because they got
three acres there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody and let them
live there as long as they will, and then develop it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re talking of selling it to developers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And now Walter, the architect, Walt Caponen
says it’s zoned commercial residential.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh really.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So I, I don’t know.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, I mean the Kerr house is down
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I know Mrs. Kerr was upset
because we let the trailer go in there with the street paving.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But it should be out of there by fall,
and well, it’s almost fall, isn’t it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember Mrs. Kerr telling me one time, she
had those three boys, and she said their rooms were always a mess, and she
said, “I finally trained them.” She said, “I …”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There were four.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Four, ok four.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She said, “I finally picked up all their clothes and put them in a big
barrel, and they had to pay me to get it out.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And she said that worked.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One thing I haven’t asked Fred is why is
that the Kerr house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They built it for their mother.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The boys did?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The boys built it for their mother to live
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>M’hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I remember when they built it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But it wasn’t always there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What…wait a minute now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it
there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was it there?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think they built it there – I think so.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok, ok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because Fred said they used to live in Beal Town.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Burt then when his father died, and all the boys built this for their
mother, and I thought they built it right there, but I may be wrong.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, that’s probably right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Roxy had Montessori, there was quite a
bit of room there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, the Scouts were there.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>FMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah… well now, wait a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Scouts were there, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the house Vince moved?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, that was the Kerr –</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was the house that he moved?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, yeah.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, I think the Scout building was built with
donations from Mr. Carlson and all this other stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, this is the house around the corner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>OK.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was the Kerr house, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, you live here long enough, and
you’re so busy with everyday things that these sort of things evaporate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, I know Fred mentioned that – well,
down at the corner was, you know, Plymouth and Yerkes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I said, “Fred, Plymouth Road is down in
Plymouth.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “No, South Main
was known as Plymouth.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, it was Plymouth Road.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And a…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At least when I was here, it was that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never called Northville-Plymouth Road,
and it wasn’t called South Main.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, I have to tell you one more thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the War, the man that had the stables
down at the race track, Mr. Hoffman, had been the Kaiser’s – in charge of the
Kaiser’s stables in Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So of
course, there was a lot of worry, you know about …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh sure.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hitler, and this sort of stuff.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh my!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I dated the German, Prince Louis Ferdinand
Von Hollen Zollen, who used to come out and see Mr. Hoffman because he had been
at his grandfather's stable.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh for goodness sakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And he was working for Ford Motor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came over – not working, but learning how
the company ran and this sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How the machines ran and everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He came over from Germany, and so Mr. Hoffman would ride up with him on
a – and this Prince, I have a picture of him on a white horse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we lived down there where Carlsons lived
down there at the foot of Wing Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he would take me for a ride on his – he had a Ford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They gave him a Ford, so he would come take
me for a ride in his Ford a couple of times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But then after the War, and I was married, you know, and I think we were
in – I think I was living on Rogers Street, I couldn’t – well ’45.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The FBI came to the house one day; wanted to
know if I had seen any pictures of Hitler or any swastikas or anything in
Hoffman’s house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh for goodness sake!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></div>
<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…and if I did, I hadn’t noticed, you
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was kind of funny because
Northville, you know, we were right in the district where we were building
bombers and everything else, and people were interested to know if there was
any connection.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So – I just thought about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought about the Fairgrounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to have wonderful fairs down
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Lois, they were
terrific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had hunters and jumpers,
you know, from Bloomfield and Birmingham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oh, that’s one thing our Senior Class did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a booth down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember my mother baking ham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had homemade ham sandwiches, homemade
pies, and that’s how we earned money for our Senior trip.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And we did this about three years in a
row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Sophomore year – I was there
in my Junior year – I wasn’t there Sophomore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But they had started the year before, and it was just more of a country
fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s – I used to go to the
horse shows with my friend, Virginia, who wrote for the paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Virginia Anderson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She worked later for Jam Handy and was one of
their top writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She edited the
Drivers Training Digest for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway, we would go watch the horse shows and the most beautiful hunters
and jumpers that you ever saw in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>
</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, the Fair still…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was the Fair still on when you were here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Un, huh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I won a couple of ribbons at it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did you?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, oh yeah!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In what?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Quilting and baking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, great!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, no, I was sorry to see it’s demise.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was to, because it really – I suppose now
maybe the health authorities wouldn’t let you have a booth like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Probably not</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Look at the Mothers Club pie sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They won’t let them have it this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, really.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not unless they’re packaged, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, I know John told me that after
we’d decided to – I sort of got a kick out of an article – I don’t know if it
was this mornings or not about east-siders and west-siders and suburbia kind of
thing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And John was an east-sider and I was a
west-sider.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when he decided that we
should make the transitional move from the east side and he found Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had an aunt who lived in Plymouth, and his
cousins lived in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
Susan Shoots was a Physical Education teacher at the Cooke School.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, uh huh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And he said, “Well, you know in
Northville, the horses have the right-of-way,” and I had no idea what he was
talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, when I got here and
at Seven Mile Road…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They sure did.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s like the sailing ships down on the
Detroit River.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right, right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They had the right-of-way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Uh huh, that’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a nice era then, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was smaller, more small-townish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I – I know that we live in one of
the first condominiums that was built <i>(ED: Lexington Commons),</i> and I know that
the people were upset when they were going in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I feel bad that we’re a part of that, but I wouldn’t change any of
the years that we’ve lived her because there’s a feeling of hominess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we’re so fortunate because we have Karen
on Fairbrook.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, that’s why we stayed here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russ is always saying maybe we should go to a
warmer climate I said, “I won’t leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
won’t leave”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These kids need us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They need grandparents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s right.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Grandparents are stability, I feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And see, we have one in Milford.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, well…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And one…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a great area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can go away in the winter if you want to
– when it’s cold and that sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I just think this is – my father said – the ideal community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He really did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I know he hated to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
had to go back to Albion because he was so ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have a home in Albion and still owned it, you know, and my mother had
to take care of him until he died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When did you lose your mother?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh dear – my mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was 87 and I lost her about ten years ago,
and she went back to, as I say, Albion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She lived next to my brother in a little apartment, you know, and I’d
say, “Mama, I’ll come down and spring houseclean for you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Don’t you think I keep it clean
enough?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, she’d get
offended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I couldn’t do that –
things that I would have liked to have done for her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So who did your dad sell <i>The Record</i> to?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>RMA:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He sold it to Bill Cansfield, and then he sold
to…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>(TAPE ENDS)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-22810512350357783752013-06-26T06:28:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:58:21.044-04:00Elsie Bailey<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Good morning, I’m Betty Griffin from the Northville
Public Library, and I’m here to interview for the Oral History Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A copy of this tape will be given to you and
to the Northville Historical Society and to the Northville Public Library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you like to introduce yourself, please?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>My name is Elsie Bailey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born on June 20 in 1907 in Lister,
Pennsylvania.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother’s name was
Amelia Chapel Hanson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father’s name
was John Hanford Hanson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was that
enough?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Yes, and when did you leave Altoona?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>We left Altoona in 1927.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And at that time you were a bride?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>And I was a bride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I left Altoona as a seventeen-year-old bride and came to Detroit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And your husband’s name was?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>My husband’s name is William Charles Bailey.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And would you like to tell us how you met Bill
Bailey?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, I was going to dances when I was fifteen,
sixteen years old, and my husband came to the – to Altoona--as an exhibition
dancer with another partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
traveled all over different states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
he came to the Orpheon Theater and had an exhibition there, and the owner of
the largest ballroom in Pennsylvania – Danceland – came to him and asked if he
would like to put on an exhibition at his ballroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he came the next Wednesday with his
partner and gave the exhibition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
asked him if he would like to manage the place, and he let his partner go back
home, and he stayed there and managed Danceland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had his first dance on St. Patrick’s
Day in the afternoon – a matinee – and I went to it, and he asked me to dance,
and that was where I met him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as he
danced with me, he asked me if I would like to learn some steps and do some
exhibition dancing with him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Alright, and that eventually led to marriage when
you were about seventeen-and-a half years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then you were going to start out and tour the country, but you
stopped in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you tell us
more?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>When we stopped in Detroit to see a cousin of his,
and we stayed there about a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
his cousin’s husband worked out at Ford Plant on Northville Road – not the one
in Detroit, but the one on – not the one in Northville, but the one, out on
Northville Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he got Bill a job at
the North – at the Ford Plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he
started working out there, and then we stayed about a year in Detroit, and we
finally moved out to Plymouth – I was pregnant with my first daughter – we
moved out to Plymouth in 1928.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we
lived there five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My next daughter
was born 1930.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And their names are?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The first-born was June Bailey, Slizarski now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the second daughter is Barbara Dawn
Bailey Lewis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we moved to –
because of the railroad tracks that my husband didn’t like – we moved to
Northville in 1933.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And you lived?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We lived on 132 Randolph Street – no we moved to the
house on Fish – next to the fishery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
stayed there probably not quite a year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>That was on Fairbrook?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>That was on Fairbrook.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Next to the Fish Hatchery?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, uh, huh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then we needed a place large enough to teach, so we moved over to
the 132 Randolph Street and into the large white house – ten rooms and two
baths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then our son was born there
in 1936.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And his name?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">William Charles Bailey II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we didn’t stay at Randolph Street very
long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fourteen years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>After that then, you moved to?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To East Cady.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>At what number?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">118 East Cady, and we were there forty years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Tell me about your dance studio and the house on
Randolph Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What kind of dance did
you teach?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>We just taught ballroom dancing like the fox trot
and waltz, cha-cha, polka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two-step
would be included in the fox trot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the mambo and the tango – different ballroom dances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Can you remember who some of your students were at
that time?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Well I think all I can remember now would be John
and Ruth Burkman, Don and Hazel Severence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Did you say they were mostly teenagers who were in
your...</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>No this class was the adult class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we did have another class on another
night for the teenagers, and then we had lots of teenagers’ different times at
the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we taught at the
Presbyterian Church for these adult and teenage classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then after my little boy, Billy, was
born, I took lessons over in Ann Arbor for tap, so I could teach tap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children would come to the door and say, rap
on the door, “Do you teach tap?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’d
say, “No.” but I thought, said to Bill, “I’d like to go and learn tap, so I can
teach it because there’s so much call for it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So he took me over to Ann Arbor, and I took enough to learn the basic
steps, and I started – this was in ’40 – this was in ’36, 1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then I taught tap all those years up until
I had to quit – four or five years ago.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>You have stopped teaching tap only five years ago?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>That’s amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where were you teaching it in recent years?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Right there at East Cady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yeah, and over at Randolph Street
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I taught it – I started over there
because that was where the demand was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then we moved over to East Cady, and I kept right on – lots of students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want you to look at that album.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>I saw them, yes, lots of good publicity too.<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Lots of good dancers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of them entertained many places, and my
girls – two girls – the oldest and youngest were entertaining out all the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barbara never entertained too
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then my boy Billy, he taught,
he did exhibition, he entertained too quite a bit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Alright, and when was John born?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John was born in 1941.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And Racina?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Racina was born in 1943.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And then you said William Charles Jr. was born in
1936?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
when he got married, he had another William Charles, the III, but he passed
away when he was, before he was eighteen years old – with spinal meningitis.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Alright, when you taught dancing, was that an era
when everybody got very dressed up and wore white gloves and so forth? No.<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No, not in ballroom dancing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just to learn the steps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Just ordinary people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then where could these people go for, out for
an evening to dance?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, we went ever since we were in Detroit, we went
to the Graystone and the Arcadia and the Vanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was trying to think of that the other
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, oh many other places, I can’t
think of any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Walled Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the time we moved out this way, we went
to Walled Lake an awful lot to dance, and out to Whitmore Lake, they had a
dance floor down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t a big
ballroom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Alright, what about – do you remember Westwood as a
place to dance?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know that I ever went there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Alright, did you ever go to Jefferson Beach?<br /><b>E. B. </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> T</span>o dance?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What about Eastwood Park?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, we’ve been there maybe several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t go to those places as much as we
did there in Detroit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>So, was your house on Cady large enough to
accommodate classes?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We had – we had the – it was ten rooms, two bath
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the first three – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Was that on Cady or Randolph?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, this was both places – they had the three
rooms that we used for teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
three rooms in East Cady were right in the front, as you come in the door, the
three rooms all together with the room at the end – a small room- with a piano.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We taught mostly by record in our ballroom
lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My tap I played piano for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Did you? Well you certainly kept you skills up for
a long time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I haven’t touched the piano now in ten months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>So you must have had your piano – you must have
learned in Altoona?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, my mother was a piano teacher, so I got my
start from here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I, at thirteen
years old, I even composed a whole march.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can look at it later on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
now I couldn’t do that at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve lost
a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, that’s part of growing older, isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you give dance recitals then?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Not recitals – never gave recitals, but we just
entertained a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there really was
a call for it – children to ask to dance, we’d get up and entertain.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>You showed me some things in your scrapbook here
about appearances by different people and saying that the Baileys will
dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you must have done a fair
amount of exhibition ballroom dancing over the years.<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Exhibition dancing – yes – much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes, for sixty years that’s about all we –
and I raised a family of seven, you know, five children and ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And had three meals a day for them all the
time, washings and ironings for all them, teaching on the side, exhibition work
on the side, teaching at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
after that, we’d get ready and go out nine, ten o’clock over to Walled Lake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>To dance, you must have loved it.<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I did – yeah, a lotta fun then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I often think back, how did we do it all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well, you were a woman ahead of your time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were a career women when there weren’t
very many career women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must have
really enjoyed doing that.<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We did.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>But – your husband always worked at what we might
call a bread and butter job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, you
said, he was at the Ford Plant on Northville Road?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At the Ford Plant for fourteen years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Not on Main Street?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No, no – on Northville Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t a Ford Plant anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was for all those years up until – I
think it changed probably within the last couple years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He was there for sixteen years, you said?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, he went from there to Burroughs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he retired from Burroughs.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Do you recall what year he retired?<br /><b>E. B.: </b><i>[inaudible]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And then he died May the tenth, 1988, and you were
living in Allen Terrace at that time?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved
there August before that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>’87.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
there must be many people around Northville who remember you.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, I knew someone, (another name here?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Who?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Orrs – do you know Florence and Seymour Orr?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>No, were they your students?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Uh, huh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s another one …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Now you must see people who remember you?<br /><b>E. B.: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s people who live here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Is that right?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
children took tap from me – lots of ‘em.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>So, that gets you involved in costumes then too,
doesn’t it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Well, I always made all my kiddies’ costumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the other ladies always furnished their
costumes for their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we were
never on a high scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were just
small time, you know, not exp...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>But you might have been the only dance studio in
Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Well, I think we were for many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then they started another one across the
street from us on East Cady.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Oh, is that right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B. :</b>Yes, and we weren’t elaborate in any of our
costumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just made them so they
looked presentable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well, the pictures on the wall of you and your
husband as a young couple doing exhibition dancing – your clothes are
beautiful, your dress looks like the 1920’s.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> </span>Well, that’s probably when they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1925 we were married, so they’re in the 20’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well, they’re beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure you enjoyed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I sure did – lots of good years together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of good memories.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>It’s nice to be able to continue dancing, and I
think that’s one activity that you can maintain until you’re very up in years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Right, that’s for sure, as long as you keep your
health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then people like to dance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>You must like music, then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve always had – we played piano at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my sister had a few kids come in for a
combo like a piano and a guitar – different little instruments like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my dad played the trumpet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we always had music.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Is there anything else that you can think of that
you would like to tell me about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
certainly was a nice way for your husband to be able to continue his interest
in dance by doing it at night – teaching adults ballroom dancing?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, that was our life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Work in the daytime and go teach in the
evening and Saturdays all day for tap, probably.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saturdays – tap I’d have right after
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we’d teach ballroom in
the evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And lots and lots and lots
of nights we’d go out dancing after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eight, nine, ten o’clock, we’d go over to dance at the hall, and then
we’d get home, and I don’t know how the kids ever survived it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bill had to sit down at the piano, and the
grown-ups that came back with us would sing – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And the children slept through it all?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>They tried – they were there trying to sleep and had
to get up and go to school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t
know why we ever did it, but I can’t see how they put up with it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Sounds to me like you were young at heart.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B. </b>We were – we always were, I guess, and always will
be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well, I really have enjoyed talking to you Elsie.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I’ve enjoyed talking with you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>And I’m sure this will be a valuable addition to
the history of Northville during these years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You actually taught on Cady Street until you moved here?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Uh, huh.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>That’s really remarkable.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Well, you see we moved here in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think we had to quit teaching a year
ahead of that because our arthritis was so bad that we lost our balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We couldn’t demonstrate any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d try to lead me, and I’d get off balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My legs were no good at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when you lose your health like that, you
have to give up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well it catches up with all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, this has been very enjoyable, and I
appreciate your time.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Tape stops.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>This is two days after our original interview with
Elsie, and she has some things that she would like to add to what we said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O.K. Elsie.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I have mentioned most of our children tap dancing
and entertaining, but Jack hadn’t taken up tap, but later became a nice
ballroom dancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was our
drummer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His dad got him a set of drums
when he was about sixteen, and as he became real good at it, he had a little
combo that played for dance parties Saturday nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his wife Carolyn and family, who are
the only close ones to me in Livonia, have taken such wonderful care of me in
every way possible – God bless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve
all missed my husband and father, but are happy to know that he’s at peace with
the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been really richly
blessed with the Lord’s love, and with all my families’ and friends’ love, and
I ask the Lord’s blessing on all of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God bless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, by the way, I’ve
thought of another couple--other prominent couples that were our students – Bee
and Art Carlson, Dr. Walter and Velma Belasco, and going back to Florence and
Seymour Orr – they met at our studio in 1937 and just celebrated their 50<sup>th</sup>
wedding anniversary October, 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
bless.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Alright<o:p></o:p></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-47167378148149367682013-06-26T06:24:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:59:05.900-04:00Elmer Balko<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>This is Elmer Balko. I’m Frances Durham, the
interviewer for the Northville Historical Society and we’re going to talk to
Mr. Balko about growing up in Northville. He was born here, he lived here
sixty-six years with the exception of three-plus years that he was in the
service. I’m going to stop this now and check the tape.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK, the tape is back on and I was saying
initially that Elmer, Mr. Balko, was born here in Northville, born in July of
1922. Did your father move here from somewhere else?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> He was a farmer and owned a farm on Ten Mile
Road and Wixom Road.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Ten Mile and Wixom Road. What kind of farming
was it?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> General farming.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>General farming. Fruits, vegetables?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Dairy.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Dairy farming. OK, very good. And how long did
he own that farm?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> That’s a good question. I don’t know. Probably
about fifteen years, I would say.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Were you born on that farm?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> No, I was born in Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Born here in town, OK. As you recall<i>.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"> <b><i>[<span style="font-size: small;">T</span>ape stops]</i></b></span></span><b> </b></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Mr. Balko had indicated, and I was just asking
when I turned the tape off, whether or not he was born there and he indicated
that no, he was born here in town. Do you have any idea how long your father
owned that farm?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> Not really. He owned it before I was born, so
I really don’t know.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How did he happen to sell it and move into
town?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> He got sick and couldn’t operate a farm
anymore.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>What about brothers and sisters? How many
members in the family?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>I had two brothers and a sister. My two
brothers have passed away.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So they were older?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Were you the youngest of the children?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>I’m the youngest.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>When your dad moved here into town, what did he
do for a living then?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>He started a carpenter business working as a
carpenter.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Working for someone else or as his own?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>A Judd Hicks.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>What kind of carpentry, primarily?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Basically, they built barns, the old fashioned
barn-raising. And then houses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Did you ever participate in any of that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> No, but I used to go to some of the
barn-raising dances. They had some beautiful parties.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>These would be primarily on some of the
neighboring farms, then, where these barns were built?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Yes, and the only one that I know is still
around is the one on Eight Mile. The last one I knew they built.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>From what I’ve heard about these barn-raising
projects was that they were kind of cooperative projects where the farmers from
neighboring farms would come in and assist.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So then the women would prepare food, there
would be a big meal.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Then after the barn was complete, they’d have
a big dance.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And the dance would take place right there at
the farmhouse? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> In the barn.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Right in the barn itself?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>What would they use for music?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> They’d have a violinist, a guitarist, probably
a banjo player, accordion.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How many of those as you can recall did you
actually see and witness?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B: </b>I’d say about four.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Do you have any idea how old you were at the
time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> The last one, I was probably about fifteen
years old.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>That would really be a form of entertainment,
then, for the farmers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>I would assume that the farmers were very close
as far as cooperating with each other and friendly, and friendly relationship
between farmers. They helped each other out.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> That’s correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>While they might be in competition to some
degree, raising products for sale, still when it came to something that was
needed like a barn-raising or something.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B:</b> Or when they fill silos.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Yes, crops, harvesting. Would they help each
other?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, at harvest.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Did they all own their own machinery or might
they share some of this machinery?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: When it came time for thrashing, there was
only one or two people around who had a thrasher and they would go around to
different farms.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And your dad was in the dairy business,
primarily?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Milk or cattle?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Milk.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Milk. OK. Where were the dairies located around
this area? Do you have any idea?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I think most of the time we brought the milk
in here to what they called a condensery, which would be on Baseline Road by
the railroad tracks, which is now Warren Products.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Warren Products, OK. Did Guernsey exist at that
time or is that something that came along later?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, that came along quite a bit later.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: So then they would sell their milk to what you
called the condensery and then it was bottled and sold from there?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: No it was more. It was condensed milk.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK, that might be made into a product that was
sold in the store, condensed milk.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Lloyd Moore might have been in the dairy
business at that time. There were quite a few dairies around here, small
dairies, individually owned. There was Bob Miller, Lloyd Moore, Twin Pines was
out on Eight Mile Road, Cloverdale was out on Six Mile and Ridge Road, the
Dickerson Dairy on Center Street at Walnut Street.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Twin Pines had a plant out here then?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Cloverdale is still around. Twin Pines is still
around. So some of these dairies have been in existence for a long long number
of years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: That’s right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So then your dad moved into town and went into
the carpentry business. How many different homes have you lived in since you’ve
been here in Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Two.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Two. OK. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: This is the third one.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>You’re pretty stable then. Now your dad, you
say, was a carpenter himself. Did the home that you moved into when you moved
off the farm, did he build that or was it an existing home?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: No, it was an existing home.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Eventually, did he build another house for the
family?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: No. He bought that in 1920 or 1922 and lived
there ever since until he passed away.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> As you recall now, well, let’s talk first of
all about the school. Where did you go to school in Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: On Main Street.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And the name of the school? Did it have a name?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: We just called it grade school, which has
burned down.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Right. I’ve heard about that fire. How many
grades were there in that school?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Six.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> First through sixth grade.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Seventh and eighth went to the high school.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> OK. So seven through twelve was in a high
school building and then the first through sixth was in a grade school
building.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Are there any teachers that you can recall that
you had a great deal of respect and that you really felt that you got a good
education because of these teachers?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: That are still alive you mean?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Not necessarily still alive, no.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B</b>.: There’s Ed Mollema, the history teacher, was
a fantastic teacher. Miss Giltner was the business teacher who taught shorthand
and typing. Mrs. Cooke would run the school with an iron hand.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>That’s where the Cooke School came from.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Mr. Ambler, who just passed away, was one of
the best as the Superintendent.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>I’ve heard that many times.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I don’t know of anybody who didn’t like him
at all.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> What kind of a program, elementary school was,
let me ask this question. Comparing the kind of education you got as a child
and the kind of education that your children got, who went to school here in
Northville. How do you feel the two educations compared? Was there a difference
in standards and discipline?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Oh yes. I think when I went to school the
discipline was a lot better. I think the education was better. I think people
might disagree with me. The teacher was law.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And they got a lot of support from the home.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Correct. Which they don’t have now.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> What kind of a program did you follow in high
school?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Business.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Business. OK. And then did you eventually,
after graduation from high school, what did you do with that business training
that you’d had?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I went to Detroit Business School and then
after that I went in the Service and when I got out of the Service, I went to
the Post Office.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> How long did you go to Detroit Business School?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: About a year.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And would you have continued if the War had not
come along and you hadn’t been drafted?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, I probably would have.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Then you went into the Service and you were in
the Army and how long were you in the Service?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Three years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Did you receive any training there?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> What kind of training?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Of course you went to basic training, but were
you sent to schools or special training while you were in the Service?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>No.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> The war was going on. Were you sent overseas?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes. I went to Southern France.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And you were in the infantry?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Right</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Did you see action while you were in the
Service?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, very little. We went into action in
November and I got hit in January, wounded in January, and they shipped me back
to England.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>That pretty much ended your military career or
were you kept on?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: They made me a Rehabilitation Officer and
then they shipped me back to France. I was only there a couple of months and
then the War ended.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>When you say Officer, were you a Commissioned
Officer?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes, I received the Battlefield Commission.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Very good.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I was a Sergeant one day and an Officer and a
gentleman the next.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And then when you finally were discharged from
the Service, what rank did you hold?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Second Lieutenant.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Second Lieutenant. Very good. Why did you get
this battlefield promotion?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>We were short Officer and I was doing an
Officer’s work. They found out it was better to make field grade Officers than
it was to get them on up through OTC (Officers’ Training Center).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Do you regret your military service time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No. I could say that I enjoyed it. I learned
a lot of things and saw places I’d never see again. I wouldn’t take a million
dollars for my experience but I wouldn’t go through it again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>I don’t blame you. I was in the Navy myself. So
then you were mustered out then, when? 1945? Did you come straight back to
Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How old were you at that time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>23</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>23, and once you got back to civilian life,
what did you do?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I went to work at the Ford Valve Plant for a
month, then I went to work for the Post Office.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>The Ford Valve Plant which is right here in
Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Now at that time, going to work for the Post
Office, that’s a Civil Service position today. Was it true then? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So you did have to take some sort of a test?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Right, had to take the Civil Service Test.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Civil Service Test. And then were you a mail
carrier or were you a clerk working inside?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> I was a substitute mail carrier.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How long did you hold that position?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> About a year and a half.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And then what?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Then I went to a regular position as a
regular mail carrier.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Where was your route located when you became a
regular carrier?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: It would be the North side of Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> The North side of Northville. I’m really
straining your memory asking you some of these things, but how many houses –
did that include businesses also?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Very few.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So primarily residential. How many houses would
you have to deliver mail to?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>About 400 to 450.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>That’s all your route? One carrier delivering
all of those?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, twice a day. We walked our walk twice a
day but we didn’t hit every house twice a day.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I’d forgotten that. So there was a mail
delivery twice a day?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I’d forgotten that. That goes back a few years.
And you’ve already answered the question. You said you walked, which is
somewhat different than some of our mail carriers today, who have vehicles to
go back and forth.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>You’ve talked about the North side. Before we turned
this tape on, you mentioned that Northville is really divided into two separate
sections, one was called the North Side, one was the South side and the South
side was subdivided into Bealtown and Orchard Heights. Why did that come about?
Do you have any idea why there was this kind of a dividing line in Northville?</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: The only thing I can say was, from my feeling
was that Orchard Heights was more the elite part of town, Bealtown was the
working class. The same with the North side was working class, which would be
North of Main Street. When we had any games, we played with anybody north of
Main Street. Anybody south of Main Street always played together.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>It wasn’t a rivalry, as such. It was still a
friendly situation?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Oh, yes, very friendly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> There wasn’t any ill feeling about living on
one side?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>No jealousy, that kind of thing? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Would you say that Orchard Heights would be
newer homes than some of the homes in either the Bealtown or the North side of
town?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes, they were the newer section.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>They were the newer section and tended to be,
probably, more expensive kind of homes?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>That’s right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>What about carrying mail? Did you know
everybody on your route? Was there a personal feeling with your customers as
far as being a mail carrier in those days?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes, at that time you knew where they went to
church, who they worked for, what their bills were, who they owed, who their
children were. It was more like a family association. If you had an old lady on
your walk, you would walk and pay her telephone bill for her so she wouldn’t
have to go down. Now they won’t let you do it. We still had people in service,
sons and daughters, and when the letter came in after we had delivered our
routes, one of the carriers (there were three carriers, Joe Litzenberger, Harry
German and myself), we would deliver it on our way home.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So it was really a very personal, close
relationship between the mail carrier and the customers on his route.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And you said there were three mail carriers for
the entire area of Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, in the city proper itself.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Do you have any idea, what would you say was
the approximate population of the City or Town of Northville at that time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>About four thousand.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>About four thousand, OK. And so pretty much,
everybody knew everybody?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Even though they may live in the North side or
they may live in Bealtown or they may live in Orchard Heights, they still, when
you went into downtown Northville, you would say hello to people you knew?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>You spoke to everybody.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> You spoke to everybody, OK. Now let’s see, you
graduated from high school in 1940, then went to business school and you were
drafted in 1942 and you were in the Infantry for three plus years. When we were
talking earlier, you characterized Northville as a “bedroom community.” What do
you mean by the term “bedroom community?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Well, there was only one or two businesses in
Northville. One was Ford Motor Company, and most of the people who worked there
were from the City of Northville and that was about it for commercial activity.
The rest was all, the people worked either in Detroit or in the surrounding
areas.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So that was the Ford Valve Plant.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> That’s correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Do you have any idea how many people they
employed when it was going full-tilt?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> They used to run three shifts for roughly,
say, four or five hundred people.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> OK, so that was a pretty good sized operation
and it employed a lot of people who lived in Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now you mentioned a Foundry, did that come
along later?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, that was way earlier.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> How big an operation was this Foundry and what
did they manufacture?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> They made furnaces and then they made the
Northville Bell, that’s quite famous. In fact, they shipped them all over the
country. When I worked in the Post Office, we got a letter from a family in
India, they had a church that had a Northville Bell, and they wanted to know
about the history of it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So these bells were primarily church bells?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> And school bells.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And school bells. OK. Was there a bell on the
school that you attended?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, we had the bell system.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And the furnaces, what kind of furnaces did
they manufacture? They weren’t residential?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, they were coal furnaces. Coal fire
furnaces for homes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Was that was a pretty good-sized industry in
Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, they hired quite a few people. I
wouldn’t say it was a large enterprise, and as the coal furnaces went out and
that went down the drain, it closed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Where was that Foundry located?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> That was at the corner of Cady and East Main
Street.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So that’s pretty much close to the down town
area now.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And that’s long gone.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Were there any other businesses or industries
in the early history of Northville that were there, besides the Foundry and the
Ford Valve Plant?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> There was Stinson Aircraft that made Stinson
Airplanes, and then years ago they had a furniture, which was quite close to
where the Foundry was, that made church pews.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I understand there was a fire?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, that burned down.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That was destroyed by fire. Would that have
employed some of the Northville residents?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And what others that might employ Northville
people? Did Stinson Aircraft employ Northville people, as far as you know?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> You’re getting way beyond me, but yes, I know
some that worked there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So Stinson was there before you came to
Northville?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> But you do know that there were some Northville
residents who worked there?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So, as far as employment in Northville, then,
those that lived in Northville, they could work at the Ford Valve Plant, they
could work at the Foundry, they could work at Stinson Aircraft, or they could
work at this Furniture…I knew the name of that. It wasn’t Globe Furniture?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> It was Globe Furniture.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Which was eventually destroyed by fire. Were
there any other?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> They also had the institutions, which were
outside of the City of Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I’m glad you mention that. What institutions?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Maybury Sanitarium which was a tuberculosis
sanitarium, and the Detroit House of Correction which was a penal institution,
and they had Wayne County Training School which was a home for wayward
children.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And these were outside of the Northville city
limits, proper, but were in this area.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> In Northville Township, yes. Detroit House of
Corrections, part of it was in Plymouth Township and part of it was in
Northville Township.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So some of the residents of Northville may have
worked there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Speaking of that House of Corrections brings to
mind that one of the interviewees told me about the Wayne County Fair and how
some of these inmates at the House of Correction used to make furniture and
they would also grow fruits and vegetables and would have these on display at
the Wayne County Fair. I’m assuming that you attended those Wayne County Fairs.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, and also then they had registered dairy
cattle, too, and took quite a few prizes. The Wayne County Training School did
and the House of Corrections did, too.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> They did raise dairy cattle, then?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes. It was a big farm and they raised all
their own food out there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So this gave these “inmates” (not a word I like
to use) something to do then. They raised their own food.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Let’s talk for a few minutes about, as a young
boy growing up, what you would do for recreation in Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Well, like I say, it was divided into North
and South. Young people on the North side, we used to play kick the can, duck
on the rock, capture the flag, we made our own recreation and it was nothing
planned. It was spontaneous. If you played baseball, you had an old ball
wrapped with friction tape, because you couldn’t afford a good baseball.
Basically, that was about it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> You made your own entertainment then.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now I do know that there was a theater here,
what is today the Marquis Theatre. The original theater, as I understand,
burned down. Maybe that’s not where the Marquis was. Somebody told me that
there had been a fire. I also know, somebody told me there was an opera house
here at one time. Do you recall?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, it was on the corner of Center Street
and Dunlap.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now when they say opera house, would they in
fact bring legitimate theater into Northville for performances?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes. This was way before my time but they
did. In fact, Henry Ford was negotiating to buy it to move it to Greenfield
Village, but the deal fell through for some reason. In fact, the last time I
was in it would be back in the early 40s. The stagecoach was still there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Was this opera house on the second floor of a
building?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Kind of unusual to have an opera house on the
second floor but you were actually in that building?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Was it still being used then or was it just
standing vacant?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, it was standing vacant. A few stores
would be in there once in a while, there was a feed store in there for a while.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did you play sports in high school?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, I played basketball and baseball.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Basketball and baseball. I heard quite a bit
about the rivalries between Northville and Plymouth. I’m assuming that was
true.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, it was. Sometimes it got a little
heated. The Northville kids did not have much to do with Plymouth and Plymouth
didn’t like Northville too well.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I understand that Northville gave a good
account of itself.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Once in a while.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So then you were on both the basketball and the
baseball teams.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes. Sports was not a big thing in school, not
like it is now. Most of it was on education, studies, not the sports. But if
you didn’t get passing grades you didn’t play sports. Teachers did not upgrade
your grade, either.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> You had to maintain that eligibility to play.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Where did you play your baseball games?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Baseball games were played in Cass Benton
Park.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Just in one of the diamonds that were there in
the park?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Who took care of Cass Benton Park at the time?
Was it a county park?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Wayne County</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Wayne County took care of the Park. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> The only better baseball diamond in the state
was Tigers’ Stadium (Briggs Stadium, as it was called at the time).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So because the school used Cass Benton Park,
the kids didn’t go there and mess it up? It was taken care of?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> There was a man by the name of Mr. Hodgkins,
he ruled it with an iron hand. There was no fooling around in the parks.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That’s good. And then the basketball would
played, I’m assuming, there was a gym in the high school?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, it’s still there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now there were two different high schools, the
school that you went to is not the same high school that the students today go
to.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> What happened to the earlier high school?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> They’re still using it, I think, for special
ed. classes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now I do know that there was a fire in one of
the elementary schools. It wasn’t the school that you went to was it?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That was the school destroyed by fire. After
that fire occurred, do you remember what grade you were in?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> I was either in seventh or eighth.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> So you were already up in the high school. I’ve
been told that the elementary kids had to be shifted around. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, to vacant houses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And the new building was built by the W. P. A.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Correct.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Let me see some more questions here. As far as
social activity and recreational activity, you made your own. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Well, for social activity, maybe no one has
mentioned this to you, Saturday night was a big social deal. People would drive
up town, park their cars, and then at night they’d do their grocery shopping
and that’s where you met everybody. The
farmers would come in out of the farms and used to shop once a week and that
was on Saturday night.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK. And, of course shopping in those days, what
kind of stores would they go to shop? Right in town, I’m assuming.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Well, at that time there was the [Wolf?]
Grocery Company and the C. F. Smith Store and that was about the grocery stores
in town at that time back in the early thirties. The owner of the grocery
store, the manager, they had a little counter in the center and that’s where
they stood and you went off and picked up your groceries off the shelves.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>The farmers would come into town and the
residents of Northville would be in it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">[Tape
stops.]</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>We turned it off just for a minute. We were
talking about Saturday night was a big night in town. So not only the residents
of Northville would be in town, but the farmers would come in too. Now did I
hear about a community band? Do you recall anything about a community band?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: That was before my time. They did have a
community band.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That would play on Saturday evening when they
were in town?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, they used to have a band stand right in
the middle of Main Street and Center Street, a band shell. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: So they might play when people were in shopping
on Saturday night.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> And also they had what they would call a free
show. Merchants would buy a film and they would show it outside and it was all
free. Salem had one and Novi had one.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Now when you say show them outside, where would
they show them?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Out in a big field and they would have a
screen up, set on the grass and watch the show.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So it was almost like the precursor to the
drive-in movies that became popular later on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: That’s right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And the merchants sponsored it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> That’s right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And what about refreshments? Would they sell
things for the participants to eat?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, we didn’t have any money to buy anything.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: That’s unusual. I hadn’t heard that before. So
that would be a popular activity then. Just go sit on the grass and watch a
film.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> I think Salem’s was on Tuesday nights and I
think Novi’s was on Thursdays. If you had enough money to buy gas, you could go
to two movies and it didn’t cost you.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did Northville do anything like that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Not that I remember.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Now you went to work for the Post Office as a
substitute mail carrier, then a regular route. How long did you carry mail?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> About ten years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> On that same route?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> You had the same route for a ten-year period.
And then what was your next job with the Post Office? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Then I went inside as a clerk.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And how long did you work there as a clerk?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Five years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> During that time was Northville growing?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Very slowly. We’d have maybe one or two new
houses at a time.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>When did the real growth in Northville start? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I would say the sixties.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Why did people then start moving out to
Northville? It was a bedroom community, there wasn’t any particular great
industry out here, so did they move just to move out of the city to come out
here?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Northville had excellent schools, a great
school system. Northville is a pretty town. It was a small town but it was
pretty. Everybody was friendly, you could stand on the street corner and speak
to 99 percent of the people who walked by. I think, basically, because it was
friendly and the school system.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>The school system had a very good reputation?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How long, do you recall, was Mr. Amerman the
superintendent here? I know he had been a principal and then the superintendent
died, and then Mr. Amerman became acting superintendent but then eventually he
was appointed as superintendent.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: It was years. I couldn’t tell you.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Several years then. And he was a highly
respected educator?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Very good. You worked for a clerk for five
years?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And still, it was that situation where you knew
everybody in town. Did a lot of people come in town to get their mail or was
the mail usually full? What about the farmers? Was their mail delivered to
them?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes, we had two rural routes at that time
back in the late forties. It was kind of strange. We went into three different
counties. We were about one of the only post offices that went into three
different counties to deliver the mail. We were into four townships; we went
into Salem Township, we went into South Lyon Township, Novi Township,
Northville Township. And we also went into Livonia Township, which now is the
City of Livonia. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Was this primarily because they didn’t have
their own post offices?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Salem had their own post office but they did
not have a rural route out of it. Novi had their own post office and they
didn’t have any rural routes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So rather than coming into town to pick up
their mail, the mail was delivered on a rural route to the farmers?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And after clerking for five years and you were
still with the Post Office, then what was your next position?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Then I became Assistant Postmaster.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>As Assistant Postmaster, what was your primary
responsibility then? You probably had many responsibilities.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Running the Post Office.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Running the Post Office, OK.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>The Postmaster job was a political
appointment.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Strictly a political appointment?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>They did not do too much work.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> You told me that now the position has been done
away with or has a new title now?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, it’s called the Supervisor of Postal
Operations.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>That’s what used to be Assistant Postmaster?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, that’s right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Let’s talk a little bit about, because you
mentioned politics, let’s talk a little bit about government. Of course,
probably until you got out of high school and came back from Service, you
probably didn’t have too much interest or knowledge about the kind of
government operation there was in Northville. But as a small town, did they
have a Mayor, did they have a Business Manager?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>They had a Mayor and a City Council. The
Mayor would vote if they had a tie in the Council. It was a weak Mayor
situation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Was it a volunteer position or a paid position?
Full time or part time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> It was part time. At that time, I think we
got something like five dollars a meeting and we met once a month.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I’m assuming that once Northville started
growing then they had to go to a different system of operation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>They went to a City Manager.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> City Manager and then also had a Mayor.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b><b> </b> City Manager
and a Mayor, which is still true today.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Which is still true today.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>I understand that the early Police Department
was a one man Police Department. At the time that you were growing up, was
there more than one police officer?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Well, you had the Chief of Police, which was
Bill Safford at that time and then we had a Night Watchman. They called it a
Night Watchman. And then over a period of years they’ve had quite a few Chief
of Police. Joe Denton was a super one, kept a tight rein on the City of
Northville. But there was not much crime here at that time. A little speeding
and a little drinking but that was about it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> OK, now Night Watchman, what would his responsibilities
be? Was he in a car just patrolling the area, or was he in a station?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Most of the time he was walking and he would
check the businesses to see that the doors were locked. That was about it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Today’s Northville Fire Department is still, I
think, a volunteer department?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, an excellent department.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And that was true then, it was volunteer?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Right. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Somebody else told me that if there would be a
fire at night, the gal that worked the telephone office, her responsibility was
to call the volunteer fireman. Do you remember any of that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> They still have the sirens. They used to blow
the sirens and they had, on the four corners of Main and Center Street, if they
wanted the policeman, they used have a red light up there. They would turn the
red light on and that’s when they knew he was wanted on the phone. This was
before radio was in cars.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> OK, that’s right and that’s how they took care
of, if they needed a police officer, if they needed a fireman, then they had to
contact them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Right.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Let’s see what else we can talk about here. Now
you have how many children?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> I have two boys and two girls.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Have any of them stayed in the Northville area?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I have a daughter who is a nurse. She lives
in Saline and works at St. Joe’s Hospital in Emergency. The one son lives in
Walled Lake, my oldest daughter is a Major in the Army. She’s in Germany at the
present time. The other son is in California.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So none of them stayed in Northville although two
of them have stayed fairly close.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Fairly close.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>If I was to ask them what they felt about
Northville, how do you think they would answer me in terms of the changes that
have occurred in Northville? In fact, I’ll ask you that question. Northville
now, we have Northville and then Northville Township and Northville has grown.
You’ve said it started to grow in the 1960s. How do you feel about the changes
that have taken place in Northville as opposed to the small town where
everybody knew everybody. You, as a mail carrier, knew everybody, even as
Assistant Postmaster, you probably knew most of the residents.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>I don’t think it’s for the best. You could,
like I said before, you could walk down the street and you could speak to
everybody and you knew, not their personal business, but where they worked,
where they went to church, or if something was wrong. You knew and you cared.
