To Life! GENERATIONS Staff photos by Angie Baan Leonard Milstone of Lathrup Village looks through Central High School Class of '56 memorabilia. Reunion Of Commuters Central High Class of '56 gathering recalls Oak Park carpools. 1,1 historian-- here are some historic mgif Bill Carroll Special to the Jewish News I t was the mid-1950s, and the flight of Jewish families to the northern Detroit sub- urbs had begun in earnest. Oak Park, incorporated as a city in 1945 with a population of about 5,500, was welcom- ing people warmly. Sammy Lieberman's Avalon Delicatessen opened at Coolidge and Nine Mile roads, and a Dexter- Davison Market opened later a mile farther north. New homes and synagogues were rising rapidly But Oak Park High School was just being built and could not yet accept students. And Mumford High School was filled up with many Jewish pupils who already had moved to northwest Detroit. What high school would new Oak Parkers attend? "About 50 of us commuted back to Central High School for as many as three years, lead- ing up to our senior year in 1956," said Leonard Milstone of Lathrup Village. "It marked the final transition of Central students to Oak Park. The Class of '56, which was about 80 per- cent Jewish, was really the last . 42 July 20 - 2006 big Jewish graduating class at Central." That class of 443 students will hold its 50th reunion Saturday, Sept. 16, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Novi. "About 300 are expected to attend, including many of the former Oak Parkers," reported Milstone, 68, reunion chairman, who has headed three of the group's five reunions in 10-year intervals since '56. Retired after spending 25 years as an associate director at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, he has practically made a new career out of the reunion. "These reunions are successful mainly because of personal con- tact," he explained. "I've talked to almost every graduate again this time, trying to convince them to attend. I usually devote two to three hours a day to this, but sometimes eight hours a day. There's also a committee of 25 volunteers helping with mailings, and we spent $600 on a Web site. "We had 380 people at the 40th reunion, but, of course, the class dwindles as the years go on. A total of 43 of our classmates are deceased, and we just weren't able to locate 50 others. Many of those attending are coming from Florida and California — and even one from China. That's the furthest point." One of the best-known grads is Margo (DeBarr) Mayor of New York, who was a Broadway actress and dancer for many years. In his research, Milstone learned that two classmates are in psychiatric hospitals, one was killed robbing a party store in Las Vegas, one is a blind psychol- ogist, a single man and a woman started living together after the last reunion, and 15 graduates never got married. Network Of Carpools Milstone's family was among the "pioneers" who settled in Oak Park in the early 1950s."Students had a choice of attending Cooley High or staying at Central, and the Oak Park School District paid the tuition. We formed networks of car pools, and many of us commuted to Central so we could stay with all of our friends:' he said. "We each took turns driving at least once a week." With Milstone in a 1956 Oldsmobile 98, the car pool snaked south on Coolidge to Eight Mile, east to Livernois, south to Davison, east to Linwood, then to Central at he's collected. Tuxedo and LaSalle. "My father worked at the Dodge Truck Plant, and he had to find another way to get there once a week while I took our car to drive in the pool," recalled Bob Naftaly of West Bloomfield, another '56 graduate, whose fam- ily moved to Oak Park in 1954. "Remember, we didn't have two- and three-car families in those days like today. "Things got further compli- cated when some of us stayed for after-school activities; I was in the senior play, and we had to rehearse a few days a week. But it was a lot of fun, and we had a wonderful time. All in all, we received an excellent education at Central." Naftaly went on to become a CPA, work in former Gov. James Blanchard's administration, head the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and retire as chief operating officer of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Detroit. His brother, Jerry, is now Oak Park mayor — and his mother still lives in the city. "It will be great to get re- acquainted with my fellow graduates because those of us N' ho lived in Oak Park then didn't get much of a chance to social- C C ize with our classmates:' pointed out Ron Horwitz of Farmington Hills, reunion co-chairman."We couldn't walk over to someone's house after school to 'play.' We had to get home in the .car pools." Horwitz retired as dean of Oakland University's business administration school. Not everyone in the class of '56 is excited about the reunion. "One woman told me she'd rather put the money into her teeth," Milstone mused. "And 10 years ago, another woman — attending her first reunion — walked out in a huff and went to her car. I caught up with her and asked her what was wrong. "She said: `No one has changed; I still can't stand them.— 7 The 50th reunion of the Detroit Central High School Class of 1956 will start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept.16, at the DoubleTree Hotel, 27000 Sheraton Drive, Novi. Cost: $80 per person, including buf- fet dinner and Sunday brunch, Information: (248) 559-4306 or www.DetroitCentra156Reunion. org .