AUGUST 1 • 2024 | 17
J
N
Calling All Mumford High
Grads from 1952-1970
Orthodox shuls. Shaarey
Zedek had a school branch
building on Seven Mile.
We saw movies at the Royal,
Mercury and Varsity.
We ate ice cream at Brown’s
Creamery, Wilson Dairy and
especially Sanders.
We got cured at Sinai,
Mount Carmel and New Grace
hospitals.
Most prescriptions were
filled at independent phar-
macies. Don’s Drugs and
Chippewa Drug were two that
were near me.
Wyoming had Jerome
Shoes, Modern Office Supply,
Mumford Music and Joe
Cornell. Curtis Drugs, Grunt’s
Market and Dexter-Davison.
The Raleigh House and Wy-7
Bowling.
When I was there, Mumford
had 4,000 students. It was
designed for fewer than 2,000.
So, I didn’t meet my wife,
Karol, class of ’62, until college.
There were so many kids that
my class had two with the same
name, so they got numbers. We
had Ronald Cohen No. 1 and
Ronald Cohen No. 2.
There were 11 class periods.
Lower classmen went in the
afternoon, and upper classmen
in the morning. My freshman
year, I started at about 11 a.m.
and finished after 4 p.m. My
senior year was great. I started
at 8 a.m. and was done before
11:30.
No yellow school buses.
As a guy, you stuck out your
thumb, hoping for a ride
before the DSR bus came by.
And your parents weren’t con-
cerned if you walked home
from a friend’s at 11:30 at
night.
We learned to drive on the
track in front of the school.
There was only one left turn.
You pretty much drove only
clockwise, round and round.
During my time at Mumford,
they had one stick shift vehi-
cle, a station wagon, three on
the tree, no power steering.
The objective was to get the
car up to 20 miles per hour,
and into third gear, on the
backstretch along Wyoming.
We really learned to drive on
Sundays, at Northland.
I’m told that the girls had
tank suits to wear for swim
class. The guys swam au
naturelle.
According to the Mustang
Manual, and I quote, “The
wearing of jeans by girls is not
to be countenanced.”
We didn’t have much of
a football team. Jewish kids
didn’t want to get knocked
around. However, we had
great golf and tennis teams.
You raced from class to the
lunchroom. Lunch period
was 20 minutes. If you were
at the end of the line, it was
5 minutes. In the late ’50s,
lunch cost 35 cents. There
were large trays of homemade
rolls. They were the best. You
wanted to be there when they
brought out a fresh tray. Milk
was sold in small glass bot-
tles. When you dropped one,
everybody watched it bounce,
waiting to see if it broke, and
you then had to clean it up,
embarrassed by the cheers and
clapping. And you had to pay
for the bottle.
Among others, Mumford
produced epidemiologist Dr.
Larry Brilliant, jazz musician
Earl Klugh, Grammy-winning
songwriter Allee Willis, movie
producer Bob Shaye, and
his sister Linda. You might
remember Linda as Magda,
the orange-faced lady in
There’s Something About Mary.
If you went to Mumford, I
hope this brought back some
pleasant memories. If you
didn’t, hopefully you learned
something of what it was to be
a Mumfordite.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield will hold
a Mumford High School Shabbat Saturday, Aug. 17, at
9:30 a.m. CSZ will honor graduates from 1952-1970.
Lunch will follow services.
Respond to the synagogue office at (248) 357-5544
by Monday, Aug. 12. Share your name and graduation
year to be included in the special printed Mumford
High School program.
To register, visit tinyurl.com/2024MumfordShabbat.
Mel and Karol’s yearbook photos