People don’t care anymore. You don’t want to get involved. Maybe because it’s
getting bigger and I just don’t like to see changes. I think back in the
forties it was a lot better.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>But you’ve continued to live here in Northville
and you retired when?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>1977.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> 1977, so you’ve been here twelve years since
you retired. I’m assuming you still feel Northville is a good place to live?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Oh yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Despite the changes?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>You’ve spent your life here and this is the
place you want to stay.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> I still know a lot of people and that makes a
difference.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK. Let me see, do you have any particular
interests or hobbies? Besides carrying mail, what did you do for hobbies or
interests?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I used to do a lot of hunting. In fact, when
I lived on Baseline just east of Center Street, I used to walk out the back
door and start hunting. Now that’s gone down the tubes. Mostly I go camping now
in my trailer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> When you were hunting what did you hunt for?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Rabbits, pheasants, squirrels.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So you didn’t have to go very far and you had
woods where you could go hunting?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Anything north of what we call Eight Mile Road
now, was all open land. It was all farmland.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Now did you have to get permission from the
farmers to hunt on their land?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>No, because you knew them. There was the
Miller boys and you just didn’t have to ask at that time because nobody did any
damage.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK. Now you mentioned the Miller boys, what
about some of the prominent names in Northville? And as a mail carrier, you
would certainly know some of the families and what their contributions were to
Northville. As you can recall, mention some of them and why they were
prominent.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Well, there was the Yerkes which started the
Northville Lumber Company. Don Yerkes was the last Yerkes to own it. Then there
were Eatons and Brians. Mr. Brian worked for Ford Motor Company but he also had
Northville Real Estate. There was Pete Ely who was Mayor of Northville. He
worked for Detroit Edison. That’s about the only prominent ones that I can
think of. There was the Schraders who owned the Schraders Funeral Home, which
is out of business now, and Schraders Furniture. And then there was Casterlines
which started the Casterline Funeral Home in 1938.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Yerkes probably would be the most prominent
name of those that you mentioned. Did they all own land around here?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, they owned the land which would be north
of Novi Street. In fact, Novi Street cuts right through the farm now. Novi Road
was the east boundary and Grace Street was the west boundary. This area where
we are right now, north of Baseline, was owned by the Yerkes at one time. I
think the Yerkes owned four or five farms and most of it was north of Baseline
Road.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> What kind of farming did they do?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> That was general farming. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>General farming which might include dairy?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> Dairy and cash crops.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Cash crops. There were some fruit farms out in
this area. In fact, I think they still exist, don’t they?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Yes, there’s Foreman’s Orchards, which is out
on West Seven Mile Road. They were the big ones.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>There’s still some horse farms around here and
I’m assuming the horse farms came about because of what eventually became Northville
Downs. Back in those days it wasn’t like it is today. And the Wayne County Fair, as I understand,
was held down where Northville Downs is now. And I also understand the football
team used to play their football games there in the middle of the field.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>That’s right, inside the track.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Inside the tracks. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>But the surrounding area was all farms and it
was general farming: dairy and cash crops.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>OK, let me just turn this off for a minute here
and take a look at our notes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">[Tape stops]</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I turned the tape on because there are a couple
of interesting things that I thought we should put on this tape. We talked a
lot about Elmer and his growing up in Northville but haven’t talked much about
Mrs. Yerkes—I mean Mrs. Balko. I asked
the question how did you happen to meet and you said that was kind of an
interesting thing. Why don’t you tell us about that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> My folks and my wife’s folks were friends for
years and when her brother got married, they had the reception at the American
Legion Hall on Main and Dunlap, Center and Dunlap. I had nothing to do that
Saturday night so I decided it’s a free meal, so I’ll go. That’s how I met my
wife Ruth. After that we started dating and got married in ’49.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>How long did you go together before you were
married?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.: </b>Two years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Two years, so it wasn’t any rushed thing, then.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.:</b> No, it wasn’t a rushed thing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Well that’s great. You went for a free meal and
you ended up with the girl you’d eventually marry. Now this house that you are
living now--you’ve lived in this house ever since you were married?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>:</span></span> That’s right. My dad and I built it. My
brother helped and Judd Hicks, who my dad worked for, helped a little bit. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>This is a very nice house and your wife was
commenting about how well-built this house was, so I think there would be a
little difference in the standards of home-building today than the standards of
home-building in those days.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>:</span></span> Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Now you told me that you bought a double lot
and the lots were owned by whom?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>:</span></span> The lots were owned by Harold Church, who at
that time worked for Knowles Lumber Company. He owned the whole street at that
time between Baseline and Eight Mile.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> At one time, was this property part of the
Yerkes Farm?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Yes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Part of Yerkes Farm, eventually sold off.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Well, someone bought it and then it went back
for tax sale. That’s when Mr. Knowles bought it and then Mr. Church bought it
from Mr. Knowles.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>So it was a tax sale, then, when the property was
acquired.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: That’s right. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>And you mentioned, I don’t know if you might
have mentioned it on tape or not, how much you paid for the lots and how much
they’d be going for today.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I paid $450 for one lot. Now they would be in
the category of about $34,000. They sold one just about two blocks from it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: And what size are these lots?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: 80 by 125.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: These are big lots.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B</b>.: In comparison to new lots now.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Well I can understand you saying you want to
stay here because you have a nice house and a nice piece of property to
yourself. That’s great. Anything else that you’d care to mention?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: Not that I can think of.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Well, I appreciate this interview and as I
said, this is the Oral Histories Project and I’m Frances Durham and I do
appreciate you taking the time to speak to me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>E. B.</b>: I appreciate you stopping by.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Thank you.</span></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-31817565097729754552013-06-26T06:20:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:00:54.614-04:00Velma and Walter Belasco<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Edited
April 1995)</span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Would you begin by telling me your name
and where you live right now?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My name is Velma Belasco, and I live at 790
W. Main Street in Northville Michigan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How long have you lived in Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since 1922.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How old were you then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was born in ’13, so I was what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was older than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I was going to say ten, but I guess it
would be nine.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why did your family move to Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because my father bought a jewelry
store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a small place up in –
north of Grand Rapids, a little place called Sand Lake, but he bought it to be
in a larger spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he came down here
and bought Johnson’s Jewelry Store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was the Lucius Lake Jewelry Store after that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where was it located?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>124
N. Center, where Betty’s Sweets and Treats is now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
same building?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
the first building was burned down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
one Christmas time down on the other end of Center Street, down below the… then
someone built the new building, we moved back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was right next door to Northville Record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Northville Record was in that building then,
next door, and then well, it was right there for more then 52 years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
now why don’t you proceed to tell me what you remember from the time you first
came to Northville.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
remember we lived on Rogers Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
that time Rogers Street stopped at what is now Potomac Drive, and I could look
out my upstairs window and see the big old clock and the Methodist Church
steeple and hear it chime every night on the hour, and it was also – an old –
it wasn’t electrified then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once a
year my dad had to go up there and clean that clock with some kind of cleaning
fluid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I held the ladder down below
because he had to climb up in the steeple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That clock had to be pulled on the ropes once a day to wind it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
your dad do that too, or somebody from church?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
somebody from church did that, but he kept it going.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
is that church – where is that church?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Methodist Church now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same church that’s
over here on Eight Mile Road and Taft.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
where the clock was though, is that the same building?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Same
building, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christian – something –
Christian Church – what is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Open Door
Christian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what it is now,
yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if they ever do anything in
Northville, and they throw that clock away, I think they should be shot
(laughter) because that clock is the most important thing that the Historical
Society should have.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
you’re the first one that has told me that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m sure that other people know that, but I didn’t realize that clock
dated back that far.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes, yes it did!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok,
just proceed as you were before, tell me a few things.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I told you the building burned down, where my father was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was replaced by this brick building with three
stores, and it backed up to the Spagnuolo Grocery and Sweet Store, and I played
in that back yard with the Spagnuolos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And there was an old walnut tree in the back, and we kids had a great
time in that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, over the years
then, things kept changing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s
back up just a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did your
family consist of, or were you the only one?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
had a family of a father and one sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And my sister went East with her husband in World War II to be with him,
and she had pneumonia, and she was treated by a doctor out there with a new
drug called sulfamilimide, and when she was treated she got worse, got
worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then they gave her another big
dose thinking her pneumonia was worse, and it killed her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this doctor – she was 24 years old – and
this doctor told us this is what killed her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And later on, I started working at the clinic, at Atchison; I found out
from one of the specialists there that many people were killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the first derivative of sulfa – it
euthanized the kidneys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was after
that they finally changed things to where, after that it would be a good
medicine again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she was my only …</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of
course, no one even thought it in those days.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
really didn’t know the consequences.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
it was just you and your sister then.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
my dad, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember on the
corner of Center and Main, Mike Gunsell’s Drug Store, and they used to serve –
they had a soda fountain – they served sundaes, ice cream, soft drinks in
there, so there was a – like a candy store now or, you know, a fast food
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides he had drugs, of
course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bar stools, yeah, he had a
regular bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve seen those too,
haven’t you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, that was there on
the corner of Center.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>Is
that where Williamsburg is?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
that’s where it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Mike
Gunsell’s Drug Store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, let’s see what
else have I got here that I thought might be interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building where the Northville City Hall
is now belonged to the Filkins Company, or Filkins family, which also owned the
building my father was in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know,
but they did, they bought it from the Filkins family that had it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also owned this property on the corner
of Dunlap and Rogers that was for a long time the Methodist parsonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Filkins?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oh yes, he was, he was a very good organist for some church in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I forgot that part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Filkins, that’s right. Oh, another thing
that I bet not many people remember – there was an old colored man that lived
down on the corner of – oh Northville Road – just before the corner, where the
Moose Lodge is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had an old
horse and cart that he used to make deliveries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’d deliver anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d pick
up things at the depot and bring them to you, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he did all kinds of yard work and
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that old horse – just one
horse and wagon and …</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
he live alone?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
lived alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope, he didn’t have anyone
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, that was the first black man
I’d ever seen around Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Salem
had black people, but not Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway, he was quite a guy, and he was very, very nice, we thought a lot
of him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody thought a lot of him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
you attended school here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me a
little bit about it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I attended school from the time I was in the sixth grade, I can’t remember what
grade I was in, but I attended school here until I graduated in 1931.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Graduated
from Northville High, did you?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Graduated
from Northville High in 1931.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, I
went to Ypsilanti Normal, gonna be a teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, first of all I wanted to be a doctor because my family all
medically inclined, I mean Dr. Holcomb, he’s a friend, but he’s also a
relative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All my family were doctors and
lawyers, and I wanted to go and be a doctor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But no woman, no woman could get into medical college then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m
sure it was hard.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
they wouldn’t let you in, so somebody said, “Well, you can be a nurse or a
teacher.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I really didn’t want to
be a nurse; I guess I’m gonna be a teacher, so I went to Michigan Normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I decided when I got to practice
teaching that this thing – that’s not for me either, so I’ll be a
librarian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then went on through to be in
the course, buy anyway, didn’t get to be that either because… Then I went and
had a summer job at Cadillac Motor Car, and I had an office manager there that
was really a woman’s… every day of my life I worked down there, finally, in the
fall when I was leaving I said to him, “I’m leaving, I’m sorry I didn’t do a
very good job.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “Oh yes you did,
Velma.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “What you should do is
go into business.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “You know
you’re the only one here this summer that I thought was worth anything.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “What?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, so that’s when I began looking around
at business schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then ‘lo and
behold’ I went to the Burroughs Business School, and that worked pretty good,
and when I was done, they gave me a job right at Burroughs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I worked for Chrysler for a while – oh,
I don’t know how – oh, they got me the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then the minute I started there, I said, “Uh uh, not for me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I went back to Burroughs and said, “I
need another job,” and they said, “Come right here.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I did that and stayed right there for a
long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then finally, let’s see, what
happened next?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think you told me on the phone that at one point you had a restaurant in
town?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was that after you were married?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we’ll get to that in a few minutes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway,
after all these other experiences, I worked for Burroughs, I worked for
Chrysler, and then finally came back to Northville and worked for Atchison
Clinic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
did you do at the Clinic?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, I went and got a medical
assistants course, and I was sort of a little bit of everything, office manager
and everything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
was the Clinic?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right
on the corner of Dunlap and Linden, where the ‘bed and breakfast’ is now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Atchison House?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
that was their Clinic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s where
I finally would up, and I was very happy at that time there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I went into the restaurant business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
sort of things – let’s back up a minute – what sort of cases, or what sort of
things did the Clinic do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it an all
around?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>General
practitioners and they had three doctors, three live-in doctors in
partnership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then, they also had all
kinds of specialists come in, and they had – Dr. Atchison was very, very
forward-thinking, and he had specialists come in and give us lectures for the
staff, about once a month, something like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the whole group of us would get together, all the staff, and these
doctors and specialists would give us lectures so that we all knew a little bit
about everything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
changed from that time you came here until the time you worked for the
clinic?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What changes did you see take
place?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other businesses were in town –
you mentioned the drug store, and your dad’s jewelry store, and some things,
what…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
let’s see now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old Opera House was
there, where Bruce Roy’s place is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And in that place, they had a lot of old things like – I remember a pipe
organ that one of the Richie boys bought, when they decided to clean it
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let’s see, there was a meat
market on Main Street and what else … <i>[Walter and Velma talking, but not
possible to transcribe.]</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was
the Smith Store on Main Street, and there was a dime store on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>[More from Walter but too faint.]</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s
pause here because your husband remembers quite a while back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did the two of you meet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At what point did you two join up and start
talking about …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…that
would be interesting, I’m sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right in
the center of Main and Center Street, where they come together, there was a big
old bandstand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was some
trolley cars – the Interurban came from Detroit out around down Griswold to the
Ford Factory, right on Main Street to that band stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it stopped, and it filled up with people
who wanted to go to Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would
back up and go down there and go back on out around to Detroit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
turned around there, do you mean?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
backed down – it came in, and then backed down – that was the end of the
track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this bandstand was right
there in the center of the street, and every Saturday night they would have
probably some – well, the band would come and play and they’d have street
dances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they’d close Center Street
off from Dunlap to Main, and they’d have street dances and jive it up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Walter in background)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, the route took – it went down around to
Grand River, and then I think it was – one went into Detroit and the other one
went …</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Which
way to Grand River?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right
up around Eight Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up Griswold, and
then around down Eight Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It circled
around and came out there where the old – what was that – the Interurban barns,
wasn’t it – right there in Farmington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It split there I think, didn’t it, and the one went down Grand River and
then the other track, there was another one, it came from Wayne, and it went
right straight down around and out Northville that was right out Seven –
Northville Road, didn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t
know where that – I think it went to Michigan Avenue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never went very much that way, so I’m not
familiar with that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they were
there for many years, for a long time after, the track were there...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let
me see if I’m picking up your voice <i>(directed to Walter Belasco).</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>[Editors
note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tape full of static and subjects
too far from microphone for good transcription.]</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>There
used to be a big depot across the tracks right here on – let’s see, off Main, I
guess you’d call it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, also there
used to be Eddie Stinson’s airplane factory on Cady Street, and it used to be a
big old furniture factory, Globe Furniture with some of the big, huge oak
furniture that… yeah that was later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Globe Furniture Factory was there, and they made this solid, oak furniture and
many of the church pews in this area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact, OLV (Our Lady of Victory), the Catholic Church right here in Northville
had a lot of the pews they sold in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the Glove burned down .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
then after that, they sold it to Mr. Bellinger, and he put his offices in
there, and then …</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is
that the same place where the auto wash is now because that name is Bellinger?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is, but Bellinger’s office is behind that, as you come around the corner
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then Eddie Stinson made his
airplane factory there, and we used to go out – if you had a field out
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the Exchange Club of
Northville rented the field out here on the Ponsford farm, which is Six Mile
and Beck, is it not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Beth Ponsford
was Lapham’s mother – Chuck Lapham’s mother was named Beth Ponsford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was the old Ponsford farm, and they
rented an airport out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
where Eddie Stinson tested his planes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And this Elder, what was her name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ruth Elder left from here at that airfield to go overseas and they never
found her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was – they don’t know
what happened – they thought somebody shot her down, but they weren’t sure what
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was trying to go on a trip
around the world … testing a Stinson aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you remember her?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not,
not the name Elder, no, I don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earhart
…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Earhart,
- oh you’re right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh,
okay, I thought you were talking about somebody else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did she leave from here?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>She
left from Stinson’s, right there.<b><br />Q:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>Really!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Amelia Earhart – now you’ve got
it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you, thank you!<br /><b>WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>I
wonder … Ruth Elder …<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Was
she a pilot also?<br /><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh
yes, she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think by herself, did
she not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, let’s see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, then the spring on South Main, down
there, It’s still spring water, and they used to call it “Knox Age.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Now
how long has that spring been there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
hasn’t been there …<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Listen,
that’s another story entirely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
spring is pure spring water that we’re talking about in the ‘20’s and ’30’s
(maybe the ‘40’s)…then they made a gravel pit there and they disturbed the
water balance table, and after that the spring was not spring water – it was
surface water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they decided they’d
better do something different with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So then they used to get it from – oh, I think the reservoir out here on
Taft Road, didn’t they, Wally?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway,
they had to change it because it was surface water they were getting after …<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Was
that when they dug the well?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>No,
yes – well, it was after that then they thought they better dig the well, so
they finally did get well water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for
a while it was Detroit water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not
the same, Wally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was ice cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then for a while it was even Detroit
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They piped Detroit water
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then they felt that wasn’t
quite the thing, so then they dug a well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At this point, I think it’s well water – I’m not sure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Now,
at this point, I’d like on tape for you to introduce yourself because I’m
talking to both of you now.<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>I
am Walter Belasco, and I was born in Toronto in 1911, and my mother brought me
over here at about six months, and we lived in Detroit for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we lived in Detroit until 1930
something, and it was about that time that I met Velma at the lake where we
used to spend the summer time.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>My
dad had a cottage out there and his family had a cottage out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we used to bike, you know, got acquainted
that way.<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>That’s
not Northville history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, I
met her and I used to come out here in the ‘30’s, when she was still in
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t say where I was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was my first experience with
Northville at about that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
still had bicycles, things that Velma was talking about, that (?) her house and
her dad’s store, and we used to have an old cane settee in the front that I
spent many an hour in.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, everybody in town did.<b><br />WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I know, but I’m talking about what I
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the post office was right across
the street that was in Schrader’s or part of Schrader’s building just north of
Schraders Funeral – not funeral but furniture store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br /><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span>There was a bakery next to that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b>WB:</b>
</span>Yeah, there was a bakery next to that, and right across the street – on
this side of Center Street, which Velma didn’t mention, was – used to be where
Cloverdale is now – there was a Gayla’s – a clothing store.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Which
I worked for, for a while.<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah,
I don’t know – anything you want to know about history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess when you get this far along, all you
see it in is flashes.<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, another thing, whoops--excuse
me.<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
okay, that’s exactly what I want.<br /><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Another
thing that I think we should mention that where the Legion Hall is now is the
Neal House that faced Center Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
when the Legion bought it, they turned it around and bricked it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a white house, as I recall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t right next to Casterline’s – well,
Casterline bought it, finally <i>(present parking lot)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was the old Neal home, Warner Neal and
his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warner Neal went to The
Washington Post, I guess finally, didn’t he?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was up at the<i> Washington Post</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway, the Neal’s vault is here in Northville – they have their own in
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s right up here in
Northville Rural Hill, right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
that was part of Northville too, then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Now
when did they – when did you two get married?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>1941.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>And
did you – you’ve lived in Northville all the time since?<br /><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh
no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have; he hasn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went to the Marine Corp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were married one day, and the next morning
he went to the Marines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was gone for
twenty-one months, I didn’t hear from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was War time – I didn’t know where he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was War time, I’ll tell you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But
anyway, I was trying to think who lived across the street from Casterline’s.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
it was Bill McKenney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
McKenney’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a – he did drays –
anything that came into town from the Post Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know in the old days they didn’t deliver
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You had to go and get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he used to do drays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was between the Methodist Church –
there was an alley between that and the next houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it was Bill McKenney that lived there
for a long time, and then I think they moved her house down on Lake
Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And besides that was the
MacKennon house, and then next to that was the old Yerkes on Dunlap
Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the house that’s down there
in the Mill Race that they just moved in there – Cady – was the old house on
Cady Street that used to be Meryl Wilson’s, didn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a little poker club upstairs, and
they always had a big time – Dr. Snow, Dr. Holcomb, and Wilson, and I don’t
know how many others – guys from Birmingham used to come and play with
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They played poker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s a historical house I like.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But it wasn’t an inn – it was
a private home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re calling it Cady
Inn now.<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>Well, I didn’t realize
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was a private home all along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Wilson used to have a little place on
Main Street, place called – what was it – White Kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An eating place, wasn’t it White Kitchen?<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, was that the White Kitchen,
or was the White Kitchen next to….the place she was talking about was on the
north side of Main Street just past the theater.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Where Getzy’s Bar is now – just
about in that area…<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, do we call you Doc, or
Mr. Belasco, or what?<b><br />VB</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>
Call him Doc.<b><br />Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Okay, Doc – tell me at what
point did you come back from the service then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You have quite a bit of information about Northville yourself in your
career, don’t you?<b><br />WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
I came back, I didn’t stay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I didn’t
come back to stay until about ’48.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
come back a couple, three times –in between times…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Where did you go to school?<br /><b>WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I went to school in Detroit –
Cass Tech and Northwestern High – both of them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>No, I mean for your training.<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh, I went to-<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>You went to Northwestern
first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve got all that down here too.<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah,
I went there for – I think I was there for two semesters, and then I went to,
transferred over to Northern Illinois College of Optometry, and I left there
in, I think, December of ’49, wasn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Something like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, I
came back for good then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Did you stay here then, that
time, or did you live in Chicago?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh
no, I was here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked at Atchison
Clinic most of the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>And did you – all of your
practice has been in Northville, and you didn’t…?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh yes….<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was in 1950, and when I came
back, I worked for the Post Office waiting for the opportunity to take the
State Board, which didn’t come up until about…and then I took that, and then I
had to wait a little bit longer to find out, know that I passed it or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And after that, I worked for Dr. Atchison –
offered me a place in the Clinic, so I went there – I think I was there for at
least ten or twelve years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I
moved to an office over the old D & C Store, where Dr. Dopler (?) was…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was there until ’61, when I was approached
by this optical company with an offer I couldn’t refuse, even if I didn’t feel
like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I went to work for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was with them until ’81.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was mostly a supervisor – I was sent
everywhere… So I was like everybody else that worked out of town, I came home
to sleep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>What was the name of the
optical company?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it one of the ones
that’s still in existence?<b><br />VB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh,
yes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were a large firm.<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It wasn’t (?) National
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The company that I worked for
Marco Optical, and they had many…until a national chain came and bought them
out, and then I traveled….<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He was in Grand Rapids, Mio,
Wyoming, and he’d get home most of the weekend, maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then for a while, he was in Flint and he
drove everyday there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…in Ann Arbor…. in
Dearborn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>How
long did you – how long have you lived at this location?<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Built the house in ’51.<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah,
in ’51.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clint Walker and I built it, and
Velma was the “surgeon general” of the operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we got along….<br /><b>VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>I tell you I learned by being
alone for many years – I learned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don
Yerkes for one – he (WB) got sick in the middle of this operation, and he never
thought of money – had a lumber yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t have any money, and he was in the hospital; I didn’t know what was going
to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was sick for six
months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at Don, and I said,
“What am I going to do?” I said, “I haven’t got any money; I can’t pay
you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said “Velma, you go right ahead
and finish your house ‘cause you can’t sell it half finished.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “I’ll furnish the lumber, if you
can get Clayton Walker to do the labor.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he said, “Then you can sell your house, and you can pay me, if you
can.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at one time, I think I owed
him about $15,000, and at that time, $15,000 was like a million now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even when he didn’t have the proper like
hardwood floors, he’d say, “I don’t have the kind of lumber that good kind, so
I’m gonna send over to Ann Arbor and get it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He said, “What I have on hand her is not good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did this without ever a dime in the bank,
you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a very fine gentleman,
I’ll tell ya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mike Allen put the
marble in – the marble sills. <br /><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Allen
Monument?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b>VB:</b> </span>Allen Monument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Doc, now tell me about the
associations in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know you
belonged to a couple, I know, but what were you president of tell me about it.<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How did you know that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s nothing to tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in Rotary for, I don’t know – ten
years, eleven, twelve – I was president.<br /><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Was there a Rotary in
Northville ever since you lived here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
did you… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span></span></span>Oh, it wasn’t started by you?<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh,
no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t started by anybody I
knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did tell me once that…<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Didn’t it used to be Exchange
Club before it was Rotary?<b><br />WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
there was an Exchange Club in the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, no, they weren’t the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Exchange Club was more a business association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Rotary – we used to have or Velma had a
breakfast every New Year’s Morning for all the Rotary members and their wives,
and the police and fire department, you know…Saturday afternoon and then Sunday
morning, they’d come tromping in here about 5:00, you’d know and they’d have to
get things started about that time, so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a lotta work, but it was a lotta fun, as you look back at it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Now, what did the membership
consist of compared to now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it just
a few members, or were there a lot?<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think it was about the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
there were more that were more interested in accomplishing whatever they set
out to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think they had quite
as many…It’s just a matter of time, I think, in attitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Times are different today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are – I can remember when we’d walk
down the street, and there wasn’t anybody that you wouldn’t at least wave their
hand to you or step across the street and talk to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact more than once, I’d come home, and
Velma said, “Who was that you were talking to on the corner?”<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Maybe, I’d drive through and see
you standing there.<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or somebody would call her up
and….<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh, that’s another thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was before the days when Rotary had
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got an invitation once a year
to their banquet and that was all.<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But
anyway, we bought this corner down on where McDonald’s is now – their used car
sales lot, and back in the late ‘50’s, I believe.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>’57, oh no, late ‘50’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Chuck Altman – that was the Altman farm.<br /><b>WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was just a swamp hole when we
bought it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many yards of gravel did
we pour in?<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Five foot of gravel in there,
and let it settle before we could pave it.<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
built this drive-in, and we went into it, or I should say I practically forced
Velma into it because she couldn’t see how we could swing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, I had a (VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poured every dime we could.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, but I had a feeling that these kids
at that time in town – they had drive-ins in every other place, and nothing
here at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I thought it’d be
something for them to at least go to, if they wanted to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that was the basic reason for starting
that thing, and it got into something that was more of a family restaurant,
eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we closed that out
and sold it, and then – it was ’69.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What was the name of the
drive-in?<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bel-Nor
Drive-in.<br /><b>VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But then it was Bel-Nor
Restaurant later because we closed the drive-in.<br /><b>WB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Everything
we had was homemade, and I know Velma….<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>They used to come from Toledo
and Grosse Pointe to get those rolls and the breads (<b>WB</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sundaes).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, honey, we had 35 employees, but it was homemade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was the mean old woman, I’ll tell ya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did you, well, you continued
with your practice, didn’t you?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh,
yes!<b><br />Q: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>What
about you – did you manage it full-time or did you continue with the…?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I continued working…<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The question I asked you is –
Did you manage the restaurant or did you continue working?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
did both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked at the clinic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I also hired a young woman that could
really, really manage, and she went, and she went by my orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I backed her up – whatever she did was fine
with me because she knew her stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
she helped me a whole lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a night
manager and a day manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we had 35
employees and split ‘em in shifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
we opened from six in the morning until twelve at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And….</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did you consider the business
was pretty much a success?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you make
good money?<b><br />WB</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Heavens yes!<b><br />Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Why
did you give it up then?<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>He thought it was wearing me
out.<b><br />WB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
was carrying the whole weight all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mostly, because I decided….<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Well, you had too many other
things going on too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was all over the
country with his company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d come home
at night – he had an office in the back here too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he did eyes back here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he’s come home and really be swamped and
tired out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>When did you – did you sell
the business or did you just close it?<br /><b>VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>We closed it up…<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>That was in ’69.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody bought the building…<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>We had offers- what happened was
– we had several offers of people that wanted to buy it, but I had seen too
many restaurants close with new owners and the name run down and throw it back in
their lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I did not want that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we decided then that we can’t do that…get
rid of the building…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Was that still your property
then?<br /><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yes,
oh yes!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Where McDonald Ford is – oh,
my goodness!<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>
Well, not all of it-<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>Well, on the northeast corner –
right next to Roth’s Party Store – all the way beyond Roth’s is ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Ok, that’s the part, I
believe, where a used car lot is…<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>A
used car lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we bought that from
Altman, and we, and as I said, we started with nothing…I even had to get my
food in there, my first delivery of food to open that place on time…And anyway,
there wasn’t even a road… When we first bought the property, there was no road
– Seven Mile didn’t go through there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was just Altman’s farm.<b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>How far did Seven Mile go?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Center
Street, which is Sheldon now.<b><br />WB:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>No, no – it went up to the race
track.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Up to the track, that’s
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then they put that extension
through later.<b><br />Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Well, coming – I’m talking
about coming from the east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did it end
there at Northville Road then?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yes,
it did then when we bought it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We bought
the property – it did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We knew that they
were going to put the road through, but it wasn’t through when we bought the
property.<b><br />Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But Northville Road was
through then?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why you had the
idea of a drive-in?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Oh,
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, anyway we had the… How many
years did we operate it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From ’57 to ’69
we had it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in that length of time,
we bought the first property; built the building; bought another sixty foot
from Altman, filled it and paved it; and had all kinds of things done, you
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did we put – two or three
additions on it in that length of time and paid for every dime of it…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>I’ve been told that it used
to be fairgrounds too, but no one has told me when that changed.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah,
they had the County Fairs every September, and we always got drowned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed it rained and rained and rained
every September, when we had that – now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Betty Allen would know that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
see, her father was Dr. Snow and he started the Driving Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the Driving Club is what brought the race
track.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>How about the – has any
change in the configuration of the churches in the time you’ve been here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve talked about businesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same churches – more or less – except the
new location of the Methodist Church or…?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>The
Lutherans built a church – the Lutheran Church was built – let’s see, Walter
Couse built the Lutheran Church the same time he was remodeling the clinic for
us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>The Baptist Church, of
course, is at the same spot.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yes,
the Baptist Church, and OLV has changed considerably because it was a little
tiny white church over on that corner of Thayer and Orchard.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>That’s been changed again quite
recently.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yes,
but this is way back – it was just a little, white church over there, and this
was the house here, the Sisters’ house now that belong to the Stewart’s because
Stewart used to have the drug store – which is now Northville Drug Store –
Stewart was a pharmacist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they lived
right over there in that house.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>When you say "there" - for the
purposes of the tape - that was Main, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Main
and Orchard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Harper built that house
right over here that lives north of Schrader’s …. It was Bloom’s woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the days that this was just a
trail up by here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we used to coming
flowering every spring, and from here to Beck Road was Bloom’s woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wildflowers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Lilies and all kinds of wildflowers, and we’d walk up in there and
wander around and get these flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was beautiful back in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember
one time there was a dead horse right out here in front of Bloom’s residence, which
is Main, and that thing laid there for two weeks because it was just a trail
and nobody paid any attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And up
back of us here is what we used to call (?) Woods really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just a woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, they still own that piece up in there…Caldwell…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
terms of churches, that’s about all I can remember.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just recently, well, compared
to everything else, just recently.<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
thing too, the Presbyterian Church was built onto….Brennan donated some money…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /> </span>……………………</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Let’s – I didn’t get that on
tape though, Doc – you were saying something about Velma’s father was in
politics, were you?<b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>My
dad was a staunch Republican.<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…he was the Post Master…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Didn’t you tell me that this
one man was the only Democrat in town?<b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Yes,
at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a rough go of it,
but he had a good political job until Phil Ogilvy came to town then I guess
there were two or maybe three.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB: </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>But
I was a Republican from the word go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was a delegate to the Republican Party from Northville….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b> </span>Did you cover most of the
things you wanted to cover?<b><br />VB:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>Well,
you want to know the things I have been active in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I belong to the Women’s Society of the
Methodist Church – I was president of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I belong to Woman’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Veteran
of Foreign Wars, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked for
the Wayne Cancer Society – I was president of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m a Republican delegate from
Northville, Wayne too, Republican Committee also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let’s see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess at this point, does that cover it?
I’ve dropped out of some of those.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And besides the Rotary, what
all were you active in?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
about all....Optometric Association…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a commercial artist before he was
anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He graduated from
Lawrence Tech/Cass Tech and then he worked for the Detroit News in the layout
department, where they laid out the ads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then he worked for Ford Motor where they color-matched the
paint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, every batch of
paint they made, he had to match up…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, while you were in the
service, was that when you became interested in optometry?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no…I had to change because at that time, what I wanted to do…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, I want to thank both of
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been a delight meeting you,
and thank you very much for your time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
since I’ve been in this town…I know the best part of what we have today…what
they were, what they’ve done,...Don Yerkes, and Russell Atchison, for his
clinic</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What about their contribution
to the City?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I would probably say it would
take a long time before you could find someone who has done more for the City
in terms of individual relationships of person to person than Russell
Atchison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really believe that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I would say that too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that with all my heart. He’s a very
dedicated man.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…too
many new people here don’t know what he’s done, that he gave his time freely…as
far as Don Yerkes, I don’t think there’s ever a man who walked the streets of
Northville with a bigger desire to do for <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his fellow man what he did… Of course that’s
not to say that there are others…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We didn’t mention that he was
part owner of Travel Plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He</span> had
Travel Plans before it was Northville Travel Plans.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
adopted youngsters. He’d do whatever he could do for them….and there’s Phil
Ogilvy, for example…I’ve had experience with people from all walks of
life…Charles Freydl, in the sense of doing for other people, a humanitarian…Frank
Woodward…You realize those people changed this town. Harold Bloom is another
one…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>VB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Elys are another group.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
superintendent of schools—Amerman, and Elroy Ellison.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />VB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
helped everybody, too.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />WB:</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Northville
wouldn’t have the high school they have today, if it weren’t for Russell
Amerman.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-85163654016590002722013-06-26T06:16:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:01:59.277-04:00Larry and Jean Bemish<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of Catherine
Eugenie Bemish and Lawrence Merrill Bemish<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Jean
and Larry)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">L
– Larry Bemish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">J
– Jean Bemish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Q
– Jennifer Price McFall, interviewer and transcriber<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Q2
– Fred Shadko, interviewer and videographer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This oral
history is also available on DVD.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q –</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today is April 9, 2005.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
interviewing Catherine Eugenie Bemish, known as Jean, and Lawrence Merrill
Bemish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At their home at 8800 Napier in
Northville Township.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>48167<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There you go…in case you want to
send a letter.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, first I wanted to start out
asking you guys some questions about yourselves personally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got your names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When were you born, if you’d like to divulge that
information?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually I was born on the 100<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of Michigan’s inception as a state:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jan 26, 1937.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s my claim to
fame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born March 22, 1934.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And where were you born?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Detroit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Detroit…. In a hospital?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providence Hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born in Ann Arbor, St.
Joseph Hospital….in Ann Arbor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q2</b>
(to Jean) – Old Providence down on the boulevard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess; I don’t have too many memories
of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it still there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q2:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No,
no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think its senior housing now and
they’re in Southfield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>
(to Jean) – Was that the closest hospital to, where, because your parents were
living out here at that time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, we lived in Detroit at the
time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, lived in Detroit, OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, so it was pretty close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ok, so you initially lived in Detroit and you
initially lived in Ann Arbor?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
-</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lived in Northville, and moved to
Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, I’m registered as
graduating from Northville High School in 1952, but I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was registered as graduating University
High School in 1952 in Ann Arbor but I didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well how did that happen?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
-</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I never finish high school, as
a matter of fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is, is this stuff you
want in here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, go...if you want it in here,
yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
-</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a terrible time in high
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so moved to AA, and somehow
or another enrolled in University High School, and spent a little time there,
oh, a year and a half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the principal
called me in and asked me if I ever thought of becoming a dropout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I thought, oh dear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did he really?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
-</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, I said, you know, well, I
screwed up again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, he said maybe you
ought to go to college instead of high school; because you have, you know – we
give you stuff every day, and he said you’re the kind of person that needs to
let all that knowledge cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I said
OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they paid my tuition to go to
Eastern. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, it was then Michigan Normal
College, and I went in the summer, and they paid my tuition again in the fall,
and I went, I was doing OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I went
back to pay back the,,,the three (erudite?) gentlemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said I’ve got the money to pay you back,
and they said, we’re not gonna take your money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They said, just anything you decided to do in life, you help somebody
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that worked for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I got Bachelors from Eastern, a
Masters from Michigan, and a PHD from Michigan.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t know what that’s got to do
with Maybury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m gonna think about
whether or not I want to leave that in … because that’s kind of an ego
trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess, it’s not a pity party or
anything.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, that’s really interesting.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q2
–</b> It’s very interesting, because my stepson had a really tough time in high
school- with traditional method of, of teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And his mom jumped him the Ann Arbor systems
to the Dearborn systems to the Northville system and finally he dropped
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now he’s very successful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now he has found his niche, I guess you would
say, and I’m, I’m really intrigued to hear stories like that….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q2
-</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did you guys meet?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L–</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
brother and my sister were dating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
knew Bill, in, in High School; he was a little older than me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ran around together, shot pool together –
back then that was a culture all by itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, Bill was dating my sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he came to Ann Arbor with her one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I said, “Don’t you have a sister?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said “Yeah”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Is she doing anything?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said “No, she’s still in high
school.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “What’s the
number?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he gave me the number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I called her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said “How tall are you?”</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started dating and we’ve been
together ever since.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So our kids are double cousins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, that’s neat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, so they ended up getting married also?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They married….they married before
we did.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, that’s neat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, do you guys have any brothers and sisters?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>L
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a sister exactly a year
older.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was married to Bill….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh that’s the sister…got it, got it,
got it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that’s the only one… that’s
the only sibling?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, and I had four brothers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All older?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>J
–</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, two older, a twin, and a younger one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q –</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five kids in the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That must have been interesting.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J –</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
it was … four brothers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L –</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good
Catholics.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q </b>(to Jean) – Now, you … lived in Detroit for a
short time, and then moved out here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I was eleven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think my family was one
of the first ones of the Urban Flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My dad’s company moved out here from downtown Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we moved out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they bought the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was called the old Whipple house at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have a (paper), signed by
Andrew Jackson, the original land grant; and Rufus Thayer owned the original
property here, eighty acres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ll get
you it, I have it right here, a copy of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they called that particular house, two
doors over, the old Whipple house?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
we bought it from some people named Whipple.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve
heard that name.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t think it was that Whipple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a Whipple that was involved with a farmer at Maybury and I don’t think it
was the same.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, that’s funny because I have some of these old maps, and these are from I
believe these are from 1876, and it does say “Whipple” in several places on the
map.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now this one right here let me find
the right map I’m talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
see, right here, on this map, which at the time, when you were eleven and you
moved here, was it all Plymouth Twp.?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Northville Township.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1948 was when we moved out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>1948,
because it says, now you would be between Six and Seven and Napier, now here’s
Thayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then this is Whipple over
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then another Whipple…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
same Whipple lived on Seven Mile lived over at the farm at Maybury for a while<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and then moved back to Seven Mile.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you right here are located somewhere
along here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We’re,
we’re right …</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
this is Seven and Eight; you’re Six and Seven.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
would be right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this Six Mile right here?
(Yep) yes, we would be right along here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yep,
I do believe so.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Very
close to Seven Mile.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
was the Angell property here; they’re the ones that sold to the subdivision.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that’s Ruth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that Ruth Angell, of the
…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I don’t know who Ruth Angell is; there are quite a few Angells in the area.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Common
name or all related?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think they’re all related one way or the other.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q-</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
was your dad’s company here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
remember?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was called Whitman and Barnes, they made twist drills and reamers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2</b> -<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
they came to Northville Township?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
they came to Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were right
next to Burrough’s on Plymouth Road and they since have sold out and the
buildings still there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It moved south
someplace quite a few years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he
was, you know, he had his job during the Depression, he was one of those
people, you know, he started with them when he was eighteen and retired at 62.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
he… what did he do for them?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
was Office Manager of a type, he had women working under him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did a lot of copying and stuff like
that, I’m not exactly sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
now, was your… did your mother stay home with those five children?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
worked at the time, when we went to high school, she went out and got a
job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she wound up getting a job at
the bank in Northville where Comerica is now, it was called Depositor’s State
Bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She worked there for ten or twelve
years, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then it went from
Depositor’s to someone else to Comerica.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
that was, wasn’t unusual to have women working back then?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no, actually three women on Napier Road wound up working at the bank in there,
so…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q</b> -<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was kind of neat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
back in the day there was probably no daycare like there is now, so if you had
children you’d probably …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most
women worked, it was a farming community out here too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean they belonged to the Farm Bureau,
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my first friend out here, their
family had a dairy farm, you know it was very rural, very different from what
it is now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, going back to the house you
were born in (two doors over), how much land did you have at that time?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
folks started out with, I think, twenty acres, and wound up buying an
additional ten or twenty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
did they farm that?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no. I had horses growing up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a
pasture there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And were there other houses around here at
that time?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like, what was the …?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
configuration was, there was a Green Ridge nursery next door, my parent’s
house, and one other house down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just three houses along here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
across the street, there probably was one directly across, on the corner, then
the one next to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably houses on
the other side of the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it
wasn’t completely, I mean, just you out here.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sounds
like it was definitely populated.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we moved out, a lot of
girls my age moved out, so I had a lot of friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lot of fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
the streets at that time, were not paved (well, they’re not paved now, so I’m
going to assume they weren’t paved then).]<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
we were able to ride horseback in the 50’s, I mean, all over the township and
we did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, you know, there wasn’t
the traffic, and we did a lot of riding at Maybury and the grave pits, and all
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
the … was Seven Mile paved at that time?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seven was paved, Eight was paved, but not
Beck, Ridge, well Ridge isn’t paved now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beck Road, I don’t know if you remember, was a little two-lane country
road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think it’s only been paved in the last ten or fifteen years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(To
Larry)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were just talking about what
it was like growing up around here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
you were born in Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And moved
back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what were the years
that was happening?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
moved, my first recollection was when I moved to Frankenmuth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lived on a farm, and two houses on the
farm, and I can remember harvesting going on, I was two and a half I think, and
my grandparents lived with us (my mother’s parents), and then we moved from
Frankenmuth to Saginaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it was my
mom and sister and I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I
remember Dec. 7, 1941, so clearly, because I lived in Howard Street in Saginaw,
and I remember the guy holding up the paper, “War”, and then my next
recollection was when we moved back to Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father lived here; my parents were
separated and he lived on Main Street, and we moved into a little house on
Dunlap Street, where the parking lot for CVS is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then my parents somehow got back together
again, and we moved on into a house that was right across from the shopping
center, Hiller’s that market.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is
the home still there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it’s still there and it’s Lake Street, corner of, northeast corner of Lake
Street and Center Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was,
East … was there another sanatorium, “Eastlawn?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it was up on the hill.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, I never did see that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never went
up to see it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a magnificent old
building, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was way way up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
just never …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
just never had occasion to go up there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
that a sanatorium?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was for …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Supposedly
yes, it was for TB patients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t
looked into it a lot, but supposedly yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L-</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then,
and then we moved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
did you move to Fairbrook?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fairbrook,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember the dates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fairbrook
Street?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Fairbrook Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the one that cuts
into 7 Mile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
the apartments are now, I think right? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Note:
actually several duplexes)<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
are some, but we lived at, I mean near the corner of Lake Street and <b>(J-</b> Not
Lake, but Wing.) Wing, Fairbrook and Wing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One house on …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They’ve
redone the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s kind of
orange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have all this cedar siding
on it, it’s not the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
not the same.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not
the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2</b> -<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
at that time, Seven Mile Road didn’t go through?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
did that cutoff when I was in high school, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I think that was when I was in high
school, I guess you had to go through Northville then out and around. Yes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Looking at the map.) </i>Seven Mile gets
lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
tried to mark it on one of my maps, here, this is from 1943.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
ok.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And,
so you’re saying during high school, you see 7 Mile went straight into
Fairbrook and then ended in Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
if for example, people were going to go out to Maybury, things came in on the
railroad, which is somewhere around here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you remember, where was there a railroad station around here?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
right across, right across from the Wagon Wheel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Wagon Wheel, you know where that is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
used to be a hotel, and is used to accommodate people…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
came in on the train.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it
sounds like you were both in Northville; you were living in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you (Jean) were in the Township, and
you (Larry) were in the city at the same time, but you (Larry) were in
Northville School and in some different schools at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So was that the reason why you never met each
other?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
met once or twice.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
met, I mean I would see him around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d
see his family in church, but he was three years older than me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And back when you’re in high school …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Three
years is a lot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
older men, you never really meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I
think it was just… I always had my eye on him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ah,
the truth comes out.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
did you get married?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
Lady of Victory (OLV).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were the last
one married in the old OLV white-framed church.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Very
cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before
they tore it down in 1957.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
now, newcomers like me, I’ve only been here nine years, think of the ‘new’ OLV
and the ‘old’ OLV.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
are you from, Fred?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was
born and raised in Detroit, in Women’s Hospital in 1947.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
hospital?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Women’s,
I think they’ve renamed it now, I think it’s …(<b>Q </b>– Is it Hutzel?) Hutzel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was raised in a flat off of Davidson
and Livernois.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
I lived near Seven Mile and Livernois, kind of …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
then we moved to Seven and Livernois in 1957.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
street did you live on?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
lived on Woodingham.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
lived on San Juan.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
you’re kidding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
was a block from Seven Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did
you live on Woodingham?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 </b>-<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
corner of Pickford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
for gosh sakes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I went
to Bagley (elementary school)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
did too, I went to kindergarten at Bagley.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And if
you walked along Pickford, there was a little hill; it was the only hill in the
whole city of Detroit, and that was right alongside our house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they couldn’t build a sidewalk through
there because of the hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was
this huge old elm tree that sat out into Pickford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then when they paved, tried to pave
Pickford, they couldn’t do that either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was dirt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wasn’t that dirt?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
some of it was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
remember that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
people were very stubborn, and couldn’t get up that hill in the winter, and
they would sit there and spit their tires for hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pickford
and Woodingham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I can still recite
the names of the side streets.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
San Juan near Seven Mile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Near,
between Clarita and Seven Mile.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Near
the library?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was Sherwood Forest
Library?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I was three blocks from that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to
frequent that every week.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Her
mom took her to the library all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah, you can see our value for books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I … Sherwood Forest, you know I used to walk to all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get my four books, go home, read them, and go
back.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cunningham’s
at the corner of Seven and Livernois?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you remember “Phone Don for Drugs?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Absolutely!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Everyone is laughing)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was a drug store at the corner of San Juan and Seven Mile, and up until four
years ago there was this huge sign on the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t know if it was neon, or just lit up, but it said “Phone Don for
Drugs”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was huge, my son was down
there just a few months ago and he said they had taken the sign down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the whole stretch in there, from San Juan
to Livernois was like a small community back in the 40’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fantastic stores and a Dime Store.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kohl’s.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
there was a bakery, get bread for eleven cents a loaf … a long time ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
good.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
there was a drug store, and a dime store and grocery store.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wasn’t
there a Gem Theater or something?</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not
right there, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had the Varsity
Theater on Livernois and the Royal Theater on Seven Mile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
the Mercury Theater if you were really adventurous down on Schaefer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the reclining seats, remember, the
reclining seats.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Does
that area, now, any … does it resemble at all where you grew up?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
side streets do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s mostly
black now, but we went back and saw the house about ten years ago, and it
looked better than when we lived there, and it was a nice neighborhood when we
lived there, but I think the stretch along Seven Mile is pretty well boarded
up.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
commercial is pretty ugly, but the brick homes, they were all brick homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
they were beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
homes have really endured, they really have… and it’s coming back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a while, the rich kids lived on the other
side of Livernois.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Sherwood Forest.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
those homes for a while sold for a very little money but now they’re expensive
once again; it’s really coming back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is
Palmer Park down there?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Palmer
Park is there, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(To Q).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you familiar with Detroit at all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m
vaguely familiar with it because I went to Wayne State, and I used to take a
lot of different ways home.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because
it was interesting driving and I wasn’t afraid at that time, I didn’t have any
kids.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good
for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(To Q2), So, you’re ten years
younger than me, so I had moved out there at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you have a different recollection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
what was it like living in Detroit, and them moving way out here?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you know what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me about a week
of adjust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hate to say that, but I
didn’t know we were going to move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
at Girl Scout Camp; when I got home, I found out we were moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parents didn’t talk things over with kids
then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was the way things were done.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
so anyway, so I went to Gesu School, which is a big Catholic school in Detroit,
and I thought, my mom felt we were going to go to Northville School in
Northville, and so we came out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She took
us in there, and she found out since Thayer School was up here, it was part of
the school district, that she would have had to have paid tuition for …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>[NOTE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THERE
APPEARS TO BE A GAP IN TEXT OR PAGES.]<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While,
I didn’t ride, didn’t really ride until I was in high school, but I don’t know,
it was just, the whole community thing, with the people out here… there was a
beautiful apple orchard up on Six Mile and Napier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both
sides.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
the compost is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did,
obviously, well, did you walk to school?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only time I ever got a ride, up
on Seven Mile, old Merrin Angell, one of the Angells whose grandson had had
polio when he was six and he was …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dale
Boring.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dale
Boring, he was in braces from the legs down, so they always had to take him to
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was when they mainstreamed
kids like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, if old Mr. Angell
saw us walking and he had room, he would stop and pick us up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Dale was in a wheelchair, I don’t know how
he got up and down the steps with that, you know, and anytime we would walk
from school we’d have to push him in his wheelchair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had crutches and braces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I did get rides, but other than that …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
got polio when he was three.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
was life like in the 1 room school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the same teacher for
three years, and we didn’t have many books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The thing I remember most is she giving my English book and I would have
to copy all the paragraphs and name all the parts of speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I didn’t tune in too much to the little
kids then, but, I think she was busy with helping them to learn to read and
stuff.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
you went from Detroit school where you had different ages in different
classrooms?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
in Detroit it was like first grade, second grade.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
it was like normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you came out
here and you had one teacher trying to teach how many, ages were?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kindergarten
through eighth grade.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
one room?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In one
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother and I were the only
ones in eighth grade.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But,
you know, I think with Eugenie, she was like in fifth or fourth grade.
