Hampton Class of
1958-59
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Webmaster Bob Aptekar |
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Madge
Birnkrant Levine After graduating Mumford and attending Ohio State University I married Tom Grossman and continued my education at Wayne State University. Together we opened a real estate company which flourished in Birmingham and ultimately Troy until our move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1979. Adding to our family were a son, and daughter who were seven and ten years of age at our move. A new real estate firm was established in Scottsdale and prospered until Tom’s sudden death in 1993, just one week past our thirtieth wedding anniversary. I ran this office until it was sold in 1994. Simultaneously, I met who would become my husband, Jerry Levine, a retired Podiatrist from West Bloomfield, Michigan who was then living in Tucson, Arizona. This was the perfect time to retire and begin traveling around the world. We have walked on the Great Wall in China, the terraces of Machu Picchu, glaciers of Alaska, deserts of Nairobi and Serengeti, and ridden a camel on the dunes of Namibia. We have been on the mountains of the Rockies in Aspen, Sun Valley and Deer Valley, Mount Kilamanjaro in Africa, Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro, Alps of St. Moritz and Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. Travels have taken us to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, St. Helena, Canary and the remote Pitcairn and Easter Islands. We’ve eaten gelato all over Italy, cheeses in France, pasta in San Marino, dim sum in Hong Kong and Singapore, gumbo in New Orleans and drank sangria in Spain and ouzo in Greece. The sights of the Vatican, Mt. Etna, Mt. Fuji and the shrines and pagodas of Thailand and Myanmar have astounded us. We have walked on the ancient streets of Pompeii, Ephasus, Alhambra and the Coliseum. We have white-water rafted down the Colorado for a week, spent seventeen days on safari in Kenya and Tanzania and have driven from Calgary to Vancouver in Canada as well as from Nice to Paris in France. We have cruised across the Atlantic and Pacific and crossed the Equator, sailed on the Mediterranean, Baltic, Aegean, Yangtze, Li Rivers and the Straits of Gibralter. Stops in the Aleutian Islands and Siberia along with small Japanese villages were exotic. The warm blue waters of Hawaii, Bermuda and the South Pacific were amazing. Sheep in New Zealand, terra cotta warriors in X’ian and jewels in the Tower of London and Topkapi were astounding. In all, travel has given me a wonderful education in lifestyles and culture not found in books or movies. My children and my two grandchildren (11 and almost 16) live in the Phoenix area. My stepchildren and grandchildren live in Tucson and Philadelphia. Living in Scottsdale, Arizona has been a wonderful home and place to easily find our way to Las Vegas and California for a quick getaway.
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Adria
Brown It’s been 50 adventuresome years, since we graduated from Hampton Elementary School. My life, and my career, has been rich and full, and I continue to grow and blossom, on my worldly and spiritual journey. After graduation from Mumford High School, I went on to study at Eastern Michigan University, in the School of Special Education, with an interest in working with the physically and emotionally challenged. A minor in psychology, and theater, helped to nurture my creative and expressive bents. Later, I went on to take some additional elective courses, at Wayne State University, and through the University of Michigan. I married in December of 1968, and for the next 91/2 years, we shared and enjoyed my husbands two adopted children, from his previous marriage, for as long as we remained together. We had no children of our own. During that time, we traveled extensively throughout Europe, and Asia, and also within the United States. We said our final good-byes in the spring if 1978. In October, 1977, with the realization that a new life was before me, I decided to take the plunge, and begin my own business. With my great love for the arts, & my need to discover my own creative potential, I opened the Madison Executive Galleries, and became an entrepreneur. Beginning as a fine arts gallery, my company continued to grow & expand. We added services to include complete interior furnishings, & space planning and design services. With the urging and caring support of the General Motors Corporation, we soon became the 1st woman owned, carpet dealership, in the State of Michigan. Catering to corporations, banks, offices, hospitals, & health care facilities, we found our satisfied corporate customers, asking us for our services in their homes. We happily complied. In October of this year, 2008, my company will celebrate its 31st and final anniversary. In 1991, another defining moment in my life and career came to pass. