12 | JULY 14 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

JN STAFF

‘The Greatest 
Class Ever’

Members of the Mumford High Class of 1960 turn 80.

A

s the Detroit Jewish News was 
being launched, the students 
who made up the Mumford 
High School class of 1960 were just being 
born. These Mustangs are turning 80 
this year and will gather this fall for their 
60th high school reunion (two years late 
because of COVID). 
In the 1960 yearbook the Capri, whose 
theme was “anything can happen at 
Mumford,” the staff posed a question: 
Where do the doors of Mumford lead?
The answer: Anywhere and 
everywhere. Mainly to successful and 
fulfilling lives.
More than 1,000 students graduated 
in January, June and August 1960 from 
Mumford High School, and 90% of them 
went on to college. They became doctors, 

lawyers, teachers and other professionals 
who rose to the top of their professions. 
The class of 1960 includes names 
like Doug Ross, Barbara Kratchman, 
screenwriter of Ghost Bruce Joel Rubin, 
international photographer Joni Altman, 
superintendent of Detroit Public School 
Ken Burnley and former Technion 
Board of Governors Chair Larry Jackier. 
They became Jewish communal leaders, 
Federation presidents and Butzel Award 
winners. 
That, in part, can be credited to the 
fine education they received at Mumford. 
“We had some great teachers,” said grad 
Larry Jackier. “Most of the teachers were 
outstanding for a public high school.”
Carol Rosenberg, who’s chairing 
the upcoming reunion with Eleanor 
Aronovitz and Rosie Schlussel, said, “At 
Mumford, everyone found their niche, 
whether through clubs or sports or 
cheerleading. And we all learned how to 
drive in a circle-like maze in front of the 
high school.” 

WHAT IT WAS LIKE AT MUMFORD
A good percentage of students in the 
Mumford High School class of 1960 
were Jewish. The school closed its doors 
on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, 
according to Rosenberg, who said a lot 
of the students in the class of 1960 knew 

each other as elementary school friends. 
“Many of us will be having reunions with 
our elementary friends in October as 
well,” she said.
Growing up in that era was a special 
time, according to grad Doug Ross. “It 
was an innocent time where we were 
allowed to roam the neighborhood 
unafraid. Mumford was a great place to 
struggle through adolescence,” he said.
Carol Sue Rose Coden noted how 
different the times were then compared 
to now. “Everybody seemed to get along,” 
she said. “I don’t remember what you 
have today with kids, mean girls and that 
kind of stuff. It didn’t matter where you 
lived, and there were no problems with 
any of the students; I don’t remember 
fighting or anything like that.”
Rosenberg adds, “People watched out 
for each other. Everybody knew your 
first name. Your neighbors were your 
friends. My father had died when I was 
8 years old, and when I would come 
home from school my mother would 
be at work. So, Mrs. Jaffee across the 
street made sure that I had my milk and 
cookies.”
“We really had a beautiful growing up,” 
she said. 
The JN caught up with a few members 
of the class of 1960 and asked them to 
share their memories.

60th Mumford High 
School Reunion and 
80th Birthday Party

Reunion Brunch takes place at 
11:30 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, 
at Knollwood Country Club in 
West Bloomfield. Tickets are $95.
On Saturday, Oct. 8, there will 
be a “Bus Trip down Memory 
Lane” from 1-4 p.m. for $50.
For more information and to buy 
tickets, visit mumford60.com

