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By Cheryl Deep

Corinne Perlis Nayer and Merrill
Palmer Institute go way back.
Way back, indeed — long
before Merrill Palmer became
Merrill Palmer Skillman, as it is
today. At 89, Corinne recalls
the day in 1928 when her baby
brother Sanford
proudly entered
the Merrill Palmer
nursery school.
"I wasn't happy,"
she says. "He got
to go and I didn't,
because I was too
old."

by Charles Wilson, M.D., who
lived on site with his family.

The willingness of Corinne's
parents, who had immigrated
from "Rusapola" — where
Russia and Poland meet — to
enroll their son in a forward-
thinking nursery school, is
surprising to Corinne's son
Seymour. "It's hard to believe
my grandparents would have
done something so different
from cultural expectations,"
he says. "Nursery school for
European Jews was not the

Corinne may have
aged out of the
nursery school
experience, but she
took full advantage
of the Merrill Palmer
summer camp at
age 11 (brother
Sandy got to attend
that, too) and
the after-school
program at 12 and
13.

"They held the
after-school camp
in those gorgeous
Cioitivikt
"t4gritr (tOttrelkkA Viilmikrott
Victorian houses
qbliwtt 414kikst,"'
across from the
Freer House," she remembers.
norm." Corinne's father, a
"We went on field trips, learned
successful dentist, had followed
handiwork, visited Pewabic
a recommendation of the
Pottery." She and Sandy ate
program by his friend Samuel
supper there and then walked
Lewis, an orthodontist in
to Woodward to catch the bus
Detroit.
home. "I loved it."
Enrolling a child at Merrill
The summer camp, held in
Palmer in 1928 required a
Oxford, Mich., meant six weeks
strong commitment from
away from home with only
parents. The nursery school
one visit from mom and dad.
was primarily a research and
"That was fine with us," she
teaching facility. Parents spent
says. "I don't remember feeling
hours every weekend detailing
homesick." Sandy learned
their children's behavior
to drive a truck at the camp,
and family interactions. "I
though he was only 11. ("Don't
remember Mom and Dad
ask," Corinne says, smiling.)
sitting at the dining room table,
The camp was a training
filling out forms," Corinne says.
ground for Merrill Palmer
"Later, when our own children
students and faculty, directed
were at Merrill Palmer, students

came to our house to interview
us and observe. We felt very
much a part of the educational
and research process."

Harry, an attorney, initially
wasn't very interested in
their children attending
nursery school, but he quickly
transformed from doubter
to advocate. He not only
embraced the nursery school
for both children, he also
befriended several of the
professors. Harry passed away
in 1972 at age 54.

The Merrill Palmer
nursery school
experience laid
a foundation
for professional
success in Corinne's
family. Her brother,
Sanford Perlis, M.D.
practiced psychiatry
in Connecticut and
was an associate
professor at Yale.
Her son Seymour is
a partner with law
firm Plunkett Cooney
in Bloomfield Hills.
Her daughter, Susan
Nayer Kesner, is a
director at Copyright
Clearance Center
near Boston. Corinne
worked at the
Franklin Settlement
House (another early
Detroit preschool)
before she married,
stayed home to
raise the children, then re-
sparked her career running the
physician assistant program at
University of Detroit Mercy.

Corinne believes Merrill
Palmer's traditional hands-
on, play-based yet structured
approach forms the perfect
lattice for learning and
socialization. "Early education
enhances all that comes after,"
she says. "Merrill Palmer was
one of the first preschools in
the world to maximize that
experience. We were lucky to be
a part of it." it

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