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill crisis, the ocean, marine and wildlife, were left with irreparable damage & destruction. I was moved to begin another journey, to improve the earth! To date, I have been granted two (2) patents in the United States and Canada, for cleaning up oil spills on or in any body of water, using only natural organic methods, and was approved as patentable in 32 other countries. I formed a company called Recovery I, Inc., and developed a product called “The Golden Retriever”. I am now ready, to commit fully to seeing it used as an economical and practical process for cleaning up spills. It’s my commitment, while I’m here on this planet, to make a positive difference in our surroundings. To experience the grace and wisdom of the whales and dolphins up close, & to interact with them, is a goal and a dream I still intend to fulfill. You are welcomed to join me! Over the years, I have had the privilege of serving in an advisory capacity, on several executive boards, and have remained an active board member within my own residential community, as well as an interested and active participant in my township. I am honored to have been included in the National Directory of Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals for many years. I am especially blessed to have both of my parents still alive, alert, and with us, as well as my brother, my sister, her adorable husband, and their beautiful, children and grand children. I love being their aunt and great aunt. I still have a finicky, but sweet, grey and brown 20 year old Tabby cat, that complains to me, when she feels I’m not giving her enough attention! I treasure & adore her! She is a wonderful mentor and teacher!
My spare time is filled with family, friends, travel, great
food, & volunteering my services where needed in the community. I
especially love to dress up as a clown, with only my blue rubber horn to
communicate. Children and seniors alike respond with smiles and
laughter, as I pull surprises from my pockets to leave for them. It does
my heart good! |
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Stephen Brown Following Hampton and Mumford, I went to the University of Michigan for undergrad. and law school. Right after law school, I got married to Faith Adler who I met at Michigan. She is from Ohio but had the good sense to attend college in Ann Arbor (apologies to anyone went to school in Ohio). We then began service as VISTA volunteers (the domestic version of the Peace Corps) in beautiful Camden, NJ., where I worked for legal services. When our VISTA term ended, we moved to Washington, DC and I worked in the general counsel's office of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By 1975, after five years with the Federal government, it was time for a change. I answered a blind ad in the Wall Street Journal which, it turned out, had been placed by McDonald's Corporation. I was invited to an interview and offered a position as labor relations attorney with McDonald's in Oak Brook, IL (a suburb of Chicago). My first days were spent in a uniform, mopping floors, cleaning tables and cooking french fries and hamburgers. Then I attended Hamburger University and got a degree in Hamburgerology (you may laugh, but the exams were really tough). McDonald's had about 3,000 restaurants back then, almost all in the U.S.A. During the next 25 years, McDonald's grew to 32,000 restaurants in about 110 countries. As the labor relations function expanded, I became Vice President of Labor Relations with a large department and both domestic and international responsibilities. It was challenging, fascinating and stressful work. I retired in 2000 and we moved to Tiburon, CA just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. We go to the Napa and Sonoma wine country almost weekly, enjoy all the attractions of San Francisco, and smile when we read the Michigan weather reports in February. We are devoted Wolverine fans and participate in many alumni activities in the San Francisco area. There has been a steady stream of house guests from the moment we moved here and our friends joke that we are running a B&B.
About the photos: In 1974, we saw an exhibit of antique Amish quilts at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. We had no particular interest in quilts at the time but were amazed that the "plain people," living in isolation, made quilts that resembled modern abstract paintings by Rothko, Albers, Lewitt, Ellsworth Kelly, Vasarely and others--and the quilts were made before the paintings. Over the years, with lots of searching, we collected more than 100 Amish quilts from the years 1880-1940. In 2000, our collection was exhibited at the U of M Art Museum in Ann Arbor and at the Renwick Gallery in Washington (in the very same space where we first discovered Amish quilts). In 2005, there was a major exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Next Fall, they will be exhibited at the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, the main art museum for the City of San Francisco.