Whatever, she would listen to what the eighth graders were doing, and she
picked up a lot that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you think
about it, years ago they had an open curriculum, access, open school kind of
concept and it was really kind of an open school kind of thing because it was
multi-age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you know, if you’re
smart, like Eugenie is, you know, it was something in eighth grade, she’s going
to listen to that and pick it up, whether she knows it or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyway, I was in sixth grade when I moved
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Carrie Dickinson was the
teacher, and she just lived up the road here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She had her own Kaiser Frasier car, her husband worked for Kaiser
Frasier, and she drove that up and, you know, we just had a good time at
recesses and that kind of thing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
where did you go to high school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Northville.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
one on old Main?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
the one on old Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Larry went
there too, we both went there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
year I graduated from the ninth grade down in Thayer, all the one room schools
consolidated out here, and all went into Northville, so if I was three years
younger, I never would have gone to the country school.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
you, when the school let out down here, it was more for the agricultural …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes, we got out at the end of May.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
think Northville probably got out mid June, or whatever it was, because the
kids were needed on the farm.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
school mandatory back then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes, it still was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t stringent,
and I don’t think I studied a lot in high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I got by, you know, and uh, we had
fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That old building on Main Street
was cool.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
that burned down?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
still there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
the one where the handicapped go now<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
I went back there, with Larry; we had taken some students on a field trip and I
went back, probably about five years ago, six years ago, to the building, and
it has not changed inside at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
might want to go look at it sometime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They painted
the halls, and everything, but the gym is still there, the old study hall is
still there, and all the classes, they’re all in the same place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we’re having my 50<sup>th</sup> class
reunion this September.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
that will be fun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
wonder if they’d like to make a living record of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be willing to come.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
would be interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, I’ve got, if you want to borrow them, I have four old Palladiums, the old
high school yearbooks, ’51-55.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old high school yearbooks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can
hear everyone.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
said I had the old Palladiums from ’51-55.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(To
Larry) Now what is your, I guess you said your earliest memory is when you were
two.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Frankenmuth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(To
Jean) And, what is your earliest memory?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Must be from Detroit.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it’s from Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My earliest
memory?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know what, Oh I remember my
brother and I, my mom had another younger one at home and we went to
kindergarten on Bagley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she decided
after one day that we could walk home by ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I still see Mike and me walking down
Curtis, we were a good three-fourths of a mile from home – two five-year-olds?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we were holding hands crying at the top
of our lungs, lost; we didn’t know where to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And fortunately, a neighbor lady, who lived a block from us, found us
and took us home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can still see us
walking along, crying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ahhh.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
had to cross Woodingham, Santa Barbara.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yep,
Pennington?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pennington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was probably usual back then, no?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes, we walked by Wayne, when I went to Gesu we walked a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used city buses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i>(Tape ends)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…walking
to school and different things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of
the things I noticed about her is that she’s fiercely independent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wants to do something, she does it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think that’s an (out roar?) because I
was raised, like, we take care of the women –uh, I don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know so, there’s no feminist thing
involved in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just, she wants to
do it, and she does it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think that was one thing about, you know, the 40’s, it was very safe to walk
any place you wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, it’s so
sad now that everybody is so afraid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
out here we walked right a town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Shank’s Mares”, you know, feet that’s what we used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(To
Larry) What did your father do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You said
he, you obviously lived in Northville and moved around in Northville.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
worked , he was a powerhouse engineer at Maybury.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
right, for 45 years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
least 45 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>45
years, that’s right … and your mother?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
mother’s a nurse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she … I called my
sister Gail before, just before you guys came to find out how my mother and
sister, Clair, came up, and she couldn’t recall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burt it had something to do with my mother
being a nurse and … in Ann Arbor, so there was … My, my Aunt Clair who was
married to Leo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
one that was in the sanatorium for …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
was in Maybury San for five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s how Clair and Lee met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
worked there, didn’t she?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Apparently,
but she was not, at that time, a skilled … Lee, was from River Rouge, I think,
and a wonderful person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was largely
responsible for the values that I have today, rather than my, from my father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
got tuberculosis, though, I think, his sister had it, it was just in the
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just something that
happened back then.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
he was, he was an in-house resident at Maybury for five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Woodruff, who did the research there,
had him as a lab technician, and he helped Dr. Woodruff with post-mortems, and
record keeping, and things … Lee was a sharp, sharp guy, real sharp guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, just a tenderness about him that helped
me a lot growing up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
wound up living on part of one lung, I believe.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
it sounds like he was ambulatory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Moved
around?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
he got out, he began work at the old Wayne County Training School.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Really?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that was part of the reason that – he would bring kids home, or he would take
me to work with him, and that’s how I got interested in special education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And much of the research that was done in
learning disabilities emanated from there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Strauss and Layton (spelling?) were some of the people who did a lot of
research there, and they weren’t called learning disabilities at the time, but
Lee would bring kids home, or he would take me to work with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the kids out there, just in terms of
performance, were doing better than I could because, you know, I couldn’t
process the information, so they were a big help to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, he was, he rose to become a general
supervisor, and then he had a problem with a guy, it was Rosetti, or Haskell, I
think the guy was Dr. Haskell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve
heard the name.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
he was transferred from there to Eloise, which was part of the tuberculosis
thing; it became a mental institution later on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just have such warm feelings about Uncle Lee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
it sounded like he really stepped in as your father.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah,
yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he also respected my
father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was supportive, and he said
just come on over any time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
I think, you know, that’s a neat example of how central Maybury was, and they
wound up living in Northville for the rest of their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raised their daughters here.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Can’t
hear) … and niece?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think the
sanatorium, you know, employed a lot of people that wound up living in
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is Alice Woodruff,
right here, she was in this high school yearbook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this was his daughter, Dr Woodruff’s
daughter, I don’t know if you want it, I don’t even know if she’s still
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This book was printed in 1989,
but you can have that card.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wonderful,
thank you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Can’t
understand…)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m
curious about something about the powerhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m an engineer…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Alright!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I
was really distraught when they tore down the old smokestack at Burroughs, just
thought that was wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was nothing wrong with it except it said Burroughs instead of Unisys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve
been to England once with Eugenie once to Germany, and they have in Germany,
they have building built in 1400 – they’re still using.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they don’t like something over here, they
tear it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like “no deposit, no
return”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, when they were tearing
down, we could hear them dynamite the stuff at Maybury, and I remember the smokestack
there was huge, and then there was a big pile of coal near that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my dad bought a pressed air BB gun to
shoot rats in the coal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, it
wasn’t powerful enough but he said he could sting them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he would take me out there and the place
was immaculate; I mean, it was – the powerhouse was just immaculate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And big pipes and everything, but it was
clean and neat.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
there a big furnace in there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andy, our
son, talked about a big furnace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was
talking to my son before he went to Florida, and he said he remembers Grandpa
Les, my dad, taking him into the coal hopper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he could see the coal going down and into this big flame, where they
generated all the power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the
heating was underground I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And …
but, my contact there was mostly at the powerhouse, but …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
did they get the coal there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was there a
railroad spur?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or did it come by truck?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Boy,
that’s a good question.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
would assume it came by truck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
a road, it went from Beck Road, all the way through the sanatorium.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Beck
and 7 Mile.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m
sorry, a railroad?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
a road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was, all the buildings were
accessible to this road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then it
would wind, it wound around and part of it went back out onto Eight Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could go through from 7 to 8 Mile, and
then the other part came back out and exited near Ridge, just east of Ridge.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Talking
to Q2) You know where Ely’s is, in Northville, you know where CVS is and
there’s a Thai restaurant?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, just to
the north of that, there’s a woodworking shop and the donut shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is Ely and Son, Fuel Oil and Coal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would have delivery, that was their
yard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
would think that’s where the coal came from.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, they didn’t have much more than five-yard dump trucks, I suppose, at the
time, but I recall Charles Ely was in my class, called him Clancy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
might want to talk to him.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Huh?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
said, you might want to talk to him, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t know how many people you want to talk to.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
were a very rich family and, in Northville, considered you know, high brow, I
guess you would… but that was part of the supply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q-</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
remember that, I know that for the state hospital they built a railroad spur,
which they just ripped out fairly recently, that went off to the C & O Railroad
and to that powerhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then there
was the powerhouse for the Wayne County Training Center that was down the hill,
and there was a railroad spur for that, too, for the coal.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t remember any railroad being out here at all, so that’s an interesting
question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
they must have hauled it by truck, which might be why the roads were paved.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J, L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was also a bus service, Henry Biddle owned it, I think I told you about that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His
company was right across from where the State Hospital is now <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(the site is now Rocky’s restaurant on the
north side of Seven Mile between Haggerty and Northville Roads)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used to run a bus service, probably a
couple time a day, I guess, going here it would exit here, and if I caught the
bus the right time after high school in Northville, I was able to catch a ride,
get off here, and then walk a mile home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I got
my driver’s license when I was fourteen, and my dad would work four at night
until midnight sometimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, just incidentally,
I believe he worked seven years, midnight for seven years during the war
without a day off.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because
of manpower shortage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that powerhouse had to be staffed around the clock?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Boiler
operators, yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
how many, do you know how many people worked on a shift?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was he there alone?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Any
time I was out there he was alone.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
he wasn’t the only powerhouse engineer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
Sam Geraci was his boss, and Jimmy Jensen was employed there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jimmy Jensen was employed there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jimmy Jensen was a flamboyant kind of a guy,
he, I’m trying to think of his nationality, but he was a drinker, and a
laugher, and when they started making convertibles after the war, he bought a
Buick convertible.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was also, I don’t know – off the subject, when there was farms over here,
prisoners from the Detroit House of Correction (DeHoCo) came over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would put them on a flat bed behind a
tractor, you know …. all the farmland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
see, as Detroit House of Correction was owned, Maybury was owned by Detroit.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>DeHoCo
was owned by Detroit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think later on, the unions got involved, because they used to use prisoners
throughout state parks, picking up trash and stuff, and the union got mad at
them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
when we would be walking, I would be walking to school in the morning in the
spring, these wagonloads of prisoners, well, one wagonload would go by, you
know, and they’d just wave at us and we’d wave at them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a uniform, it was royal blue pants
with a red stripe going down and a blue work shirt; and I mean, and I think as
you know Maybury produced all their own food and everything, yes; it was very
self-sufficient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
the farms that you’re talking about were north of Eight Mile?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, no,
they were on the property, yes, all that – there were several houses along…I
think some of the doctors lived there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then where the farm used to be was …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
you know where the new barn is now?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
the farm was, the barn is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was
an original farm there too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, they
farmed a lot of it in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
they would have a lot of history on that over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, yes they used to do a lot, then this
Whipple I was telling you about, who lived on Seven Mile, I was just reading
the history, I think it was at the library, going over some of the history, and
he lived for a while on Eight Mile where the present farm is, but then he moved
back the house down, the family home down a year ago and they’re putting condos
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just right across from
Steeplechase, where they have the brickwork now, but nothing is there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
then it traveled along Seven Mile.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Seven
Mile back into town, yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To
Fairbrook?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
I’m not sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
loading place was up on Four Corners.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Seven Mile, Main Street and Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
most of the galleries are, and there was a bus stop there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that’s where most people and I caught the bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
there was, by the bus stop there was a telephone booth, and there was a bar
railing, and then all the area to the south of that corner was parking lot, and
then there was a bowling alley.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
Main Center is now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have
an uncle by marriage, the Elliot family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Elliot’s owned a bakery on Main Street.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Northville?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the theatre burned down
they moved to Trenton, so that was probably ’32 or ’33, so before you were out
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for a while one of the
Elliot’s ran the old hotel that was at the southwest corner of Center and Main.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
where the parking, I mean, it went way down, it was like a story drop where the
parking lot was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Southwest
corner of Center and Main.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
and that’s where the bus stop was, yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
when that was torn down it became a parking lot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
the bowling alley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…or
burned down or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think Main Street has changed a lot over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much interaction did the
community have with Maybury?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, it’s a good question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say
with the doctor’s kids, the one name I can’t remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t think it was advertised that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was always …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was just there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was never… it wasn’t hush hush but it was just … I remember the Woodruff girls;
they were nice to me, that, for a greaser was important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember the fondness when my uncle
talked about the …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
he have fond memories of Maybury?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes, it was a growing experience for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not just in terms of getting well and doing research, but in terms of
helping others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, he was a
giver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never complained about his …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I guess there are probably a lot of people living in Northville that settled
there after the sanatorium closed, but you don’t really know, other than his
aunt who worked there and his uncle, I didn’t really know anybody out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
so it wasn’t really part of the community, per se.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were people afraid to go there because, TB at
that time, was …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think there might have been some of that, yes; maybe that was why it wasn’t… I
don’t recall it being talked about that much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, people would ask, “Where’s your dad work?” and I’d say “San…
Maybury San, it was called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people
called it a sanatorium, which was the correct name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other people would call it a sanitarium.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
always called it a sanitarium, I mean, ones for crazy people.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
for the mental aspects and so there was confusion about that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
girlfriend and I, there were several of us, we used to ride horses in there
though, and I remember Barbara had a beautiful palomino who used to do all
these tricks, and so the patients would come and stand there on this
second-story screened-in porch, looking, and she’d put Sonny through all these
tricks, and they used to clap.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
can see, in here<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">opening <u>Northville Michigan</u> by Barbara G. Louie).<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think she has that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There’s
one of the buildings. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Shows several
photos of the sanatorium from <u>Northville Michigan</u> book).</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes I’ve seen those.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
what she’d talking about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(points to
photos)</i>, the people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Came
out here and looked.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
another time we were riding our horses in there, and two teenage boys came, I
think I told you both that, came to the door and were kind of flirting with us,
and were trying to make arrangements for us to come back, after dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And meet them, build a fire, they said roast
marshmallows, and, anyway, the head nurse came and gave us a little lecture on
how contagious tuberculosis was, and you know, get going, get moving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
that was pretty much that type of thing would have been the only
interaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to cut through a
lot, from Seven to Eight (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mile)</i>, with
cars as we were driving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it
was a public road?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
anybody could go in, no, it wasn’t fenced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
they had gates, so I mean there are pictures you see of the gates, but the
public, anyone could go in there?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So I
find that hard to reconcile, if people were afraid of TB and it was very
contagious, there were people who went through there, just went through there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
you might just drive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
if you drive through, it wasn’t by accident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You had to know where you were going.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
you were going, so was a cut through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How about the people who worked there, did you dad, were people like,
“Oh, you work at the sanitarium, sanatorium.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was
never that close to my dad, I guess to…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or
your uncle?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t recall anybody ever ostracizing him because of that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think, you know, once you were healed, you were healed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now when I was in, when my kids were in high
school, one of the last doctors that came out there lived in one of the houses
on Eight Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they did a lot of
work with tuberculosis, I can’t remember their names, it was when our…my kids
were in nursery school, it was in the 60’s, and one of the things I remember
most was they had a lung in a plastic case, it was all diseased, and my son was
giving a talk on lung cancer one time and he borrowed that to take to school
and give a talk.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was a model of a lung?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
it was a real lung.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was yucky.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
he brought it home, shoved it in my face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Really?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
can’t think of the people’s names, but I think they were… ’65, if you do the
history on 1965 when the last group of kids from Garden City caught that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Andy
might be able to remember the name.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I can find it out later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Were
there people other than from the city of Detroit who were at Maybury?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or was it… do you know?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Patient
population, it’s in here <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(in <u>Northville
Michigan</u> book)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read a few
pages this morning, I think it’s in there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
they decided to close it, of course antibiotics wiped it out, pretty much and
they decided to close it, was it phased out… you may already know the answer to
these questions, Jen, but I’m just learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
it closed, as I say, after 1965 when those kids were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can still see the building they were
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to go in there and pick up
pinecones to make pinecone wreaths. (<b>L </b>–what?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pick up pinecones to make pinecone wreaths, when my kids were
little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they just sat, and I
remember another time when I was adult and still had horses and were riding in
there, it wasn’t fenced or anything, but they used to have watchmen in
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came up and he said, “Um, we
have three real big dogs, uh, kinda runnin’ loose around here, and they don’t
like horses.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I left and I never went
back.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
never went back after that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not
until it became a park.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was in the 70’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1976? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Editor’s note: it was 1975)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
and they had to dynamite all the buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The high school kids used to go up there and have fun and that’s what
happened and they were afraid of somebody hurting themselves.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
children’s units, I’ve forgotten how many there are, but they had nursery
rhymes painted on them by world-renowned artists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
probably in there (Northville Michigan book).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes, I’ve seen that and that’s in the area that then became the laboratory
where, by the time you were there (to Larry), they had the animals and things
in there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
they had moved the children elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
remember as a kid, going past that and I was so comforted by the idea that they
were helping kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, I would
just kind of smile inside when I’d see that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course, my Uncle Lee, I had a strong attachment to him, so anything
associated with him I felt pretty good about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pleasant
memories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to keep you guys
too much longer.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We’re
having fun (laughing).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank
you, thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to talk a little
bit, to finish up, about how the world’s events kind of impacted you here, one
of them obviously being the Depression, but it sounds like maybe it didn’t
impact Northville the way it impacted maybe Detroit.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I remember when I was in high school, I graduated in ’55, and I remember a
couple of the teachers were kind of bemoaning the fact that they needed a new
high school, they didn’t have the money, because it was so small, you know, and
…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Similar
to now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re now bemoaning the fact
that they need more schools.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I mean, but there was nothing around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was, you had the city of Northville, and Northville Township was
all farms, country and the whole thing, other than the State Hospital –oh, his aunt
worked at the State Hospital for years, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Say
that again?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
said Clair worked at, Lee’s wife, the State Hospital for years, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, so I think, well, I think…his mom and
aunt came up from Ohio to get jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think his aunt particularly, to get a job at the sanatorium, because of lack of
jobs elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I remember one of the things I got from my dad that I always appreciate is a
work ethic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he grew up in Brown
County, southern Indiana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he
went through the sixth grade or something.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did he come up specifically to work
there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t think he came up so much specifically to work there as he did to get away
from his home, his family… I might, I’m going to edit a lot of this out, when I
look at it again, but he worked there for 45 years, and I remember my mom told
me he lied about his age to get a job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I don’t know how old he was when he came up here, but his work ethic
is…I used to hear him talk, he says, he was afraid a lot of times of going to
work and they would fire him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know,
there was paranoia at the time; there were no unions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he used to say, “They’re going to give
this guy his walking papers”, and excuse the expression, my dad said, “You
always go out and work, you keep your nose clean, you don’t get in anybody
else’s business because you’re going to get your walking papers.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think, out of the Depression, you know,
he hung onto what he had in terms of a job, you know; there was a fear, and sometimes
realistic.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know that was my dad too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Whitman
and Barnes he had worked for since he was eighteen, and he never really liked
his job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a fantastic carpenter
and woodworker, but that’s what brought in the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He moonlighted with them for years, too; he
used to make blocks out of maple to hold the drills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
used to make wooden toys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would
sell them at Federals Department Store (in Detroit).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But,
so I mean, then I grew up with the sound of saws and stuff in the basement when
he was making his boxes before class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beautiful maple blocks to hold all the drills.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You’ll
appreciate this, Fred, she had four brothers and a dad, very handy, and she
thought it was a genetic endowment that just men could do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you prove her wrong?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
big time (laughing).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
said, “I need some shelves in there”; I said, “Good”, I said, “Call
somebody”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Laughing)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
heard during the Depression they had something that they called script?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you explain a little bit about that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
dad talked about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says, “We
don’t want any of that … no script.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wasn’t
it kind of like a substitute for money?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all places would take it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my dad, we rented a house, for…the one on
Center Street, we rented, the one on Fairbrook we rented for a long time and I
think I was fourteen or fifteen because I was … it was November when I was
fifteen or sixteen that I left, he bought the house then from the guy he rented
it from, because he finally felt safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When my dad died, he had metal boxes, it was ’74, in the basement; $1800
in it, and you know, he kept saving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, he says, he would go to the racetrack, he would bet with a
bookie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would say, “Bookies you can
trust”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Laughing)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
were bookies around Northville?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a Greek’s Bar and there was
the bar where… well, Poole’s, Poole’s Restaurant is now, used to be Joe’s, old
Joe’s Bar.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Little
Joe’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
it was a dump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boy, I’ll tell you, it
was something!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then there was
another one where the hardware store used to be.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
… was?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
right on (Center) … It’s a gallery now (Atrium Gallery) – that used to be a
hardware store (Northville Hardware).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
Center and … (just north of Main on the west side of Center).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
then right north of that, in that, whatever there is now, it used to be a
bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t think of the name of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Ramsey’s. Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ramsey’s Bar was at 105 N. Center; Northville
hardware was at 107-109 N. Center, Schrader’s Furniture was at 111-113 N.
Center).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
there was a pool hall there, right across from the where (Main’s) is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
that was, across from, yeah, that was there …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
was your small town kind of businesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
that was Joe Alessi’s pool room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used
to set pins in that at ten cents a lane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Worked all day Saturday and he had, I think six alleys, and you’d get
down there early so you could set double, because you know, that’s just going
to … and, they had kids from the Five Points Gang down there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
a Detroit – Grand River and Seven Mile, it was called the Five Points Gang.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
there was a gang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they would come
out here and they would try to get the pins, and if you got double, that was
great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you had two Five Points
guys on either side, it was a long day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, you know, you set one pins, you get them in, and they would lay a
broomstick or something over the thing when you turned your back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you pull it down, all the pints would
fall down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember setting pins for,
I don’t know, it was like eight in the morning until eight at night at ten
cents a lane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a handful of money,
and the guys were waiting for the bus stop, at the bus stop on the corner of
Main and Center, and they rolled me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beat the hell out of me, took my money.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
this is … sweet downtown Northville (laughing).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Biddle Bus went …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These
guys were, these guys were from down in Seven Mile and Telegraph area, and all
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, it was, it was… they were
legitimate toughs.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
where the bus went; the Biddle Bus would go from Northville to Five Points; and
then you’d catch a Detroit bus there, if you wanted, and go down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
the next week, I set pins again, and they’re waiting for the bus, and the one
guy who kind of instigated everything, had his back to me, and there was a
railing, and about 12 feet down went into the parking lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I went over and I picked him up and threw
him in the parking lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the other
guys started for me, and I said, “Next week you give me my money back.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they said, “You got it.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
they did?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
they gave me, like, two or three bucks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i>(Tape ends)</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
Joe Alessi had pool tables in front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
that whole culture was something that people did not look favorably at and I
loved to shoot pool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was good at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my Uncle Lee understood that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was good at shooting pool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my mother would chastise me about being
in the pool room shooting pool, and, just my dad would get kind of rough with
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then Uncle Lee would say, “Go to
the pool room”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “You and I will
go to the pool room,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You’re gonna learn how to shoot pool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You like pool; I understand that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The sensitivity of it, the gift that he gave me is he could get inside
my head and understand what I was about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then, when the race track opened up, the people would come in to the
races, that’s a different culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would hang out in the pool room, and they would hustle one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s when Lee said, “The races are
coming to town, we’re going to go to the pool room and we’re going to watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no shooting pool.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it used to be neat, when I was in high school, at the track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had open seating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As teenagers, we couldn’t bet but, you know,
when the sun was, in the summer, on a summer evening…was that cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d just go sit in the open seats and watch
and we’ll pick out the horse we wanted to win.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t all enclosed, like now, and a lot more people went then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be a good subject, then, well that’s another
area it’d be fun to explore, people who were, who worked there, who worked
there for years and their whole culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you have any more questions on Maybury?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
not really on Maybury, per se, but I just kind of wanted to find out what made
living in Northville special to you guys?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
small town-ness of it, all my friends were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The social life was there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movies were great; I mean, the high
school, my high school years were fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I mean … (<b>L</b> –What?) high school years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had the sock hops; and the football games were played down where Ford
field is now, just behind Mill Race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even when my mom worked at the bank you know, I could hang around and
then catch a ride back home with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mean, living four miles out was four miles out, but I think just the crowd that
we ran with was just all right there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You know, we didn’t have to go anyplace else for our entertainment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember more from my high school
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it was kind of like my
country school years and then my high school years… I don’t know, I just made some
good lifelong friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this kind of
what you … ?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
I guess, having lived here since I was eleven, and I’ve lived near Seven Mile
all my life, in Detroit and out here, I’m a real home person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could never imagine – I’ve never moved.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
about you (to Larry), what do you … kind of remember that sticks out about
Northville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of
course, my interaction with my uncle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I had two or three good friends.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
did before?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a
kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- some of the kids in my class, their dads
were attorneys, and on the board of education or something like that, or owned
businesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some of my best friends
lived down in, I want to say Bealtown?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bealtown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And,
were first generation Italian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can remember going in and
there was a big Italian family in a small house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being … spaghetti man … and then …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bongivoni’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
that was Bongivoni’s, and Don Blair…dad, where Asher’s gas station is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Corner of South Rogers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And Seven
Mile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Seven Mile.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
used to be a Sinclair gas station there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And Don Blair was my age; got me a job working there – his dad; I got
five dollars a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember
summertime, everyone was going out here in the gravel pit to go swimming, I
said, “Mr. Blair, can I go swimming?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
says, “No, you got a job to do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said,
“Hey, lemme…”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says “No, you got a
job to do.’”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, you know, and … those,
so I remember those things, but … school was not a good place for me, but the
friendships and people I had made it a good place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have good strong memories of
Maybury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I, I keep thinking of the
Children’s Center, and the murals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
time there was a fire in one of the Children’s Centers and there was a guy a
couple years older than me, and somehow to another I got out there and he was
allowed to help with the fire department holding the hose, and I wanted to do
that so much, because I wanted to help save that building…that was important to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think I cried when that
building was burned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, those are the,
the… I guess, you know, I can’t generalize things, but …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wasn’t
there a Dr. Howard worked over there?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
the name I was trying to think of.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
must have been really hard when they decided to close it, tear it down, and
dynamite the building like you said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I didn’t have the value for it, then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
just thought, you know… There was a St. Joseph’s Hospital on Michigan Avenue
they tore down, one time, and I remember we were living in the cabin over here,
and my brother-in-law Bill went down and got some bricks to build a patio out
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought, gee, that’s so neat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, then things…but I have more nostalgia
from, since my trips to Europe, for seeing old things.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
I think that’s natural, too, that sometimes you don’t appreciate things until a
few years have gone by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You look back on
it with a different perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But,
you know, the old Wayne County Training School was beautiful… oh god!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I’ve seen it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
felt bad when that was torn down… those building were …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fell
into disrepair, yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think I was in them more.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
know, they could have been used for any number of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, you could’ve put a community
college in there, you could’ve put an extension for a university in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And uh, they had their own fire department
out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
brings up something I wanted to mention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just saw in the paper that they are restoring an old fire engine, here
in town.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
that’s Roselle’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rick live right over
here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Does
he?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Rick Roselle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And it
was the same model as the one that was stationed at Maybury by the Detroit Fire
Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you see that article?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
where was it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
Maybury.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
where was the article?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
this week’s <i>Record (Northville Record)</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
it was?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I
was wondering, when you said there was a fire, who fought the fire, was it the
township Fire Department or …?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t remember that; I don’t remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
the City of Detroit …<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just remember the fire
trucks, tank truck, and hoses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
Wayne County Training School had their own Fire Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was so peaceful back there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then they had some abuse they discovered,
and change the name to Wayne County Child Development Center, as if that’s
going to fix everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q –</b> Well I appreciate our time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
it’s been a joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wonderful.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>J -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
hope we told you enough about Maybury.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know what, I would
like to transcribe this, and get it back to you guys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can take a look at it, and then if you
have other things to add or edit I’d like to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I have other things to ask, maybe I
can ask you, you know, some follow up questions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>L -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q2 -</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you
have a DVD player?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I cut this tape to
a DVD, and drop it off to you, if you would review it, and write – kind of
note, you know, how many minutes have gone by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>(Tape Ends)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-49503745667127109352013-06-26T06:12:00.000-04:002013-07-15T16:47:22.228-04:00Ed and Mary Kathryn Bender<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>MZ:</b> This is August 3<sup>rd</sup>, 1989.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m Marian Zayti doing an interview with Ed
Bender for the Northville Historical Society Oral History Project.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Well, Good Morning, Ed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><b>EB: </b>Morning, Marian</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>How’d you like to tell us a little bit about your
life in Northville?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><b>EB: </b>I'd be elated to do that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Good!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>It’ll probably be the shortest tape and the shortest
story that anybody could ever get because I’m good at short stories.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>You’re good at stories, I know that.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>My name is Eddie Joseph Bender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born 1915 in the city of Detroit, moved
to Northville about 1919.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a native of
Northville I grew up hating my childhood, and the reason that I hated my
childhood was because of the fact that my parents were Polish, and we were
Catholic, and people hating the Pollocks, and they hated Catholics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So being in the middle of all this was very,
very hard growing up in Northville.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>You certainly had a lot of friends, Ed.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I developed many friends as years went by, but at
the very beginning they were very, very bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We ought all the way to 440 Dubuar Street at lunchtime, and they waited
for me on the way back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mostly because
of the fact that I was not able to talk English until I was about nine years
old, and during that time my schooling was sort of limited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a Superintendent by the name of Thad
Knapp, who was a gruff old guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he
kept me in the sandbox for three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During that time I learned a great many things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some of those things were to fight back.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Good!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>And when I fought back, and I got a black eye or a
busted nose, and it was busted 2 or 3 times, I got home and told my dad, and
damned if he didn’t give me another beating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I learned to keep my mouth shut very, very quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon going into school, many things happened
that are both good and bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the
good were that the Health Department at Halloween-time gave us a warm warm
welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the reason they did this
because we were eliminating many outhouses that stood behind the houses, and by
doing this, we helped put indoor plumbing into our houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at that time we had no indoor
plumbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, at my house, had no
telephone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were lucky to have lights,
in spite of the fact that my father worked hard all of his life at two and
three jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the Depression we
were never on welfare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were always
able to manage some way or other by hook or by crook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we went on through school, and they found
out that I should be in the first grade at about age eight or nine, then I was
on my way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Ida Barley Cooke was my
mentor for many, many years and watched very carefully over me in spite of the
fact that I had been eliminated from the classroom by her many, many times.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>That’s the story of a great many in Northville –
the boys particularly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>That’s very, very true Marian.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>“Eyes in the back of her head,” someone said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>This lady was the most tremendous person that was in
my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was another fella by the
name of Theodor Watts, who was my high school football coach, who I still keep
in contact with, during those days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
we, we haven’t seen each other in many years, but I plan on it very
shortly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During my growing-up days, we
had a class – graduated class of 1935 at about age twenty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think at that time I didn’t play my last
football game in spite of the fact that I was Captain of the team my Junior
year – they eliminated me because I was too old, which proves that I’m in the
sandbox three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We – during our
growing-up time -- we had several incidences that were sort of bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of them was that we put a wagon, 4 wagon
wheels on the top of the Presbyterian Church on Main Street, and it was called
one of the greatest engineering feats of that time.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>How many helped you do that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>There were several of us that were there – 5 of them
got caught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were put in jail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not one of them but I did get into it
because I had a little money that I was working – I had to help them get out of
jail, and they never repaid me, incidentally.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>That’s a good memory.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>Now, after graduation from high school, I attended Con---
Eastern Michigan University, and at the end of the third semester, they said,
“Ed, you like socializing more than you like books, and as a result, we ask you
to leave.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, E. J. Bender was on his
way to greener pastures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time I
went to a school at Athens, West Virginia called Concord College.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My high school football coach, William
Stevens, and his friend, Vic Kool, asked me to go there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in 1937, I matriculated to that
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During that time I met my lovely
and beautiful wife, Mary Kathryn Connolly Bender, who has been with me these
last 49 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Good years.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>And we soon celebrate our 50<sup>th</sup> wedding
anniversary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Congratulations.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>Thank you, thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have three youngsters – twin boys, Pete
and Tom, and Michele Dorrington, and two grandsons, Patrick and Michael
Dorrington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also have two daughters –
Amanda and Meredith Bender.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>They’re your granddaughters?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>These are my granddaughters – that’s true – thanks
folks.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Which son?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>My son, Peter, has the girls, and my daughter has
the boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will regress just a little
bit because at my graduation, being President of the Junior Class, my
classmates voted me least likely to succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I need to add that in there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>They were certainly wrong about that, Ed.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>I made a point to prove them wrong, and to this day,
every five years we have a class reunion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mary Kathryn and I organize it and invited everyone, and I make sure
that they still remember that I did graduate from Concord College after five
years, and we –</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Do you think Ida B. Cooke was the reason you wanted
to get into education?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>She certainly, Marian, had a tremendous impact on me
because she was stern, and she was firm, and she was not afraid to use the
paddle.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>I thought in my remembrance, she – I believe – one
of the greatest educators that have been in the Northville School System.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>Absolutely right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marian, we go back a little bit, and I’d like to regress back to my high
school days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give a tremendous credit
to Mrs. Barley Cooke, as I did once before earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And during my high school days, she was
really responsible for my getting into education, and in high school I did a
great many things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides playing
football, being on the basketball second team, cheerleading for the varsity,
having a band – a high school band called The Blueroom Syncopaters.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>What instrument did you play, Ed?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>I played the lead – I was the singer, and the lead,
and the announcer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also the fellow
who got the jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by getting the
jobs, we played for four hours at several gigs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We got $2 each, and the band leader got $6 because he made all the
arrangements.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Was this Depression time about?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b>These were definitely Depression days – my
Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
we went into college, into the Army for five years, back out of the Army, back
to college, and then coming home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During
those Depression years, my father worked at the Ford Motor Company for fifty
long years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the very beginning, our
family – Polish and Catholic – were poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were so poor that the poor people called us poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as time went on, we did get a little
better, and we made a little money, and we worked our way through school every
single day of our lives – both Mrs. Bender and myself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>Mary Kathryn, you’ve been really quiet doing this
interview, and I think it would be a good spot to get you to say
something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I do know that summer
times you never miss a reunion down at your home college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you tell us a little bit about that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>MK: </b> Yes, we go to our homecoming every
October.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve been going for the last
47 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We missed twice – one time
when I was in the hospital and couldn’t make it, and we look forward to it
every year, meeting with our college classmates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we always have the parties for everybody.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span>I imagine there are lots of parties, Mary Kathryn?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MK: </b> </span>Oh yes, lots of ‘em.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tailgate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span></span>Does it bring back your romance, of when you met
Eddie right down there in that school?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MK: </b></span></span>Oh yes, we met my second year in college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d already been there one year when I
arrived, and we dated through college and was married at the end of our college
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And next year will make our 50<sup>th</sup>
year of married life together.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ:</b> </span></span></span>That’s fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thank you, Mary Kathryn.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>EB:</b> </span></span></span>In conclusion, on this tape, I want to thank the
committee and especially Marian Zayti for her warmth, congeniality, convivial
attitude that she has, and we’re extremely grateful to her since we’ve known
her all these years, and have been very warm and friendly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband was my grandson, which I’m – I’m
his Godfather, I guess I should say, not grandson but my – I’m his
Godfather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kind of breaks me up a little
bit to think that he’s now gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve
lost another classmate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to thank
everybody that’s connected with this, and I hope that we are in the archives
for years to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you very
kindly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MZ: </b></span></span></span></span></span></span>Thank you, Ed, for being a great one to interview,
and believe me, there will be many people listening to this, and thank you,
Mary Kathryn, for your hospitality and allowing me to come over here and spend
the morning with you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>MK:</b> Our pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>EB: </b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve enjoyed it very, very much Marian.<o:p></o:p></span></span>NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-47395295476914752112013-06-26T06:08:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:05:04.403-04:00Wilbur and Norine Berryman<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Hello, it is 1989, I’m a year slow here. I’m in
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Berryman, are currently living at 862 N. Center
Street… and I’m Francis Durham, a volunteer of the Northville’s Oral History
project, and I’m here to interview Mr. and Mrs. Berryman this afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now let’s see, Mrs. Berryman, where were you
born?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b>I was born in Leroy, Michigan, a small town near
Cadillac, in the northern part of the state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And Mr. Berryman, where were you born? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I was born in Detroit.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> East or west side?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">West side, Avondale.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I was born in the east side of Detroit. Let’s
turn this off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, we’ve checked the tape and volume seems
to be okay, so we’re going to go ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> One of the things I realized by talking to Mr.
and Mrs. Berryman before we turned on the tape, is that they moved around a
great deal. Some in Northville, some outside of Northville, but they have come
back to Northville, and uurrgh, why don’t you, just very briefly, Mrs. Berryman,
go over some of your different moves and tell us anything interesting about
these various places that you have lived. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span></span>Well, the first place we lived when we first came
back to the area from New York was on Tower Rd. and Five Mile Rd. It was a farm
house that belonged to, before us, Thompson. He lived kitty corner to us, and
this farm that we rented was one that he had been born and raised in, and it
was a real old farm house and he farmed the property while we lived there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int</b>: Now, you said you came from New York, how did
you happen to be in New York?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>We went to New York during the war time, my husband
got a job there at a war plant and we were there eleven years, and then after
the War was over, work slacked off there, and in 1951, we came back to
Michigan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, now let me back up again, you were born
in the west side of Detroit and you were born up around Cadillac area, up in
northern Michigan. How did you come to live in the Northville area?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well, how did we ever get to Northville? Well, we
met, my mother worked at Eloise Hospital, and we lived in Wayne at the time,
and my husband lived in Wayne. We both went to Wayne Memorial High School. We
didn’t know each other at the time, but we went there to school. But, uuuhhh,
the way, way we came to the Northville area was when we first came back from
New York in 1951, we had some friends that lived in Walled Lake. We stayed with
them for awhile, while we were looking for a house, and we happened upon this
place on Tower Rd. in Northville. Well, the way we happened on that was we
started attending the First Baptist Church, here in Northville. Some people
there were relatives, we told them we were looking for a house, and they were
relatives of the Thompsons, and they said he had a house for rent. So we rented
this house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, so you did have some acquaintances here,
or friends, here in Northville before you actually moved here? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well, yes, from the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That’s good, so then you rented the place on
Tower Rd., now tell us about your next move. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well I thought it was Nieces St., but my husband
thinks it was Taft Rd. We lived in both places. We lived in Mark Larson’s house
on Taft and Eight Mile for quite awhile, and then I guess we did live there,
and then we went to Nieces St. from there I think. We bought the little house
on Nieces St. and then… I think from there we moved to Carpenter St., we rented
a house there. Then from Carpenter St., we bought the house by the race track
on Church St. The address was 222 Church St. It was adjacent to the track. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now, at that, you told me previously that it
was called the Northville Driving Club. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>This is what Mr. Carlo told us, John Carlo was the
general manager of the race track, told me that the Northville Driving Club was
buying the house for the race track. So I don’t know what the connection was
with the track and the Driving Club. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, so the track itself wasn’t called the Northville
Driving Club?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Separate entities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Separate entities, okay. I just wondered why it
was called the Northville Driving Club. I mean, driving what, sulkies?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>I don’t know, harnesses?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I mean harnesses… okay, and… his purpose in
buying the house from you?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well, he told us it was to expand the parking
facilities. And he bought quite a lot of the property around us, and finally
we…, he was trying to buy it for several years. He approached us at least once
a year. And we kept saying no, because of price, we didn’t feel we were being
offered a fair price. And so each year, he would offer us a little more. And so
finally, he told us that if we didn’t sell, it would be surrounded by parking
facilities… so we finally got our price. We got the price we wanted, and we
sold it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now, there was something very special about
that house, you related to me before we put the tape on. You want to tell us
why that house on Carpenter St. was so special? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well, I think it was special to us because the
people that lived in that house had lived in it from the early 1900’s, I
believe it was 1901 when they moved into it. It was a bride and groom. (excerpt
lost on original) And he made all of the woodwork in the house. It was all carved
in solid oak. He made the furniture, we still have the side board he made. He
made an isle and a screen, a folding screen out of oak, I gave those to one of
my daughters. And he made the bedroom furniture, and he carved the wood around
the old fashioned fireplace and it was beautifully done. They had never, they
had no children, so the place was like new inside, it was just very well taken
care of. We bought the … we were only the second family to live in that house
and it was quite old at the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And did you tell me you bought the house
furnished?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>We bought the house with all the furniture in it.
