16 | JULY 14 • 2022 

October. “The pandemic got in the way of previous years, but we 
are hopeful we will be able to get the class together this year!”

RICHARD BOCKOFF 

Richard Bockoff, 80, of Del Mar, Calif., main-
tains the bonds with the friends he grew up 
with. 
“That’s the way Detroit is. There’s a bond that 
forms all over Detroit, and Mumford was par-
ticularly good at it. But the interesting thing is 
the bond continues. I’m in California 20 years 
removed, and I still love Mumford and all that 
history.
”
Thinking back to his high school career, 
Bockoff says, “Football, that was what high 
school was all about for me.
” 
Richard lived in Birmingham, Mich., with 
his first late wife and high school sweetheart, 
Barbara Litt, who was also a Mumford 1960 
graduate, and his three daughters. 
After Mumford, Richard headed to U-M and 
then later studied law at Wayne State University. Throughout his 
career, he practiced law in Michigan.
“I had a wonderful partner, Gene Zamler. We went to Mumford 
together. And we’ve stayed very close even though I’ve been gone 
from the practice for 20 years. During my last trip to Michigan in 
June, the four of us had dinner together. The old Mumford connec-
tions prevail.
”
Richard and his second wife, Sharon Cooper, have been together 
for the last 33 years. Even though he moved to California, he shares 
a great relationship with his daughters and three grandkids. 
Despite the time and distance, Mumford friendships and mem-
ories continue. “I’ve gone back to several reunions and the years 
evaporate.
” 

CAROL SUE ROSE CODEN 

Carol Sue Rose Coden has fond memories of her 
time at Mumford High. She grew up in north-
west Detroit on La Salle Boulevard between 
Puritan Avenue and Six Mile Road. In the sum-
mer of 1956, her parents moved to the 
Sherwood Forest area of Detroit, right about the 
time she started at Mumford. Coden’s cousin, 
Marty Tessler, was in the same graduating class 
and lived next door.
“It made it an easy transition to start at 
Mumford because we had some of the same 
friends, and I had a lot of friends there that I also 
went with to Temple Israel for Sunday school,
” 
Carol said. “The people I knew from Sunday 
school introduced me to other people, and I had 
a lot of friends who lived in that Seven Mile and 
Livernois area. There was a big influence in our class of 

camaraderie.
” 
Carol remembers the class size being so large that four people 
shared a locker. “
Academics were great; we had wonderful teachers,
” 
she said. “There were a lot of different clubs you could belong to 
and afterschool activities.
” 
She is still friends with many of the people she graduated with, 
enjoying lunch on Fridays with some of the girls from high school. 
Over the years, Carol has been an active community member 
and volunteer, serving as president of the National Council of 
Jewish Women, volunteering for its Meals on Wheels program. 
She also volunteered at Sinai Hospital and served on the board for 
Jewish Senior Life and more.
Carol, who lives in Bloomfield Hills, is looking forward to the 
Mumford reunion. “My time there was great,
” she said. “It was a 
great place to go to school and a great time in our country to grow 
up.
” 
Carol and her husband, Stephen, have two sons: Mark, also 
known as Cody, who co-owns Camp Tanuga, and Jonathan, who 
runs the family business, Coden Flowers. They have three grand-
children.

ELEANOR GERBS ARONOVITZ 

Eleanor Aronovitz made several lifelong friend-
ships with her classmates from Mumford High, 
but one that was more meaningful than most — 
her husband, Leonard, who graduated six 
months after she did.
Leonard belonged to the social club the 
Lancers at Mumford and Eleanor, who was also 
a cheerleader, belonged to the Dantes, a group 
of about 20 girls who would get together once a 
month, “go out and talk about boys.
”
After Mumford, Eleanor went to Eastern 
Michigan University for three years. She mar-
ried Leonard and followed him to Iowa where 
he went to medical school. Leonard went on to 
specialize in family medicine and hair transplant 
surgery. Eleanor finished her degree in Iowa and 
taught school for a while before she had her kids. 
After motherhood, she went to cosmetology school and became 
a manicurist. Then she gave that up and started selling imported 
gifts to corporations. “I was always busy. I enjoyed it. I guess you 
could call me a hustler.
”

Claudia Barak, Susan Rosenblatt 
Turetsky and Donna Millstone at 
an earlier reunion

continued on page 18

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 14