I won't be
able to make the reunion but it's great to catch up. Maybe we'll see you
next year at the deYoung Museum! |
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Richard Burstein After Hampton I went on to Mumford and than to Michigan from where I graduated in 1966. I than went on to Wayne State Law School and received a J.D. in 1969. I started my legal career with Smith Miro Hirsch and Brody in 1969 and than joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn in 1981 where I still practice law as a Senior Partner. I have been married for 38 years to Gayle, who grew up in Louisville, Ky and we have two daughters, one married with a 3 year old daughter and they live in Franklin and an unmarried daughter who lives in Chicago and sells T.V. time. We live in Bloomfield Hills. I still play tennis, some golf and travel a great deal both for business and pleasure. Inspite of all the bad press, Detroit has been a great place to live, work and raise a family.
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Girija
(Elaine Feldman) Brilliant After graduating from Mumford, I got a BA at WSU and then went to graduate school in psychology at U. of M. In l969 I married Larry Brilliant and we moved right afterwards to San Francisco, where he did his internship. The next year found us traveling with the Hog Farm commune overland from London to Nepal. We ended up living in India for nearly a decade, where we studied with our teacher, Nim Karoli Baba, (who gave me my name) and then worked in the World Health Oranization’s smallpox eradication program. After smallpox was eradicated in India (and to date the only disease ever to be eradicated) we returned to Ann Arbor and enrolled in the School of Public Health. I went on to get a doctorate in social epidemiology and Larry was a professor of international health. We also founded the Seva Foundation in 1979 with the goal of working to eradicate needless blindness in Asia. Seva is now 30 years old and has helped restore sight to millions. In 1988 we moved back to the Bay area. My research on the social barriers that keep women and children in developing countries from accessing available health care, has taken me to Nepal, South India, Cambodia and Egypt.
Larry has worked in epidemiology and as the CEO of several
internet companies and two years ago became the executive director of
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google. It’s been a great adventure.
I continue my work with Seva and also practice Iyengar yoga and Buddhist
meditation. We have three children, Joe, 29, working for Current TV in
San Francisco,
Jon, 22,
currently in Shanghai on a Fulbright, and Iris, 20, who just finished her
sophomore year at Michigan. |
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Rodger Gach
I am a partially retired [love that Social Security!] Computer Professional with loads of computer hardware and software in my home, and a great love for what I do. I have been working with computers for over 40 years, and have survived the technological revolution that has been so exciting; especially in the last 30 years! My personal ‘treasure’ collections include a variety of electronic devices from the 40s, 50s, and 60s that followed advances in electronics and computers, from vacuum tubes and transistors to modern computer chips. I have over 200 hearing aids, almost 300 vacuum tube and/or transistor radios, some WWII surplus ‘goodies’ and lots of computers, old and new. I was married twice (for 15 years and 8 years) and divorced twice (28 and 20 years ago). I was blessed with 3 beautiful daughters and have 7 awesome grandchildren, for whom I have great, great love J. Over the years, I received a BA (Physics/Math), MS (Physics), CDP, CDE, 1/3 of a Marketing MBA, Ph.D. (Computer Science), and an advanced degree in cat-scratching from my 9 year-old Tabby (“Tigger”). I am also blessed with a 15 ½ year-old mixed Terrier (“Schultz”), who I lovingly adopted about 3 years ago after his owner passed away. My totally-loving pets and I get along great! My computer experience includes being a Senior Instructor (Honeywell Institute), Education Director (Sperry Univac), Senior Systems Analyst and Technical Group Supervisor (Ford Motor Company), and Independent Computer Systems Consultant, specializing in relational database management systems for over 15 years. Teaching experience includes over 6 years facilitating University of Phoenix (U of P) courses in the Detroit area (Troy, Southfield) in the Computers & Information Technology (C&IT) College and over 4 years, as C&IT Adjunct Faculty, for Oakland Community College at their Royal Oak Campus. In addition to the U of P and OCC classes, I also taught computer classes in a local private College and several local High Schools. I completed over 10 years of consulting for the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan; but gave up the travel-and-motel way of life about 8 years ago to concentrate on teaching and building/upgrading PCs and installing small local area networks in homes and businesses. I really love building things with my hands, and making people happy by fixing their “broken” computers! In past years, I had a very rewarding time setting up computer labs, servers, and local area networks in local schools (I built the servers and client PCs as well). As the Technical Director for the Metropolitan Detroit Computers For Schools Foundation, I have donated lots of time to repair and upgrade, then give away; many, many computer systems for local public and private schools, churches, and financially-constrained seniors. I operate my computer business [Rod’s Computers, LLC] from my Royal Oak home. I refurbish PCs and Laptops, build new PCs, and clean up viruses, spyware, and other junk, and give computers a “tune up” as I call it, so they run faster than new. I really enjoy my continuing computer work and my many happy customers! The learning never ends… I spend quite a bit of time online and am an "EBay junkie". I hope this helps you to understand a little bit more about me. Keep smiling; life is wonderful!