They took a few personal pieces of hers, but we bought most of the furniture.
It was… wasn’t that made with 4 by 4’s instead of 2 by 4’s? (You mean the
framing of the house?) Yeah, the framing of the house. (It was made by 4 by
4’s, and it was sided inside and out.) It was sided inside and out, filled with
saw dust. It was just solid. So solid, you could’ve put level anyplace in the
house, and it was just a well built place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> It would be quite a house.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now, tell us for the tape, he was going to buy
the house and subsequently bought the house for the purpose of tearing it down,
and putting a parking lot there. What about all this beautiful woodwork and the
things that you couldn’t duplicate today, what happened there? Tell us that
story.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b>Well, we had a verbal agreement with him that
we could take anything out of the house that we wanted. He told us that we
could even move the house if we wanted to. He didn’t care. All he wanted was
the property. We didn’t have a place to put the house, we didn’t know much
about, about moving the place, we didn’t have the money to do it anyway. So we
did ask him if we could take out the chandeliers and the wood work and the …
anything we wanted. And we had this verbal agreement with him that we could
take everything we wanted. We did get, before we sold it, we did get a hand
rung doorbell from the front door. And it had stained glass windows, and we
asked for those and he said yes, we could have anything we wanted. Well, when
it came time to tear the house down, he called us up and told us to come and
get those stained glass windows. And I said, what about the chandeliers and the
woodwork and the oak door and whatnot, he said I have no authority to give you
anything except what is in the contract. And we had apparently never seen the
contract, or we just took his word for it, that we could have anything on the
verbal agreement, so we got nothing but the stained glass windows. I really
didn’t mind too much as long as someone got that out of there, and it wasn’t
destroyed and I think that is probably is what happened, I would imagine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That was going to be my next question to you,
do you have any idea what happened to those…? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>I don’t, but I hope somebody got it, because it
would be a shame to have it…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Torn down. Well, now you’ve moved off Carpenter
St. because they wanted the house, or the property to put parking on… <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Church St.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> I mean Church St. I’m sorry, okay, and where to
next?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Then we moved to Plymouth for a few years, and we
bought a place there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Was this because of a change of jobs that you
moved to Plymouth? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>No, we needed a bigger house because my wife’s
parents came to live with us because they were unable to live alone, so we made
a place for them to live with us. We bought a house with a separate apartment,
so they could live with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and how long were you over in Plymouth?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>4 or 5 years. Yeah, about five years. But when we
sold that house on Church St. … see we still owned that house on Church St.
didn’t we, when we lived in Plymouth. Right, we didn’t sell that until after we
moved to Plymouth, that’s when my step father died and my mother came to live
with us. And then when my mother died, we bought a house on Carrington St. here
in Northville. Because we didn’t need that big house anymore. And then we
bought this house the same time we bought the Carrington St. house, didn’t we?
No, we bought this house before. Well, this was a nice little house, and it was
for sale, and it was right next door to my daughter, and we thought this would
be a real nice retirement home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, so your daughter had already married and
as long as we mentioned that at this point, she married Huey Gardener, who
still lives next door. Huey Gardener, who owns the Four Seasons Florist, was
also a member of the City Council and was the Mayor Pro Tem. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>He was on City Council for twelve years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Very, very good, so at one time, you owned at least
two houses. You had, you had the house on Carrington, and this house on N.
Main, uhh, N. Center and you rented this house out until you were ready to move
in, ready to retire. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, we were ready to retire, we moved in here and
sold the Carrington St. house… to a nice couple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Good. Well you moved around a lot!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, we did. Even before we were married, I moved
around a lot. When I was a child, I moved around a lot, I went to five
different high schools. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Was it because of your father’s occupation?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>My father and mother were divorced. And so my
brother and I just stayed with different people… my mother had to work, and so
then I was back and forth between my father and my mother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Well all right, let’s see, we talked, oh, one
of these places, let’s see, the house on N. Center, was owned by the man who
owned Bagget roofing and siding. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Right, he built it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, he built this house. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>And built it well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And that company still exists.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, we just set them up to fix our roof. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Down on Seven Mile, oh you did? Very good! And
was he a long time resident of Northville? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>I believe he must have been, I don’t remember. When
he was here to fix the roof recently, he told us he built the house, I believe
he said ’59. But I don’t remember where they lived at that time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And his last name is Bagget?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, Bagget. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> This gentleman, okay, all right, now four
children. Tell us a little bit about your children, why don’t we start with
talking about your son, a teacher here in Northville. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Well, George was a teacher for ten years in
Northville and before that he taught in Britton, Michigan for three years,
didn’t he? Yeah. He was a graduate of Northville High School and it was his… he
was a musician, in fact all four of our children are professional musicians,
and he wanted to… it was his dream to have an instrumental musical program in
the lower grades. They didn’t have at the time he attended, there was only a
program for the high school, and Bob Williams was the music director at that
time, for instrumental and Mr. Lee was the vocal director of music. Well, so
George, I don’t know how they decided to have this program, but George was
hired by the school to start an instrumental music program for the junior high
and elementary levels. And so he did that. And there are still people that
remember him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And he taught in Northville for ten years?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>I believe it was for about ten years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Unfortunately, he passed away.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, he passed away two and a half years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> How recently did he teach here in Northville?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>He was retired for I think, let me see, he was an
invalid for twelve years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Because of the diabetes?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, right. He was a juvenile diabetic and he was an
invalid. He lost his vision first, and then he had kidney failure, and of
course with the two things, and having dialysis three times a week. Being
blind, he just wasn’t able to teach anymore. And I wanted to mention one thing
about the teachers at Northville; gave up enough of their sick days to give him
a year’s salary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Well, that’s great.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>So they thought a lot of him and that was a big
help. And the town, the City of Northville had many benefits for him and that
helped tremendously because they had nothing. They had no income because his
wife had to stop working to take care of him. And of course, being a kidney
patient gave him the benefit of Medicare. So he was on Medicare, but that was
their only income. Actually, the people of Northville were really great. There
were many benefits and they raised a lot of money for him. Took care of him for
that time when he was alive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now his wife, did they go to high school
together?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>They did, but they didn’t… his wife was a girlfriend
of one of my daughters and it wasn’t until after he graduated, in fact, he was
teaching before he finally noticed her as a potential girlfriend. So, but they
didn’t… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, so they didn’t go together in high school
then, and you told me that she is still living here in Northville. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Yes, she lives in Northville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Children?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>They have no children. No, they wanted children, but
it just didn’t work out that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, he was your second son, your oldest? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Our oldest son is Lewis. He lives in Florida. He is
a professional musician. He plays with a trio in a private club in Florida. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and then you have a daughter, Kay.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Her name is Kay Rowe. She lives in Plymouth, she is
the first clarinetist for the Ann Arbor Symphony. She is also first now manager
for the Ann Arbor Symphony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and her last name? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Rowe, R-O-W-E.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Rowe, okay. And then your youngest daughter is
Suzanne. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>Our youngest daughter is Suzanne, and she married
Hewy Gardener and she is a pianist. She plays with, she is our church pianist,
and she teaches piano. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Right here at the house?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>She teaches here, and also the William Tyndale
College.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Oh, yeah. Well, where did all this musical
talent come from?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>We don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Are either of you musicians?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>My dad was a musician. He was a violinist. But
somehow, it skipped a generation. Well, I don’t know about that… I fiddled
around with the guitar, but I never got serious about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, but, at least you were a musician, did
you play guitar when you were in high school? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span>A little bit. You used to play in the band. I used
to play in a dance band for a little while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And how about you?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b>Well, I took piano and organ lessons, but I do this
for my own pleasure only. And, I do sing, I sing in the church choir and down
in Florida, I sing solos. I think I’m too old to sing, but down there, of
course everyone’s so old. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did you ever play? Were you ever a church
organist?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b></span>No, no I played the piano sometimes in church when
there was nobody else. (Laughter)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> A fill-in?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yeah, if no one else could do it, I could do it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> It is rather odd, to have four children, all of
whom are musicians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes it is, and we didn’t force them to practice. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> That’s great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She is a soloist in our church in Florida.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Yeah, that’s great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Well, speaking of church, you were members of
the First Baptist Church of Northville, 1951 to 1975, then you left here and
went to the Calvary Baptist in Plymouth and continue to attend church there
from 1975 to present time. Now, you indicated, Mrs. Berryman, that you belonged
to the Northville Historical Society. How many years were you a member of that
Society?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t remember, it just seemed like when they
moved to this Mill Race Village, that is when I became interested in it, soon
after that I think I joined. And of course, they had a senior citizen, I think
it is a dollar a year for senior citizens, so I continue. But they call me once
in awhile for something, and I could never do anything for them, because my
husband hasn’t been well for quite a few years. I just felt that I couldn’t
take on anything like baking or anything like that or the tri-valley fair. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now, aren’t they very much involved in this
upcoming Victorian Festival that they are going to try here? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe so.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> In Northville as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Probably.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Were you ever a docent over there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No I wasn’t.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Never a docent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I never really had the time to do that. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Any other organizations that you are a part of
here in Northville, besides the church and the Historical Society at one time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, now let me see… maybe you have something
in your notes there… oh, here is one thing, your hobbies. Now, you indicated to
me that you are an avid reader and also that you write poetry. Why don’t you
tell us about that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, my mother was a poet, and she left a lot of
poetry unpublished. She had some published too, but she left a lot of
unpublished, and she asked me to make it into a book and to publish it under my
name, and I said that I couldn’t do that. Because if I had it published, it
would be under her name. She said I want you to try to write, she said, I know
you can write. So I kind of made that promise to her that I would try to write.
So I enrolled in some creative writing classes at Schoolcraft College, and I
did write some poetry and submitted it and had some published by the little
magazines and small presses, and then I just sort of lost interest once I knew
I could be published, I lost interest. It felt like that was a goal that I had
felt I had reached. But now, that was several years ago, now I’ve suddenly
developed a interest in writing and I’ve written a few more that I’m going to
submit as soon as I get to a type writer. I took my type writer down south. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did your mother write under the name McCourt?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No, my mother was divorced from my father and she
took back her maiden name. And she wrote under a different name, she had
several names that she used, Elvira was one of her names, Elvira McKinney. And
then she married after that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did she write rather extensively? Did she have
a lot of her work published? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She wrote a lot, she wrote a lot of poetry, but she
didn’t, she only, there was only one time in her life when she submitted some
for publication, and that was when she married my step father, Dr. Norton. And
they lived in a little town called Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and she belonged
to a literary club and that is when she had some poetry published, other than
that, she didn’t. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and I think you said eventually your
stepfather died and it was at that point that your mother came to live with
you. That’s when you moved to Plymouth, you needed a little larger place to
live in, you had a separate apartment for her. Now, we didn’t cover work
experience. Mr. Berryman, you indicated that you work for Warren Products in
quality control for ten years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b>WB: </b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, that was my last job. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and you indicated to me that prior to
that you worked at automotive prototype shops, particularly with sheet metal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For about twenty years, prior to that I worked with
aircrafts, I worked in aircrafts during WWII, and after that, and more recently
at Heta Freighter, aircrafts division. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And was Heta Freighter at that time out of
Willow Run?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, I helped to build the C1–23, I don’t know if
you’ve heard of them or not.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Oh yes, that’s transport, the C1-23 transport.
An interesting thing that I found out in some of the interviews, and probably
it was after you came to Northville that Stinson Aircraft was here at one time.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That was my second job.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Ah, you worked at Stinson Aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First job was at Grand Page Automotive Company. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, Grand Page, well that goes back a few
years. And where was that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That was in Wayne.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> In Wayne, okay, and how long were you there at
Grand Page? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I was there about a year, and then I was offered the
job at Stinson. So I left there to go to Stinson. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Now, didn’t Grand Page eventually become Studebaker?
Or was that a separate company?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>No, that was a separate company. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> But there was an automobile, if I recall, there
was an automobile that had the name Grand Page car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, there was a Grand Page Car.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, then Stinson Aircraft, which as I
understand it was well, just where was the plant located?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That was south of Wayne.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> South of Wayne, okay. One of the people that I
interviewed told me that they used to build the parts in the plant and then
truck them to a field somewhere the other side of Northville, probably just an
old corn field or something, and assemble them and then just fly them away from
there. Now are you familiar with that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No, Eddie Stinson was killed in Northville in a
crash. In the Northville area.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Oh, he was? I talked with a woman who was a
teacher here in Northville, her father was the minister at the Methodist
Church. And she related an interesting story about her father officiated the
first wedding in an airplane. This couple didn’t want to want the necessary
time requirement for their license, and they knew Eddie Stinson, and they asked
if he would fly them down to Toledo and took the minister and the wedding party
with them, and performed the wedding ceremony after they got their marriage
license in Toledo, and came back so… in fact, she had a clipping, and to her
knowledge, it was the first wedding performed on an aircraft, and it was one of
Eddie Stinson’s planes. Did you know Eddie Stinson personally?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Did not know him personally. How big was the
plant at the time you worked there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It had a couple hundred employees. I don’t know
exactly, but it was a small plant.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And what was your specific job at Stinson
Aircraft?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, I worked in the toe crib at first. And then after
that, I worked in the machine cap. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Okay, and so then ah… Mrs. Berryman, you
indicated you worked in a medical office for 20 years in Livonia? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b>That’s right.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> What to tell us about that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>NB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well yes, I went there, I knew this doctor’s wife
socially and they were looking for a girl to work in the office. I wasn’t
exactly a girl, I think I was 45 at the time. It was one doctor and one girl,
she was working for him at the time.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>[Tape ends.]</i></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-45389418817288086042013-06-26T06:04:00.000-04:002013-07-15T16:43:19.661-04:00Conrad and Nina Burkman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fwT-ZpEhb_PgLTlrnEW3qtBPwlrMei7JSjrPOepUyGQloP0unG3Q3XPyAy3W2_qkuf71tT1y7-ySKtdWybjy8kES_ai0Zfem5n6DKL_5PJJrbDgEUoMFv0QJdjNKatxIut50VbWiHaUp/s145/ConradandNinaBurkman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fwT-ZpEhb_PgLTlrnEW3qtBPwlrMei7JSjrPOepUyGQloP0unG3Q3XPyAy3W2_qkuf71tT1y7-ySKtdWybjy8kES_ai0Zfem5n6DKL_5PJJrbDgEUoMFv0QJdjNKatxIut50VbWiHaUp/s145/ConradandNinaBurkman.jpg" /></a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>JC </b>– John Colling<br />
<b>RA</b> – Richard Allen<br />
<b>CB –</b> Conrad Burkman<br />
<b>NB </b>– Nina Burkman</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> OK, you can start with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it running now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Do you want to tell us the date and who we all are?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Yes, this is May 5, Friday, 2006 and we are with Conrad
and Nina Burkman who John Colling and I (Richard Allen) are here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Colling has put together some
thought-provoking questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And part of
the procedure is that this tape will be transcribed and we will give you the
transcription to look at to see if any errors got into it; you might have said
something you didn’t want to say or things you forgot you want to add so you
have a chance to edit it before it goes anywhere. Then copies of it will be
kept at Mill Race, and the library keeps it also in the Local History Room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you’re probably aware that the township
has finally started an historic commission, and John and I are a part of that,
and a copy will be kept there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
doing people, city and township, recognizing way back when that the township
was mostly farmers and the population was not that great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a lot of the people who have lived in the
city for years know heck of a lot about the township because they were
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you happen to be our first
persons that the two of us will work together on so...</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Okay, just to break the ice a little, you were talking
about the Yerkes family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you tie
in with that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the people here
know that the William Yerkes house is in Mill Race Village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is my understanding that they had no
children.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Right, this is Robert Yerkes house and my mother was a
Yerkes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This house was built by my great
grandfather.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Do you know about how old the house is?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, exactly.
Built in 1869.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a plaque out on
the porch with those dates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in the
National Register of Historic Places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
great grandfather built the house and my grandfather and his wife lived in
Milford and had a mill out in Milford and I never was real clear on whether
they just decided to move their mill down here or whether they moved down here
to take care of my great grandmother and great grandfather when their spouse
passed away, but my grandfather moved down here and started the lumber yard
next door, and he ran the lumber yard for all of his adult life and my uncle,
his son, took the lumber yard over and ran it until he wanted to retire, and he
would have dearly loved me to take it over, but I just wasn’t a lumber
man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just didn’t like the lumber
business. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> What did you do for a living? </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Well, let’s see, back at that time I was working for a
finance company in Detroit, and then worked for one in Wayne. And, while I had
the one in Wayne I got a little excited one day and said some things to my
supervisor that I regretted after and quit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I came home and the phone just rang off the hook for three days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, a carload of ‘em drove over here,
supervision, and wanted me to come back and wanted me to take the office up in
Saginaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought what a great idea
that was, and then I found out that it was the pits of the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we moved up to Saginaw for a couple of
years and I got in enough trouble up in Saginaw so they brought me back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very good up in Saginaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won the Man of the Year Award twice up
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They only gave it to me once ‘cause
the Committee chairman was from my company and he didn’t want me to have it
because he felt it would be politics and two years later I bought Plymouth
Finance.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I bought the credit bureau, actually, while I had the
finance company and the partners kind of conspired the books on me in the
finance company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought them out and I
got it free and clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the credit
bureau<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I bought the one in Brighton
and the one in Howell, and then the one in Birmingham, so we had a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally in most of this time I was publishing
a little tabloid called the National Billiard News and my mother got sick so I
curtailed my activities. My dad thought I probably wouldn’t find another job
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I fooled him, I did.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Are you still retired?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, I still own the Billiard News.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Getting back to your ancestors, the Yerkes family was
one of the early families who moved in to this area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been told that your mother was a member
of the DAR?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> That means that they were in this country back in the 1700’s?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I want to say they researched their ancestors and showed
actual facts on ancestors who fought in the revolutionary war and I want to say
that we had 7 or 8. I was in the CAR for a while, that’s the Children of the
American Revolution. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you say that
they came to this country, you mean anywhere in this country, not necessarily
Northville? <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> No, I meant, not the US, but if they came to this
country before 1776, it wasn’t the United States.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> How about 1700?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anthony Yerkes of Pennsylvania.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> The family came here from Pennsylvania?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB</b>. Was it either PA or NY, Conrad?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Well there was one side of the Yerkes who came from PA
and one from New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think my side
came from PA.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> You’re unusual, most people from Northville came from
New York and that was all because of the Erie Canal. It is predominately New
York people here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re different,
Pennsylvania, there’re not many of them.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> We had at one time over the years my great-grandfather
and his brothers and my grandfather and his brothers owned about three quarters
of the land around Northville, Northville Township.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all had big farms and had a lot of land.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Some of the records we have gotten into we find the
original land grants through the Yerkes family around here.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would that have
included what is basically downtown Northville? This area here?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, it would have included this area here, but not
necessarily downtown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The William
(Yerkes) house that is down in Mill Race. That house, that farm would have
covered all the area around the racetrack is now at one time. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> If you don’t have it, copies of the original land grants
are available over the internet.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have some of
them.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> How about your boyhood?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’re my age; you start to become aware of things during the Second
World War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does that affect Northville around here,
the Ford Plants I know went into war production.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> They went into war production--My father worked at
bomber plant (Willow Run), Kelsey Hayes, bomber plant, and I remember, I’d have
been 5-6, when the war started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember when they tore out the railroad tracks, the interurban tracks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no recollection of the actual
interurban, but I do know that the tracks were there.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Do you remember where the depot was?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve read several things and have been
confused exactly where the depot was.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I don’t know where it was.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC</b>. The interurban actually went out of business before
World War I.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, but the tracks were still there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tore those out for the war effort, to
use the steel for the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tore
them up all the way down to Five Points where it ran.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Did you have air raid practice here in Northville?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn
the lights out and go to the basement. I remember that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was pretty young when that happened, I was
actually born in Detroit and I moved out to Northville with my folks when I was
about three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They bought a house on top
of Fairbrook, a little Greek Revival up there, on the north side of
Fairbrook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Is the house still standing?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah, still standing. And, then when my grandmother
died, they moved down here to the farm to take care of my grandfather, and I
was about 6 I guess.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> About the 50’s? <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> That’s right, 56.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> How did you meet this guy?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> We both went to Cleary College, Ypsilanti.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> That’s right, you mentioned earlier you were from the
Upper Peninsula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now what did you think
of Northville when you came here?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I liked it, a nice town.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> What was it like at that time?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Oh boy. Well, one thing I liked about it you had all the
small stores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could get clothes, you
could get shoes, you could get sheets,...I would say mostly that.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> What was the grocery store in town at that time?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> We had several then, The A & P was up on Main Street
and they had wood floors, and they still had that stuff on the floors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do remember occasionally going in there.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> We had C. F. Smith<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Kroger’s was where CVS is today, I believe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>N.B.</b> Oh that was on Main St. and Hutton. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. Before that it was in the building that is on the corner
of Main and Hutton right across from the Presbyterian Church.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> The one that is now Main Street Bank?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yes. Yes. Roger Christianson owned that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used to have a farm implement supply
business there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when he decided to
go out of business, he talked to my dad long and hard about what he was going to
do with that piece of land and my dad advised him to build a building on it,
and he did and he immediately rented the building to Kroger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> There was an electronics store, uptown too, something
called Ellis Electronics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a
hardware store on Center St.?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> I remember a hardware store on Center Street that had
stuff piled to the ceiling.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Ellis Electronics.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Wasn’t Ellis next to where Genittis is?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Ellis would have been right next to the shoe store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Genittis, no, no that was an old grocery
store.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA</b>. Genittis was the grocery store and there was an
electronics store next to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was
when we moved here in the mid-70s. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Was there a hardware store on Main Street besides the
one on Center?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah. Right on the corner, two doors down from the one
on Center Street where the <i>Record</i>, the <i>Northville Record</i> building is, that was
a hardware store.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> My first recollection of Northville was the angle
parking downtown and on the north side you had the high curbs to get to the
sidewalk?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember that?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Going up Main St. from what was the hardware store, the
next thing you had was a big meat market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Next to the meat market was a pool room, and next to that was a
Chevrolet dealership.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> That was before my time.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> I vaguely remember some of the car dealers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I keep trying to remember who was where
around town.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Chevrolet dealer was there, the Ford dealer across the
street.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> The Dodge dealer was where Gardenviews is today as I
recall.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. No, no that was Chrysler.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Ok, Chrysler<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> The Plymouth-Dodge dealer was down where the south bank
(LaSalle) is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were in that
building.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Chrysler was Gardenviews, with the Gulf gas station
beside. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Right.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> As a young man what did you do for fun?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go up to Walled Lake?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah, Walled Lake?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I lived at Walled Lake in the summer.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> You were still going to Walled Lake when I arrived. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> When I was a kid I roller skated a lot at Riverside over
in Plymouth Road (Livonia) is where I skated, and when they closed everybody
went up to Walled Lake and skate there, probably not any bigger than this
inside of the house here.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Did you just go skating up there, go dancing, go to the
amusement park?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> The roller rink was at the amusement park.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Did you go to the ballroom up there?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I didn’t know that much about it<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> When I was a little kid, yeah. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> We used to go up there when they had the big bands up
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would go up and listen after
skating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But...we never went out there
and rode the rides and that kind of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I was a kid I used to make a fairly decent income and hang out at
the drive-in in Novi, which is now an auto parts store there now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I had a pretty fast car.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Novi was basically a four-corners at that time?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. Oh yeah. I’d take on all comers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$10 a gear.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Is that how you first got interested in billiards?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, I was drag racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>$10 a gear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day a Novi cop
came up to the drive-in and asked me if I’d go for a ride with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, yeah sure. I got in the car and he had
a ‘50 Ford, boy it was all souped up and he thought it was hot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We roared up over the Novi bridge and he
said, “What do you think of that?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was trying to get me excited and the next day a cousin of mine whose name was
Edmund Yerkes, well, he was my mother’s second cousin, he came down to the
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He started telling me what he was
going to do to me and put me in jail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
if I got in the can and I would never get out. My mother was just thunderstruck
and she had no idea what he was talking about. After she said, “what was he
talking about”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “I don’t know,
crazy Ed, you know.” Back in those days, course, you could drive from here to
Novi, and if you passed someone in the street, that was really something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same thing going out Sheldon towards
Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could go from here to Plymouth
in four minutes, like nothing. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> This isn’t my recollection, but I do recall going from
Grand River to Walled Lake and there was nothing but woods. Where now its super
markets, malls and stuff.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah, that’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When you left here and went down Eight Mile Road, when you crossed
Meadowbrook road, the only thing down there was the Country Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there to Farmington Road it was just
farmland.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> A lot of those roads were dirt roads back in the 40s and
50s. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah, that was. Sheldon was dirt, Haggerty was dirt.
Eight Mile was pea gravel and tar, but most of the other roads around here were
gravel roads. Down Sheldon was gravel road from where Baseline ends up here. It
was gravel and went down as far as the race track. And as soon as you got to
the end of the race track, it was still gravel all the way over to Michigan
Avenue.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> You mean in town it was gravel?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> No, no. From the race track on it was gravel.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I thought you said Baseline down it was gravel.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. No, no.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> You mentioned the race track?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I first came to this area we had fairs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you remember the fairs?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yes, very well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I used to love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had fairs
when we lived up on the hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to
sit out on the side porch all night and watch the Ferris wheel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fascinating.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA</b>. Did you get down there?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I didn’t get down there nearly enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad would take me down about three times
during the fair and that was about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, then of course the race track came in and my Dad was the accountant
for the race track for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gee, he
did that and he used to work out at the plant, that’s when he started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started working there at the race track
when I was about thirteen.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> What did you do there?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. I had a job that required a great deal of skill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I picked up paper with a stick and a bag.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> That’s better than what I thought they would have you
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They might have had you in the
barn</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, the barns, we did have to clean out the barns once a
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cleaned out the barns at the
end of the meet one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than
that, they took care of the barns themselves. But, I’ve done almost everything
at the race track. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Was the river paved over like they have it now? The
river runs under their parking area, the barn area.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Ah, I never knew
that.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Johnson Creek, if you’re on Seven Mile, it goes under
Seven Mile, it disappears; it goes under the race track. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I’ll be darned. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Well, they didn’t have that many stables back there,
back in those days.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> When you were young, was the lake on Seven Mile still
there next to the fish hatchery. People tell me there was a big lake there and
Seven Mile didn’t go through.</div>
<b></b><br />
<b>CB.</b> Ah, I remember the fish hatchery, but I don’t remember,
particularly, a big lake there. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Maybe it was before your time.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> A lake was in Thompson’s Gravel Pit which was just past
Beck. In fact, most of that lake was taken up by Blue Heron Point was built on.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Do you remember Thompson Field, a baseball field, on Six
Mile? I was a baseball player.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Six Mile and Beck also, they used it for model
airplanes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lapham field, I think it was
called at that point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They used to do
model airplanes there.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Another question I’ve wondered about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you were young, all the
institutionalized processes were going on, the psychiatric hospital, the group
homes, the training school, DeHoCo, even thought it’s wasn’t in Northville, it
was part of this community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was there
any concern about these things in the community?</div>
<br />
<b>JC.</b> Not that I remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And not only that we had Eastlawn Sanitarium, which is now Allen
Terrace. We had Eastlawn, we had Maybury, and we had two big TB sans in
addition to all the other stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I
don’t remember any concern at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
used to play baseball against the training school every once in a while. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
With the school?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, not the school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This would be the summer league, the American Legion, play against them.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> We don’t want to keep you out of it (Nina).</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> That’s all right, he knows much more than I do.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> What would you say are the biggest changes here since
you first moved here in the 50s, other than numerous subdivisions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Well, it would have to be the subdivisions, but I would
say the big change was when they put in the new Eight Mile Road. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Was it there when you first moved here?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh, it wasn’t there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the main road.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> It stopped at Sheldon and started up on the other side
up by Taft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because it was blocked by
the hill, primarily. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Right.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> But there wasn’t that much traffic then either.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Oh no, very little traffic, yeah—that’s a big change.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Was Parmenter’s going strong when you came here?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yes, oh yes.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> They’ve been here a long time?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> They’ve been here ever since I’ve been here.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> The Parmenter’s traffic ever bother you here?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, it doesn’t anymore because they’ve added a lot of
parking area down there. But ten years ago cars would be parked on both sides
of the street all the way up to Horton.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Before the 8 Mile was put through there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you get their business then?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I can remember it way back then with all the traffic and
all the cars before they put in the big parking lot.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> They didn’t have the horse rides and all that kind of
stuff.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Back to the lumber yard, I’ve heard there is some unique
structure in that shed that is next to the railroad, about how thick the walls
are were used for something at one point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My son had a tour one day and they were showing how that shed is built
right next to the railroad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was heavy
duty; I can’t remember all the details.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I wasn’t ever aware that it was so heavy duty. The big
building in the middle, that was pretty heavy, that was the grain building.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Lumber and grain both? <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Right.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> It was typical of how a lot of these lumber yards were that
way.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Right, it was a grist mill.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> OK. Did they do their own grinding there or did somebody
do it and bring it there?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh. They did it there, and when I was a kid there was a
railroad siding; in fact it is still there, and it came right into the lumber
yard. I used to have to do that periodically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My uncle and his guys unloaded the boxcars full of lumber.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> What did they use for power for the gristmill?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> You know I think, back as far as I know, they used
electric power, pulleys, belts and belted pulleys. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Way back when everyone was running belts or
pulleys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typical.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> What other shopping do you remember in town?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked about grocery stores, I kind of
recall there was a Rexall drug store, but I don’t know what else was down
there.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> There were two drug stores, there was Rexall’s on the
corner and then down where the Kitchen Witch used to be, that was Stewart’s
Drug Store. Both of them had soda bars.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> How about the soda shop up there?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh yeah, Cloverdale.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> No, not Cloverdale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On Main Street?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, but Cloverdale was too, Cloverdale was the
original soda shop.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> When they tore down the Sheehan building, they came
across a thing, apparently, there was an enterprise called The Blue Whale, I
believe it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in there.
Something that Folino ran.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> The Blue Whale, I never heard that called the Blue
Whale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was called Paul’s Sweet Shop. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Yeah, but there was another thing that replaced
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone actually unearthed the
original sign and Mill Race now has it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB/NB.</b> Well, I’ll be darned.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> When they were tearing it down they found some pieces of
paper, that their kid’s apparently actually signed that belonged to one of the
Brasure kid’s names was on this piece of paper they found in the building. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh, geez.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Whose name?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> One of the Brasure boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They found this piece of paper in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the first we knew of that this other name even existed, and
Mary Ware had a contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out
these signs were over in the west side of the state and they brought them over
here. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I can remember when it was Paul’s Sweet Shop, </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB</b>. That is the one I was trying to think of.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Then down where Rebecca’s restaurant is on Center
Street, there was a Cloverdale Dairy there.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> I remember that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Big lines for ice cream cones there. I remember that. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB</b>. Yeah, remember when Guernsey was just a little square
building like this, down, down the hill, on Sheldon. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Where the UPS store is.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Yeah, where they started in a little teeny building.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> I remember as a kid, we used to come and get buttermilk
in Novi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> And the bowling alley is gone.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> When I was in seventh grade, course back then we had
study halls in school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had most of
the grades in the study hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat
between two junior girls when I was in seventh grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were cheerleaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boy they used to just beat me like a drum. I
can’t imagine ever doing anything to deserve it. (Laughter) But, somehow they
took a liking to me, it was just about the death of my mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They took me to the football games, and
basketball games. One little girl had a car and that just worried my mother to
death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, she just would have a nervous
breakdown every time I left the house with them. But they all took good care of
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They parked me up in the bleachers
right where they could see me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a
seventh grader at all these away games. You know, and after the game they’d go
to the dance, but before they went to the dance, they’d take me out to Paul’s,
and get me outfitted with a hamburger and a milkshake and then take me home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Where was the school at that time?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. The school was the old high school.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> The old high school up on the hill?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB</b>. Yeah, up town. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> The old school down on Main Street? Old Main. Where the
Board of Ed office is these days. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Did that house all the grades then?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, that housed the 7<sup>th</sup> – 12<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grade school was next door, facing into
the right, which I think is still the Board of Education. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> They occupy the whole building, there’s a day care or
something else on the west end. So the entire grade school through high school
was all contained in that one building at that time?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, just 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7<sup>th</sup> grade through 12<sup>th</sup>
was in the old building, and the newer brick building was the grade school,
kindergarten through 6<sup>th</sup>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<b>NB.</b> Where the Senior Center is now? I’m trying to picture
which building it is.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> If you’re facing the old high school, it’s to the right
of that.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA</b>. It’s down where the day care is.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> That’s two buildings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I always thought it was one building.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> No, it’s two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now
that new building where the Senior Center was, that wasn’t even there when I
graduated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was built after I
graduated.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Okay. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> You were living here at the time there was that big
plane crash in town?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody lost an
airplane... towards downtown, wasn’t it?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, it was, I don’t remember exactly where it was,
somewhere down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My cousin set one
down there in a field one day and never flew again. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Anything else that you would like to talk about that we
haven’t discussed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, how did you get
involved with the billiards thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were
you on a national level or international?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Yeah, I played international, yeah. When I was oh I
don’t know, I guess I was probably 24 or 25 when I played on that pool league?
Or, was I older than that?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I think you were older, but I wouldn’t bet on it.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I kinda of got trapped on pool after I saw The Hustler.
I started playing up in Saginaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes,
I was older than that, sure I was. And, when we moved back from Saginaw I
played in a league at the Cushion and Cue, now called Snookers; it’s down on
Inkster Road and the Expressway. Part of the deal with playing in the league
was that you had to referee this pool tournament every year, act as a referee.
So there was a fellow there by the name of Joe Farhant who had driven down from
Lansing to see this and he ran a lot of tournaments in Lansing and afterwards
he said, “Well, you know, you’re a pretty good referee. How would you like to
come up and do my tournament in Lansing?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said, “Well a, sure.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
next year the United States Open was in Lansing, and I did the Open also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first match I drew in the Open was Irving
Crane and Joe Balsis. They are two Hall of Famers, and I was just scared to
death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the match, Crane walked up
to the tournament director and he said, “That fellow is the first fellow that
knows the difference between a safety and a foul. I want him to do all my
matches.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as it turned out he was in
the finals with Balsis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had local
television there, that’s local in Lansing, and so I was the referee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next year it was in Las Vegas, the
Sahara, and ABC’s Wide World of Sports televised it. They said, “We’ve got to
have a referee that has some television experience.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Well, here I am.” So I did all the
ABC Wide World of Sports telecasts until they stopped running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I was well liked regarded by the
players.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Obviously, they wouldn’t have you doing what you did. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> I never played favorites; I didn’t care how big the guy
was, no matter how kind of great player he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Either he fouled it or he didn’t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really enjoyed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kinda lost
interest in it when they switched from straight pool to nine ball. They don’t
call fouls in nine ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can work
ten tables at once.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> Do you play pool?<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> I have in the past but I never got beyond a pocket pool
table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, I was pretty good for a
while.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Yeah, amateurism at its worst, that’s me. </div>
<br />
<b>CB.</b> Then, from there I started running professional
tournaments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d be the head referee and
run the tournament too. Ever watch pool on television?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> Once in a while. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Girls?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a
girl, a very pretty girl, Eva Lawrence; she’s from Sweden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she first came over here, she married a
friend of mine. They were having a little tournament in Milwaukee and they were
having it in an old high school gymnasium, where they had a stage on one side
of it, you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They converted the
stage into a coffee shop, and I was the head referee for this tournament. I was
sitting in the coffee shop and was talking to Eva.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had this little shiatsu dog called,
Rocky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were chitchatting for about
ten minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of a sudden they called
out over the PA system “Report to table something, something”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “That isn’t right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t play until 3:00 this afternoon.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Eva if they’re calling you, you’d
better go because they’ll forfeit you in 15 minutes.” “She said, “Oh my gosh,
here take Rocky.” She dumps this dog in my lap. So there I’m sitting, drinking
a cup of coffee, talking to Rocky, and I got a call go to the floor. Make a
call and a hit. I looked around and there wasn’t one soul on that stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I just stuck old Rocky under my arm and
walked there on the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This girl’s
name was Gerry Engh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Go
ahead.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She said, “What is that?” I
said, “Oh, this is my seeing eye dog, one bark is a good hit, two barks is bad.
(laughter)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think she missed that thing
by three feet and never forgave me for that and she doesn’t to this day!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB</b>. Well, you’ve been in Northville a long time, haven’t
you?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> We came in ’74.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> I thought it was back farther than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe because your wife is so interested in
history or something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> We moved here in ’74. We had a family cottage in South
Lyon, so we used to pass through Northville regularly headed to South Lyon. I
remember some of downtown Northville when I was a kid. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> You must have been one of six in South Lyon?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> We were farther out than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get to this place, the farmer owned the
land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He leased the land the building
sat on. It was a mile drive through his barnyard to get down to the house.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh boy.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Well is there anything else anybody could add?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> When did you move into the township?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> Let’s see, I turned 40 here, and I’ll be turning 72 this
month, so that’s 32 years.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>NB.</b> That’s a long time. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>CB.</b> Oh, you’re a good deal older than I am.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> I’m 71 right now, and you’re 71.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t be 72 for another couple of weeks.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>RA.</b> I’ve got both of you beat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>74.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b>JC.</b> OK</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Transcribed by Patricia Allen</span>,<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> July 2006. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Edited and approved by Conrad
and Nina Burkman, September 19, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-89511601179128797752013-06-26T06:00:00.000-04:002013-07-15T16:42:37.454-04:00John and Ruth Burkman<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q =</b> Phelps Hines</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2 </b>= Mernie Hines </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J =</b> John Burkman</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R =</b> Ruth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> My name is John Burkman
and the date is October 14, 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
ask questions and I’ll answer.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> You came from
Houghton?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What year did you leave
Houghton and come down to this neck of the woods?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, I was still a
youngster when my folks came down here and bought a farm out west of Birmingham
and we grew up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Went to school in
Birmingham.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> What was the occasion
where you met your wife in this area down here in Northville?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Yes, well I worked in
Northville for Stinson Aircraft and lived there and met my wife at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Where was the Stinson
Aircraft Plant here in Northville? Beck Road and Six Mile or somewhere out there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> No, no, right in
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, Main St. goes around the
bend and it was right on the bend. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I thought it was outside
of town, but right here in town? And you told me you worked for Stinson and any
comments you want to make about the product or Stinson Aircraft? I’d like to
hear about that.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, back at that time
aircraft was quite new, and anybody involved with an interest in aircraft was
in the business that had a lot of intrigue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> It was a bit precarious
and you didn’t know what was going on the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the man, Stinson, who ran this, he was a
local person or he moved here?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> He moved here.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> To set up business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any particular reason why he came to
Northville to make planes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> No, not that I know of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I thought there was
something in the way of business here that interested him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well then you worked for Stinson in their
plant here in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What kind of life
did you lead, what kind of social life was there in town at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, course I wasn’t
married then, so I don’t know too much about the social life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> What was the occasion
through the church that you met your wife?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Yeah I guess so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Um hum</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2</b>. Did Stinson sell
airplanes to any interesting customers?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, yes, and most of ‘em
back then when they bought a plane or contracted for a plane, they would move
right into Northville while that plane was being built. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> They parked right here
while they built the airplane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell
you. I spoke of Six Mile and Beck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think there was an airfield out there. Did they test the planes there? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Six Mile and Beck... Yes,
I think they did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Cause you can build them
here in Northville, but you gotta get somewhere where you can fly them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> That’s right.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Well all those years at
Stinson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many years were you working
with Stinson?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> I can’t tell you exactly,
but I think it was in the neighborhood of six years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I see. And you left
Stinson and went to work as a freelance accountant more or less, doing
accounting for places in town, people like that. What were some of the
companies you did accounting for in Northville. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> The merchants, mostly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Storekeepers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then you were here in the early days when
Freydls and Laphams were in business, but the earlier generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were there any interesting things you can
tell us about the merchants you can tell us about? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, not really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just small-town storekeepers and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time Northville was quite
a small town.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> At that time Henry Ford
showed quite an interest in Northville, didn’t he? And, did you have any
occasion to have any contact with him or people from Ford Motor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> No</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> He used to be around town
a lot I guess. He came here to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>About that time he got the new Ford plant started. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the things I was curious about John
when was we first came to town 30 years ago wonderful old houses would
disappear overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we heard about
the definition of the historic district and we heard about the development of
Mill Race, and we heard that you were involved in that.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Yes, yes I was. Very much.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> How would you go about
the historic district?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would you
have to do?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, there wasn’t much
work done. It was pretty much preserving this historic district.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2</b>. Who did you have to
contact to get this sort of a legal definition made? So that the area was
protected? Do you remember?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, there was a bunch of
us who worked for Stinson Aircraft and we were the ones who promoted the
historic concept of the village.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> What year did you get the
historic district established?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Well, I can’t tell you
exactly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in the early 30s.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Early 30s. Did you have to
file an application for this with the federal government in some way?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J</b>. No, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just incorporated the town.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I see. Incorporated
yourself here within Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did
it work to prevent houses from being messed around with?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><b>J.</b><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">That’s why it was
done, to keep...</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q</b>. Keep from tearing down and
changing them.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> So we made it a little
tough to get permission to tear one down.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> So you
incorporated...filed papers of incorporation for the historic district of
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What determined the area
covered by this?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Let’s see. Where the older
parts of town and the older houses more or less determined where the boundaries
of this historic district would be. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Mill Race, that land was
provided by Ford. Ford gave the land to the city or something?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J</b>. I think so.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> What was the first
building put in Mill Race, Hunter House?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know I took pictures of them moving the Yerkes house down on Cady
around the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took pictures along
the way and have them at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it
was already established when they moved that house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the old New School Church was one of the
early ones. I have made drawings of the one on Wing Street so I was
familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wondering which was the
first house?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> I don’t know.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> That’s quite something to
be proud of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very very lovely
arrangement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve had company from out
of town and showed them Mill Race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
were very impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A nice job. The
Cady Inn.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> It was done because
so-called businessmen, they had no feeling for an old house.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q</b>. History.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> They just wanted it out of
the way, so they’d tear it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
fought against that. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I know one time I was
talking to a businessman and I said it’s too bad we have to tear down these old
houses to build a parking lot for the track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He took exception to my complaining about the track being responsible
for losing these houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I said was
I hate to see these houses go, that’s the main thing. Between Center and Wing,
several houses in there were just taken down. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> That’s what we battled
against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had some effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It worked.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Who worked with you, John?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Gee, I can’t even
remember. I can’t remember. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fran Gazlay I think was one.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Yeah, Fran Gazlay was and
oh, a woman’s name, she owned a house out in the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she was very much against tearing down
all the buildings in town. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Were there any other
instances you can remember as a young man before you were married and back in
the old days of anything of interest in town that you can tell us about?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Stinson Aircraft was the big deal, and
to save that took some work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But other
than that...</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Who were some of the
people from Stinson Aircraft that worked with you on the historic district?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a long time ago...Your memory gets
worse as you get older, you know.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q</b>. Yes, I know that from
personal experience.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> So I wouldn’t dare start
naming names.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>[PAUSE TO INTERVIEW RUTH
BURKMAN]</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Do you want to tell me
your name?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R</b>. My name is Ruth Yerkes Burkman.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I know the ladies are not
supposed to tell their age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d like to
know when you were born? </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R</b>. 1905 </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Where were you born? In
Northville?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yes, right here.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Right in the present
house, 535.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You haven’t moved around too
much have you?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, well during college
days and after school I wasn’t back home right away. I lived away from home for
a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most of the time I was
here.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> You spoke of college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did you go to school?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I went to school in Ann
Arbor.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> U of M?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R</b>. Yes. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I see. What area did you
specialize in?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I took a smidge of
everything and my major was literary.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Literature?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yeah.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Now you had several
brothers, at least two that I know of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ed, Was he your brother?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No he was a cousin. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I want to get the
relationship, and Don Yerkes was also your cousin?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, he was my brother. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Your brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew Don and I knew Ed but I didn’t know
what the connection was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then you met
John back when you were a young lady here in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was working at Stinson Aircraft or
something like that.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, he was working for my
father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father had a mill right down
here, and he worked for my father.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Doing accounting work for
him?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I can’t remember.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q</b>. He spoke of doing
freelance accounting work for various businesses in town.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I don’t know if he was one
of them.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Is there anything about
those early days in Northville that you want to tell us about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like young ladies, wasn’t there a Princess
Club here in town?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R. </b>I’ve never heard of it. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m curious, back behind the Marquis Theatre,
there was some sort of hall wasn’t there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was an old skating rink or a hall?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yes, it was a
theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2</b>. Oh, there was a theatre
in back of the Marquis, which probably wasn’t a theatre.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, I think it was the
Marquis, the Marquis was the name of the theatre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2</b>. And there wasn’t a
building behind it facing Dunlap?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Where the parking lot is
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> It seems like there was a
social club of some kind back there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they used to have parties.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I don’t know about it.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Yerkes family, when did they come here?
