FOR SENIORS
THE
Jack and Betty Kroker always had hugs and kisses for teacher Linda
ADDATES
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
M
aybe it wouldn't
have happened
if Jack Kroker
hadn't told his
wife about the
other women.
Shortly after retiring as a
printer, he took up oil pain-
ting and enrolled in an art
class at the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Jewish Community
Center. He and a con-
siderably younger man were
the only male students in a
classroom of mostly senior
women.
"I told my wife about all
the ladies who were there
and how nice they were
treating me," Kroker recall-
ed with a straight face.
"There wasn't anything spe-
cial about me, except that
the other fellow was young
enough to be like a son to
these women. My wife decid-
Commencement has a dual
meaning for new diplomates
Jack and Betty Kroker.
ed maybe she should join me
in the class."
That bit of concern is what
started Jack and Betty
Kroker of Southfield on the
road to earning something
both have always wanted. In
obtaining it, they made a
little history.
On June 10, in formal cap-
and-gown ceremonies at
Ferndale High School, Jack
Kroker, 85, and Betty
Kroker, 79, got their high
school diplomas, in the pro-
cess becoming the first
graduates in the eight-year
history of the Ferndale/Oak
Park Adult and Community
Education program at JPM.
The Krokers were among 87
adult graduates from other
campuses in the ceremonies,
but Jack was honored for be-
ing the oldest male grad in
this year's class.
Not bad for two people who
were born outside the
United States and grew up
in their adopted country dur-
ing the Great Depression.
It all started coming
together about a year ago,
when Miriam Sandweiss,
the director of the JCC's
senior adult department,
noticed the Krokers had
been taking courses at JPM
regularly since the early
1980s and were within reach
of their high school
diplomas.
The Krokers decided to try
for that goal and, with
teacher Linda Kayes' help,
they completed re-
quirements in mathematics,
life sciences, American his-
tory and communications as
mandated by the state.
They also got credit for life
experiences.
Those life experiences saw
Canadian native Jack
Kroker, son of an Austrian
grocer, leave school at age 14
in 1918 to go to work to help
his family. It was much the
same for Russian-born Betty
Schram, daughter of a busi-
nessman who lost most of his
fortune in the Bolshevik
Revolution. Betty had to
leave Detroit Central High
School in the 11th grade to
find a job and help her fami-
ly.
Kroker, who dreamed of
becoming a bookkeeper, in-
stead pursued printing, part-
ly because his family was too
poor to help him: "People
working in offices were very
sharp dressers and poor Jew-
ish families like mine
couldn't afford to buy their
kids such clothing. If you
didn't dress right, you didn't
even get considered for
jobs."
Kroker, whose father also
taught Hebrew, became an
apprentice printer in Toron-
to while attending night
school. By 1926, he was ear-
ning $35 per week —
"practically enough to sup-
port my whole family. I paid
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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