Thursday, September 10, 2009

Remembering Those Elementary School Days...

My mom didn't buy my school portraits or yearbooks every year, but she did buy them occasionally. Here is a picture of my 6th grade class, Whitmore Bolles Elementary School, 1968. This was the last year of grade school for me. Junior high was 7th-9th grades, and high school was 10th-12th grades. If I could get my scanner working, I'd show you my report card from that year. But you're not missing much, it wasn't all that impressive.

Let's see how many names I remember from my 6th grade class...
Left to right...
Row 1 (top): Mrs. Martella, Paula Davis, Marla Shooshanian, Paula Rohatynski
Row 2: Sue Johnston, don't remember, don't remember, don't remember, Mark Smith, Tina Santioni
Row 3: Esther Griffiths, Peggy Werth, Margaret Strachen, Robert Lesberance, Don Brown, Ron Carmen
Row 4: Steve Best, Donna Roesler, Judy Strahota, ME, Tim Hughes, Don Beyer
Row 5: Cynthia Motley, Diana Fugett, Mary Ann Novack, Jon Swank, John Gilmore, Ed Sedo
Row 6 (bottom): Cheryl Jackman, Debbie Skorich, Sue Hostetler, Karen White

Not too bad, I remembered 28 out of 31. Let's see, that's about 90%... wouldn't get me an A but it would probably warrant an A- on this test. That would pretty much sum up my grade school years. I wasn't a straight A student, but my GPA would have put me in the A- category.
From the same yearbook, here's me in the orchestra (I played violin). Can you find me? I'm in the front row between Laurel Schuff and Donna Roesler (3rd on right from center, fingering my red velvet jumper). I could name just about everyone in the orchestra but I won't bore you with that. ;-)

And here I am pictured with the Service Squad. Can you find me? This time I'm standing between Donna Roesler and Judy Guinan. (Hint: I'm wearing the same jumper and checkered top.)

And to complete the story, here's a picture of the school building from "back in the day".

I lived about 4.5 blocks from my elementary school. It seems like a short walk in retrospect but it felt like a long walk during those cold Michigan winters. I liked my school and most of my teachers. I have lots of fond memories of those grade school days...

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

5th Annual St. Albertus Fest

POLISH AMERICAN HISTORIC SITE ASSOCIATION INC. PRESENTS:

St. Albertus Fest!

Contact: Matthew Baka Phone: 1(248) 321-9241 Email: albertus1884@gmail.com

The Polish-American Historical Site Association Inc. (PAHSA) would like to announce the fifth annual St. Albertus Fest on the campus of the Registered National Historic Site, St Albertus Church, located at 4231 St. Aubin at E. Canfield, Detroit. This year’s fundraiser is taking place on Saturday, September 19, 2009, from 12:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. The outdoor music festival is $5 and features two covered stages filled with music throughout the day with a focus on Detroit’s finest local bands and musicians. Polish food, beer, wine and beverages will be for sale as well.

This year’s festival will feature a recital by the Oakland University Classical Guitar Ensemble. The recital will take place inside the Church auditorium as the opening of the festival at 1pm. Following the recital the music will begin on the two stages which will be setup outside the Church under tented areas.

The festival includes an amazing collection of bluegrass and folk influenced musicians throughout the day including Detroit based groups The Run-ins, 9 Volt Hammer and Catfish Mafia. This year we’re also excited to have local greats the The Planet D Nonet wsg Charles "Buddy" Smith for the first time. Our good friend Gretchen Wolff will be performing again this year, along with local rock bands Man Fransisco, Dr. Doctor, The Replicas, Pigeon, Eyer Department and Best Idea Ever. Also, Chicago based group Essex Channel are traveling to Detroit in support of St. Albertus

St. Albertus was the first Polish Catholic Church in Detroit (est. 1872) and the Heart of the area once known as “POLETOWN”. After its closure by the Archdiocese in 1990, a group of former Parishioners, Historians, and Preservationists established a 501-C3 non-profit under the name PAHSA, and reopened St. Albertus as a museum of cultural history.

PAHSA holds the St. Albertus Fest to remind the Detroit community that St. Albertus not only still exists, but is as beautiful and impressive as ever. For the past four years we’ve had musicians from a variety of backgrounds dedicate their time and talent to the festival in support of our cause. Please join us for the fifth annual St. Albertus fest, if you love Art, History, Architecture, Music, Food or even Beer then you don’t want to miss the St. Albertus Fest.

Gates open at 12:00 p.m., rain or shine, and live performances will run straight through from 1pm until 11:00 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door, 100% of the proceeds will go towards the Preservation of the St Albertus historic site. This event is all ages; beverages will be available for purchase, alcohol for those 21 and over. Traditional Polish food will be sold on the premises. Tours of the historic St. Albertus Church will be given throughout the day.

For further information and showtimes, please go to myspace.com/stalbertusfest

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Carnival of Genealogy, 79th Edition

I'm a little late with this announcement. I was out of town and without a computer when the 79th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy was published. I just checked it out and boy did Diane Rogers ever do a great job with it! The topic was "family reunions" and it was a very popular topic indeed.

It warms my heart to read all these stories about families getting together. There were lots of good suggestions shared and a few recommendations of what not to do. There are some wonderful family photos to see as well. So if you haven't already done so, head on over to Diane's blog and check out the COG!

And now comes the Call for Submissions for the 80th Edition!

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Family Fun!

Research an event your ancestor may have attended. Did your ancestor live within a few blocks of the parade route for the annual Fourth of July parade in the town where they lived? If your family lived in a rural area, perhaps they attended a county or state fair. If they lived in a big city, perhaps they attended a play or movie opening. Was there an amusement park or traveling carnival near the area your family was from, one they might have visited? Were there fireworks displays in the town your family was from? How much do you know about the types of entertainment your ancestors might have enjoyed? Check into it then write it up! This "fun" edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be hosted here on the Creative Gene blog. The deadline for submissions is September 15th.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Thanks for the poster, fM!