Who came here, was it like your grandparents?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Well, let me see. I really
don’t know.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Your father owned this
house and lived here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was he a farmer
and owned land around here and farmed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As far as you know, were his parents living in Northville ahead of him?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Well this was the family
farm and I think it was owned by my grandfather and then my father.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> What was the
occasion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When did he come to
Northville?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What year?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have the Yerkes Book which probably would
tell that right away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pappa?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you find the Yerkes Book over there?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> I understand that there is
a Yerkes house off the north side of the 275 freeway at just about 10
Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you go north on 275 on the
right-hand side, there is a big old Greek Revival two-story farmhouse, still
sitting there. In fact they have been complaining with a banner on the back of
it about not putting up a sound barrier against the 275 traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very noisy. And several years ago we
attended a class at Mill Race by Jack Hoffman, and a woman came to it who lived
in that house with some Yerkes connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were wondering what the connection is?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> I have no idea. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I going to look up in this? (holding
Yerkes Book)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> I don’t know.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> When your grandfather
first came to Northville.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Here Pappa, you take it
and look it up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s heavy.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> When William Yerkes came
here in 1884?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> With his father, Joseph.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> In 1884?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Sept. 11, 1794.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> He was born then or came
to Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> He was born then, that
was his birthday. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> That’s not when he came to
Michigan.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> They came here in 1826,
with his father Joseph.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> William Yerkes was soon
appointed territorial Justice of the Peace by General Cass which he held
throughout many terms.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> How old is this house?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> It was built in 1825, I
think. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> About the time they came
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moved here and built the house
soon after he got here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An old, old
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Reads from a book: Mr.
Yerkes was a member of the Oakland County Pioneer Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He married Nov. 5, 1817 Hester Dennis, born
in New Jersey in 1799.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Died at Novi,
Michigan, ll September 1881, daughter of Joseph Dennis by his wife, Sarah
Miller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the golden wedding of Mr. and
Mrs. Yerkes, their son, Robert Yerkes, read the following poem composed by him.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Seems to me, that the
answers to our questions can be found in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just get a lot of information from there
this afternoon, instead of reading it right now. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> The anniversary of the
marriage of Mr. William Yerkes was celebrated by his own wedding at his
residence Tuesday the 5th. Over 100 relatives and many acquaintances were
present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among those who offered their
congratulations to the couple were Mr. Thomas Pinkerton, Mr. John Yerkes and
Joseph Yerkes (Uncle Joe), Miss Nancy Yerkes, and Mrs. Utley who extended the
same courtesy at their marriage in Romulus, New York.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Did you go to school here
in town?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You went to high school here in
town though?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yes</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> It’s hard when buildings
change, but the building that has the arch window, called Old Village School
now, I think was the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
have any idea if that’s the school you went to?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, I don’t. The school
that I went to was later turned into the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know anything about the one that you
speak of.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> This cemetery that is
called the Yerkes Cemetery, on Eight Mile Road, is that the old family burying
ground?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What of these people that are
mentioned in the book here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are those
people buried in that cemetery as far as you know?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Some of them, I couldn’t
tell you which ones without looking them up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, I think probably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was called Yerkes Cemetery, and I figured
it must be the burying place of many of the ancestors. Down on Cady Street is
Oakwood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh Yeah.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your father had a mill here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right next door.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where the lumber company is now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other side of the tracks.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was this side of the tracks.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Oh, this side of the
tracks? Ah, what happened to it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did it
burn?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, let me see. Father was the one who
changed it to a lumber company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
wasn’t enough business from the other company, so he changed it to a lumber
company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> And continued the milling
business too.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> When you were in business,
was it operating off the river?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was
it, a feed mill, gristmill, what kind of a mill was it?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it was a grist mill wasn’t it Jack? Wouldn’t
it be a gristmill?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Grinding wheat and corn
and so forth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where was the mill
located?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> It was right next door.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Oh, right next door
here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it might be near the
river. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> What would they use for
power, what would they use to make the mill turn?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> A coal boiler? Or
electricity?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Electricity. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2</b>. We were aware that
electricity wasn’t available everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we weren’t sure when they started these mills what they were getting
their power from. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> We wouldn’t have to go
back very far before you wouldn’t have power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t too terribly long ago that power was established.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Electricity. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Were there other mills in
town at that time?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> No, no.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Down by the bend on Main
Street, there seemed to have been factories at different times.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> Stinson Aircraft</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Yeah</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> And I worked for Stinson
Aircraft when I first came to town.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b> Uh huh. Has the
Presbyterian Church always been in that building as far as you know?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Uh, it was in a very small
building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> On the same site though?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did they add some spaces to it?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would have been an essential gathering
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of things went on there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young people would gather there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember my own mother talking about the
church was central, all the activities revolved around the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there anything of interest about church
affairs you could tell us about?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R</b>. I don’t believe I
can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> That was so long ago, I
thought it would be okay to tell about it now. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that our family was very active in the
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure that we could find
reference to them in the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> Records?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yeah.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were interested too in the Mill Race
Village and Historic District here in town and were checking about that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that was pretty much before my time, so
I can’t remember too much about it. It was on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had their office in the theatre building
on Main Street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> You mean the city did, the
town did at that time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q2.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What group are you speaking of that had their
offices there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Well, the church I
think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure, it was a long time
ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>J.</b> I was under the impression
that the church was a much older building than the theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Well, the church that is
there now is a reconstruction of the original building.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Q.</b> In the last 15-20 years,
they did quite a bit of adding on to and adding to the church building.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>R.</b> Yes, they added on to it
just once that I know of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was
when they made it into a theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>[END OF TAPE]<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Transcribed by Pat Allen,
April 8, 2006.<o:p></o:p></span>NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-89206425551750243422013-06-26T05:57:00.000-04:002018-12-13T11:59:09.817-05:00Douglas Cameron<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oral History Interview - Douglas Cameron<br />
Youthful Experiences in the Waterford Community <br />
Northville Township Historic District Commission<br />
February 19, 2016<br />
<br />
Interviewers: RS=Robin Schleh and RA= Richard Allen (Members of the Northville Township Historic Commission)<br />
<br />
RA: This is Friday, February 19, 2016. We are interviewing Douglas Cameron. Douglas grew up in the Waterford area of Northville Township and attended Waterford School. (Waterford was generally SE of Six Mile and Northville Roads and west of Bradner.)<br />
<br />
RA: I understand you lived on Franklin Road. Could you tell us who your parents were?<br />
<br />
DC: My parents were George and Margaret Tegge. My dad worked at Ford Motor for 51 years and my mother worked at the Township Hall I believe, for 30, before she retired. I understand she was quite the lady; everybody knew her. She resolved a lot of problems the Township had with various residents.<br />
<br />
RA: Were you born in this area or did you move here?<br />
<br />
DC: I was born in Detroit but always lived on Franklin Road.<br />
<br />
RS: My understanding is that your parents built that house.<br />
<br />
DC: They certainly did. I still have some of the receipts for the house and the prices were amazing. The garage was $50.<br />
<br />
RS: They purchased the land and was it farmland?<br />
<br />
DC: It was farmland and I do not remember the name of the people they bought the house from.<br />
<br />
RA: We understand you went to the Waterford School, which subsequently became the Township Hall. We would be interested to hear what your school day was like. Did you have water, heat, how many classes there, teachers’ names or anything else? Lead us through your school life.<br />
<br />
DC: I went there until the fifth grade and then was transferred over to Northville. <br />
<br />
RS: Was that common? Did Waterford School end at fifth grade?<br />
<br />
DC: I am trying to remember, but I am not sure if it was. I don’t know if they closed it down for a while and converted over to the Township Hall. I am not sure what the time frame was.<br />
<br />
RS: So you believe your last year at Waterford may have been the last year it was used as a school.<br />
<br />
DC: I think so.<br />
<br />
RS: In this book “<a href="https://catalog.tln.lib.mi.us/?section=resource&resourceid=9766492&currentIndex=0&view=fullDetailsDetailsTab">Northville Township…from the Beginning</a>,” I saw a picture of a class from 1935 and wondered if they originally did all twelve grades, but your experience is you left after the fifth grade.<br />
<br />
DC: No, they did not do all twelve grades, I think they went up to either the fifth or sixth. The school at that time did not have running water in the restrooms, but did have a sink in the lobby by the front door as you came into the lobby, but that was the only running water. There was a bell the teacher rang with a big rope at the start of the school day. <br />
<br />
RA: Did you have restrooms or an outhouse?<br />
<br />
DC: No the restrooms were on each side at the entrance and there was a cloakroom.<br />
<br />
RS: I presume there was only one restroom.<br />
<br />
DC: There were two. The toilets consisted of a big (maybe 15 feet deep) hole in the ground. I never used it.<br />
<br />
RS: Now you lived very near the school.<br />
<br />
DC: Right down the road. I walked to school everyday and was always late.<br />
<br />
RA: Generally, how many students were in the school?<br />
<br />
DC: Not many. At the most, 20-25.<br />
<br />
RA: That was split up among five or six grades?<br />
<br />
DC: The third grade consisted of me only.<br />
<br />
RS: Did they have a kindergarten?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, that is where I began. There were three of us in kindergarten.<br />
<br />
RA: Do you remember who they were?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, Joanie Baskins and Ardith Robertson. Those two girls were cousins.<br />
<br />
RS: Do you remember what years you were at that school?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, 1946 to 1950. In fact I have something to show you—a picture of my first day at school. (See page 4.)<br />
<br />
RA: How many hours a day was the school in session?<br />
<br />
DC: It began at 8:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon.<br />
<br />
RS: Did you have time for lunch at school?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, we had an hour, but I usually went home.<br />
<br />
RS: I assume some of the students had to have their lunch at school.<br />
<br />
DC: Oh yes. I remember seeing lunch pails with Roy Rogers on the side.<br />
<br />
RS: What subjects were taught in school?<br />
<br />
DC: Spelling, I remember because I was good at it, geography, english.<br />
<br />
RA: Do you remember any of the teachers’ names?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes I do. There were 3 or 4 teachers while I was there. My first teacher, and I still remember her name, Mrs. Roberts, who was there two years. Mrs. Wright replaced her, and she drove an old Hudson pickup truck. This was unusual, as they didn’t make many pickup trucks. Mrs. Helen Sukkerka was from Sweden and was in her early twenties. That was my first experience with the opposite sex. Boy, oh boy, she was beautiful. I always wondered what happened to her. She was kind and she was sweet. She was one of those teachers you never forget. She had a big influence on me.<br />
<br />
RA & RS: Everybody has one.<br />
<br />
RA: You mentioned in our previous conversations about how you got to school by riding your horse.<br />
<br />
DC: I wasn’t the only one: Doug Whiteford and three or four of us. We had places to ride. We used to ride our horses over to Farm Crest, which was all dairy cattle there at the time, and we used to play cowboy chasing the cows. I am sure they lost weight, and I am sure that didn’t make Farm Crest too happy. They never did catch us.<br />
<br />
RS: What did you do with the horses during the day? Did you tie them up and go out and check on them during recess?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, they had plenty of grass. I even rode my horse one time down Main Street in Northville. No one looked twice at me.<br />
<br />
RA: At Thayer School they had the ponies from Belle Isle during the winter. They rode them to school, and one of the neighbors let them stay in their barn during the day. The students would go out at lunchtime and give them water and feed them.<br />
<br />
DC: It was just a simple time. I looked forward to going to school. I never knew what to expect, and I learned something different everyday. No stress.<br />
<br />
RA: How many students rode horses to school?<br />
DC: Half a dozen at the most. Randy Hass, whose parents owned Farm Crest.<br />
<br />
RS: That would be a little distance for him. Where was the farmhouse for Farm Crest? Closer to where Township Hall ended being or closer to Bradner Road?<br />
<br />
DC: Closer to Bradner Road, like right across the street. Beautiful mansion. I remember the night it caught fire. My dad and I drove over there. I remember seeing him and a couple of other fellas carrying a baby grand piano out the door and to get it out the door they had to saw the legs off. I think it was lightening that struck the house. Beautiful house.<br />
<br />
RS: Really! That is high ground and so I can see where lightening would go after that.<br />
<br />
RA: You mentioned earlier about Farm Crest. Tell us about that.<br />
<br />
DC: That is where we got our milk. I used to drink a gallon of milk everyday when I was growing up. It was 26 cents at Farm Crest. Got my first dog over there. He was born inside one of the barns. My dad went over there and brought him home. Name was Baron.<br />
<br />
RA: Was it a dog-dog or mutt?<br />
<br />
DC: He was half Dalmatian and half Dachshund. <br />
RS: Oh my!<br />
<br />
DC: Long rear legs and short front legs.<br />
<br />
RS: Poor puppy.<br />
<br />
DC: Always going downhill, but he had a good life.<br />
<br />
RS: Now, did the family run Farm Crest or did they employ people?<br />
<br />
DC: They employed people.<br />
<br />
RS: Did most of those people live right in the Waterford area?<br />
<br />
DC: I don’t know. I remember they had a big house next to the barns, surrounded by pine trees. But they also had a ranch up on Six Mile. (Hills of Crestwood subdivision.)<br />
<br />
RA: The house is still there.<br />
<br />
DC: That is the original ranch house.<br />
<br />
RS: The log house.<br />
<br />
DC: That was all natural. We used to ride horses. They had a huge barn and 20-30 horses over there—all kinds of places to ride. We just grew up riding horses. It was so normal. That was the area.<br />
<br />
RA: It was farm area in those days.<br />
<br />
DC: It was farm area.<br />
<br />
RA: Did the Farm Crest store sell anything besides dairy products?<br />
<br />
DC: No, strictly dairy. All we ever bought over there was milk. I don’t remember seeing butter. It was just a quiet peaceful time. You would always have that aroma of cows in the air, everywhere. You just got used to it.<br />
<br />
RA: Were the Grennans on the south side of Six Mile?<br />
<br />
DC: I don’t remember the Grennans. It was just the Hass family (Farm Crest) I had contact with. Patty and Randy were the offspring of Robert and Evelyn Hass. They had that beautiful house on Six Mile.<br />
<br />
DC: At the school we would have recess. You could go home or play or whatever you wanted to do.<br />
<br />
RA: Any particular games you would play at recess?<br />
<br />
DC: No. There were swings and teeter-totters. We had a baseball diamond.<br />
<br />
RS: Did you go out in any kind of weather or in bad weather did they keep you inside and have games inside. Do you remember?<br />
<br />
DC: I think we stayed inside. Our coats in those days were not warm. They were paper-thin. You just didn’t want to go outside.<br />
<br />
RA: What did you have for heat?<br />
<br />
DC: I think they had a gas furnace located on the other side of the building. It was in a small room. Once in a while the power would go off and they would send you home.<br />
<br />
RA: That was life in the country.<br />
<br />
DC: I will never forget her ringing that bell. <br />
<br />
RA: Did she let the kids ring the bell?<br />
<br />
DC: No, the teacher did.<br />
<br />
RS: Did she ring it at the end of recess also?<br />
<br />
DC: No.<br />
<br />
RS: You mentioned that sometimes you went home, and I was curious if she called you back.<br />
<br />
DC: I don’t remember if she did. I just remember in the morning. But Mrs. Wright, I will never forget Mrs. Wright. Like I said I was late for class everyday because I didn’t want to confront Mrs. Wright. She would be standing in the doorway with a paddle and you would get a whack on the hind end because you were a few minutes late. She wouldn’t hit you hard. She was just trying to get your attention. Be early tomorrow or be on time. It got a lot worse when I got up into Northville.<br />
<br />
RA: What did you do in your spare time to occupy yourself besides ride horses?<br />
<br />
DC: Build forts in the woods; go into town, because that was the thing to do. You felt like an adult and went to the movie. It is still there. I think it was 29 cents for adults and 15 cents for kids to get in.<br />
<br />
RA: Saturday matinee?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes.<br />
<br />
RS: Do you remember any of the shows you saw there?<br />
<br />
DC: I remember one in particular and that changed my life. That was “Blackboard Jungle” with Glenn Ford, because Bill Haley and the Comets played “rock around the clock.” That was my first taste of Rock and Roll. I was singing that song for a month afterwards. “Mom, you have got to buy me this record, I got to have to have it.” Rock around the Clock, Bill Haley.<br />
<br />
RS: You were on six acres, right?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes.<br />
<br />
RS: So your parents didn’t farm any of it?<br />
<br />
DC: No, my Dad was not a farmer, I think he tried to grow vegetables. <br />
<br />
RS: A lot of people had gardens. Some were more elaborate than others.<br />
<br />
RA: Many people canned in those days.<br />
<br />
DC: My Mother did.<br />
<br />
RA: Did you have any part time jobs?<br />
<br />
DC: I worked for a farmer down on Six Mile. Trying to think of his name. Oh, I mowed grass on the cemetery up Franklin Road (Waterford Cemetery).<br />
<br />
RA: What did you do for the farmer?<br />
<br />
DC: Fed the cows. A. C. Crum, that was the farmer’s name.<br />
<br />
RS: I have seen his name on a plat map.<br />
<br />
DC: Nothing but farms on Six Mile.<br />
<br />
RA: We have one left, Milan George, but they are fast disappearing. He died just recently and the family is selling off the property. They lease a lot of land in the area to farm. They grew corn and pumpkins.<br />
<br />
DC: Where on Six Mile?<br />
<br />
RA: Between Napier and Ridge.<br />
<br />
DC: I mowed the grass at the cemetery. I think they paid me $25 and it took all day.<br />
<br />
RS: That was pretty good for that time.<br />
<br />
DC: It was hard work mowing around all those tombstones. I had to trim around the stones and the mower would quit half the time. I mowed grass for the local residents.<br />
<br />
RA: When we talked earlier you mentioned about Indians being buried next to the cemetery. I have talked to someone trying to get info on that.<br />
<br />
RS: Is it in the cemetery proper?<br />
<br />
DC: Right next door in the wooded lot.<br />
<br />
RA: Immediately south of the cemetery?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes, there is only one wooded lot.<br />
<br />
RA: I have talked to John Colling, who used to be on our Historic commission and lives almost across the street from the cemetery. He is going to do some checking and see what he can find.<br />
<br />
DC: As I recall the Curtis family lived right across the road from us. He was a dentist, and he used to go up there and dig up arrowheads and stuff like that. I overheard him telling my dad that that was an Indian burial ground at one time.<br />
<br />
RA: It will take some research and it will be very difficult to verify that.<br />
<br />
DC: I think the house the Curtis family lived in was the oldest and first house in the neighborhood. It has to go back to the 1800s.<br />
<br />
RA: Doing research for the Township we discovered the cemetery had never been deeded by anyone. When the farmers sold off their property, the cemetery was always excluded.<br />
<br />
DC: Really!<br />
<br />
RA: The Township had to go court to get a deed. Canton had a similar situation with an un-deeded cemetery. We searched the Wayne County records and could not find a deed.<br />
<br />
DC: Is the cemetery still in use?<br />
<br />
RA: No. There are rumors there are still a couple of burial spots in there but we are not sure where they are.<br />
<br />
DC: In the back.<br />
<br />
RA: The Township considers the cemetery closed. I know one person, Eunice Switzler who probably replaced your Mother, wanted to be buried there, but that didn’t happen.<br />
<br />
DC: I think there are some World War I vets in there.<br />
<br />
RA: There is one black man there that used to work in one of the Waterford grain mills that burned. He escaped the fire and lived in the area. He is buried in the back of the cemetery.<br />
<br />
RS: It wouldn’t surprise me though that there would be an Indian burial ground next to the cemetery. The thought might have been to have a cemetery next to a burial ground.<br />
<br />
DC: How old is that cemetery?<br />
<br />
RA: We have the records, but I can’t recall the date off hand. It is back in the 1800’s.<br />
<br />
RA: There is some interesting history. There is one family that had seven or eight children and none of them lived for more that a few years. I think it had to be bad water or something in that family. You look at it and it had to be horrifying. The Benton family is buried there, and they are associated with the Cass Benton portion of the County Park.<br />
<br />
DC: Oh, I remember seeing the Benton name in there.<br />
<br />
DC: There are a lot of kids buried there.<br />
<br />
RS: A lot of times illnesses wipe out many people.<br />
<br />
DC: What was the average life expectancy? 40 or 45 years?<br />
<br />
RA: After dong some cemetery research, generally if you lived past 30, there was a good chance of living to 70 or 80.<br />
<br />
DC: Really!<br />
<br />
RA: It was just a trend, a lot of people died in their 80’s but also a lot of them died before they became 30.<br />
<br />
RS: Teenagers.<br />
<br />
RA: Once you got through all the childhood diseases, you were good.<br />
<br />
RA: Some cases were bad water. In the case of Thayer School, the family they were getting water from developed diphtheria. They had to change water sources quickly.<br />
<br />
RS: You say a lot of the area was mostly farms. We know that Farm Crest was a dairy. Were the other farms just run-of-the-mill farms?<br />
<br />
DC: A lot of corn. I remember seeing a lot of cornfields, a lot of cows and animals.<br />
<br />
DC: You know when you were just a kid; you didn’t pay a lot of attention to what people were growing.<br />
<br />
RA: Have we missed anything you would like to talk about?<br />
<br />
RS: Do you remember anything about when the school burned?<br />
<br />
DC: No.<br />
<br />
RA: I think it was in the 70’s.<br />
<br />
RS: Was your Mother still living here when that happened?<br />
<br />
DC: Oh yes, she was still here.<br />
<br />
RS: I thought you might remember when she talked about it.<br />
<br />
DC: I remember her talking about they could have bought the property all the way to Six Mile and Bradner, where the school is now, if my Dad could have come up with $500.<br />
<br />
RA: The story of everybody’s life.<br />
<br />
DC: They never had a mortgage. They paid as they went. They never financed anything.<br />
<br />
DC: The school was a fond time in my memory. It was just an innocent time and I just kind of wish you could turn the clock back and experience that again.<br />
<br />
RS: I do have a question. How much do you remember about the layout of the school? I would assume you had a blackboard here? (See schematic on page 5.)<br />
<br />
DC: Yes.<br />
<br />
RS: And the teacher was up on a platform.<br />
<br />
DC: No. Just a desk in the middle of the kids.<br />
<br />
RS: Was the desk in the front of the room or were the students on each side of the desk?<br />
<br />
DC: I remember she would change it, quite often. She would get tired and move it. “Doug would you help me move my desk over here?” “Sure!”<br />
<br />
RS: I have heard stories that sometimes the teacher would put her desk in the center and have the grades arranged around her.<br />
<br />
DC: Usually it was on the opposite side in the corner.<br />
<br />
RS: I assume the youngest grades were closest to the teacher and the older grades further back.<br />
<br />
DC: Kindergarten was right here in the corner.<br />
DC: We tied our horses to this railing right here.<br />
<br />
RS: If kindergarten was in this corner, the teacher’s desk was in this corner?<br />
<br />
DC: There was an upright piano on this side in the back corner. My job was to play the piano every morning.<br />
<br />
RA: What did you play?<br />
<br />
DC: Not very well. I was taking piano lessons in Plymouth. Word got around that I could play the piano, so I had to entertain. Usually songs I was learning.<br />
<br />
RS: Now the school day had just begun. Did you start with the Pledge of Allegiance?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes.<br />
<br />
RS: I assume she put assignments on the board.<br />
<br />
DC: She didn’t put them on the board. We had booklets, which she passed out. We would spend 20-30 minutes with each class. I don’t know how they did it juggling all these different classes. It was amazing how they pull that off.<br />
<br />
RS: Would it be correct to assume she started with the younger children or did she start with the older children to get them going and then move on?<br />
<br />
DC: I believe so. She started with the older ones.<br />
<br />
RA: Keep the troublemakers busy?<br />
<br />
DC: We weren’t really troublemakers. We didn’t know what the word meant. It was an innocent time. Nobody got into trouble.<br />
<br />
RS: Children were expected to behave. My goodness, even when I was in school, you wouldn’t dream of talking back to your teacher or doing some the things that I hear about now.<br />
<br />
DC: It is now a whole different world.<br />
<br />
RS: Once she passed out the booklet for lessons for that day and she started all the grades, was there ever any other community event for the whole school to come together to do something together? Maybe, a music section where everybody sang together?<br />
<br />
DC: The only singing we ever did, as I recall, was at Christmas time when we put on a play. Everyone was able to come, and I remember that I was really nervous about performing in front of adults at that age. But we did it! The schoolhouse was all decorated with holly and stuff. It was really nice. It was really festive. Like that painter…<br />
<br />
RS: Rockwell?<br />
<br />
DC: Yes. It looked like a Rockwell painting. Really good.<br />
<br />
RS: Any homework?<br />
<br />
DC: No. Not really. That didn’t start until we transferred over to higher grades in Northville.<br />
<br />
RS: Not even reading assignments or anything?<br />
<br />
RS: I have another question about Waterford School. Was the building used for other things like a community meeting?<br />
<br />
DC: Not that I remember. Not that I recall until it was transferred over to the Township.<br />
<br />
RS: While it was a school, it was purely a school and never used for any other purpose?<br />
<br />
DC: Not that I recall until it was transferred over to the Township.<br />
<br />
RA: Doug, we want to thank you for making the trek in for this interview.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-63486230227496493022013-06-26T05:56:00.001-04:002021-03-08T13:59:36.166-05:00Georgianna Couse Chase<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am Georgianna Couse Chase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is June the 23<sup>rd</sup> 1989.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born in Byron, Michigan in 1909.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grew up in Byron, and then moved to
Detroit, and then went to the college at the University of Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I met Walter Couse, and we were married
and lived in Detroit for a few years, and then moved to Northville in
1937.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were excited about coming to
this little country town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end of two
years, you knew almost everyone that you met on the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thought it was a charming place.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We bought the Yerkes House, which was at the corner
of Church and Cady, and is now located at the Historical Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It hadn’t been painted in 30 years, and the
first coat of paint just disappeared into the wood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remodeled it one room at a time, as we
could afford to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at the end of ten
years, we moved out Seven Mile Road to the area that’s now Edenderry Hills.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We built an apple barn there and planted 400 apple
trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After just a few years, we
decided that we couldn’t run a construction company, which my husband did-
Walter L. Couse & Company – and have an apple orchard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we discontinued that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in 1960 we started developing Edenderry
Hills – subdividing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walter died in
1967, and it was all subdivided at that time excepting Edenderry Drive, which
was the last section of the subdivision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I finished that section after Walter was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We loved living here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very quiet, and all country and all
trees; and when we subdivided it, we didn’t cut down any trees, excepting those
that were in the roadway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why
there are so many lovely trees here today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I worked for Walter Couse Company after my husband
died until 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had studied
accounting at the University of Michigan, and the work I did was accounting,
and I enjoyed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have three children
– Blake Couse, who continued the Walter Couse Company after Walter was gone; a
daughter, Barbara Allen, who lives in Hawaii; and a daughter, Elsa, who lives
in Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She married Richard
Stuber, who was also a Northville boy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Walter Couse and I were busy in the community and
enjoyed living here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were active in
the Presbyterian Church and on several committees, and I was eventually
president of Women’s Club, president of the Parent Teachers Association, and
also active in the Presbyterian Church which I still am today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been an important part of my life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I married Bill Chase in 1970, after his wife had
passed away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mr. Chase had Shatterproof Glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a farm
opposite the house on Eight Mile and Griswold, 262 acres, which now has been
sold for subdividing and it will be zoned only for residential property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Chase died in 1985, and I have moved back
to Edenderry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m living in a house
that belonged to Carol Couse, and I’m enjoying it a great deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is surprising to see how the trees have
grown, and many of the same neighbors that were here in 1970 are still here. </span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-27881408992423064392013-06-26T05:52:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:12:58.185-04:00Ann Chizmar<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I’m Francis Jerome with the Northville Oral History
Project, and I’m in the home of Ann Chizmar. Did I pronounce that right –
Chizmar? </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That’s right. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Ann Chizmar – her maiden name was Richards. She came
to Northville as a ten year old girl, the daughter of a Methodist minister.
Now, is that right, Mrs. Chizmar? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That’s right. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And so he came to Northville
in 1922, and has remained pretty much continuously in Northville ever since?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, let’s turn this off and check the volume. Okay, the volume is
fine, so we’re going on with the interview. As I said, Mrs. Chizmar was the
daughter of the Methodist minister and lived in the parsonage at the Methodist
Church here in Northville. You want to tell me what it was like as a child
growing up in Northville, you came as a ten year old. What are you
recollections of growing up in Northville as a child? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well, my first introduction to Northville was my
father and mother had come from Cass City, and you know, at that time, it took quite
awhile to travel. And when we arrived in Northville, everything was closed. My
father looked in the window of the parsonage and he said, “Jen, they haven’t
even moved the furniture out yet.” So he went to the stores, there were no
stores open. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></b>Now, this was not a Sunday?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, this was a weekday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And everything was
closed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> And he went up the street, up Dunlap to Wing Street and across Wing
Street to Randolph, and east on Randolph Street, he finally found a lady named
Mrs. Starhome (?), and her husband was the manager of the Silver Springs
Bottling and Ginger Ale Works in Northville. So she took us in, and we stayed
with her, six people with her for a whole week before the parsonage was
vacated. Well come to find out from her, the Wayne County Fair was on, and it
was the Northville Day at the fair. The schools were closed and everything.
That’s why everything was closed up on that day. So that was our first
experience to Northville. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></b>You had brothers and sisters at that time?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Oh yes, I had… I was the oldest of four
children. I had a sister who was three at that time, a brother was five, and my
other sister was nine years old. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></b>Did you have kind of responsibility for your
younger brothers and sisters in terms of kind of keeping them in line?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, yes. In the evenings when my mother went
out when I became older, why they didn’t get a babysitter. I was just in charge
of keeping everything in tow, which was quite a job, ‘cause I had one sister
that was quite mischievous. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As long as you mention that Northville Fair,
why don’t we talk about that? Now, you were a ten year old girl at that time.
Do you have a pretty good recollection of what the Northville Fair was like?</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh yes, it went on for quite a few years after
that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></b>Tell us, where did it take place, what took
place at the Fair? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was where the Northville race track is
located. And then when the race track came, the State Fair closed, and they
opened it as a race track then. And they had – all the women brought their jams
and jellies. It was comparative to the State Fair. And there were animals
there, and at that time, the House of Correction made furniture, and they had
farms at the House of Correction, and they would have big exhibits along with
the local people of produce at the Fair. My father always exhibited his dahlias
at the Fair. He usually got prizes for those at that time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></b>So, the Fair was put on by the town of
Northville, or did it cover a wider area- was it called the <b>AC: </b>No, it was the
whole county.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>Okay, so it was the Wayne County Fair. And now you mention the
House of Correction. Where was it located?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it was at its present site on Five Mile,
think it’s Five Mile and Beck. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span></span> Five Mile and Beck. Okay, and that property is
no longer used, or is that property still used? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I think it’s used some, I’m not sure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span> And those that were there, I’m not sure that we
want to call them inmates or not – but those that lived there grew fruits and
vegetables and made things? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b></span></span>Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></span>Furniture, you said, what kind of furniture
would they make?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well, household furniture, I think. I don’t
exactly remember.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span> Okay, and then was that furniture sold? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span> So the inmates would derive some income from the sale of furniture? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span> Very
good, okay. What else can you recall about growing up in Northville, what about
school? Where did you attend school?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I attended the old high school (as a ten
year old) in fifth grade, and my brothers and sisters, my brother and sisters,
attended the high school that had, it burned down some years ago. And it was a
brick structure behind the high school. It wasn’t facing Cady, but there was a
street that ran through there, I think it was West, West Street. Since they’ve
closed that part of that block off. And it faced West, West Street. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span>Okay, now you said you attended school in the
old high school? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b></span></span> In other words, it was converted from a high school to
an elementary building?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was a high school until 1959.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></span>Now, you would have been a fifth grader when
you started here? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, they had some elementary children in the high school.
It went fifth through high school.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></span>Okay, then did your entire school career
take place in that building or – </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Y</span></span>ou went all the way through in the
old high school until you graduated from high school itself? <b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span></span>Okay, then
after you left high school, what happened next?</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well, then I went to… at that time it was called
Michigan State Normal College, which is now Eastern Michigan University. I
attended there for two years, and then I returned to Northville as a teacher.
No, I attended there three years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>A</span></span>nd got a college degree? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>No, I got a
certificate, a life certificate. They don’t have those no more. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And then
returned to Northville to teach?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Returned to Northville to teach – the
philosophy of the school board was that they should hire Northville folks. It
was during the Depression, and they felt that if there were Northville people
available, why that the job should – the teaching job should be given to
Northville people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>Okay, now what were you teaching?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I taught kindergarten. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>And then did you teach
any other grades during your teaching career?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh yes, I taught first grade, second
grade, and then the last few years, I was the reading consultant, the remedial
reading teacher. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>How many years were you in the Northville schools?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Off and
on for 32 years. Mr. Amerman used to introduce me when I’d come back – I’d take
maternity leaves – and he would introduce me as his “off-and-on-again” teacher. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>Okay, so you spent your entire teaching career
right in Northville schools? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That’s right.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>Okay, who, now you mentioned Mr.
Amerman – we’re going to talk about him in a few minutes, but who was the
superintendent at the time you came as a teacher in Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Um, oh Mr. Amerman was. He was the superintendent.
But my last three years in high school, he was my principal. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>Okay, so he had
been a building principal – who was Superintendent when he was the high school
principal?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I don’t – they changed quite a bit, and I can’t recall his name. I
should have looked it up. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b></span>I think you were telling me when we were talking
last week that the gentleman died, and then Mr. Amerman was appointed as a
temporary Superintendant?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, but Mr. Knapp came after I graduated from high
school, he came in 19, the fall of 1930, and I graduated in June of 1930. It
was Thad Knapp from Highland. He, well it was sort of a semi-retirement for
him, I think, because he came from the Highland Park School System. He was the
Superintendent there for many years. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And then he became Superintendent in
Northville, and then he died. At that point, Mr. Amerman then was appointed as
kind of an acting Superintendent?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, he was a temporary Superintendent. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>While
they were looking for somebody else?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b>Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did they ever select anybody else?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<b>AC: </b>No, they didn’t. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So then Mr. Amerman became the Superintendent and continued
until his retirement?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> Okay, anything you want to tell me about Mr.
Amerman, or about – well, let’s go back. Let’s talk about your teaching career,
your first teaching assignment. What was the building that you taught in? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was a house, and it was, the divisions had
been taken out between rooms, so that there were a lot of little ells and extra
little side rooms in it, but it was fixed so there was one big room, and then
there were other little rooms in it. And Mr. Amerman’s office was upstairs in
that building. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Were there other teachers in the same building with you?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, I
was the only </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And this was kindergarten?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. It had been that for several
years before I came. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And pretty well equipped?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh yes, fairly well equipped
according to Depression </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Indoor plumbing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, oh yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so pretty much
it had the modern conveniences?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> Now, you did tell me in the course of our
earlier conversation about a fire – in one of the schools, I think you said was
destroyed by fire? Do you want to tell me about that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, that was about 1935 or ’36. I got a call
from Mrs. Watts, who was the night telephone operator, and the phone rang about
4 o’clock in the morning, and she says, “Ann, you don’t need to come to school
this morning, the school’s burned down.” And the elementary school had burned,
sparks from the chimney had lit in the cedar shingles on the roof, and it had
almost entirely gutted the inside of the old elementary school. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>What happened
to you then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well, I was still in the house, and I think – I don’t think –
they didn’t tear that house down until later on. And then we taught, or the
other elementary teachers taught, you know all the empty stores. And there was
an empty Lapham’s Bank – it had closed, and there was just one. There had been
two banks in Northville, the Babbitt Bank and the Lapham Bank. Later, the
Babbitt Bank reopened. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>This was during the Depression?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> This was during the
Depression.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So, in order to find places for the children
while the school was being rebuilt, and anyplace they could find room</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>They would move the classroom there and have the children taught there. And
then they started putting up another building?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, and then the building that I was teaching
in was torn down. It was just a house there, and there of course was more
property there. And so they built the present elementary, Main Street
Elementary School, which is no longer in use as a school. And then the first
grade teacher and I were moved into a new Scout building that they had built,
but the furnace was very inadequate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, when you say Scout building, do you
mean Boy Scouts?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, a Boy Scout building. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And it was put up specifically
for the Boy Scouts?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, and it was where the present drive-in bank is on
Randolph – the corner of, not Randolph, the corner of Dunlap and Hutton. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay,
near the Arbor Drugs then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now you started, let’s see, you started
in 1933. What was the size of the teaching staff at that time? How big was the
Northville Schools? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I think there were about 23 in all, including
the Superintendent and the Principal; and then we had a teaching principal for
the elementary school. She just did the book work, and we handed our attendance
reports to her at the end of each month. Then she took care of that stuff. Mr.
Amerman, more or less, supervised the teaching process of the teachers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>You
mind telling me what your beginning salary was as a teacher in 1933?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was $75.00
a month. It was supposed to be $900.00, but by the time they took things out
for retirement and that sort of thing, it was about $75.00 a month. And if you
were ill, why you were docked. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>You were docked?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, you were docked that
pay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did they have any kind of, I guess what we call today, benefits – now you
mentioned retirement--did they … anything like sick days, or… ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh no! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Or any
kind of coverage insurance? Hospitalization? All the things that our teachers
enjoy today? They didn’t have them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, we didn’t have those. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Were you able to manage fairly well on $75.00 a
month? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I paid half of my salary back to my father
so he could help the other children through school, so I skimped quite a bit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, when you first came back then to teach,
you were still living at the parsonage with your father?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh no, no. In 1931, my parents were transferred
to the Belleville Methodist Church. They served there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And then where were you living in Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I boarded with Mr. and Mrs. Earl Cobb. He
had been a cabinet maker for the Globe Furniture Company. And she worked for
Lapham’s Dry Goods Store, it was a dry goods store at that time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Lapham, now
is that the Lapham’s that eventually became Lapham’s Men’s Clothing Store?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The same family, the same store?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so you boarded – you wanted – you
specifically wanted to come back here and teach in Northville, rather than
teaching somewhere else, and because your parents were now in Belleview
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Belleville</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> You had to board here. How long did you board with these people?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Until I was married. I was married in 1938. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did
you meet your husband here in Northville?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, I met him in Belleville.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Belleville, where your dad and mother were?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yeah, he was a friend of my
brother’s and he lived right behind us in the Belleville parsonage. So
usually, weekends my father would come and get me, and I’d go home, and he
would bring me back Sunday night, until I had a boyfriend, and he used to come
and get me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Let’s back up a little bit here, going back to
your childhood, what about social life in Northville at that time? What kinds
of things, you’re a Methodist minister’s daughter, so maybe you couldn’t do
some of the same kinds of things that other children did, but what kinds of
things would there be for recreation and for social life as a ten-year-old from
the time you started until you eventually graduated from high school? What
kinds of things were there in Northville for young people?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh, there was sledding in the winter, and well,
I remembered when they paved the streets, why they let us – the streets were
all dirt roads at that time, and I don’t remember the year they paved them, but
I do remember that they let us roller skate on them. So that amused us for almost
one whole summer because as soon as they’d finish one block, they’d shut it off
to harden, I suppose, and they’d let us skate on it. Then I was quite a tomboy.
I played baseball – there was a lot, I don’t know if there’s a – I think – I
don’t know whether there’s a Bank there or not. But it was a vacant lot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>In
the downtown area?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, right across, well kitty-corner from the parsonage. It
would be on the northeast corner of Center Street. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Incidentally, as long as we mentioned the
parsonage, now, that was the earlier Methodist Church that was in Northville.
There is another later building now that was built further west. Is the old
Methodist Church, the one that you were--grew up as a minister’s daughter – is
that church still used? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, it’s used as – well, first it became a
restaurant, and then, now it’s the Open Door Church there. One experience that
I had was going with my father over to the Church, and there were ladders that
went clear up into the clock. And once a week, that clock had to be would up,
it was a – and so we would help him wind it up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>How would it be would – not
like a clock that you wind with a key – how would you wind a church clock?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No,
I think there were big lead weights, and those had to be would up, and then I
don’t know exactly how it operated. I’m not much of a mechanic, but I can
remember seeing those weights coming up as we would wind it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now that clock,
and I heard from more than one source, that’s quite a landmark. Now they talk
about the church clock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, the city put the clock in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>How did they happen
to do that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I don’t know. It was there when we came to Northville, so I don’t
know anything about the history of what happened and how it came to be there,
unless, because the church was located in the center, practically in the center
of town. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, how close was the parsonage to the Church?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was right on the
corner of Dunlap and Center Street, and the Church was right behind it. The
parsonage faced Center Street, and the church faces Dunlap. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now is the
parsonage still there?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was torn down. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>What is that property used for
now?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it’s just the parking lot for the Open Door Church, I think. For a
while, it was used as a car park – one of the auto sales people, I think – Ford
Sales had cars there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I recall a number of years ago coming out to a
restaurant, and I think it was called the The Drawbridge, and I’m sure that
that was -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That was the church, yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>How do you suppose they happened to, I’m
assuming now t hat when they decided to build a new church, and then they had
this church available for sale, who was that church sold to, do you have any
idea?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I don’t know what – whether it was the people at
The Drawbridge that bought it or not. Sure, they did a lot of remodeling –
which to me, they sort of ruined it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> I thought it was quite unusual to have a dinner
in what was a Methodist Church at the time, and then later on, the Drawbridge
closed, and it became, you say, The Open Door Church, which is a
nondenominational church, I would presume. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Before they tore the parsonage down, it became a
restaurant, because the parsonage – that was after my parents left there – the
parsonage was on the corner of Wing and Dunlap. And there was a restaurant in
there – it was called Black’s White House, because the people that ran it –
their name was Black. So they called it Black’s White House. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And so the
parsonage was used as a restaurant for a period of time?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That’s
interesting. Was it a pretty good sized parsonage?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was a fairly sized
parsonage. I remember one instance in the parsonage – I don’t know whether this
is apropros to this or not – but couples from Detroit would come out to get
married, and so the living room was always closed off because that’s where
special things took place. And the heating system in the parsonage was so that
they had radiators that just opened upstairs, and so my father was conducting a
wedding down there, and we wanted to see it. Well, we forgot that often times,
when we would clean, we would sweep the dust into those registers, so it was
quite a shock when we opened them to watch the wedding and the dust fell down. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Anything else that you can recall during your
childhood about social life or recreational life in Northville? Now, you
mentioned roller skating, you mentioned sledding parties – what about things
like dances, what about sports activities?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I didn’t attend dances, except I did
attend my Senior Prom. But later on – oh, I’ve just forgotten the year it was –
they built the church fellowship hall behind the church. I think it was 1928.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I’m assuming your father was instrumental…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> My father, yes, and he was very
interested in young people, getting them involved in sports and that. And so
there was a cement floor put in the fellowship hall, and a basketball court was
laid out. And we had inter-church basketball games there, and he always
encouraged us in sports. Then, when we were in high school, why we participated
in--my sister more than I--were on the basketball and baseball teams. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, in
the high school?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> In the high school teams, and my father, if he didn’t have a
funeral or if there wasn’t anything urgent, why – they didn’t have buses at
that time – so he could drive us. He would drive a load of us to our basketball
games between other towns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>As long as you mention transportation, let’s go
into that now. Obviously, there were cars at that time. What about other modes
of transportation in and out of Northville, besides cars?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, there was an interurban that ran up through
the middle of town, and that was one way to get to Plymouth, and Farmington,
and Detroit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Would an interurban be similar to what later on
were called Streetcars?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, an interurban went from town to town,
where a streetcar was, I think was just in the city. <b>FJ: </b>Would be vehicle be more
like a train than it would a streetcar?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was more like a streetcar.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>More like a streetcar that would go from town to town.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Run by electricity, I
think, because I remember the overhead lines. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And you could pick up the
interurban here in Northville – was there some kind of little station or just a
stop?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> You could get on at Main Street – Main Street and Center Street, because
it dead-ended right there. And then there was a station on Griswold Street.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And then how far could you go on that interurban?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> You could go into Detroit.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>All the way down into Detroit?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did it run into downtown Detroit at that
time?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I don’t recall, I know it ran into the City, but I don’t remember how
far because my aunt always – my aunt lived in Detroit. She met us at the other
end, she met us in Detroit when we got off the streetcar. But I can’t recall
how far down it went. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I’m assuming that back in those days, there was
nothing like buses that would run back and forth? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>No.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The primary
transportation was interurban. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Now, were there any other – or car – was
there any other kind of transportation in and out of Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, not until later on when I came back
teaching. Then they had the Biddle Bus Line -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, bus line?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> - ran to five points
in Detroit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That would be at Grand River?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, where Grand River and Seven
Mile intersect. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so there was a bus line? Did it operate strictly between
Northville and Detroit, or did it include some of these other communities?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No,
I think it just ran between Northville and Detroit. Tunis V. Biddle was the
owner. In fact, his bus station was down here where Northville Charlie’s is
now. It’s where his mechanics and garage were. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>What happened to that bus line
– eventually it just went out of business?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, do I recall that also there was a train?