Rodger
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Janice Gilbar
Treadwell |
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Alan Jay
Glueckman Okay,
here’s my official Corporate Biography: As a lyricist, Alan wrote 30 songs for the hit musical revue STARR STRUCK: A MUSICAL INVESTIGATION about Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Ken Starr and Linda Tripp which became a worldwide media sensation when it opened the night before the Senate voted on Impeachment, co-wrote the book and wrote the lyrics for STALAG 17 - THE MUSICAL which has been optioned by Broadway legend Leonard Soloway, and wrote the book and lyrics for the original musical FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY, which had a successful World Premiere showcase and run at Lynn University in Boca Raton in 2005. Prior to his career in Hollywood, Alan worked in Product Management at General Foods and was an advertising copywriter/producer, rising to Creative Director at Ted Bates (Hellas). He graduated from Cass Technical High School in Science and Arts, holds an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan Honors College. He has focused all of his business and creative efforts on eJamming since he co-founded the company with Gail Kantor in 2002, where he is Chairman and President.
Here’s the personal
stuff:
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Richard Goldman Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Graduated from Mumford High School (’62). Received my BA degree from the University of Michigan (’66), member Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, and law degree from the Harvard Law School (‘69). Two daughters, Tracy, 18, a high school senior and totally teen, and Lauren, 26, who works in finance in New York City. Live in Westwood with partner, Donna Zeller and Cricket the deranged cat. Have lived in Los Angeles for 27 years. Practiced corporate law for 10 years as in house counsel for movie theatre circuits, and have worked in corporate finance for the past 27 years, primarily for smaller public companies. Auditing two courses a quarter at UCLA, mostly film and theatre: economics and poly sci next fall. Interests include photography, film, theatre and fiction, especially fantasy and mystery (English). Computer proficient.
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John
Gottfurcht My father moved our family from Palmer Woods to Beverly Hills California, which was quite devastating at the time. However, Southern California has been very good to me. I have two wonderful children, Devon (40) and Jeff (34), a gorgeous wife, Amy Jo and a satisfying and successful career in the Money Management Business. I founded my Company, SSI Investment Management and a very conservative hedging strategy called Market-Neutral, in 1973. Today I continue to be an owner practitioner of the business. I still like to follow the Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings. My wife and I travel extensively—to the South Pacific, Indonesia, Africa and throughout Europe. Our favorite place however is Mexico, where we love to explore the old colonial cities as well as the Pacific Coast. I still reside in Beverly Hills, but enjoy part of the winter in Paradise Valley, Arizona where my wife and I have a second home. I still see my best friend and cousin Kenny Brandt (who continues to live in Farmington Hills) and my cousin, Jim Gottfurcht, who lives in Tarzana California, but also visits Detroit often.
