DECEMBER 7 • 2023 | 33
J
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CHILDHOOD 
ADVENTURES
Kindred spirits since kinder-
garten, that’s the best way to 
describe Bernie and Stan. For 
the record, it all began in Mrs. 
Bacon’s class at MacCulloch 
Elementary in 1948. They’ve 
been practically inseparable 
since then. 
I learned that early on 
Friedman and Meretsky took 
on major responsibilities 
together. “One of the most 
important things in our friend-
ship was being worm gatherers 
for our fourth-grade science 
teacher,” Stan said. “The two of 
us would go with coffee cans 
and trowels and dig for worms. 
I can’t swear by it, but I seem 
to recall her name was Mrs. 
Maisel,” as in the “
Amazing 
Mrs.,” like her namesake char-
acter on television.
As the elementary school 
years passed, the boys’ bond 
grew even stronger as their 
shared interests didn’t quite 
align with the rest of their 
classmates. 
“Neither one of us liked 
sports; we were never into 
it,” said Bernie, reflecting on 
what most boys their age were 
usually up to. “We loved riding 
bicycles. That was one of our 
commonalities.” It was a mode 
of transportation that allowed 
the two to quench what was a 
mutual thirst for exploration.
“By fifth and sixth grade, we 
would ride our bikes and meet 
up on Saturdays at Liberman’s 
Deli on Dexter,” Bernie said. 
“Stan would always have a 
Dinty Moore and I had a 
corned beef sandwich. We had 
lunch and then we’
d ride the 
Dexter bus south to down-
town, which left us off right by 
Hudson’s.
”
“Our parents gave us $1,
” 
said Stan, “and that covered our 
lunch and bus fares.
”
If they walked to the right, 
there were a lot of shops, chief 
among them a magic store 

where they would buy some 
tricks. A turn to the left led 
them to Hudson’s where their 
adventures would take them 
to new heights, or should I say 
flights.
They entered the department 
store exhilarated by what was 
their already-predetermined 
destination. “We took the 
escalator all the way to the toy 
department on the 12th floor,
” 
Bernie said. “We never took 
the elevator so that we could 
look around.
” The zigzagging 
12-floor escalator journey 
allowed the boys a chance to 
have a full view of the exciting 
hustle and bustle of the store 
during their ascent.
Once they had their fill of 
the toy department, Bernie and 
Stan would return to the mez-
zanine of Hudson’s to peruse a 
section that was dedicated to 
stamp collecting. Their gazing 
at the purchasing of the col-
lections were a precursor to 
what later in life would be an 
appetite by these two to collect 
a lot of, as Friedman described 
“tchotchkes.
”
If you need any evidence 

their childhood experiences 
took place during a simpler 
time, you need look no further 
than one trip downtown in the 
early 1950s. The boys guessti-
mate this adventure occurred 
when they were somewhere 
between 10 and 12 years old. It 
was a civics lesson of their own 
making.
“The new City-County 
building had opened up and we 
wandered around and ended 
up walking right into Mayor 
Cobo’s office, Stan said. “We 
announced that we wanted to 
meet the mayor. He was out 
of town, but they gave us a 
tour of his office and city 
of Detroit flags, which we 
both still have to this day.
” 
Ah, the good old days when 
walking into a government 
building unannounced was 
sweet and innocent.

STAYING IN TOUCH
A change of address by 
the Friedman family 
when Bernie was in sev-

enth grade made personal con-
tact between the best buddies a 
little more challenging. Bernie 
would attend Hampton and 
Mumford for junior high and 
high school, while Stan went 
on to Durfee and Central. But 
the relationship endured. “We 
talked on the phone probably 
every day,
” Bernie said. It was 
the glue that held these two 
best friends together.
No doubt those 
conversations would include 
their mutual involvement in 

“TO THE WORLD 
YOU MAY BE JUST 
ONE PERSON, BUT TO 
ONE PERSON YOU MAY 
BE THE WORLD.”

— DR. SEUSS

Bernie and Stan 
volunteering on an 
IDF base with Sar-El

Stan’s 1949 kindergarten 
promotion card

continued on page 34