You could also get into town on a train? Was there a train running between
Northville and Detroit, or just the interurban? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, just the interurban. I think you’d have to
go to Plymouth to get a train into Detroit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so there might be a train
out of Plymouth at that time?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>As you can recall, compare Northville to
Plymouth at that time. Was Plymouth about the same size as Northville, or about
the same kind of a little town or village, or – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it was always a little larger than
Northville, but in my day, why they were – we were - quite competitive with
Plymouth in football and basketball – sports. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So, that would be a big game
then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh yes, there would be a big bonfire the night before every game. And it
was, at that time, the football games were played down at the fairgrounds. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And
the fairgrounds were located where Northville Downs is. So that’s where the
football games would take place?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And it was a friendly type of
competition, I’m assuming? Not vicious or that type… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Not really. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, you mention that your sister was in
sports? Were you in sports also?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I was in sports, but I – I guess I just
didn’t have that amount of energy. I tired very easily. I was manager of the,
of the high school, the girls’ high school basketball team </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>An important
position – you take care of the equipment, made sure everything was there</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<b>AC: </b>Yes. And I did play baseball some. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>As a kind of intramural baseball or - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No,
it was between schools. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, then you were on a school team?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> You mentioned something when we were talking
the other day about bobsledding, and I found that kind of interesting. Do you
want to tell us about that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, yes, we used to go up, well I don’t know,
at that time, up beyond Allen Terrace was what was called the Maybury Sanitarium,
not the Maybury, I’m sorry, that’s the Hickham Sanitarium. And High Street ran
straight up – there was also a curved road you could take to go to the
Sanitarium. But there was also a like, a little dirt road, more or less, as a
track that went straight up to the top of the hill there. And we’d take our –
the Epworth League at that time, the church group would have bobsled parties.
And so we’d get on our bobsled and push off, and we’d come down, all clear down
High Street, and then at High Street dead ends, and we’d turn down Main, and
then on to Wing Street, and we’d go down and eventually end up at the
fairgrounds. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That’s a long run.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, it was – it was a long walk back too.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, I’m assuming the streets were snow covered at the time – this was before
the streets were paved?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I imagine so, but I’m not exactly – yes, I think it
was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, when would you do this? Like on a weekend?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> In the evening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>What
about traffic?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, there wasn’t too much traffic. Usually somebody would be
posted when we had the bobsled. But then there was quite a tragic accident – a
little girl was killed on her sled there at Randolph and High Street, so they
put a stop to that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And that was on a bobsled?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, she was on her sled. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>A
regular sled?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. Because you could go quite a distance on the sled – you
could cross Randolph and High Street. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Well, that was too bad – it must have
been quite a lark to come down on a bobsled all the way from where the Allen
Terrace is now, almost all the way down to the fairgrounds – that was quite a
trip.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Well, let’s take a look at these notes here.
Now, let’s see. Oh yes, you mentioned a gazebo in the center of town. In fact,
you mentioned an incident involving the interurban. Tell us about that gazebo. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, that was where Santa Claus came on
Christmas. That’s my most vivid recollection of that, and Christmas Eve, Santa
would – well I don’t know whether it was Christmas Eve for sure, but anyway,
Santa would come there and hand out candy and bags of candy and treats to the
children. That’s where we met Santa. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Was that gazebo there when you moved here, or
was it built after you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was here when we moved here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, what else was it used for?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I think it was probably used, you know, if
people lectured or something – I’m not sure. But if there was an outdoor
community doings, the speakers would be up there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And you said it was right in the middle of the
street, right in the middle of town?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> In the middle of Main and Center Streets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, tell me, us about that incident involving
the interurban. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I really don’t recollect that. But a
friend of mine told me that some teenagers had greased the track to the
interurban. And so when the interurban came through town, the brakes wouldn’t
stop, and he wrecked the gazebo there and that put an end to it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> That took care of it – they never rebuilt it
and put it up again?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, because at that time you know – I think, you
know, there was more traffic. And then eventually they did take the tracks up
from the interurban and paved the streets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now let me see, we talked about – a
little bit about your childhood, we talked about the County Fair, and, oh yes,
you were telling me… and this might be a good point to mention it… your dad was
a Methodist Minister. You were saying that a lot of weddings took place right
in the parsonage, but there was one very unusual wedding, and in fact, there
were clippings in the paper about it that your father participated in. Won’t
you tell us about that? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, Eddie Stinson had an airplane plant in
Northville down where Main Street curves around and becomes South Main instead
of East Main. And one evening, Eddie Stinson and Randy Page was his test pilot,
they came to the house and asked my father – they had friends that wanted to
get married, and they didn’t want to wait the five days (because there was a
five-day wait in Michigan) and they asked my father if he would fly with them
to Ohio. So, they would get a license in Ohio, and they could be married
immediately. And so he married them in the air over Ohio. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>On the way back? They had the bridal party was
in the airplane also? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> That must have been quite an experience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, from the size of the plane, I don’t see how
they could stand up, but maybe they…. To my knowledge, that was the first
wedding that took place in the air, at least in the Michigan area. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Now, that Stinson Aircraft – is that what it
was called, Stinson Airplane or Stinson Aircraft?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <b>AC: </b></span>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Do you have any idea how many people
that were employed – did it employ a lot of residents of Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I have no idea. I don’t remember. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, there was, as I understand, there was an
airport somewhere here?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, on the Lapham property out – well it was beyond
Six Mile and Beck Road. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, and this belonged to the Stinson… they
used it for planes there… or…?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I
still think… because later on, I know the Lapham’s owned it. Whether they still
own that property now or not, I don’t know. Whether they just rented it, or
what, I don’t know. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Now, would they have built World War I
airplanes for use during the War?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>This would have been after the war?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC</b>: That was after the War. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> So, what they were building were primarily
passenger planes or private planes, (commercial) small planes? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And the
plant, you say, was right where the road curved and became Seven Mile Road –
Main Street became East Main and became South Main and eventually crossed Seven
Mile Road?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, it was probably right across from the well
– the Northville well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, there’s a Wagon Wheel Hotel over there,
somewhere </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> close by, and there’s an office supply place over there … and
that’s where the aircraft plant was… </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Where the old hotel was, was the furniture plant
– The Globe Furniture Factory was there. And Stinson, I think, was sort of back
where Cady Street comes into Main Street, if you can visualize that. And it was
where Cady curves around and comes in to Main Street – the plant was right in
there somewhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, and what’s the Wagon Wheel Hotel was at
one time a furniture company? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>No.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> That’s where it was located. Okay. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was located right next to… right next to
that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, what kind of furniture did they
manufacture there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I
think it was primarily church furniture because I know the font in the present
Methodist Church was made by the Globe Furniture Company, and also, the pulpit
I know was made there. But not the present pulpit – that pulpit was left in the
– </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The old Church?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I was quite shocked when I went into The Drawbridge
and saw they were using it was a reception – where they had reservations. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, so just let me go through this with you
now – some of the things we had in Northville back in those days. You mentioned
the bottling plant, and that was called what – the Silver Springs Bottling
Plant? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Silver Springs Bottling Plant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> And they bottled ginger ale and water.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> All right, and then we had the Globe Furniture company, Stinson Aircraft
– were there any other businesses besides the downtown businesses that were in
Northville back in those days?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I don’t know. I don’t remember there ever not
being a Ford Plant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, that’s the old Ford Plant, where the
water wheel is?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, what do you, as you recall, what did they
manufacture back in those days when you were growing up? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> You mean at the Ford Plant? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Yeah, any idea of
what they were manufacturing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> I think it was a valve plant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>A valve plant, okay, did that plant – was the
plant there when you moved here? When you were ten years old? Was that built
later on?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I’m not sure because I don’t remember it not
being there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now you mentioned the Sanitarium or
Sanitorium, whichever way you pronounce it. That was there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, that later became a convalescent home
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>But now it’s been torn down.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, and then…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Maybury Sanitarium was there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, Maybury was there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, My father was Chaplain there, as he was
Chaplain at the prison too. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, at the House of Correction?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> The House of Correction.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, all right now, Northville was a small
town. I’m assuming there was still a lot of farming in this area. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, there
was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> What kind of farming, would you recall?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, my recollection is mostly orchards. There
was Foreman’s orchard, and then, oh, I can’t think of the name of the one on
Ten Mile, There, that was, that was the Northville Community Ten Mile and Novi
Roads. Irwin’s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh okay, that later became Irwin farms? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>
What kind of fruit, primarily?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Apples, mostly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so then they would </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>And peaches and
pears</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>… Apples, peaches, pears… </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> But primarily apples.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> And then would market those products? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And dairy farming?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Not to my knowledge.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay now there, I’ve noticed as I drive out
west on Eight Mile, still a lot of horse farms out in there. Do you think
that’s the reason for these horse farms, was because of the… what later became
known as Northville Downs, the old race track… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Did they race them in…?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well too, I remember them having – oh what do
they call them – I mean horses, having shows in Northville at the old fair grounds,
of you know… jumping and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Show horses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Show horses, yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Yeah, okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>There’s
always been quite a few horses around Northville. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, so that there would have these fair, and
they would exhibit the horses at the fairs?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, then they had the sulky races at the fair. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Uh huh, I’m assuming this is before the days
that they had gambling then, you couldn’t bet on the horses in those days I
would assume?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I don’t know. I suppose there were side
bets going on. They didn’t have a betting window. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Betting windows and the tote board like they
have today?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, in fact, I’ve never been to the </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> You never went and saw any of the sulky races
then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I did, when it was the Wayne County Fair. In
fact, I was almost run down by a horse trying to cross to watch the acrobats. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> I’m assuming that the… what later became
Northville Downs was nowhere near the size or as elaborate then as it is today.
Did they have some kind of grandstand?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, in fact, when they first opened the races,
they used the grand… the old grandstand was still in use. It was in use then.
And then during the evening, during the fair, why there would be performances.
They had a big stage across the track. And they would have shows, and then at
the end, there would be big fireworks. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now with this – how long would this Fair run?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> A week.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> A week, what in the summer… or?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> In September.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> In September </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Somewhat like the Michigan
State Fair does today, then? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, and they would have fruits and
vegetables and all different kinds of – that ladies exhibit any of their things
at the fair? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>(Tape ended)</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> State Fair, not State Fair, because it was the
Northville Fair and -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Wayne County</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Wayne County Fair, and comparing it to what
our State Fair in Detroit is like today. And you were saying that the ladies
exhibited different things they’d make, handwork?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, and canned goods, and cakes and cookies,
and about the same thing that they do at the State Fair. And then, I remember
going around and seeing – the pigs would be – they would have pigs and cows and
different animals, and the children would exhibit rabbits and guinea pigs, and
win ribbons for those. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> They had prizes for them? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Very good.
Well that would be an interesting thing, and it ran for a week in September?
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Around Labor Day like, like it is today?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, I think so. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Because at that time,
why when we came to Northville, ministers changed in September after school got
started. And that’s why everything was closed up when we arrived in Northville.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Incidentally, how long was your father minister
at the Methodist Church here in Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Nine years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Nine years, okay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>From ’22 to 1931.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Then he was rotated, being a Meth – minister
myself, I mean being a Methodist myself, and my grandfather being a Methodist
minister, I know a little bit about it, and how they’ve moved around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>From church to church. Okay, did … was he reluctant to leave Northville?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, not really, because Northville couldn’t
promise him any salary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Uh huh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>They wouldn’t give him an estimate of any
salary that they would pay him, and I was in college – my first year in
college, and my sister was going the next year. So the bishop moved him to
Belleville, so we would be closer to the college. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Do you have any idea what – how many people
would have been in the Methodist church in those days? Was it fairly sized
young people’s group, for example?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>How many?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> I don’t know what membership
was. I would say probably around 300 or so.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Um, several, several Protestant churches in
Northville at that time?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, there was Presbyterian, the Baptist, and
the Lutheran </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Church and the Catholic Church. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And the Catholic Church. Okay, so principally
four churches in the Northville area? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, let’s take a look at these
notes and see what else we can talk about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> In fact, my father and the priest were very good
friends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>It was an ecumenical thing then? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did you
have any ecumenical activities where the Protestants and the Catholics would
share activities?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, the Baccalaureate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The Baccalaureate?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>
Yeah </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>And they would have it in the church house, so that the priest
could attend. But the Lutheran minister wouldn’t attend. He wouldn’t sit on a
pulpit (?). It was the Missouri Synod church. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>There may be some people that are listening,
that will be listening to this tape, don’t know what a Baccalaureate is. Why
don’t you just tell briefly what a Baccalaureate is?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it’s a Sunday service for the graduating
students – in honor of the graduating class </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Uh huh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>In June. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, and they would come in their caps and
gowns?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Sometimes they would wear their caps and gowns
to Baccalaureate. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, so it was religious service as part of high
school graduation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, the Sunday evening before graduation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Uh huh, very good. Something I just came across
that we didn’t… we didn’t mention earlier when we were talking about sports and
recreation, and that was a ski jump. Tell us about that ski jump. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, that ski jump was down where the
Northville – where the Northville – where the race track is now – only across
the Seven Mile cut off. If you notice when you go by the park, the trees, it’s
all grown with trees now. And it was a big hill there. Now, the big hill would
be between Hines Drive and Sheldon Road. And some, I think, from my earliest
recollection is that they were on Sunday afternoon, they would have ski jump
contests there, where they built the jump, the structure. And then they would
sail across the road and land in the fairgrounds. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, was this built by some private
organization?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I’m not sure because they had – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I’m assuming that it would draw people from
beyond the Northville area? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Anyone interested in skiing then, or in
jumping … </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> And it was contests, it was competitive?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes it was competitive. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Well, that’s interesting. That’s interesting. I
didn’t realize that at one time, there was a ski jump out in this area. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>
Well, besides ski jumping, was there a place to ski in Northville? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well, I
don’t think so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Probably not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Unless, you know where I told you that we were –
had bobsleds? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Yeah.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Why, although people used to, the young people used to
ski down there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>They did come down the hill?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, of course this is before ??? This is before
the days of cross country skiing? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Of course, cross country skiing out at
Maybury State Parks, although there hasn’t been enough snow to do that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>No.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>
Okay, now let’s see. Oh yes, this, I think this is interesting. And this was
when Mr. Amerman became Superintendant, and by that time there’d already been
one fire, I believe, in the Northville Schools. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And he was concerned
about fire safety </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And you were telling us about that. Why don’t you
tell us about what was done – was it about the fire safety?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, they were concerned about it, and so there
were fire escapes that were built, and these were big round tubes like that
were attached – built onto the second story. And they were like a chute. And so
he called the teachers’ meeting of the elementary teachers, and we all had to
go down that chute. Well, he decided that he should go down first, and then
assist us all at the bottom. Well, unbeknownst to anyone, why the children had
– in those times, bread was on wax paper, and they had taken this wax paper and
waxed it quite thoroughly, and they had gone down on the wax paper. And so when
Mr. Amerman went down first, he really shot down that chute. And before he had
time to warn, warn we teachers, why one teacher started down, and as soon as we
saw her almost near the bottom, why the next teacher would start down. You can
imagine how we looked because you didn’t wear slacks in those days. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That’d be quite a shock… Did you ever have to
use the chutes, never had a fire?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, they had fire drills. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Fire drills, okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, the children loved that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>I’ll bet they did. I remember doing it in
elementary school in Detroit, going down through that, as you call them – the
fire chutes. That would be big fun. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, we talked about the fire. Now,
you mention that there were several fires in the Northville area in the time
that you lived here. What are some other fires that you can recall besides the
burning of the school?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the
first one that I recall was – was the old Ambler Hotel, which was on the corner
of, of Main and South Center Street. It was on the west corner of Main and
Center Street, and that was a wood structure. And that really was a tremendous
blaze </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>A pretty good-sized hotel?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> It was at night. It was a fairly good-sized
hotel, yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> And there was, I think there was a bar in there, and a
restaurant. As I remember. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, Ambler, A, M, B, L, E, R </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Ambler
Hotel. Okay, what kind of fire department did they have in Northville in those
days? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it was volunteer. It was Mrs. Watts who
had, as soon as there was a fire, why -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t know whether she activated the fire whistle – although I don’t know
whether they had a fire whistle right when I first came to Northville. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>She
was…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Well anyway, she would – she would contact – she was the night operator.
It was up to the telephone operators to alert the firemen. It was strictly
volunteer fire department. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, was it a fire house where they kept the
equipment? Must have been someplace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I think so. I think it’s where the present fire
house is, there next to the city hall. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> If I remember rightly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, and they’d, the fire, the volunteer
firemen would come and fight the fire? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, so that was the Ambler
Hotel, and you mentioned a couple of other fires….</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> And then the theater burned at one time. I don’t
remember that it was completely burned down. And there were structures behind
the theater. I remember the Ladies Society of the church would put their
bazaars on in that building. And there were other doings there too. And I think
that burned at the same time as the theater burned. And I don’t remember quite
the year that was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now go ahead...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>And then, after that, it was when I
was first teaching, and the Globe Furniture Plant burned, and I think one of
the firemen was killed in that. And I think that fire equipment came from other
towns to help with that fire.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Were these buildings, at that time, primarily
wood structures?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, the Ambler structure was wood. And I’m not
quite sure about – I think the theater was a wooden structure too. But the
Globe Furniture Company was a brick structure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>But it had an awful lot of wood in it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, oh
yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Since they were manufacturers. Okay…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I also remember the Bell Foundry. That didn’t
burn, but they made – they made church bells, and you know, bells in that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh
Bell Foundry, where was that building?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> … and that was run by the Ambler
family. And that was behind, well, that was on Cady, if you came east on Cady,
the Bell Foundry was just before it curved around on to Main Street. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Did they manufacture
anything besides church bells there?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I don’t – I think it was just primarily
bells. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Primarily bells.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> I don’t remember anything else. Because I can
remember hearing one of the bells when it was in England.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, well would that have been a very small
plant or would it have employed several people in the Northville area?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I don’t know how many people – I would say
it probably employed, employed 25 to 50 people… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so it was a fairly
good-sized plant then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yes, it wasn’t as large as the Globe Furniture Plant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, you talk about the theater burning – was
that located where the present Marquis Theater is?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Is that where it was?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, it is, and
that was rebuilt, and I don’t remember if it was the Penniman-Allen Theater
when it burned, but I know that after that – that it was called the Penniman-Allen
Theater … </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Penniman-Allen Theater?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Mmmhmm theater. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, where did those
names come from?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Uh, I think it’s a Plymouth’s name, because there was a –
well there’s still a Penniman-Allen Theater </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Which is called The Penn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> The
Penn Theater. And then there was another theater in Plymouth that burned too,
and whether it was called the Penniman or whether it was The Allen Theater, I’m
not quite sure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now this Allen Terrace that’s up here is
named after somebody named Allen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I think he – he was the owner, why I think he’s
still living. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Uh huh, okay, Mayor?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Mayor of Northville, and he owned the
monument works. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh yeah, Allen Monument, it’s right on Seven Mile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, yes.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Next to the Northrop Funeral Home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. I’m not positive, but I’m sure that
that’s … </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That it was named after him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That’s a different Allen then
the Allen that this theater was named after?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, then eventually, the Penniman-Allen
Theater became the Marquis Theater?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, it was closed for quite a while. Then
the Zayti’s restored it, and they did a beautiful job restoring it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Now, I’m assuming at one time that Marquis was
a, I guess what – what’s termed a legitimate theater. In other words, it was –
there were stage shows there before they had movies there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, there were mostly movies there </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Mostly<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>movies?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Except that I do remember high
school operettas we put on there. And they had different doings there, besides
the, besides the movies. I remember when I went to the movie – it was 10 cents
to get in and 5 cents for a bag of popcorn. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>You probably saw a double
feature?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And probably a cartoon as well?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Like Tom, like a oh, these
short...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Tom & Jerry?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yes. I remember seeing Shirley Temple movies and Tom
Mix movies on </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Saturday mornings?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Saturday evenings, when I went. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Do you have any idea when the Marquis Theater
started doing stage shows and stage plays? For example, right now there’s a
play called The Velveteen Rabbit, which is for children. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> How long ago
did they start?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC</b>: Not too long ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I think it’s a matter
of – because I went to the opening. Camelot, I think, was the first, the first
show that was put on there – the first stage play that was put on there, if I
remember rightly. Probably not more than 4 or 5 years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, so it’s been relatively recent? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>
Previous to that, it was still used as a movie theater?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was closed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>It was closed and then it
was remodeled. Okay, who did the remodeling, the Zayti’s?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> The Zayti’s, yes.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The Zayti family, okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> They restored it back to its present, to its former
condition. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, and then did they own it, it’s still in that family?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>I’m not
sure whether they own it or not, but I surmise they maybe do. I don’t know who
owns it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> We were there for the first time earlier in the
year, well earlier in 1988, for a “Save the Well” function, and that is quite a
nice theater. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, it is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Speaking of saving the well, as you can recall, how
long… the waters from the well were supposed to have kind of restorative
powers. People thought, you know, that this was a natural spring, I know it was
bubbling spring or not, that the water was good. You have any idea when that
came about, how long that well has been there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, it’s been there as long as I can remember.
But I remember the Silver Springs was back behind the tracks, over where, some
plants back in there now, and I remember going back there, and they had a
glass, well, at one time, it wasn’t glass because people would drop their
pennies down, there was a – oh, like a fence around, inside the building. And
you could look down and see the water, how pure it was. Like Ivory Soap is
supposed to be 99 9/10s pure. And I remember too, that that well at one time
was just a pipe coming out of the side, from under the railroad tracks,
although I’m not exactly sure. That probably wasn’t as pure as what was back
where the bottling plant was built over the spring. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, all right, so that was how the bottling
plant came about because, and this spring was called Silver Springs? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>
And, and now, there’s kinda like a carbonated or a mineral water, or a just
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Just plain, pure water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Just plain, pure water. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>That’s … ginger ale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay,
so they bottled the water, and then they also sold, sold it, and then also ginger
ale, made ginger ale out of that water? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, okay, so that’s where the
name Silver Spring’s comes from? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> That’s what it was called? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes, the
Silver Springs Bottling Plant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> And then today, since I live in Highland Lakes,
we have an elementary school called Silver Springs Elementary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay,
that’s interesting. Okay, now let’s see, we talked about that, just look at my
notes here, and see if there’s anything else we can talk about. You’ve lived
here 66 years, that’s quite a...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>It will 67 this fall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…that’s quite a stretch of time. Your
present house, now, right here on Maxwell Street </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> How long have you been
here? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Ever since it was built.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Ever since your husband had this place built?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, my father wanted to retire, and we rented it
from him. And he built it about the same time we were married, and we rented it
from him, and then his health was so bad that he had to be in Florida about
nine months out of the year. And then he had hay fever, and he was up at Bay
City or Bay View during the summer. As soon as hay fever season started, he
went to Bay View. So eventually, we bought the home from him, and they lived
here with us until my father died. And then my mother lived with us till she
was 80 years old, and then she one day, just came up and said that she was
going to Chelsea Methodist home. So she spent 9 years there at Chelsea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So
you’ve been here since 1938?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> We’ve kind of glossed over your 32 years as a
teacher in Northville Schools, and we couldn’t do that because that was – you
had quite a long career in Northville schools. Are there any particular
students that you had recollections of, or incidents that you have fond
recollections of, that you’d want to tell us about, during your 32-year
teaching career? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, there’s one incident I’ll never forget. It
was during, of course those were Depression years, and the – I don’t exactly
remember when the Mother’s Club was formed, but I think it was formed around
that time. And they furnished milk to the children that couldn’t afford to pay
for it. Everybody got milk – the children didn’t know who was getting free milk
and who wasn’t. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And that was during the Depression?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>This was during the
Depression, and it continued on for quite a few years even after the Depression.
The Mothers Club – that was one of their projects. But I remember one day, I
think it was, it must have been my first, I think it was my first year of
teaching, this little girl came to school, ah, and her fist was closed, her
hand was closed into a fist. And I asked her what she had in her hand; she
wouldn’t show me. And she was a bashful youngster, which is unusual nowadays.
And so she wouldn’t open her fist all day long, and when they went to go home,
why she didn’t want to go home. So I didn’t say too much to her until after the
other youngsters had went – had gone. And a, then she came up to me, and she
opened up her fist, and here was a chocolate, one of these vanilla, chocolate
creams. And she handed it up to me and says, “For you.” So I took it, and held
it in my hand, and she says, “Eat it, it’s good.” So I did, and it was good. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> And she had it in her hand all day?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> All day long.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Well, that was a very special, special thing
for her to do that for you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, I thought so too, because they were a very,
it was a very poor family at that time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Well, she must have thought you were a pretty
special person to keep that candy for you. She could have eaten it herself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> There was another incident, I remember, I was
then, I was at the Amerman school teaching, and we had parent conferences. And
a, the father was, I guess the father was going to come to this conference, and
a, I was sitting at my desk, and all of a sudden, I noticed this gentleman
stick his head in the door and then out and then – so I got up and went out to
the doorway, and he had gone to the room across the hall from me, and just as I
heard him say my son said that his teacher was beautiful. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughter</i>) It’s in the eyes of the beholder. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Any particular students that became quite
prominent, either in the Northville area or elsewhere that you can recall that
were students of yours?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, yes, Eddie Lanning became an
archaeologist, and he taught at Columbia University. And I was quite surprised
– I was invited to the reunion of the class he was in, and found out that he
had passed away. But he was quite prominent </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Eddie Lanning?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Lanning – Edward
Lanning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And he was on staff at Columbia University as an archaeologist?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yes.
Well, of course, I had Charles Freydl, and I had Charles Lapham in school. And
I had a, you know, the shoe store in Northville. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>The shoe store, I know the
one we’re talking about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Del Black. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Well, let’s come back to that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>It’s right on
the tip of my tongue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Let’s come back to that. Let’s talk about the Laphams
and the Freydls. Now, as I know those two names today, and I’ve only been in
Northville three years now, they’re both clothing stores? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> But there is
more to the Lapham family than that, I think, wasn’t there? Did you mention
that in the dry goods business? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> It was Ponsford’s back in, back in my younger
days. It was called Ponsford’s Dry Goods Store. Now Beth Ponsford later married
a Lapham. And, and then, the boys eventually, or Charles eventually took over
the store. And of course, Freydls has been there for years and years and years
as a dry cleaners and a dry goods store too, I think.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, okay, so they also take in dry cleaning
there? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Oh yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> The store also does dry cleaning? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I think the year the fire in the dry cleaning
part there just recently. I don’t know how much, just a few weeks ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So they
do the dry cleaning on the property – they don’t have to send it out?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>They did
a long time, I think, I don’t know whether they do it now themselves or not, or
whether it’s sent out. I think it’s more, it’s send out more, well, maybe not,
maybe not, I’m not sure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Did the Laphams have a lot of property in this
area?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, it was mostly Ponsford. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Ponsfords had
property?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, and Beth inherited the property from her father. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, but their primary business was the dry
goods store in town. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Okay, and then the Freydl’s primary – is it Freydl,
am I pronouncing it </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Freydl.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Freydl, okay, and their primary business was also
dry cleaning and clothing, or dry goods, or what would you want to call it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, they did sell notions at one time, two
years ago, and dry and yard goods and things. I’m pretty sure. Where Ponsfords,
Ponsfords or Laphams, I just can’t remember whether it was mostly a men’s
clothing store, but Freydls is a lady’s wear on one side, and a men’s wear on
the other side now. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, now is the shoe store you were thinking
of, was that Del’s? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Del’s!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Del Black’s </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Del Black</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Shoe Store. Yes, and I
had him in school too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>But not related to the Blacks as Black Hardware? That’s
not the same family is it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh, yes they’re related. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, they are, okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So, Del’s shoe store and Black’s Hardware…?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> The Blacks, they were brothers.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Oh, part of the same family?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yes, I sort of forgot about the Hardware store,
yes. They took that over, well to me, it’s fairly recently because it was
Gambel’s for a long time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Gambel’s Hardware store?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Gambel’s Hardware store. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, as a matter of fact, the owners of the,
of the current Black’s Hardware were students at Warren High School. And before
I became Assistant Principal at Warren High School, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Oh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And that’s where they
met, and then eventually, and I, I was surprised when I came out here, was
wearing a Warren Consolidated School Jacket, and they said, “You were in
Warren?” and I said, “Yes.” “Well, what did you do in Warren?” And I said that
I was the Assistant Principal at Warren High School, later the Assistant
Principal at Mott High School. And they said, “Well, we went to Warren High
School.” “Who was your principal? “Elmer Ashenberg.” Well, Elmer Ashenberg was
Principal when I was there. But they graduated before I did, and I wondered why
they came back here to Northville to open up a business and how did they know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, they originated in Northville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>That’s
right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Their mother was the one that ran the Black’s White House. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Black’s
White House, okay, which was a restaurant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b> Yeah</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>In the old parsonage?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Yeah,
I’m trying to think what her name was, that was her second marriage, she had a
brother… Arlene Richardson married her brother, what was his name…? Anyway,
that was – they grew up in Northville. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b>Okay, all right, let’s see if there’s anything
else we need to talk about. Oh, well, are there any other things about your
teaching that you recall, that you want to tell us about, anything else in
those 32 years? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, except that, that I remember, well, I
taught in another house at one time, when Kindergarten was too large. Why they
divided it into two. That was about 19 – 1967, I think. And it was one of the
times that I decided to stay home and take care of my children. And then they
had an overflow, and Mr. Amerman called, called me and asked if I would be
interested in teaching Kindergarten half day, because they had too many
kindergarten children pupils for one teacher. And so that’s when I went back,
went back again to teach. I had been off at that time for about six years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> You mentioned, you mentioned when you started
teaching back in 1933, there were about 25 people on the staff, total? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Which would be principals, teachers, they had secretaries in those days, or did
principal do the clerical work? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, with the Superintendent, had a secretary,
and I think the Principal might have had a secretary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> When you retired, and what year was it when you
retired from, finally retired from teaching?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> June of 1973.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay, any idea of how big the Northville
Schools were then. How many employees there were?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Oh, well Morraine School was built. Because I
worked at Morraine as a reading teacher. I went from Morraine and Amerman. And
Main Street School was open. Over a hundred I know, at least… </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>So, it was a big growth during those years?