I look forward to seeing everyone. The
funny thing is that no matter where I travel, I always meet people from my
old neighborhood. People from Detroit (Bloomfield Hills, Southfield,
Franklin and Farmington Hills,
etc) continue to be some of the best people in the world, and I am glad to
be coming “home”. |
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Kenneth Harley |
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Sandy Leichtman
Froehlich Following Hampton and Mumford, I attended Oberlin College and completed a BA at the University of Michigan. In 1971 received a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina. (Go Tar Heels!) Initially I held academic positions (teaching, practice and research) in Child Psychiatry and Pediatric Departments in medical schools in Boston and Baltimore. (I was fortunate to be a co-author of the first American publication on fetal alcohol syndrome.) I moved to state mental health administration serving in varied challenging capacities until 5 years ago, when I tired of beltway traffic and retired. Throughout I was on national and state psychological association boards and committees, and was a reviewer and/or consulting editor for several professional journals. Currently I live in a
carriage house outside Baltimore with my husband, Jeff Froehlich, MD, a
medical researcher (retired from the National Institute of Health and
presently at Johns Hopkins) and Bandi, our immense white collie rescue. I
have a stepson and 2 step-granddaughters in Wisconsin. |
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Steve Lupiloff Whew. Fifty years. The concept seems like forever and yet, at the same time, it seems like a second. The passage of time has had its’ good points and sad points. We have lost some dear people in our life. We have lost our youthful looks. Gravity has become our enemy. We no longer talk about our future. Our conversations center around health, children and grandchildren, the economy and our retirement funding. On the other hand, there have been many, many bright things to reflect upon. Our spouses…Children…grandchildren…successful careers…bar and bat mitzvahs….weddings….more happy events than one can remember. Life is good. Going to Hampton was special. We grew up in a special place in a special time. I am fortunate enough to include amongst the people I love, those whose friendships began at Hampton Elementary School….John Carnick (The best man at my wedding), Mark Mellen, Joanie Stegman Simon, Ken Harley, Barry Siegel, Dede Stifter Cohn…..the list could go on and on…and, remarkably, we still maintain our friendships and love for one another. After graduating (does one really “graduate” from elementary school?) I went to Mumford High, and from Mumford to Michigan State, and then transferred to Wayne State, where I met my wonderful wife, Cynthia Wolf Lupiloff. After graduation from Wayne State, I graduated from the Detroit College of Law. Cynthia and I were married in 1969, and will be celebrating our 39th anniversary next week. Cynthia and I have been blessed with two wonderful daughters, Jennifer, who is 35, and Dana, who is 31. Jennifer is married to Jeremy Samson and they have a daughter Ruby Skye, who has me wrapped around her little (she’s 19 months old) finger. Jennifer owns a public relations firm called “The Oufit” in Los Angeles, and Jeremy is the manager of a country club named “Big Canyon” in Newport Beach. Dana lives in Vail, Colorado and manages a flower shop in Beaver Creek called “Bouquets”. I practiced law in Michigan until 1996, and after my father passed away (alas, no more “Lupi Drugs”), Cynthia and I moved to Scottsdale, Az., where we now live. (Scottsdale is a lot closer to Vail and L.A. then Michigan. Cynthia and I love to visit our children (we see at least one of them each month), travel, and enjoy the sunshine. Cynthia works part time at the Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale, and I am in the real estate investment business.
I would love to reestablish contact with
those of you of like mind. I can be reached at
twolupi@cox.net. I won’t be at
the reunion in body, but my heart and thoughts are with all of you. |
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Joel Miller |
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Kerry Ozer
I retired from the Army after 22
years of service. Then I was medical director at the Alaska Psychiatric
Institute in Anchorage for six years. For the past 10 years I have worked
as a child and adolescent psychiatrist providing care for Alaska native
children and their families. I am employed by a native corporation and
have had the good fortune to do a lot of work in bush Alaska. I also
work with Veterans one day a week at the Anchorage VA. My wife Connie (of
32 years) does a lot of volunteer work in the community. We have three
adult children. The oldest Justine is an environmental engineer in
Atlanta. She is married and pregnant, due in November. My son Egon |
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Joanie Stegman Simon A quick bio and an everlasting obsession,
