Former students and their parents celebrate
a milestone in Reva Klaymers

JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER

KRISTA HUSA-PHOTOGRAPHER

Clockwise from top left:
Lilian Rosinger cracks up Reva Klaymer
and Nancy McDonald.

DeDe and Jerry Weinberg buss Klaymer,
the birthday girl.

Klaymer prepares to blow out 40 candles
as her daughter Leora Stewart, Jerry
Weinberg and others look on.

THE DE TROIT JEWISH NEWS

Klaymer, who says she hates being the
center of attention, listens to others
reminisce about her.

B

II

igh school teachers and college professors tend
to leave the biggest mark on a student.
But there are exceptions. Reva Klaymer, a
nursery school teacher at United Hebrew Schools
for 32 years, is as beloved by her former students
as she is by the parents who cried the first time
they dropped off their children at school.
Last week, in an homage to Klaymer, her daughter Leora
and parents of her young charges threw her an 80th birth-
day party at the West Bloomfield home of DeDe and Jerry
Weinberg, whose 29-year-old daughter Susan was in Klaymer's
class way back when. About 40 adoring parents and former
students shared memories and cake with Klaymer, who be-
gan her career in Detroit in 1954 after emigrating with her
husband from South Africa, by way of Israel.
"She's really touched many, many Jewish children and their
families. People who couldn't come [to the party] sent letters
to me about how Reva influenced them," DeDe Weinberg said.
"I was very happy," said Klaymer, "but to be very honest, I
don't like to be the center of attention. I feel kind of embar-
rassed." ❑