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Oh, yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b> Both in terms of staff and terms of buildings and terms of numbers
of students? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And I assume from what I know of it that Northville was a
highly regarded school district? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>And was a good place to teach? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> We had a high percentage of our students that
went onto college. I think it was somewhere about 80% went onto college. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Good, good, anything else you want to mention?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> No, except that all my children graduated from
Northville High School.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> It would be interesting to talk to them, to get
their perceptions of growing up in Northville.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I remember my son’s graduation exercise,
because they decided – he attended the Main Street High School, and so they
decided – I think it was the School Board, decided that they were going to have
that class graduate from the high school, from the new high school because the
gym was finished then. But the roads weren’t completely through, and oh, it was
a real rain storm. And so they had to take – they bused us up to the high
school, to the new high school for the graduation exercises. And by the time we
got home, all our guests had left because it took so long to bus us back down
to our cars.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> Now, when you say the new high school, are you
talking about the current high school that’s on top of the hill? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC: </b>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Okay,
how long ago was that built?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> That was, well, my son graduated in 1959.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>1959, and the building was partially finished
then. It wasn’t completely finished then?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> I don’t know whether, well it was almost
completed then, because they opened it that fall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ: </b>Yeah, okay. Well, thank you very much. This has
been an interesting interview.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>AC:</b> Well, I’ve enjoyed it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>FJ:</b> Thank you. </span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-14210547889442812622013-06-26T05:48:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:16:14.860-04:00Ruby Cole<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b>Would you tell me how old you are or when you were
born?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I was born in 1896.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m 92 years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born a half-mile north of Eight Mile
Road and have lived there all my life.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You said you were born near Eight Mile?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near what road?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Napier.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What did your family do around Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> My dad did day (hay?) work and my mother was
just a housewife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than that, what
else do you want to know?<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Little things, like when you were growing up, what
did you like to do?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We didn’t play with much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to school and we had a school on
Eight Mile Road.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What was the name of the school?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I don’t know what it is called now but then it
was Stone School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was the name of
that school on Eight Mile Road?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it
wasn’t Stone.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>How many students were there in school?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> It was up to eighth grade. Oh, maybe no more
than fifteen.<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Did you have a man or a woman teacher?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> A woman teacher.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did the women teachers board around or did they live
there?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> They lived here in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was Hazel _______ and the other was Hazel
_Farmer?_____ and another was Helen________, Lena Parkins was the kindergarten
teacher. She’s been dead for a while now.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Were there certain subjects that you liked in
school?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I liked spelling and was in spelling contests.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Was it right there in that school or did you compete
with other schools?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> No, just right there.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>That’s quite an honor!<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We’d play ball at recesses<b>.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Is that the school that is still there by Maybury?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Yes. We had a lot of neighbors.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Think back to those days to what you enjoyed doing
or what your neighbors did.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Well, we played horse shoes, we played baseball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to make our own programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so few people, they were so far
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One girlfriend I played with, she
lived a half-mile away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to
school together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than that, I
don’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When there was a big
snow bank, we would cut across the fields to go to school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, my mother, she died when I was
eight years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My dad kept us kids all
together until he passed away.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you have to help out with the family?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We did our own cooking, we didn’t hire anyone for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The neighbors would help shovel out the road
when the big snowbank would come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know
when my dad died, the snowbanks were seven feet tall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The drifts were above the road.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you come into Northville to do your shopping?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Once in a while during the holidays or the 4<sup>th</sup>
of July we would go to Plymouth for the doings; they didn’t have anything
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d go to Plymouth.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What kind of doings?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> They had races for boys and girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had baseball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had horse shoes for men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was just about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t very big, but now you can’t get
through anymore.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Would you drive over there?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Yes, with a horse and buggy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to take care of the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had forty acres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to take care of the garden.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you can?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How did you take care of the meat or some of the things like that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Meat, oh we butchered pigs, one in spring and
one in fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would salt it down in a
big barrel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would smoke the hams, and
if you wanted a piece of salt pork and you thought it was too salty, you would
soak it in cold water all night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would
cure pickles, we would put them down in the brine and put a heavy plate on top
of them and squish them down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did
that the same way. When you want to make a batch, we would soak them overnight
and get the salt out of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
didn’t last very long..all those kids, we just loved the pickles.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you try doing it afterwards too?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that same recipe?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Yes, I still do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made our own bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cooked nine loaves twice a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had hungry kids you know...<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you learn to do that then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> My father and I would do all the baking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We baked the bread and took turns. One would
skip school one day, then the next one… We cooked dinner on a wood stove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s more fun than it is today.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Sounds like you had a lot of responsibility.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> You didn’t notice it them days. It was routine,
something you had to do every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dig
the potatoes, put them down the bin in the basement. We had peach tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would can tomatoes. We would can sixty or
seventy quarts.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you have your own chickens, too?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had chickens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We raised our
own popcorn. Sunday we’d have two chickens cooked and at night for a snack,
we’d pop corn.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Then you met Mr. Cole?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I met him when we lived out Napier Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our house burned down, and then we rented
down the road about a quarter of a mile where Russell lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We lived there for quite a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My dad passed away and my brother went into
the service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he passed away the
boys lived on 10 Mile Road and worked for Mr. Timmons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I met Mr. Cole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lived a mile from there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got married and moved from 10 Mile Road to
a forty acre farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved to Wing
Street and we lived there for a few years till we bought this place here and
have lived here ever since.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>How many years have you been in this house?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I think 43.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My son was eight years old when we moved here.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You’ve seen a lot of changes in Northville, haven’t
you?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> I don’t get out very much but when I do…if I
shut my eyes for a few minutes and look up I don’t know where I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coming down Eight Mile to Northville, turn on
Randolph down into Northville, that is as far as we got.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What are some of the businesses or things that you
remember many years ago that impressed you or things you liked?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We used to make butter and sell it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a cow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had enough for me to go around to customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Picking apples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young fellas would come home from school and
help farmers pick apples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>….a hardware
store and my brother had a plumbing store down there on the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tore the building down now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s two of us left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother lives in Newberry and is four
years younger than I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a stroke
and he don’t feel too good...<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Is it the Cole family or the Light family?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> The Light family ……we had it one year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a picnic area and a treed area and
they cut them all down now.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You’ve seen the track change?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Northville Downs)<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have just since my husband passed away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He passed away in 1971.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
couldn’t walk that far, he had a lot of things wrong with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to go down there because he liked to
bet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I went just once to two
races.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You like horses then?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
lot of people don’t like the noise, but I think it’s not too bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the old people who used to park here
when we parked cards used to stop in and say hello.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Were they still having fairs here when you lived
here?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes, we came from the farm to the fair and
entered all kinds of vegetables, wheat and oats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All kinds of vegetables. I would bake. I used
to make cakes, spice cake, and take that over. And I’d get first place. For the
filling I had a ???? to it ….. I used to mash it all up and put sugar in it.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Sounds like you are a good cook.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> She don’t bake so much anymore because here
husband isn’t so well. She was a caterer and cooked for other people.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Did you come in and spend the whole day at the fair
or just for a little while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me
about that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We would be going for most of the day, but as a
rule, …………but we’d stay till 8:00 or 9:00 at night, take in some of the shows,
play bingo, and things like that.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What kind of shows?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> They’d have horse racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fancy horse show, they were really a lot of
fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was ten cents in those days and
now its $2.00 to park.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You belong to the Methodist Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you been a member for a long time?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Since I moved into town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First when I went to school we would walk
down and go to the Presbyterian Church and then ……….the Methodist Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when I lived with relatives I went to
the Methodist Church.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You also belong to the American Legion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me about that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> They had a party for me for 50 years about six years
ago.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Had your husband been in the service?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was your brother wasn’t it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> He lived up on ...<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>In the winter time when you were a child, what did
you do for enjoyment in your spare time?<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Slide downhill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We made our own sleds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would
get some steel runners and heat them and bend them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a hill across Napier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s all bulldozed down now with
houses down through there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
baseball and school picnics...<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you have a picnic on the last day of school?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
niece was a teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She taught here and
she took us to Boblo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think that
boat runs anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother (the ones
who’s alive) would climb up on the edge of it, and we had to keep pulling him
off so he wouldn’t fall over.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>How did you get down to the river?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We had a ……………..and you could sit in it.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>I was thinking maybe you had taken the interurban
downtown.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> No, that was later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we wanted to go to Detroit, we had to take
the streetcar.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You’ve seen a lot of things in your years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you remember when you saw your first
airplane?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br />RC:</b> Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had a ride in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Six Mile road, Stinson,
would give people free rides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went as
far as where the Ford plant is and then circle back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three at a time, ………….. thought he was
steering it right, but he hit a tree and broke a leg, and we took him to the
doctor.<br />
We had four couples who would have card parties, once a month.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What kind of cards did you play?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> We played 5 hearts, pinochle, and euchre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never played pinochle until my son who lives
up north…We’d go over there one night a week and we played euchre and they’d
make me go.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>You had one child?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">…………………<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Let’s talk about the opera house.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> That was years and years ago…roller rink…….they
came over here next to the theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mostly on Saturday nights we would go.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>What kind of programs would they have?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Silent movies and reading of it.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did anybody play the piano for music with the silent
movie?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> Seems like they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beginning of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music was going when you first came in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flower shop is there now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theatre was above it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a butcher shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a livery stable to leave your
horse, and ………on West Main.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>On Cady? On Center, I mean?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b>RC:</b> That was all forest there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cut
down all the trees along the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
hate to see it because of the birds, and squirrels had nuts in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to feed them and they used to fight
each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to watch them from my
desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They used to dig holes and make a
nest. It really is funny to see how they remember where to go all of the time.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>Did you come into Northville to go to high school?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>RC:</b> No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
went to the eighth grade.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int: </b></span>This has been interesting, and I thank you.</span></div>
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NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-7187730472578147582013-06-26T05:44:00.000-04:002013-08-05T19:17:02.589-04:00Marjorie Coolman<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">March
8, 1989<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> Would
you like to tell us a little bit about your life in Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
generally accepted that I am a native of Northville which is all wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not even a native of Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born in Warren, Pennsylvania and lived
there till I was about two or three, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We moved to Detroit and lived on the corner of Longfellow and
Third.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other night I was listening
to late-night radio and the man wanted to know if anybody remembered Pearl
White and the Perils of Pauline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
been sixty years since I heard that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
mother used to take me to the matinee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We saw all of Pearl.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we decided to move to Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father was in the meat-packing business
and worked for Hammond Standish and Cuta Brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were not part of the white flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were urban people who always wanted a
place to have a garden, and I think they overdid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We bought a place on Randolph Street, and
it’s still there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stinkins live
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a place with six acres
with everything on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had apples, we
had peaches, we had a grape arbor and we had chickens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t go in for livestock anymore than
that, and for that I thank the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I think that’s why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>How
old were you then?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span>I think I was in the sixth grade, around thirteen or
fourteen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s why I was never
interested in having plants or working in gardens, because we worked, we really
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made cider in the kitchen with a
cider press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made wine out of the
cherries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just used everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother canned everything in the world
which we provided the city of Detroit with because we couldn’t possible use it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Were
you an only child?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I had a brother who died within hours of spinal
meningitis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we came to Detroit, I
was very seriously ill and not expected to live with diphtheria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a feeling that was probably why we
didn’t have any more children because we had been through so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I came out here in the sixth grade it
was in the old building and it was a delightful change to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>The
one that faced West Street and is now closed off at Cady?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>No, the one that was the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t have big enough classes then, you
could put the whole system in one building. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I missed being in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anybody that age when they move leaves all
their friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I did enjoy a little
more freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although I had a lot of
freedom in Detroit, compared to what children have today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the streetcar to music lessons and the
things like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Piano, which was a
total loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always wanted to play jazz
and blues, and my </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">teacher always said I was technically perfect, but I
didn’t have any heart in it, and I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I shudder to think of the money that went down the drain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed being here and I soon made
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when I went into high
school, I got into athletics and that was the end-all and the beginning of
everything for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed it so much.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our athletics were so different then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of having a boys’ team and a girls’
team, we traveled together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girls
played first and the boys played the second game. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had no busses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when parents really worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was up to our parents to get us there and
get us back and stay there with us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>What
schools did you play?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>We had a large league.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was Farmington and Plymouth who were
our deadly enemies, and Dearborn, Wayne, and Redford; and our outside games out
of the league were Saline and around Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We didn’t go north very much, but it was interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, we had to have good marks; nobody with
a D or D- played.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Who
was your coach?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our coach was the coach of the girls (the wife) and
the coach of the boys was the husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their names were Mr. and Mrs. Miller.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Did
she teach in the schools also?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>Possibly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t have her for any classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would
imagine they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our apparel that we
wore on the floor was so different than it is today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You wonder how we got around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wore high tennis shoes and black stockings
and really beautiful black-serge, pleated bloomers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I liked our uniforms better than anyone
else’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had orange shantung middies
(and this is the ridiculous part when you think of flinging the ball around)
with long shantung ties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plymouth wore
all white, and they always looked as if they had just come out of the washing
machine and starched, they were that stiff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had to wear those for track and baseball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> W</span>ere
they long-sleeved?<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although we did get to the short sleeves before we were through with
high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Track was really
something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Northville, especially, had a
very small team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were a very small
school, so you had to be able to do practically everything in the meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran all the dashes, did the broad jump and
the high jump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One time we were having a
big meeting in Dearborn, out league and several other schools, and I decided I
was not going to put myself though that again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I made myself a pair of skin-tight sateen, black bloomers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were long enough, they were proper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I put my coat on and got out of the
house before anybody saw me, and I didn’t take my coat off till I got to the
track meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My coach about died, but it
was too late to say anything about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think as a result of my not having any clothing trailing around me, I was the
high </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">point winner for the meet and got a big silver
cup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had it for years and years till
it got so disreputable looking, I tossed it, much to the dismay of my
grandchildren and who would loved to have seen it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did have great times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had no busses, and the people in the
country, it was their responsibility to get the children to the school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you lived in town, you had lots of
company, because with working parents (they were home parents then) but they
always had chores to do on their farms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also part of the reason the downtown stores were two stories high with
apartments is the farm people who were also in business would put their car up
on blocks and move down to the apartments over their stores all winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was always fun for the town kids because
we got to go through whole new attitudes and situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entertaining was also different in those
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t go out as much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parties were either held in the house, or if
you didn’t have a big enough house, parents used to rent the old library that
is now down at Meads Mill (Mill Race) and we had dances there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a gentler time and a quieter time, but
we all had a lot of fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as
dressing was concerned, we wore what we were told to wear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no stamping of the feet and saying
that I had to have this kind of tennis shoe because somebody else did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would have just been out of luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parents said “no” - kids didn’t rule the
world at that point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody felt that
badly off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally you had graduations
in income in town, we all seemed to mingle, and we could see that another
person might be better dressed, but it wasn’t such a big deal then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, we didn’t have all of this going
steady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went in groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about peer pressure, the peer pressure
in those days was more against that kind of thing than it was for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While a girl was supposedly wild and that
sort of thing, she wasn’t envied or thought to be the thing to do, she was
considered a little out of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One foot
off the curb type of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody was
nasty, but it was just not the thing to do.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The amusements we had were very limited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a theater here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a bowling alley which was off limits
to every well-bred brought-up child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was strictly a bowling alley and a pool hall, and young people never went to it
at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the older crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So our resources for doing things were
limited, and there was never any thought in those days to come home and say,
“Can I have the car?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Occasionally this
was provided, but it was the parent’s idea and not ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the winter we used to have a ball because
the farmers would all come in from the farms with sleighs to the grist mills,
and we would grab ride out in the country on the runners, and we would catch
another bob coming in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to do
that all day long. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a wonderful
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t spend much on
recreation, but we certainly had a whirl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then we used to go bobsledding down Buchner’s Hill where the old
people’s home that was Eastlawn San.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
would start up there, and we could come all the way down and go way down to the
fairgrounds weaving around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I was
married, our big fun was after every heavy snow storm, we’d get the bobs out
and hook behind a car and zoom around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was always terrible on whoever had to be the front man to hang on,
but fun for the rest of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an
enjoyable time and slower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the summer
we had the bandstand in the middle of the four corners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every Saturday night there was a band concert
and everybody was downtown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Did
you get dressed up for that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>Oh no, well, you got out of your house dress if you
were a housewife, and if you were a young fellow or girl you perked up a bit
because you might see some other fellow or girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the corner where they are doing all the
building now where there was a parking lot—that was the Ambler Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a huge place and that was just as
famous as Frankenmuth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People used to
come from all over for their dinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That, of course, had a soda fountain and each drug store had a soda
fountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we had plenty of places to
chat or as they say now, hang out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Do
you remember the old theater that burned?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No, I was never in that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never in use when I was in town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>The
new one was built or not?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Allens had it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Your
mom was a great Tiger fan wasn’t she?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This was the actual truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was practically brought up in Tiger
Stadium, but it wasn’t Tiger Stadium then, it was Navin Field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We only lived three doors from Ty Cobb, and
my mother and Mrs. Cobb used to take us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She only had three children at that time and my mother and me, we used
to go every home game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ty and I being a
little older than the sisters who accompanied us, we used to break away and run
all over the stands and do all kinds of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I often think of it now, how a famous person couldn’t take that chance
anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would be afraid of
kidnapping or those kinds of things, but as I say it was wide open then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was delightful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ty, the father, had a terrible temper and he
was really a character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One time when
they were going back to Georgia, young Ty had fiery red hair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I often wondered what became of him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came to the door and had a package for
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He brought me a present because he was
leaving Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took it in and opened
it, and it was a plaque that his father had gotten with a big diamond in the
middle of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should have hidden it
immediately, because when my mother spotted it, I was walked down to the Cobbs’
to present the plaque, and then Ty got his pants whaled because he’d done it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>He
must have thought a lot of you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span>We were very good friends, you know, we were kids at
that point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we got near the end of
high school, we were planning on a senior trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In those days, they were very modest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most all the high schools in that day and age which was in 1926, the
main trip was to go to Washington.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>By
train or bus?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Train.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh my,
that was a very exciting time and a very nice time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in those days when a dollar was
relative, it wasn’t nearly as expensive as the things the kids try to plan
today, so almost the entire class could go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nowadays, they sound so wonderful, but half the kids can’t make it which
seems a shame because this is the last fling you’re going to have with these
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do grow up and go to college
and move on and now especially because the world is so mobile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You get out of school and are immediately
transferred to someplace you have never lived before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Did
you have the formal dances then?<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh yes, we had the proms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t have as many weekend dances as they
do now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was left up to parents to
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a great deal more left up
to parents in the entertainment of children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t thrown outside the home, it was taken care of inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were a smaller group so that it could be
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be a little hard now, I
would agree with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s about
it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> S</span>ounds
like a lot of fun.<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>MC: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh, it was. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I was married here in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We raised two children, my husband and
I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My daughter went to Michigan State
and my son went to Michigan State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s
in education, an elementary principal in Birmingham, and my daughter was a
teacher until a personal crisis arose in the family, and she is now an
industrial engineer with Ford Motor Company in Ypsilanti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through no planning at all, my daughter lives
right across the street from her brother, and they both live within a block of
me which makes it very handy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
that’s probably all that’s very interesting to all of you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Well,
Marjorie, thank you so much for your time and giving us the history of
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you.<o:p></o:p></span>NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-55489320694217168252013-06-26T05:40:00.000-04:002013-07-15T16:40:22.460-04:00Lillian DuersonAt Alle<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">n Terrace March 1995 (Lived in Northville area for 52 years)</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Q:</b> </span>Mrs. Duerson, where did you live when
you first came to Northville?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
lived up on the hill at the end of Main Street, which was called Bloom’s Wood,
and there was only one house up there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that was your house?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was this a house
your husband built?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
it was one that we rented and we could only have it for six months, and so we
took it because we were moving to this area where his work would take him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was with a cement company out of Jackson,
Michigan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
was his job?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
he was a salesman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
salesman?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> W</span>ell
then, you could only live there six months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What happened at the end of the six months?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
then we found a house on Baseline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Baseline is the same as Eight Mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We lived there for quite awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We lived in several places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you usually rent a house or own a house?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
we rented.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
you had been married just a short while before moving to Northville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were married in 1932.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five years then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you have children when you moved or did you have children after you got here?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had one child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One daughter, she was three when we moved
here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
was Northville like at that time as far as, was it just a small, little, small
town?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
it was very quiet and they didn’t have a City Manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a Clerk, City Clerk, and the Manager
came, oh I don’t remember just what year it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I wasn’t working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t work in the City then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t work in the City until the 1950’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I can’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should have written that down, I don’t
know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
had a young daughter then, and you were raising her and your husband was a
salesman working for a cement company, so in the early years that you lived
here in Northville you were at home raising your daughter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother lived with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ah,
your mother lived with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, had she
been ill or …?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She just… after my father died, she had to
come and live with us.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
see.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
she lived with us for twenty-two years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
she able to get out and do things?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
kinds of things did your mother do here in Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
she didn’t do anything socially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She …
just things around the home.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
she like Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think she liked it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She grew up in a long cabin in Big
Rapids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the Indians used to come to
the house.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is
that right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They’d
walk right in the log cabin and sometimes, if it was winter, they would go in
by the fire to keep warm and they had deer and wild turkeys and rabbits and
usually one cow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sometimes the
Indians would walk right in the house, and they wouldn’t know, they’d just walk
right in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
would they have lived on a reservation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> N</span>o.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had… they bought some land and this
first land that they had was near Lake Chippewa and later they were in, about a
mile and a half out of town, in a regular house.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
then your mother had some interesting experiences?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
she did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Growing
up in a log cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How old was she when
she died?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>84.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
she lived with you how many years? Twenty?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Twenty-two
years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well then, I can understand then, with a
young daughter and then a mother living with you, your early years in
Northville were spent pretty much at home.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
they were.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
you note on your biographical statement that you did work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You worked in the City Clerk's office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You worked from 1956 to 1962, six years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where was the City Clerk’s office located,
and what was your job at that time?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was located right where the library is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I think the City Clerk's office is in that same building and that’s
where it was.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
this is not the existing building, this was an older building?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It belonged to a Dr. Lapham, a
woman, and I don’t know much about her history or about that part of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was just like a middle 1800 farmhouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
might have been a farmhouse then?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it could have been.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was
the space adequate for what had to be done in this office?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
the Police Department was upstairs, and the fines had to be paid for downstairs
in the City Clerk’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
Police Department was small then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
had a Chief of Police; I think Joe Denton was the Chief of Police then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
big would the Police force have been at that time?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
just one car.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
car!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not too many problems in Northville
to have to deal with then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s good. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tell me a little
bit about your job as a clerk in the City Clerk’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was your responsibility?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
Mary Alexander was there, and she worked there for 27 years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
she was the City Clerk?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did everything; got out the taxes, sent
out the water bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very responsible
clever woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had two daughters that
she raised and stayed right there until she retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By that time they had a City Manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first was John Robertson, the first City
Manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember the name of
the second one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Mike Allen was very
active in affairs of Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
a wonderful addition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
who is Mike Allen?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mike
Allen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He owns the tombstone business.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allen Monument.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
is right there at Seven Mile and Plymouth-Northville Road.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
he have a job with the city?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
not a job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was Mayor for many years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
was the Mayor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, was the Mayor paid
or was this a volunteer position?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think he was paid.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably a small amount of money, and it was
more or less a part-time job?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to think if there was … a Mr. Ely.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I’ve heard that name.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
was Mayor for quite awhile, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tell
me about Mike Allen and how he was involved and why Allen Terrace was name
after him.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
he’s a man who lived here a long time and he’s interested in Northville and
everything that’s best for Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was Mayor for a good many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did I mention that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
you did.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s still here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s still active in the Presbyterian Church
and he’s active in many city affairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anything that’s all for Northville.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
old of a gentleman would he be now?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
imagine in his 60’s.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
he was instrumental in seeing that this Allen Terrace was constructed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
yes, he was.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
this is, you were telling me, this is actually owned by the City of Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Allen
Terrace is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not a governmental
housing project or anything?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A: </b>No
it isn’t.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> Well
that’s great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have any idea of
how many residents there are here in Allen Terrace?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the building?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
are a hundred apartments.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
hundred apartments?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All
these are one-bedroom apartments?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
nice.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All
the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, some are a little larger
in that they allow for wheelchairs, and some have a larger store room than
others and they try to make them available for the people that need them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
speaks pretty well for the City of Northville that they build a project for the
elderly citizens to live in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That speaks
very well.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
wanted to build an addition, but it was going to be too expensive this year, so
they aren’t doing it right now.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
so you told me you worked in the City Clerks office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a Mayor and it was probably a …
well, first of all there was a City Manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The City Clerk did most of the work at one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then a City Manager was hired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then eventually there was a part-time
Mayor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you mentioned also in your
biographical data that you also worked for the <i>Northville Record</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you tell me how that came about?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think I applied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was an ad in the
paper and I applied.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
what was your job?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To
do the Society and any extra things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
one thing was, oh, how a woman had a family of six children and how she kept
her housework up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said she changed
one bed everyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she wouldn’t have
to do it all on one day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her children
have grown up and they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
think they live here any longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
was just little articles that concerned the people who lived here and were in
business here.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> This
would be kind of interest then, because it was like kind of real life stories.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mr.
Cummings, when he bought the paper, he wanted it to be a small town country
paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weekly paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he wanted a column showing the people and
their interests, where they lived, who they entertained, and where and when
they went on vacation, which was not the best thing to do since people then knew
when houses were vacant.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
you’re inferring the possible … is being broken into.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
some people wanted their name in the paper a little more often than he thought
was necessary, but that was alright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
filled a column.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK,
you are applying for a job as the Society Editor to write articles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you have any previous experience in doing
this kind of thing?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only that little magazine, or did I tell you
that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me about the magazine.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
there was a magazine in Lansing called <i>Limelight</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That two young men who were graduates of
University of Michigan, later went into direct mail advertising and did very
well with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The New Yorker</i> magazine
had just come out about that same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
thought they would compete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, they
couldn’t compete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was a magazine
they called Limelight and it was social.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Directly social.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
you mentioned to me when we were just chatting that you also took
pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me about that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
didn’t know anything about taking pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just took the camera and they showed me where to push the button and
I’d do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one time I had to go to
South Lyon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near there someplace was a
big farm and they were having a turkey dinner, hundreds of legs and wings of
turkey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to go out there to take
pictures of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whenever there was a
meeting of a Society, Business and Professional Women’s Club, I had that one
time to take some pictures of that place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And of the man that owned a jewelry store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever I went, there was a news item, I
took a camera along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t know much
about it, but I learned.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
not only wrote articles, you also took the pictures?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
we had another column in the paper, about fifty years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I would go up in the second floor of the
building and get a hold of the old papers and just write what happened fifty
years ago that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we had ten
pages, that was a big paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now
it’s about forty pages.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
didn’t do all the advertising I don’t suppose that they do today?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There’s
a terrific amount of advertising now.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
now they have incorporated other areas as well as Northville into the paper.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
Novi, South Lyon and Brighton.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you find it an interesting experience when you worked there?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I liked it, it was very
interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
you said the gentleman’s name was Glen Cummings?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Glen
Cummings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sold it to Bill Sliger.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mr.
Cummings was quite a gentleman?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a very fine gentleman.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
what did he do after he sold the <i>Northville Record</i>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
opened up a business publishing bonds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For different companies that needed them.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Stockbroker?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a stockbroker?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had a printer and they had their own
little building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building between Northville
and Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then they just retired
and went to Texas to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died there
two or three years ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
you mentioned to me that your husband died in 1960.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was at a relatively young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How old was he?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sixty.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
was sixty years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since that
time, and you’re in your 90’s now, and your mother was with you for 24 years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
died in 1957.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
died in ‘57 and your husband died three years later.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
I went to Ann Arbor then to be a housemother and then I was working for the
City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> You’re
working for the City of Northville at the time in the City Clerk’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then went to Ann Arbor to the University of
Michigan and became a house mother of one of the Sororities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did you like that experience?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was something!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can write a book on
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t go into that right
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was very interesting, too,
for the cultural things that the University offered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we had access to was great.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> Now
let me see, there’s something else here that I wanted to ask you about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Northville Review Club which was a book
club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me about that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was started by Louise Ryan and Carl Ryan was very active in the Presbyterian
and sang in the choir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a very
small choir then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have a huge choir
now, but they had about four or five people in it, and it was a good
choir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, she felt Northville could
support a little book club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They called
it the Northville Review Club, and just invited people that they thought would
be interested in it and at one time we had about eighteen members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now there are about eleven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s still going.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
mentioned some of the names of some; I think you told me it has been in
existence for 45 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mention some of
the names of some of the ladies that belonged to that Northville Review Club,
because I think that would be interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elizabeth
Chapman was one and so many have … Helen McCarthy, Mrs. Eaton, Levi Eaton, they
were prominent in Northville, and Vance Masters was a member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kind of hard to remember all of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
these were rather prominent names in Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
they were.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
this is a Club that’s been in existence 45 years and you’re still active in the
club, in fact I think you told me you’re the oldest member and you’re doing a
book review now.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I’m supposed to do one this month.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
that’s great. Social life in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You came as a fairly newly married couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What kind of social life was offered in
Northville in 1937?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
social life was mild.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just
visiting, dinners in each other’s home and football games.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tell
me about football games.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>People
would always go and take an extra couple with them and sometimes they would
take their lunch in the back of the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tail … what do they call it?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tailgating?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
tailgating.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Predecessor
of tailgating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where were the games
held?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Ann Arbor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
University of Michigan football games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ok, I thought you were referring to the High School.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
no.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
what other social activities were offered in Northville?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Really
nothing other than going to football games and going out for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was very quiet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quiet little
town, that’s what we liked.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
did mention to me that you thought there was a roller skating rink here at one
time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think that when I first came here, it was on the way out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there had been one, and it was just
going.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
that would be primarily for young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Teenagers, that type of thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about dances?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
weren’t that many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had been having
the dances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pastime Club they called
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just people got together with their
own groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were several in the
card playing, playing bridge, couples, eight couples probably, and having
dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just very nice social life.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
a lot of social life was centered around the home?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Around
the home mostly.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
you belong to a Bridge Club?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there were several couples that were in
this bridge club?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
just belonged to one, just women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was one for couples.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
then you would go to each other’s homes for these bridge games?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
met about once a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once every two
weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve forgotten now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That went on for years and years until there
wasn’t anybody left of the original group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just like the book club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
I’m the only one left now, outside of Vance.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
home then, was an important center of social life in Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
it was.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because
there weren’t a lot of other things available?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
and people liked it that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they
wanted some city life, they could go into Plymouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did go into Detroit to plays very often.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s talk about transportation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, here we’re out in Northville and it’s
probably 35 miles into downtown Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How would you get there?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
drive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
own car?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were there some other options if you didn’t
drive?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think there were any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were streetcars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could go to Five Points (7 Mile and Grand
River), the conversion of Eight and Seven Mile and Grand River and you could go
in there and get a streetcar or a bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
streetcar I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most everybody
drove their own cars.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about, was there an Interurban?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not when I came in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Interurban tracks were still on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had not been removed and as it went down past
… up Griswold and on out 8 Mile for quite a while, there was a space on the
right, on the south, side of the road where the track had been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course that’s all gone now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
at one time there was an interurban out here, but this was before you came to
Northville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was here and went to Farmington and from Farmington into Detroit.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about if you wanted to go to Plymouth, you would have to go by car?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or was there some other kind of transportation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You had to drive yourself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
you talked about some of the stores and markets and places in downtown
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example you mentioned
the meat markets and the peculiar things about what was on the second floor of
the meat market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you want to tell us
about that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
there was a theatre and there … when my daughter was in high school, or it
might have been before that, they took the class up there to look it over, to
see what it was like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a box on
each side of the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very small.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Could
that have been an old Opera House?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I don’t know that you would call it an Opera House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was still there, but not being used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was rather, nor recommended that they get
a crowd up there.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was condemned?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think so.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was considered to be a fire hazard?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Mr. Cummings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When this was going to be torn down, he was
building a house on Six Mile and the Plymouth-Northville Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted the bricks that were in that old
theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he bought them or they gave
them to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know, but he built
a darling two bedroom home on the corner over there with those bricks.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
mentioning earlier about the meat market and …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
there were three markets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hill Brothers
and one that was in the old theatre building and then Charlie LeFever on Main
Street was where the Hole-in-the Wall store is.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
Genitti’s.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those
were markets, they all had meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then a
Kroger Store and a D & C Grocery Store where they, I think, where that
fabric shop is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. _______ .</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about that old dime store which is now closed up and moved out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blacks Hardware is there now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody in town was upset about
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Losing that 10 cent store we’d
called it, because you could get anything there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you have to … They have a store in South
Lyon though if you want something they used to have at the D & C, you can
go to South Lyon and get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought
I’m not going to buy anything at that Arbor Store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They took our D & C store away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q: </b>Apparently,
I understood they raised the rent on it, and people said they couldn’t make
money.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s
probably what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
husband had a membership in the Meadowbrook Country Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I understand it the Meadowbrook Country
Club is an old, old club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a golf
club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have any idea how old that
club is?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His company gave him a
membership for that, when we moved here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His company was located in Jackson, but, no I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Yerkes family figured in some way in that
and for a long time the building that was the … where they kept the clubs and
everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know what happened
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s torn down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me it was the Yerkes farm.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Might
have been part of …</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Margaret
Yerkes I’m sure could tell you that.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So,
it might have been part of the Yerkes property then that became the Meadowbrook
Country Club.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
there were a lot of, I think four Yerkes brothers that settled out here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was another Yerkes house on Eight Mile
that I notice now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is all boarded up
because it was being ruined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m
sure there was one where the golf course is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> Is
there anything else that you can think of that you want to tell me about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked about you working on the<i> Northville
Record</i>, as a Society Editor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You talked
about working in the City Clerk’s office and your responsibilities there, and
we talked a little bit about social life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your belonging to the Northville …</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b></span>We
came here because it was a small town and we thought it would be a nice town to
raise a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get out of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had no desire to live in the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still you had the benefit of choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could go into Detroit to the stores and
we did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t drive down there for
anything now.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you have any idea what the population of Northville might have been when you
came in 1937?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Around
3,000 I think.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And,
I presume there were still a lot of farms.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>: Maybe
not that much, but it was around there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
I am presuming there were still a lot of farms in the area?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to have a Harvest Festival
at the Presbyterian Church every fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’d be bushels of apples and vegetables from farm homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There still were a few farms.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q</b>:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
I noticed that there are still a lot of horses around here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drive out Eight Mile and you can see horse
farms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were horse farms very prominent
in this area?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They seemed to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they had the Harvest Festival, they
always had horse races, and there was no betting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The betting came in, oh, I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I was here, after we came here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b> Where
did the races take place?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right
down where the track is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
the Northville Downs is now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
where the races took place?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b> There
was just one grandstand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A wooden
grandstand, where you sat rain or shine, but no tote board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
betting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that might be why there were
so many horse farms out here, because they used Northville Downs for
racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have any idea… was
Northville Downs there at the time you moved here in 1937?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
track was there, but I don’t think they called it Northville Downs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just a track.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
so they had these races.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking of
festivals, are you familiar with what I heard was called the Wayne County Fair?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No,
I never went, or did I go to that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No I
don’t think I ever went to the fair, but they still do have it, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
there was such a thing?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they had horse racing there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
do you have any idea where that Wayne County Fair took place?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Way
out Woodward someplace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over in that
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Way out in the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably isn’t the county now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have a fair out there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Detroit there is the State Fair which is on Woodward Avenue at 8 Mile, but I
was given to understand that at one time, and maybe it was before you moved here,
they used to have a Wayne County Fair that was held right out here in
Northville somewhere.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes
they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember that it was in Wayne County.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
this has been an interesting interview and I appreciate it very much.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve
just recalled something that Mrs. Duerson mentioned earlier when we were
talking, and that involved a horse and buggy incident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She doesn’t know the validity of it, but it’s
an interesting story and it involved Ruth Yerkes Burkman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you want to tell us about that?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
she told me herself that this was her experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was driving a buggy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A horse and buggy, and the horse ran away
with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took her across Grand River
and out to Walled Lake until it ran into Walled Lake and there it stopped
because it couldn’t go any farther.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be lying about it because it was one for the books,
that ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
would be quite a trip.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>A:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a dirt road, not paved or
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That horse was thirsty I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know what else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Q:</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Went
all the way to Walled Lake to get water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, that was interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank
you very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Transcribed
by:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sue Petries<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-45975308797147294452013-06-26T05:34:00.001-04:002021-08-22T21:57:07.433-04:00Alice Eaton<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">June
22, 1989<o:p></o:p></span><br />
S<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">an
Antonio, TX<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>78201<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
D<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ear
Mrs. Eaton,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank you very much for your
kind responses to our recent letter regarding the Northville Oral History
Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would very much like to have
your memories recorded on audio tape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have included a tape for you to use to be recorded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that you will be able to have someone
interview you and return this tape to me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Below you will find a list of
questions that we would like to have you discuss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks again for your cooperation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please feel free to call me or write again if
you have any questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will be happy to pay
the cost of shipping the tape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">QUESTIONS:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
C<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ould
you begin by identifying yourself and telling a little about your family and
childhood?</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What
first brought you to Northville?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What
are your first memories of the community?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Can
you tell a little about where you lived and what that area of Northville was
like at the time you moved there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do
you have some memories you might like to share about your children growing up
in Northville?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
see you have been a member of the Northville Presbyterian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have any church memories you’d like to
repeat?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What
can you tell us about the Northville Women’s Club in your many years as an
active member?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Can
you tell us anything about your husband and his family with regard to the
Northville area?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As
a member of the Volunteer Auxiliary at Northville State Hospital, what did you
do and what memories do you have?<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Have
I left anything out that you might like to discuss?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do
you have any particularly significant memories of the community?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank
you for participating in the Northville Oral History Project.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you are unable to answer these
questions on tape we would appreciate your written responses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks again for your help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Diane
M. Rockall<br />Northville Oral History Project Director<br />Northville, MI <b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Answers:</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
am Alice Eloise Eaton, born February 23, 1896, in Toledo, Ohio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am the fifth of six children, having four
older brothers and one younger sister.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
father, Louis Comlossy, was a jeweler and watchmaker, with a store on Madison
Avenue for many years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After
my graduation from high school, my sister and I lived with my brother in
Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father did not believe in
higher education for women, so my entrance to college was delayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after two years, I enrolled at the
University of Michigan, and became a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta
Sorority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After two years, I chose to
marry another brother’s friend, Levi Medbury Eaton, October 11, 1919.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wedding was in my parents’ home in
Toledo.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We
returned from our honeymoon to live in the Eatons’ home in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the cobblestone farm home on Rogers
Street of the 57 acre fruit farm that Levi Frank Eaton had bought for his son
to develop and provide a home for the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My husband had completed his studies in horticulture at the University
of Wisconsin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some fruit trees had been
planted on the farm previously.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Father
Eaton had his photo-engraving business in Detroit and produced the Sunday photogravure section of the Detroit Free Press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He found it convenient to commute except in winter when he and Mother
Eaton stayed in Detroit, leaving the house to us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After
a few years of disappointment and loss as a fruit farm, an offer to buy the
property for subdivision by a group of Northville men was accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two acres of the original plot of fifty-seven
acres were retained, including the house and extending to the proposed next
street west, Eaton Drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe Hugh
Babbitt, Milo Johnson and C.C. Yerkes were in the group of buyers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When the farm was purchased, the
owner’s house was supplied with water from the natural springs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the sale, the spring water was for the
village and had to be paid for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
lovely spring which flowed under 7 Mile Road through the Leo Lawrence
property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watercress grew in it and made
a delicious salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the property was
developed for subdivision, Eaton Drive was divided to extend both sides of the
spring to Seven Mile Road, and a fence constructed to protect it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Northville Garden Club beautified a point
at the entrance to the park, placing some evergreens and a stone sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lovely little park.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our first house was built on the
southwest corner of the two acre plot retained at the sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now 375 Eaton Drive, its timbers were taken
from the old barn on the farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
shingles were from the new roof recently placed on that old barn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The carpenter was Charles Crase and special
masons were hired for the cobblestone work on chimney and porch pillars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stones from the fields were used in the grout
wall and porch pillars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cobblestones
were plentiful all about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our first home
was finished in time for me to bring our first baby, Alice, there; she was born
in Toledo, August 26, 1920.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we had twin boys, Frank and
Louis, born July 4, 1923, we knew we must have more room, and when they were
two years old, we hired Thomas Moss, the architect who planned the Harper home
on Orchard Drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alex Johnson was our
contractor-carpenter, and Turnbull provided electric wiring and fixtures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The house, at 365 Eaton Drive, is a hillside
house with three levels including a full basement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mother Eaton was left a widow when
Father Eaton died of a heart attack New Years Day, 1921.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She rented the cobblestone house to the
McLoughlins for a few years and finally sold it to Harry Rackham and his wife,
who had two daughters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. and Mrs.
Russell Atchison bought the house from them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sherrill
Ambler bought the lot next to the cobblestone house; Richard Ambler was one of
the twins’ playmates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hugh Babbitt built
his house on the corner of Rogers and Thayer, and Louis Babbitt was another
playmate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob Boyden lived in a house
near ours and played with them then and later when they moved to Cady Street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One summer there was a gas leak in
neighbor Milne’s house and the manhole in the street was left open overnight
with a lit lantern as warning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys
were attracted to it; Frank warned the others to stand back while he lowered
the lantern into the manhole to investigate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The gas exploded and burned his hand and face badly, particularly his
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took Frank to our family
physician, Dr. Sparling, who treated him immediately, and he has only very
minor scars on his hand as a memento.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My husband commuted to Detroit for years,
working for The Merchants Dispatch, Inc., owned by the New York Central
Railroad, 1922-1945.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the depths of
the Depression, 1931, he was promoted to the office of manager in Rochester,
New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This meant a raise in salary
but also meant moving our family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Receiver who had been appointed for the Northville Savings Bank and Lapham
Savings Bank rented our house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he
was ready to leave, after a year, we were ready to return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband became manager of the Detroit
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This meant more commuting until
1946 when he and Carl Bryan formed a partnership in a real estate office, a
very congenial and pleasant situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Starting in the former office of Dr. Burgess, it developed to a new
two-story building for offices which George Clark acquired when he bought the
Northville Realty Company, 1964.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
Lee retired from the railroad and was able to walk home for lunch, he said he
felt he was on vacation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Northville was a good place for
raising children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teachers knew the
families, church activities were important, and doors were locked only when
leaving town for vacation or when the county fair was in operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boys enjoyed roaming fields and swimming in
the gravel pit, in summer, and hockey on the mill pond in winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Skiing and tobogganing on the hills west of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Orchard
Drive was a treat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our daughter and her
chum, Marjorie Chase (who lived on Clement Road and Main Street) loved to
explore Bloom’s Woods, and wrote a monthly “Nature News” for interested people,
for several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marjorie’s mother
built a stone playhouse which was enjoyed for a long time; it even had a
fireplace, porch and basement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With Ann Arbor close by, it was
convenient for our boys to get their college education there, Louis preparing
for dentistry and Frank for business administration and engineering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both became Naval cadets during the war,
and Frank served in the South Pacific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because of his dental requirements, Louis’s active duty was postponed
until after the war.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During the war, Lee served a
first-aid emergency participant (in case of attack) and I worked for over a
year in the Ford Phoenix plant, assembling dashboards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plant was limited to women workers,
especially single women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was my
only paid employment after marriage, and was easier than a lot of my volunteer
work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lee enjoyed living in Northville,
serving as a Presbyterian Church elder, Northville councilman, Rotarian, and
Exchange Club member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were both
active in the church, serving as elders, Sunday School superintendents, and Lee
was treasurer for many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were
active in helping rebuild the church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was a member of the Northville
Women’s Club, serving as secretary and program chairman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a member of the Book Club started by
Louise Bryan, and including Ada Bloom, Josephine Hahn, Elizabeth Lapham,
Elizabeth Rambeau, Virginia Plunkett, Cletis Austin and Mrs. Russell Clark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met once a month to have a book reviewed
by a member after luncheon in one of our homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also belonged to the Northville Garden Club and the Northville
University of Michigan Alumni Association; the later didn’t last long.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While I was a Northville State
Hospital Auxiliary member, we operated a gift shop in the lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time of the Detroit riots, many of the
hospital employees were Negroes who lived in Detroit and were afraid to come to
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a plea for Auxiliary
members to come to relieve the situation, and I went one morning to help serve
patients who were blind or unable to feed themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a Negro blind patient to help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She objected to using a paper plate and
cup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to explain the difficulty
of dishwashing machines without attendants, to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To serve in such a situation calls for great
patience and consideration, or a terrible need for money to live, I did not
return.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">About
once a month I would go to Detroit to shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At first there was the Detroit Inter-Urban to connect with a Detroit
street-car at Five Points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there
was a train from Plymouth to Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Later there was a bus from Northville to Detroit, and sometimes we could
drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Northville Woman’s Club was
associated with the Federation of Woman’s Clubs and we attended their meetings
periodically, reporting to our own Club later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Later
we did our special shopping at Northland where Hudson’s had a new store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last time I went to Detroit to shop was
in a special bus which would take us directly to Hudson’s entrance and pick us
up at the same door for return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This had
been arranged by our Woman’s Club for safety reasons, as Detroit had acquired a
bad reputation for crime.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
first little bungalow had been sold to Joe and Virginia Plunkett when
Northville Realty was begun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our life in
Northville was pleasant, but our family had gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We felt we had too much land, too much house,
too much work, and it was no longer fun when we had to hire everything
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Lee offered to sell it to Bruce
and Rita Turnbull who had long wanted to buy it because their family was
growing and needed more room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved
to a community in southern Ohio, operation by the Presbyterian Church, where we
could buy a small house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were five
hundred retirees there and we enjoyed eleven years until Lee needed more
nursing care than available.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We
moved to the Brethren’s Home, near Dayton, where we were comfortable and my
husband could be in the nursing area of the same building in which we had a
small apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After four years, he
died, of emphysema, May 13, 1985.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
chose to move to San Antonio to be near our daughter, Alice (Mrs. Roger W.
