t.

ROBERT A. SKLAR
Editor

I

t was a time for hugs and tears — and for
catching up on what was new in everyone's
life and remembering times now long past.

It was the reunion of the 1966 graduating class
of James Vernor School, on Pembroke, near
Schaefer, in northwest Detroit.
From touring the classrooms to visiting the
basement air raid shelter, from taking a group pic-
ture in the original auditorium seats to looking

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out over the playground and imagining the old
"portables" where the lower grades met, the day
resonated with the innocence of growing up in a
largely Jewish school.
A hundred former students gathered at their
old stomping grounds, named for James Vernor of
Vernor's Ginger Ale fame, on Oct. 6 to celebrate
their 50th birthdays together. A fifth of those
present felt strongly enough about the event to
come from out of state:
"To turn 50 is something special so we decided
to do something special to celebrate it," said Ira

MEMORIES on page 34

Above: Sandy Szirtes of Farmington Hills, who grew up
on Schaefer, reminisces in the gym, also used as the
lunchroom.

Inset: The reunion braintrust — front, Susan Wauldron
Ferris of Huntington Woods (Lesure), Carol Ward Bass of
Bloomfield Hills (Cheyenne), Carol Karbal Blender of
Beverly Hills (Littlefield), Arlene Olshansky Schultz of
Farmington Hills (Hartwell); middle, Stuart Karden of West
Palm Beach, Fla. (Tracey), Fred Greenspoon of Philadelphia
(Schaefer), Bernie Greenberg of Atlanta (Lesure), David
Wenner of Phoenix (Cheyenne); back, Ira Hoffman of
Rockville, Md. (Littlefield) and Bill Adler of New York City
(Cheyenne).

10/19

2001

33