Imagine, if you will, that out of the blue, with no expectation on your part, someone gave you a great gift for no apparent reason….it just happened… just like that. All of a sudden, you could now see the pure joy of making music. And, of course, hear it as never before. Yes, a gift that allowed you the experience, not just the hearing. And there it was right in your lap. All at once, you had this pure delight. In one moment your experience of music changed and as a result many other things changed, too . . . a kind of cascade effect, so to speak. If you had been living in a two-dimensional world and someone described the three-dimensional world to you, you would be incredulous, couldn’t even imagine it. And if one day your world just changed to that added dimension, what a revelation that would be! Well, it was like that for me when I discovered Glenn Gould. As a “baby boomer,” I am old enough at least to have heard ofGlenn, but young enough never to have actually listened to him. The Beatles were my band of choice. Before Gould, there were other musicians who held my attention for short periods of time, and various kinds of music that I found pleasant. I found myself mysteriously drawn to Bach, but didn’t know why; but eventually I would put his music aside because I was listening for something in it that I just didn’t hear. Every so often would hear that elusive something, but couldn’t nail down what it was. So, music was around me, yet I was not particularly involved with it. When serendipitously, I actually saw and heard Glenn play the Goldberg Variations on Google video in September, 2006, I was absolutely amazed. There he was, wonderfully playing just for me. I had never seen or heard anything like that in my life. And I wanted more. Thankful that there are many recordings and quite a few videos, I began my search. In reality, it was a new beginning. My energy levels, already high, soared. I shared my experience with just about everyone I met. How does listening to Glenn play translate into a sense of well-being? How does watching him play change the way I hear the music? Have you ever noticed that when sitting by yourself in a room listening to Gould, you are never alone? Yes, his humming and singing is a comforting addition to the music. Now there are many wonderful writers who can dissect Glenn’s repertoire and style, and I wouldn’t presume even to try matching their eloquence. I can only speak to my own experience. And to my delight.
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DeDe Stifter Cohn It doesn't seem possible that 50 years have gone by so quickly. It will be nice to jog memories from everyone to see what can be recalled. After graduating Mumford, I had a short stint at MSU. I returned home to start working in my father's business until he retired in 1969. Was married for a short time in 1967, and after divorcing in 1969, entered the medical field, the last place I expected to land, and became office manager in an Oncology office for 3 years. I then moved on to a Nephrology practice of 5 doctors for 12 years, until I met my husband, Alan, (the Radiologist my mother always dreamed of). Alan was a widower with 2 boys ages 8 and 16. Instant family!! We now have 2 granddaughters and 1 grandson, all living out of state. Golf became a passion for me after we were married. I also love the theater, movies, music, reading and hanging out with "Bella Rose " our 2 year old Havanese, who runs our life. She's the one I'm holding in the picture.....Life is good!! Looking
forward to seeing all of you who attend!! |
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Jeannie Summer Ross
This year seems to be a
year for reunions. In February, I attended my 40 year Peace Corps reunion
in Palm Desert, CA. Rather than rewriting my biography, I’ll just give
you the one I wrote for that one. It begins in 1968 after my Peace Corps
time. I had married my college boyfriend in 1965, and after he finished
law school, we joined the Peace Corps together. In 1981, after 16 years of marriage and several miscarriages, I divorced Steve and received my MA. I was then hired to teach Spanish 101 and 201 at Oakland U. In the spring of 1982, I was chair of hospitality in Detroit for the International Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) conference.
In the summer of1983, I
went to live and study in Spain and attended the International Summer
School classes at the University of Salamanca. I was placed in a class
where nobody spoke English, and had a fascinating academic and wild social
experience there. Upon my return, I began teaching high school Spanish at
the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, MI.
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Tony Wasserman
I spent the
last semester of 8th grade at Hampton, arriving from Miami Beach (7th
grade) and Nolan Jr. High (since we stayed in a motel on the east side of
Woodward until we found a house). We left Detroit that summer, and I
went to high school in Coral Gables, Florida, having lived a grand total
of 1 year in Detroit. All that I remember of Hampton is an English teacher
who didn't like the way that I pronounced "ing" at the end of participles,
and a science field trip to Ann Arbor. (I've only been in
the Detroit area once in the last 50 years: for Super Bowl XVI in 1982,
though I am not much of a football fan.) |
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Ned
Winkelman I play
alot of tennis, enjoy traveling and have fun doing plastic surgery. |
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Hampton Documents |
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Last Will of Hampton 1958 |
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