Sackett 3806 Highcliff, San Antonio, Texas 78218).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am now living in a retirement home,
Morningside Meadows, operated by the Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal
ministries, where I have an apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am happy here, since I arrived in February, 1986.</span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-72684447773001041602013-06-26T05:30:00.001-04:002021-05-11T10:52:28.119-04:00Berneita Killinger Ebert<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
following is a transcript of an interview with Berneita Killinger Ebert who
lives on High St., in the Allen Terrace apartments for seniors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original of the interview by Betty Griffin
has been revised by Berneita and will be filed with the Oral History Project of
the Northville Public Library and Northville Historical Society.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Background
information:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bernie, as she is popularly
known, is 84 years old and an active member of the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interview began with her young womanhood
in southern Michigan but for this purpose, will start with her coming to the
Northville area and then pick up the earlier years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bernie</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to Northville from the University of
Michigan where I had been studying for a master’s degree in clinical social
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I graduated in June 1956.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
December of 1955 Dempsey Ebert and I were married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had met the previous year through mutual
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his father had a funeral
home in St. John’s Michigan and I had previously lived in East Lansing so we
had mutual acquaintances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Those
first few months of marriage were tense as I had a full schedule at the
University and my thesis on alcoholism to complete by June.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dempsey felt neglected until he took over the
task of assembling and proofreading my thesis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Department of Health and the University and I cooperated in the production of
this quite new study of alcoholism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was used as a model for future treatment of alcoholics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were very few treatment centers in
1956.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The State typed, printed and bound
my thesis—parts were published under my name.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Strangely,
the School of Social Work had not at first approved my selection of alcoholism
for a thesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They thought it was “no
field for a woman”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The State and I
prevailed and later the University gave me high praise for my pioneer work.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">After
Dempsey’s father retired and sold the St. John’s funeral home, Dempsey and I
purchased the old Schrader Funeral Home at 404 W. Main St., Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved in for the new year of 1957.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dempsey busied himself with the business
matters and acquainting himself with Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made a home of the very pleasant apartment
upstairs in this beautiful old house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another small apartment provided a house for Dempsey’s “helper”—usually
a lady to answer phones and doors when Dempsey and I were not there.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
was not the usual funeral director’s wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had my own career—a full time job with the Family Service of American
in Birmingham, Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They hired only
master’s degree people and paid me an extra $800 a year to handle the alcohol
program.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">After
five years the office was moved to Berkley, Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The director left and I was not happy with
the new arrangement so quit.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
the next two years (’62 and ’63) I was “home” doing a lot of different things;
classes at Schoolcraft, a journalism class at U. of M., where I wrote a history
of the Northville Record for a professor who had Bill Sliger in his class years
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also interviewed and wrote biographies
on Mike Allen from the granite quarries to Allen Monuments; and Dr. Hugh
Godfrey who was referred to me by the head of the U. of M. Dental School as the
best student he ever had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earlier, as a
student, I did a biography of my father “J.J.-His Life”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was born in 1874.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was 82 when he told me the story of his
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I added a psychological analysis
of his “moves and moods” over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
was active while home those two years in several Northville clubs and
organizations:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Business and
Professional Woman’s Club, The National Farm and Garden Association, The
American Association of University Women (in Plymouth then), The First
Presbyterian Church of Northville, The Eastern Star.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a charter member of the National
Association of Social Work, a Psi Chi member (National Honor Society in
Psychology), and had earned my certification from the Academy of Certified
Social Workers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">These
two years at home in Northville were busy and varied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought a darling brown poodle named Piper
and learned to train and groom him.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
helped Dempsey at the funeral home when needed with many odd jobs never seen,
and comforted those in grief when needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I taught a Sunday School class at the Presbyterian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents, living in Elkhart, Indiana since
retired, were growing older.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent
time with them to see that they were comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lost both of them in those two years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
was devoted to “service”, not only as a funeral director, but to civic
organizations and groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a
Mason, a Knight Templar, a Shrine and an Eastern Star member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He worked endless hours at the Shrine Circus
each year for the benefit of burn victims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was an elder at the Presbyterian Church and taught a class of
adolescents there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dempsey was a member
of the National and Michigan Funeral Directors Associations and was an officer
in the latter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was president of the
Chamber of Commerce in 1964, following Betty Allen-the first year in the
Chamber’s new building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was again
president of the Chamber in 1967.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
also past president of the Rotary.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
was active in most civic events:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fairs,
festivals, parades, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He belonged to
local clubs:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Optimists, Elks, Lions,
etc., and took part in their charitable activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was part of the polio immunization program
and was once an instructor in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many years he provided ambulance service
to the race track (Northville Downs) through John Carlo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This continued until his death.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Main Street businessmen met once a week around the big round table at The Old
Mill for a pancake breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
jovial fellowship meeting where they “settled the affairs of the day.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was typical of Northville in those
days—the “village” was smaller, close-knit and friendly.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
was able to relax and/or sleep any time, perhaps a result of often working at
night when most people were sleeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
never worried about getting enough sleet but was ever ready to go to a Tiger
game or a show at the Fisher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My
two years of “full-time Northville living” ended when I was sought to be the
Clinical Social Worker in a new Alcohol Treatment Program being set up by the
State of Michigan, to be housed at Ypsilanti State Hospital, under a
grant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a successful and
fulfilling experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My thesis was
“blooming”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
also held group therapy once a week for the Court in Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Judge gave alcohol traffic violators the
choice of jail or group therapy for three months at $5 each, each week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Men and women—many recovered, got their jobs
back; broken marriages healed, and improved health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This job required a license from the State
and I obtained on in Marriage Counseling.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Word
of my activities spread and I found myself with a small private practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I met with clients individually at the
Washtenaw Council on Alcoholism, which I helped found.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Alcohol Center closed after about six years for lack of funds and I transferred
to the Washtenaw County Unit under another grant to handle the Alcohol
Program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the grant expired I retired
in 1970 and continued a small private practice for several years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
had increased his business and made substantial contributions to Northville,
which he loved, since we moved here in 1957.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He helped me—always a cup of “wake-up coffee”—my car always ready—snow
plowed and car warm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never complained
about my commuting or long hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
made favorite dishes—chili and barbequed ribs.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
liked people and meetings but was equally happy with his Brittany Spaniel, Jay,
tramping the North Woods with his gun which he shot to train his dog not to be
gun shy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never killed an animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our cabin at Lake Mitchell was a haven for
both of us.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
knew the best fishing holes in the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The smell of the pines and the whisper of the wind through the birch
trees drew us back to our cabin, “Chipmunk Manor”, again and again.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
last year of Dempsey’s life he was the funeral director for the Hebrew
Benevolent Society, 26640 Greenfield Road, Oak Park, Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our establishments were connected by phone
and Dempsey would go there whenever the Rabbi needed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The services are different from those for
gentiles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those Dempsey provided were
non-religious with the bereaved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, the business and legal requirements were the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
found it a very congenial and professional relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rabbi and his staff liked Dempsey’s wit
and humor as well as how he treated “our people”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They recalled him as “cheerful, helpful and
cooperative.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dempsey
died October 8, 1972.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had been
married seventeen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was eleven
years older than Dempsey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This seemed to
be of no interest or concern to anyone until I suddenly found myself a widow
and a senior citizen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a period
of loss, grief and adjustment.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
stayed at 404 W. Main until the estate was settled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The funeral home was out of code so could not
continue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was sold several times as a
residence and is now owned by Al and Barbara Glover who had preserved the
beauty of this historic house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I moved
to Northville Forest Apts. and stayed there for about three years until Allen
Terrace opened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was one of the first
tenants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was about ten years
ago—1978.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Betty:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s go back to your early life.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bernie:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To start from the beginning I was born in
1904 in Elkhart, Indiana and named Pearl Berneita Killinger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grew up on my parents’ farm in southern
Michigan ten miles northeast of Elkhart just off U.S. 12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents were farmers, and my father was a
New York Central railroader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother
and I went to a one-room country school of 20-30 pupils, age six to eighteen
years plus, as many farm children stayed home at harvest time and never
completed the eighth grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I passed the
State of Michigan eighth grade examination at age twelve.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Following
high school at Bristol, Indiana (the closest college preparatory school) I
completed a Life Certificate at Ypsilanti State Normal School, now Eastern
Michigan University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was followed
by teaching in Battle Creek—second grade; pupils were from the Kellogg and Post
cereal area—good bright kids and a wonderful principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In spite of this satisfactory year, I was
lured to Detroit by increased salary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
September, 1928, while teaching in Detroit—at a small school in East Detroit—at
the end of the Gratiot Street car line and a mile walk down Kelly Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two teachers—I had the first four grades, she
the upper four.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ran the school; the
principal gave us her full approval when she visited us from her office in
another school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In February, the
pot-bellied stove overheated one night and the school burned to the
ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was transferred to the
Courville School—Six Mile and Dequindre—a mile or more east of Woodward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no transportation on Six Mile, so
we walked, except when the police occasionally came to our rescue, especially
on cold, late afternoons when the snow was deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I frosted my feet and had chilblains for
years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My
assignment was a split—grades second and third.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mostly first generation from Southern European countries whose parents
had responded to Henry Ford’s offer of $500 a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had 72 pupils who couldn’t speak or read
English (two black children and three Norwegian children were the exception).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This
was a different assignment but having been honored in Ypsi for my teaching of
reading and high praise for the same in Battle Creek, I proceeded with my own
methods, much to the displeasure of the principal who wanted to follow the rage
of the time, “picture stories”, a method of individual progress which was
discontinued after its failure of several years.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
September of 1928 I married Michael Timothy Doyle of St. Paul, Minnesota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We lived in an apartment in Detroit; he
worked for an investigating firm and I taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The following May we were visiting my parents on the farm and Michael
was driving to South Bend to visit his Notre Dame friends, when a carless
driver snuffed out his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael was
returned to St. Paul for burial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Doyles were a founding family of St. Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His father was an attorney, his older brother a psychiatrist at the Mayo
Clinic and his older sister was Mother Superior at Rosary College in a suburb
of Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael and I were to have
returned to St. Paul in the fall so he could return to the University of
Minnesota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was devastated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
did not return to Detroit but took a year’s health leave of absence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was recovering from scarlet fever,
contracted at school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immunization was
not available in those days and teachers were at high risk for many diseases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
lived at home with my parents for a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I visited my college roommate and some relatives in California for
a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also visited the Missions and
worked several months in San Francisco in the old Mission District where the
fog rolled in at 4:00 p.m. On my return to Michigan I lived at home or with
family friends while working as a secretary in Elkhart.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
was there that I met my second husband, Charles G. Randall, a patent attorney
for Tim-O-Stat, an electrical switch company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were married in 1931.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
company was bought out by Minneapolis Honeywell and he was asked to go with
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wished to stay in patents in
the automotive field as this was a fast developing field.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
obtained a job at Packard Motor in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was a very satisfactory job but only lasted a year or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were depression days and Packard
reduced staff radically before eventually closing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles was out of work but after some
freelance work he contracted the patent work for Reo Motor in Lansing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He opened his office with the Foster and
Cameron Law Firm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Foster was legal
counsel for Reo.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We
moved to Lansing and were there for nearly 10 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a couple of years renting, we bought a
house in East Lansing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had many
friends, belonged to the country club, city club, and a cabana club at Lake
Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We generally lived a carefree,
happy life as we furnished and decorated our new home, built lawns, landscaped
and made flower beds.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
owned and played a beautiful concert harp which he had played during law school
days in Washington D.C. at many musical gatherings—once at the White
House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles was also a talented
horseman, having ridden since childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I spent too much time riding his horse he gave me a mare, Irene,
for Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles and an old black
stable man from the horse country in Kentucky, taught me to ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My childhood bare-backing may have
helped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between the two of us we won a
barrel full of ribbons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have two
silver plates and a loving cup I won that is engraved, “Good Hands and Seat.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My horse-y friends understood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles’
work for Reo was successful and lucrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was known affectionately as the “fair-haired boy” for his ability to
write patents which stood up in courts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He never lost a case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
young and brilliant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He patented the
first automatic transmission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>General
Motors and other car companies paid royalties to use the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">patent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ford refused and failed to develop their own
patent for its seventeen year life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
drove the first test model before it was put on the market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has “push buttons” and worked as well as
current automatic transmissions.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
the late thirties The Reo Motor Co. was the target of a “takeover” by a group
from New York who had no intention of operating the company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They moved in, fired everyone; closed the
plan, sold machinery and some of the buildings, appointed themselves as high
paid officers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was chaos in
Lansing as previously Reo was a closely-held company by local investors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Security and Exchange Commission finally
stepped in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the group went to
jail, there was a suicide, and some escaped to South America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reo eventually reorganized but made only
busses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ended Charles’ work for
Reo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
few months before the take-over, Charles was in a serious auto accident on the
highway on Grand River Ave. (no expressways then) near Brighton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had skull fractures and twice broken jaw,
and other injuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in the
hospital for three months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A farm family
witnessed the accident, but the driver of the car causing the accident sped
away and was never found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles seemed
to be recovering, but was not well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since Reo had closed he was out of a job and it was then that a
succession of jobs followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
unable to keep up professionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
would not talk about his health or seek medical help, somewhat unaware of why
he was failing.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My
family and I wanted him to go to the University of Michigan Hospital, but this
was not to be accomplished until his friends at the patent law firm where he
had interned as a law student at George Washington University, and where he was
currently a non-producing employee, devised the plan with me, my parents, and
his father for Charles to go there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was admitted in the fall of 1944.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
stayed on in Washington D.C. in our apartment, and had a job with the
government.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
diagnosis was brain damage from the accident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was in and out of the hospital for over two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While there he repaired and old press and
printed a newspaper for the Psychiatric Institute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had excellent care and showed
improvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was employed for a few
months by American Aviation Co. in the Fisher Building where he died of a
stroke/heart attack on December 1, 1947 at 39 years of age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
was mourned by all who knew him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a certain sadness that gripped all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I came from Washington to bury him in the family plot in Mt. Hope
Cemetery in Lansing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
then returned to Washington and went on with my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worked at many interesting federal
positions for agencies specializing in my fields of interest:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Office of War Information (Personnel for
domestic and overseas placement); he U.S. State Department; the National
Institute of Mental Health, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jobs
were often given or terminated on the basis of politics as civil service status
was denied all new employees (there was a fear of too many “temporary
employees” who would overload the Civil Service government employees retirement
plan).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many new employees were from
below the Mason-Dixon line as these were “Democrat Days.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between these jobs of uncertain tenure in
U.S. Government, I sold real estate, typed masters and doctoral theses;
counseled vets at George Washington University and volunteered at Walter Reed
Hospital Psychiatric Ward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also went
to George Washington University and completed by BA degree in Education and a
MA degree in Psychology (vocational and Educational Counseling).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There
were many interesting experiences in Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was entertained at a tea by Eleanor
Roosevelt with a group in the Rose Garden at the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in Washington when President Roosevelt
died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole city mourned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw Harry Truman take his morning walk (no
security guards) as I passed on my way to work.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
was challenging and exciting to work in Washington during those times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The city was full of uniformed military
personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New employees arrived daily
for this post-war world reconstruction period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The tourists came by the bus loads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Washington
wasn’t “home” and I heard the ever-present call to Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eisenhower was president when I returned in
September, 1954, to enter the University of Michigan and then to Northville in
1957 as previously noted.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Betty:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What is life like at Allen Terrace?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bernie:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life at Allen Terrace, Northville’s senior
apartment complex of 100 apartments, is pleasant and comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I attend some of the clubs and church
mentioned in my earlier account of my life in Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have added Northville Town Hall and enjoyed
the various speakers and fine luncheons at the Hilton Hotel in Plymouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Our
Allen Terrace director, Frances Yoakum Hopp, interested me in senior activities
and I serve with her on the board of the Senior Alliance of the Area Agency on
Aging which serves the 34 west and southwest communities of Wayne County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are also members of the Northville Area
Senior Citizens Advisory Council, administered by the Northville Recreation
Department.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Senior Center at Cooke School on Taft Road is a busy place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karl Peters is the full time director and
works closely with John Anderson of the Recreation Dept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The center offers social gatherings, cards
and games, entertainment, classes, speakers, health tests, pot lucks, holiday
parties and tele-care services, among others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The senior bus offers twice-weekly local shopping and once a month mall
shopping; also one-day trips to many points of interest, for example, Tiger
games and the Redford Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Longer
trips, such as to the Smokies, New England or the Amish country in Indiana are
by commercial bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A monthly newsletter
of all activities is provided for all seniors wanting it.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Allen
Terrace is the dining place for the congregate and home-delivered meals through
the Area Agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This senior complex is
owned by the City of Northville and now has a waiting list for apartments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We receive privileges and advantages over
many big government-run senior housing facilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our apartments all have smoke alarms,
sprinkler systems, emergency pull cords and handicap features.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Fire and Police Departments are five
minutes away and are here with emergency first aid, false fire alarms or any
emergency which may arise.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It’s
interesting to look back to the early 60’s and then look at today:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phil Jerome was our paper boy and used to run
across Main St., from the high school to visit his grandma, Ruth Enright
(Dempsey’s helper); Del of Del’s shoe stores, was our milkman; Dewey Gardner
swept floors (he told me), made bouquets and drove the delivery truck at the
little flower shop; Butch Casterline was driven to school by his mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I often wonder why he didn’t walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After military college, he came home fir and
trim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember when Mary Alexander was
“the staff” at City Hall?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you could
hear the call “Culligan Man” before Detroit water came in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when Maybury Sanitarium treated
tuberculosis patients with “fresh air and best rest”?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Remember
when the old City Hall was torn down and when East Lawn Nursing Home stood
where Allen Terrace is now?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
could go on and on but this is already lengthy with 84 years of living—31 years
in Northville.</span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149168954414419059.post-9617590819695176272013-06-26T05:27:00.000-04:002020-12-17T11:54:45.929-05:00Elroy and Araminta Ellison<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>This is an interview with Elroy
Ellison in his home on Dunlap Street and the date is August 12, 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s for the Oral History Program from the
Library Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we can start
out, I think, by having you tell a little bit about when you first came to
Northville; how many years ago it was and what the circumstances for your
coming to Northville.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b>Well, it was 51 years ago and it was
September when I first started teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had been living in Detroit at that time and I had been working at
Chevrolet Gear and Axle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1933 I got
my teaching Life Certificate, but there weren’t any jobs available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I went to Detroit and a cousin of mine got
me into the factory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worked there for
4 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But during that time we’d been
laid off a couple of times, as was common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In those years particularly. That’s right. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">About February of that year I said, “Hey, we
can’t get anywhere here being laid off and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going to go back and get my degree.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we moved our furniture out to a farm which
my folks had near Ionia and we went to Kalamazoo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finished my degree in August.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b></span>Was
that at Western Michigan University?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>At Western Michigan, yup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we’d had one offer of a job in the Upper
Peninsula and here it is August and I don’t have any job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That one in the Upper Peninsula, I’ve
forgotten the name of the town, was $1100 a year, so I passed it by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was beginning to wonder if I was going to
have to go back to the farm and live off my folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one day Mr. Sherwood, who was the head of
the department, called me and said, “how would you like to go to
Northville?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Where the heck is
Northville?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, he told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, “Mr. Amerman down there wants a
shop teacher, someone with experience, but other than teaching.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I said, “I might qualify for that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we made an appointment to come down here
and see him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We pulled up in front of
the new grade school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time, it
was 1937, and they had just moved into it in the spring of that year, and this
is the beginning, ready to go to the fall term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I said to Liz, “There isn’t any need of me going up there to
interview.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “Why?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I said, “Look, you don’t come out of
college like I’m going to do and start in a brand new building like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just can’t do that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, she said, “I think it’s awful if you
come way down here from Kalamazoo and don’t at least go talk to the man.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
we went upstairs to see the man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
seemed like a very nice fellow and apparently I got the wool pulled over his
eyes in pretty good shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I’d
like to have you go down and see one of the Board members on Main Street.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that time you had four or five board
members and one way of hiring was the superintendent would interview you and
then one of the board members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in
between my going between them, they were talking on the telephone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, apparently I passed muster with Fred
Lyke, who ran the hardware at that time on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I came back and he wanted to know if my
wife was here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Yes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I’d like to talk to her.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, she went up and he gave us a little bit
of an interview about, if we came to Northville, what we’d need to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all, we were expected – if we lived in
the community, why, you had to kind of do things that were normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those days you weren’t supposed to
smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were supposed to join the
church; he didn’t mention which one, or anything.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Be a regular church member.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>That’s right, be a member and probably
teach Sunday School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You shouldn’t run
your sweeper on Sunday. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Sherwood said that before we came
down here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He talked to me about certain
things you should not do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>What were some of the other things?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>Well, not smoke on campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ed would come to the edge of the school and
put out his pipe before he got on the school grounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those were different days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Those were structured, those days.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Also I had indicated to Amerman that I
wanted to be a director of Vocational Education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, he said, “I’m interested in that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You do a good job teaching for me the first
year here and we’ll try and set the program up the second year.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That turned out just that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in the second year – I was shop teacher
for, oh a long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second year we
began what we called this Coordinated Occupational Training where kids come to
school half a day and work half a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d do all the training up here at school and the boss downtown would do
that and I would work with him and see that they got the training that they
were supposed to get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a written
program that we followed and there was a kind of tendency on the part of some
of the employers, if you didn’t have it written, well, at a grocery store
they’d keep the kid in the stock room all the while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, if you’re going to do this sort of
thing real, you had to advance this youngster over a two-year period of time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>How much you hired out for the first
year?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, that was $1500.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>A year?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>A year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As you think of it now, it would look as though it was a month’s pay
right now and it wouldn’t go much farther.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that’s the way it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second
year, we started this program; I got a $500 raise, to $2000, for working this
extra month, because it was going to be a full year program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, by the way, from that time on I never
had a ten month job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always had a
twelve month job, because from this point on I either went into administration
or something so I was on that way all the while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well we went through there, I think that was
about five years, and had a number of kids in town here in grocery stores,
secretarial work, gas stations, auto mechanics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Things like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we were
going along pretty well and the war came along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had a Mr. Bovay who was elementary principal and the service gobbled
him up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that left Amerman without a
principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went in to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>__________ and I said look, I know how to
typewrite and things like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
run the typewriter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I can be of any
help to you in keeping records or doing this sort of thing, why I’ll be glad to
do it until you get a new man hired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, he said, we’ll see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that
was the last I heard of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
remember at this point he called me one night after the board meeting and said,
“Well, hello, Mr. Principal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What are
you talking about?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “You’re the
new principal of the elementary school.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said, “Hey, I’ve never had any training in that sort of thing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well,” he said, “I’ll make you acting
principal. I can sort of run the show, but you’ll be the principal until you
get used to it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that worked out at
that time then, and I had that for about six years as elementary
principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time I was
teaching auto mechanics one class a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now after we had been in the new grade school for a while, some of us
got the idea we needed a larger shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And underneath all the first floor of the elementary school was full of
dirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we decided if we could get that
out of there that could be made into the shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, the community helped, with wheel barrows and so forth, we moved
all the direct out from underneath that building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we made that into the shop.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Now, does that building still exist?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, that’s the Main Street building
over here now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the administration
building.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Not the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grade school with the clock on the front?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>So that became the shop and my office,
of course, was upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, in 1948
then, we had a new principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jerry
Harris was our principal at this time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>In the high school.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Jerry Harris was hired at
Farmington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I might be wrong on the
year or two but this was the place he went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So we hired a man, I’ve forgotten where Pierce came from, but it was up
near Lansing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so they hired him
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came down here and worked for us
for a year or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Plymouth decided
he was a good enough man and they took him away from us because they could pay
him more money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Mr. Malama would
like to be principal, as well as his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She thought it would be nice if he could be the principal of the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he was made – the Board said that’s fine,
we’d like to have him as principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d
been there about three months, and he came over to my office one day, and he
said, “Hey, this isn’t for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
like being a principal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, “Why
not?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I don’t get to do
anything with the kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to teach
kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t like sitting there in the
office and so forth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m telling you I’m
not going to stay after this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
going to see if I can’t make you high school principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’d like to be high school principal,
wouldn’t you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well,” I said, “if
they’d like to have me, yes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the
board decided when Malama didn’t want to stay, they thought they’d take a
chance on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And during that time, I
stayed ten years as a high school principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And during that time we used the old building down here and we had lots
of extra things going on that we got used to. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to hold graduation exercises, of
course, in the gym.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we had only
35, 40, 45 or 50 people, we could do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it got to the point where we had more students than that graduating
and we gave just four tickets to the people so they could let Pa and Ma and,
maybe, Grandma and Grandpa come to the program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well that didn’t work out too well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So then we went to the race track, or fair grounds, down here, and we
held the graduation program in that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They took quite a bit of time, but it was a nice opportunity for the
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had the kids, the teachers
and everybody else washing chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
you may not remember, but they had chairs, ordinary stacking chairs, and we
washed them in vinegar to get all the dirt off them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, the birds had been flying all
through the stands and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we
set up that; and then we set up a platform in there for the speaker, and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I remember it, we held that probably
a couple of years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t believe it
was any more than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One year we did
the graduation in the Penniman-Allen Theatre, but that was not much better than
the old gym over here, because it only took about the same amount of
seating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was more comfortable, of
course, than what we used in the gym.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, then, they decided they wanted to do something within the high
school building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So everyone was looking
around, what to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Amerman and a
couple of board members went up on where the present location is, walking
though – this is all rough gravel pit at this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing looked like a school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was almost thrown out of the
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How in heck are you going to
put a building in that kind of a place?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, when it was all done, we had a committee for site committee,
finance committee, a publicity committee and a specifications committee, and I
happened to be Chairman of the Education Specifications Committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our job was to tell the architect what we
wanted to do in the school, the activities we wanted to carry on, and how we
wanted to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But from then on t</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">he
architect would build the building to suit our needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran that with a committee that was
teachers, students, community members on it and it took about two years for us
to get this thing formulated into what we thought we wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we started to build the building up
there and there was still a great deal of criticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People just couldn’t see a building like
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Got the building up, finally, and
the part of it that we liked most was it was such a beautiful building, glassed
in and so forth, but it turned out that people said, “What in the world are you
going to do with all these glass halls?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was an item that needed a bit of correction because they did get
pretty hot in the summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, before
we moved into the building, the class decided, the graduation class, that we
would move in with the class that started in September.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The class before that wanted to graduate from
that building up there because it would be a nicer place to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it finally was decided what we would
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we got that building all set
up; beautiful day like today, we had beautiful weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tomorrow was graduation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tomorrow a cloudburst, practically, came and
that hill almost washed down to Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, we discovered there was no parking up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We couldn’t have cars up there with that
rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no prepared parking, no
gravel highway, no cement or anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
the final situation of that was we had to get word to the people after 4
o’clock that we were going to still hold it up there, but not to drive their
car up there, but park it over at the old high school, back of the old City
Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would run school buses back and
forth to get people back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, we made Life Magazine at this time with what had happened, because
it was such an awful situation to get people up there, and mud and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we got the program started
about an hour late and went through our regular program and then eventually got
people back.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int: </b></span>What year was that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span>1960.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So the Class of ’59 graduated from
the high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Class of ’60
was the first group to go through and graduate from the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I was principal for ten years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed that very much up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had an excellent staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact we’ve had an excellent staff most of
the time that I can remember around Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, it came along and people get older and decide that they want to
retire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russ decided in 1965 that he was
going to retire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the board began to
look around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing that Russell had
done – he was a very innovative person, but he was not one who would be out
ahead of the crowd unless he knew it was something that was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now at that time there was some discussion of
the twelve month school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell examined
that in his way, teaching, and so forth, and said that isn’t for
Northville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He board says yes it
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, so, in the meantime they hire,
then, a man, Mr. Nelson from Menominee, who was gung ho for twelve month
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amerman retired then in 1965.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Mr. Nelson was quite a different person
than anyone else we had ever dealt with before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Within a year and a half to two years he had either fired or some other
way gotten rid of everybody in the Central Office except Alice Hospeck and
myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alice was Mr. Amerman’s
secretary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there had been things
that Alec had done with the Board of Education, finances and so forth, that
weren’t right and the Board called me back from a conference in Atlantic City
because he had misused some funds up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not that he had misused them himself, but he misappropriated them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Acting when it was…a certain amount of
money…the interest for that money was to stay in the funds for the new
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He put it into the general
fund.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was not allowable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there was a lot of unsteadiness around
this time and I was getting a little bit upset too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been here for thirty years at that
point and I wasn’t sure I could make a living anyplace else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But finally in March of ’67 I went to the
Board meeting…it was an open regular board meeting held in the old Assembly
Room…and I spilled the beans about what I didn’t like about Mr. Nelson and so
forth, about the problems we had had, a public meeting and told them I was
resigning; I couldn’t work for him any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, the Board, I think, was expecting me to do something like
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had another man lined up, Ray
Spear, to take some of the activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
fired Nelson, then, in the summer put Ray Spear in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray had asked me if I would like to be his
high school principal, or his assistant superintendent, and I said, “No way,
Ray, ‘cause our philosophies are quite different.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray didn’t have any empathy for people, any
more than Alec did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing like Amerman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I said I have another job and I’m going to
the Dearborn Heights School District.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You don’t want that in here at all,
I don’t think, do you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Actually your subject of the school
so far has been excellent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if
you can get some specifics in the early days of the dates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What years were you in the school downtown
and what years were you in the high school?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, I started here in ’37.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I took over in 1938 as the Director of
Vocational Education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that was
for five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the war years, about
1943 when Bovay left, then they made me elementary principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then that took place until 1959.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t that right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>You were high school principal …
you went in about … in the fifties, didn’t you? Because you were high school
principal when the twins were born in ’55.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>I’m sorry, yes, that’s right.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Then you were business manager and
assistant superintendent after the high school.)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span> </span>I’m ahead 10 Years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was made principal in 1950 of the high
school, in that period until 1960, in that period in there was when I was with
the group on that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was the end
of my term as high school principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
year of the ’60 graduation class, when my daughter was one of the students of
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, Amerman said, “I gotta have
some more help.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in ’61…before that
he had hired Ken McLeod.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of you
will remember him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came in from
Dearborn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stayed with us for a little
while and Ken suddenly announced that he had an opportunity to go to Adrian
School.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Adrian College?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Adrian College.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Russ said that I could act as his
assistant superintendent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now they
wouldn’t call me assistant superintendent because he thought the community
wouldn’t go for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were still a
small group and there were lots of things that could be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all, why did the superintendent, why
did anybody else work during the summer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were no kids around, there was no teachers around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is there to do for a school?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, then I was with Mr. Amerman from 1961
until 1965 when he decided to retire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also, our offices had moved part of the time, about when we started
building the new building and we got out of the Main Street School because we
needed a little more space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used what
was the old library downtown, here, on Wing Street about where the MAGS
Building is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int:</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s now in the Mill Race – the New
School Church.<br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, that’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was on where the MAGS area is
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I stayed with him then until
he was ready to retire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was still
in that building when I left for the Dearborn Heights program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, to get the years now, were one year as
shop teacher, five years at apprentice training, six years at elementary
principal, took us up to 1949; and then there were ten years there that I was
High School principal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then from ’60
to ’67, I was assistant with Mr. Amerman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He retired in ’65, so I was assistant Superintendent with him and then
two years with Mr. Nelson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I didn’t
quite finish the two years </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">out.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>You were business manager, too; had
charge of all the finances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span>That’s right.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>That pretty well covers the school
years and the work you did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about
the various civic groups, like the Exchange Club and Rotary and so forth?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span> </span>I was president of the Exchange Club
twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what put them under, I
think, because having me that long a time, well, there’s a story there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Exchange Club was a national
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Cliff Hill, you
remember, was quite active in it, and he and I discovered that one policy was
that you could only have white males for membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Cliff and I didn’t go for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, the Northville State Hospital was being
built out here and operating.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>What year would this be?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Somewheres around ’43, ’44 in there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int:</b> </span>During the War?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>During the War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I could see potential out there of
doctors who were Indian, Chinese, something other than Caucasian, you
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could be fine people to be in the
Exchange Club, but we couldn’t get them in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I had the audacity to write every member of the National Board of
Directors and I also included a letter to the secretary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real quickly I got a letter back from the
secretary saying you aren’t supposed to do that, Elroy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have anything you want to talk over
with the Board of Director, you write me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I decide it’s something that can go to them, then I will send it to
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That set Cliff Hill and I up real
good because we said if that’s the way the club is we don’t want to be in it
anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So eventually, because of that,
we pulled out of it, and most of us went over and joined the Rotary Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But during that period of time, the Exchange
Club did some good things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all,
we met together with the Exchange and Rotary Club during the War in the
Methodist Church house for lunch, because it was easier, the use of food and so
forth, it was a better way to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
after the War was over the Rotary Club went back to their Presbyterian
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the biggest things the
Exchange Club did, they engineered Ford Field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>George Locke, Ford Garage here in town, I think we used some of his
equipment for it, but we leveled it all off with equipment and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lights were installed; I’ve forgotten just
how we paid for those, but it was, I think, public subscription and so
forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we put the steps that you
see in there and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as high
school principal at that time and working along with people, we put electricity
down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Cook’s Junior High
group worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a good stand down
there and we had a pretty good set up at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the first football field in
Northville that was electrified.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int: </b></span>That had concrete step seats?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span>Yes. Now, before that when we wanted
to play football, we used the field – I don’t know what the name of it was –
but there is a field as you go down the parkway, the first turn off that you
look in, you can see a football field down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It belonged to the Parkway and it was north
of the Cass Benton Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could use
that as a football field, but we had to arrange, and don’t remember the man’s name,
with the Park Association, that we had certain dates that we could use the
field.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>There’s still a field in there
isn’t there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we had to arrange that we could get in
there and we didn’t always get our choice when we wanted to play football
there, so then we’d have to interchange with another school as to when we were
going to play football there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int:</b> </span>Take your turn.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was another one of these situations that
the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Exchange Club
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was trying to remember – that was
the big thing the Exchange Club did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Amerman thought it would be nice for me to be a Rotarian, so he
personally took me into the club and I don’t know what date that was, but it
was somewhere along in the late fifties, because at the present time I’m about
a 25-year Rotarian.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was active in the Masonic Temple.
The reason I got in that, my dad came down here, it was hard times, and so
forth, Depression during the War, so he came down and was our custodian for the
two buildings on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and I
had never had very much in common, not that we were at odds with one another,
but we were so busy that he and I never did anything together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we were on the farm, everything was work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t have time to go fishing and hunting
and so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t particularly
care about hunting, fishing, so we didn’t do anything together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and my mother were avid Eastern Star and
Mason, Masonic members, so Dad switched to down here, and I said, “Hey, how
about me going as a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mason, we’ll go to
the Lodge together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what we
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s really the reason I joined
the Masonic Lodge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But shortly after
that, Dad left the community and went back to Ionia, and that sort of ended my
career there with the Masons, because about that time I was doing Board of
Education work, or meeting with the Board every Monday night and that’s when
the Masonic regular meeting was, so there haven’t been very many meetings at
that time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Int: </span></b>You timed every basketball game;
you were the official timer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were at
every football game down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
remember what you did there, but official, and he was gone all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was his community work besides some of
these other things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">That’s right, ‘cause in those days
the principal--and still is--expected to be at meetings like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t have an assistant principal when I
first started out and so I had to do all of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a while I had Fred Stefansky, whom you
will remember, he was my assistant principal, and we could trade some things
off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it still is pretty much the
idea that when an activity in your school is going on the principal should be
around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had an occasional problem
with people who would come to the games and so on, and so Joe Denton was Chief
of Police, you’ve heard of him, if you don’t remember him, made me a special
policeman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to carry the badge the
same as the rest of the men and I still have that upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a special policeman and anything that
happened at the school, I had full authority (although I didn’t carry a gun) to
eject people, arrest them, take them down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I didn’t have to do that sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I put a few people out of the building, but that was part of your
responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Methodist Church, we joined that
about the first year we were here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
had no children at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>Int: </b>Down here at the old church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hadn’t been in very long and they got me
teaching a Sunday School class. Araminta was made a member of the choir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she graduated to the service league, the
Women’s Society, what was it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>AE: </b>Well, I was charter member of the
Women’s Society and president of the Service League.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess the Service League is disbanded
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was the younger women and
then it turned out to be women that were working so they met at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I guess they don’t meet anymore.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span>From that then, Liz was made
president of the Women’s Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
remember what date, do you?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">AE: </span></b>Sixty seven, two years, sixty
seven, sixty eight.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span> </span>OK. That was her involvement with
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another thing that comes to mind the
first year we were here, at $1500 dollars, that wasn’t too bad a salary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the best salary that any teacher in
the Industrial Arts Department left Western Michigan with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them were $1000, $1100, something
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the $1500 we got by
with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to help us get </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">by she worked at
the D & C Store for $ .25 an hour. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>AE: </b>$ .20 an hour.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We rented the apartment up over
Lapham’s store, which was Ponsford’s, Lapham was a Ponsford, and her family
owned Ponsford and they had gone out of business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, that store below was vacant and we
had the front apartment and we stayed in that from August when we moved in
until March, I think it was, or April.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then we got a house out in Novi so we moved out there and stayed
about two months, and then a house on West Street which is two houses from the
________ house now, became available so we moved back into town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We moved back in two months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that year, 1937-38, we moved seven times.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b>Int:</b> </span>When did you finally move to this
house?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>EE: </b></span></span>Oh, not until 1942.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve lived here 46 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our oldest daughter was three months old when
we moved in here.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I remember a house drawing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re talking about a whole row of houses
here, four or five of them, built by the same carpenter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Int: </b>Built by the same carpenter, the
same plan?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, we don’t know who he was.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Filkins, the man who built the buildings,
lived in this house, we understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
then a man by the name of Filkins, who was the father of Guy Filkins, who was a
musician who taught at the University of Michigan, music, and also was the
organist at Central Methodist Church in Detroit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>On Adams.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, actually, there have only been
about three families that have lived in this home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We bought the house after Guy
Filkins.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That’s kind of an interesting story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to be a director of vocational
education and a friend of mine whom I was working with, he was coordinator, we
had summer conferences, and so forth, and a man by the name of Hill passed
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the Director of Vocational
Education at South Lake High School in St. Clair Shores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That job became available and I applied, and
darn it, I got the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, in September
we moved over there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That was September of ’41.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And we moved over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we discovered that there was problems
over there, that I didn’t want the job anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We stayed three months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
shortly after that, maybe that isn’t a part of this, one or two of the board
members were in jail after that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
could see that this wasn’t anything that I wanted to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Amerman called one day and I said, “How
you doing?” “Not so good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What’s the
matter, Russ?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I just lost my
man to replace you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you any idea
where I can get another person?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said,
“Would you take me back?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we moved
back, then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the first day back
was Pearl Harbor Day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>December 7?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we stayed over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You drove back and forth, and I was pregnant
for this first baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moving over there I
was pregnant and all this time and he drove back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he finally found a house over in Novi.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Corner of Novi Lake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(But the woman, Mrs. Painter, said
you can only have it for four months, I don’t remember the reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, anyway, here I was, huge, and so we
moved again, that was another move, into that house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lynn was born in March and we moved back in
February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the mean time Mr. Amerman
was looking for a house for us and he knew Dr. Guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Guy and his mother just came here summers
when school was out and they had an apartment in Ann Arbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Mr. Amerman talked guy into letting us
rent this house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so we moved in here
in May, ‘cause Lynn was three months old and we celebrated Decoration Day
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he wouldn’t sell it to
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they had to clean it all out;
they had all these antiques and things in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then we lived in it ten years before he would sell it to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guy had a heart attack and he reserved the
upper part of the garage out there, put all his treasures in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the heart attack he said, “I can’t
climb stairs”, so we could buy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in
the mean time, we spent our wad out at the lake and built a cottage, so we had
to quick find someplace for a down payment.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is there by any chance anything from
that old house still here in the house?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Oh yes.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Furniture and so forth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(He left things here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew we were antiquers, so he left the
spinning wheel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he left was this
clock on the mantle, and that has all good work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s about 1840.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the spinning wheel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What else, Elroy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He left a lot of things in the attic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said you can go out there and take anything
you want after he didn’t feel good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are some ironstone dishes, there’s a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when he died he had a studio down in the
church on Adams and his wife took me down there and said, “Now you can have anything
you want out of here.” She had to clear it out, you see, you see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this came from down there, this
_______.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I remember that ginger jar
I got from there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was some other
furniture that we moved around and stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m trying to think what else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Can you think of anything else, Elroy, that was in the house?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Can’t think of it right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(He said you love things, so you can
have them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, he was a dear man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may have part of them up at the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I’ve got a table up at the lake that
came from his studio.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Have you changed the house much since
you lived here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Not interior-wise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Not floor plan, but we’ve done every room,
had it plastered and... )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Structurally, it’s basically the same
house?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(We added a back room on after he had
his stroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We enclosed the back room
which you should see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just, I don’t know, this is home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t think of living any other place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see all those beautiful great big
elms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not jealous; I don’t want
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love it here.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And you’re right in town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Right in town and we’re right on the
edge of the historical district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
think the house was built somewhere in the sixties to seventies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1865 we’d say.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>End of the Civil War?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Yes, about that, we think it is.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Guy had done a bit of renovating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had put in this fireplace here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had taken a wall out right there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Took that out and he made this archway and
that was his piano room; or that used to be what we called the parlor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(But he called it his music room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He taught his students, had his grand piano
in there, I guess.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s all, as far
as I know, of structural changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(We changed when we put that room
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here there was a doorway, an archway,
that went out and there was just like an entry there and some closets and then
a door out, so that you could go from the kitchen right around and around and
around and that went out on the porch.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Great for kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(The kids rode their bicycles,
believe me, they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have three
daughters and the tricycles went round and round.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Right around the stairwell in the
middle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you want to we’ll go out there and see
that room, so you can put that on the tape, if you want to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t it’s perfectly all right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I did want to emphasize, we’ve put my
hand, she has, on every two by four structure, on every rafter, on every floor
joist in this house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because we had all
the plaster, and so forth, off and put it back with hard plaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember one day I was washing the house
outside and she came in yelling at me to stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I said, “What’s the matter?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And she said, “The water, you’re squirting it in the house.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turns out this house, all it had
originally was the siding on the outside and lath and plaster on the
inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(And it was the old hair plaster in
the stairway, when we did the stairway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve insulated the whole thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve put new ceilings, because this used to crack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We put a beam across here because it’s such a
long distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But still when you walk
across the room above the dining room, sometimes it jiggles a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that really went just like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was scared to death of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s doors everywhere; there’s a door
behind that piano that will go out onto the front porch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, you know, it’s just charming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We always just love it.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another part of the house, not the
house, but the garage out here was a horse and buggy affair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so horses were kept in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original rings where you tied the horse
to the manger, and so forth, was there when we came in; there was hay upstairs,
a little bit of hay and it would drop right down into where the manger
was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, we have taken that out,
but it was interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
carriage house, like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now we keep
two cars in there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, what year was this, when you
first came to the high school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It would be in the fifties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were grade school children and there
were three houses there which is next to the old high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They extended down through to what is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Well, to where the Community
Building is now.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah, but beyond that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then there was the old building that was
used for the City Hall on the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Lapham house, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we had
three buildings there that we used for grade school and, also (and this will
help with the date) in those houses we had war workers training classes on mathematics,
mechanical drawing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t think of
what else, but there was three of those things, and Harry Smith, a former
teacher, he was director of that for awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I was made director of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that would be in ’42, ’43 because we were getting people prepared to
go to work in the bomber plant over at Ypsilanti.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Willow Run?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was one of the fortunate things that happened to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could get in and out of the bomber plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in and out with a lot of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right or wrong, I was a very fortunate person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never had to serve in the War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was ready to go the Board was ready to send
me when school got out, probably in ’44, and when the call came for me, the
Board said let’s try holding this fellow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So they made a request for deferment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And they deferred me because of my war worker training here in the
classes and over at Willow Run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I
didn’t have to go to war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were very
fortunate I was on that and been able to hold off.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It seems to me you might have been a
little older than most of the guys being drafted at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, you’d be on the high side of
the draft age?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Let’s see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Lynn was born that’s in 1942.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was 27 and you were 29 or 30.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, ‘cause they were drafting 18 to 23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(He was 1A for awhile.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was also a little older as a
teacher coming into the system, because I had got my training in ’33; went to
Detroit and worked for approximately four years and then back to college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when we came here I was 24 or 25,
something along that line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rather
than the 21 people are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a little
bit older than that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(What did you want to ask us about?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you want to give me a little
background of your associations, clubs, church and the various groups in town, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people you’ve gotten to know, did know back in
those days?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Well, I mentioned the name of
_____.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They lived down on east Main
Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were a couple in the
Methodist Church when we first came here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the Strolgers lived on Randolph in a darling red brick house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We both were active in the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sang in the choir fifteen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were lay leader, Elroy was lay
leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He taught the adult Sunday
School class for years.) Superintendent of the Sunday School also.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Would you like to know about Mrs.
Knapp, Patty Knapp?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pat Knapp was
Superintendent of Schools before Mr. Amerman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He came from Highland Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs.
Knapp lived next door and was a dear neighbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was elderly; she drove her own car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was very hard of hearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
had a Chevrolet, ’36, was it? Coupe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
attended Women’s Club, and she wore hearing aids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any everybody knew it was Mrs. Knapp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a well-educated woman, very
knowledgeable, very intelligent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one
time I think she was quite a gardener.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And she was an antiquer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
about all I can think about, about Mrs. Knapp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was very kind to me; kind of took me under her wing, took me places.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You were mentioning your other
neighbors?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Well, across the street was the
Methodist parsonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Lesley
Williams was the minister, and Andrea, his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They lived there quite a while.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, for many years after you moved
here, I’m sure there’re a lot of building that no longer exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, next to the Methodist Church on
the corner there was an old building that was a restaurant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Yes, the old Methodist Church
parsonage was on the corner where the parking lot is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was right on the corner, and when they
sold that it was the Black’s White House and that’s related to the Blacks that
had the hardware here in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
eventually it was torn down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then
the parsonage was up here on the corner of Dunlap and Rogers across from us and
then it was down on the corner of Dunlap and Wing.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I knew Cargo (?) that’s where
he lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes. It was the Opera House
here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(When we lived here during the War,
that’s another thing, the building was there but it wasn’t the Opera
House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a meat market
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I can remember, Lynn was just,
that’s our oldest daughter, was just 2 or 3, ‘cause she was born in 1942. I
would save up my meat stamps, ‘cause you know, it was during the War, and I
would take them out and go down and stand in line in that meat market and try
to get, maybe, a ham for Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
was the name of that meat market?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can’t
tell you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was the lower floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was commercial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The upper floor was a big handsome
auditorium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did they actually conduct
things in there at that time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(No, there was nothing in there but
this meat market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was there another
store in there or did he take up the whole ___?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I don’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(But I can remember taking Lynn and going and
standing in line with my food stamps, my meat stamps and getting meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There wasn’t a lot of it.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Also, let’s go to the corner of Main and
Center and start walking West and just as you get beyond the travel bureau was
Hill’s Meat Market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There was a car agency there, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">All right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then next to it was the Rathbun Chevrolet
Agency and across the street was George Locke’s Ford Agency and Mack took over
from that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The A & P store used to
be on Main Street about where the bank is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Somewhere in there, or the D&C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The D&C store when we first came to Northville was on the west side
of Center Street between Main and Center, but it was about the second store
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember, what was on the
corner.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There was a Niter’s (?) Hardware.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No that’s not the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That’s
not the right name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nyriter’s, yes.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Then there was the D&C store and it
was painted red, dark red, and it had a wooden floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was real old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And two, three steps up to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the first D&C store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can remember that.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What was beyond it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schrader’s? Was Schrader’s there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Post Office was there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And after the D&C store moved over,
in, it’s on Main Street in where ___ was shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along in
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s where I worked for $
.20 an hour, afternoons, for Essie Nyriter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That Nyriter still isn’t right for the hardware.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Hannaford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Bartholomew and then Hannaford, Neil
Hannaford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then there was a little people’s shop
down on one side, this side of the theater, and there was a woman’s dress shop
on the other side of those two shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ruth Brownsville had the little people’s shop, it was all children’s
clothes, and she came and got me for $.25 an hour so I moved down there and
worked for Ruth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Back to the hardware.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a George Clark that had it, Neil
Hannaford that had it, Bartholomew that had it, and Hammer that had it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All four of those people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This was always on the corner?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it was about one store north of the
corner as I remember it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There used to
be a beer garden next to the corner and it was next to that beer garden, was
where the hardware was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was
still right in there where that original dime store was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And the hardware store is now, until
recently, was that Green’s Shop?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
that’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between that and the
corner, the corner was the Northville Record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And between the Northville
Record and the hardware store was the beer garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before the Northville Records was over there,
it was on Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where the insurance company, over there
first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was when Baldwin had
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, and the, what’s his name that
I worked for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And across near that insurance house was
Lila’s Floral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hughy Gardner got
involved in it and it moved over on Main Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Northville Florist, something like that, it
was called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember going in there to
buy things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s interesting to follow
the business changes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Well, Mike Gunsell had the drug store
on the corner, on the south corner.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wasn’t there a bank on the corner of Center and Main Street?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think there was a bank on the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(No, the bank was where Orin Jewelers __)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, they were both on the same side of
the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And across Main Street from
Orin Jewelers was Loren’s drug store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It
was Gunsell’s first.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Just down the street was a TV shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, Alex TV.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And then there was E.M. Bogart Grocery
in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the way, did Mr. Amerman
give you the things that he had to do in his early days there with scrip for
the teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did he tell you about
that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes he told us the story about
scrip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very fascinating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these personal associations, I think,
are interesting too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The business is
fine, but the personal factor, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Start talking about the doctors you knew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(All right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we first come to town, there was the two
doctors Sparling and he had been in the First World War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They lived in the house down where McAlistairs
– that was their home for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
Mrs. Doctor Sparling was considered a very good woman’s doctor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And their daughter, Marcia, is married to
Norm Frid, she is Mrs. Norm Frid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you
know the Frid name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Sid and Sy
brothers, Frid, owned the laundry on Center Street and it was in –)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Approximately where the doctors offices
are, there north to the next building that was the Northville Laundry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who was the two brothers that ran
that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sid and Sy Frid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, somebody else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, that was the Richardsons, or Richmond, or
whatever their name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had it
afterward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sid and Sy had it first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richards, or what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rich, Richie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Right where the candy store -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richie, Richie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Cause one of the brothers lived down the
street, lived down the street below us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Louis Frid, both the widows are still alive, Dorothy and Louise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There was Dr. Salady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then this house down here on the corner of Wing and Dunlap on this
side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ve just been renovating it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Northwest corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Dr. Salady’s home and office when we
moved in here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">How’s that spelled?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a C or an S?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No, S. Silady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Silidy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then there was a Dr. Holcomb. Yep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was – South of ___ on Wing Street
between Main and Dunlap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And then there was Dr. Snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And his daughter is married to Mike Allen,
Chief Mike Allen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Betty Snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was Dr. Atchison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s been our doctor for fifty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wasn’t even there when we moved to town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He moved here after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you have him down on your list for an
interview?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a couple of weeks<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went to Alaska.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Because he would be one who would be
very good on giving information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
other doctors were there? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, there was Dennis Mileski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where was he?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, he was in an office that is the
parking lot of Arbor Drugs, next to __<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oh wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was in that house on Main Street that burned down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, we used to go to Dr. Mileski there on
Main Street between __ on farther down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Remember that great big house that __?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Griswold?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the corner of Hutton and Main?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it wasn’t on the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where they’re building that new thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it was beyond there, about where the
restaurant is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was this great big
old house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was there a doctor in there
living?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Mileski was in there
first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then e went over to this new building
on Dunlap right next to the Arbor Drug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There was a dentist, I can’t think of
his name, who was involved with airplanes and so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oh North, was it North?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, that isn’t right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I can think of is Burn and that isn’t
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took me up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can remember that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a very touchy stomach at that time and
it made me sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time I couldn’t
even ride in a car, without driving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was the man’s name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
there was a man named Stinson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oh, I know something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down where all those foundries are and Cady,
there used to be a bell factory and a church furniture factory and someone in
the building they were connected, you know, the name appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we were cleaning out the attic of
the garage awhile back, this is probably 10 to 15 years ago, you’d bought all
those patterns, and you donated them to the Historical Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And, um, I don’t know if the Filkin’s
were associated with the furniture, they made church furniture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weren’t the Filkins __ ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seems to me that they were. Dolph runs in my
mind as being more with the furniture, though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A man named Dubuar, many years ago had a
factory I know, ‘cause in Jack Hoffman’s book there’s a photograph of this old
building, down where the Ford plant now is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But see, that’s before our time,
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Way before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m just kind of going back to what I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, B. Carlson started the
Beautification Commission but I don’t know the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must be twenty years ago, at least, and
all books that she had compiled are over at the City Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re aware of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Scrapbooks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are now members ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been on five years now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
added her a couple of years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got
so interested in school that I didn’t have much time for anybody else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What else do we belong to, though?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re doing too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I called Joanne, I can’t think of her
last name, and told her I would offer the house for the dinner next year for
dessert, so I think we should become more active in the Historical
Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We haven’t been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve been members for several years but
we’ve never really taken an active interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For a long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think probably charter members, but we
can’t do the renovating at the Historical Village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t do that sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought about docents, but I’m not sure I
want to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ve had the dinner
once before, and I’ll do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
still in the Women’s Club and I’ve gone back to the Garden Club and I got the
June garden of the year award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
thrilled with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">From the Garden Club?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No, the other garden club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Country Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every month they give an award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You must have an interest in music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have a piano.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Coming to the band concert tonight?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every Friday night we have a band concert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Will you promise to air condition
outside? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
NDL Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16140640506676726053noreply@blogger.com0