My wife Barbara Listerman (Kelsey) (RHS 60) went to Edison. And I know that Steve Stockmeyer went there also. Who else?

OK Edison folks let's at least log in here. Maybe if there's enough of us we can have our own little gathering during the reunion weekend. What say you?

OK folks, something's not right here. I see that there have been 80 or so hits on this Edison forum, but nobody except me and Ken Kelsey has left a message. The picture above is an attempt to stimulate some discussion. This picture of Edison graduates was taken at our 25th RHS Reunion. I count 21 classmates of whom I can positively identify at least 16. The five I'm not so sure about includes the fellow between Bob Utterback and Ken Stroble and in front of Wes Schultz who, as I remember nobody could identify that night. The consensus was that he crashed the party, but we were never sure. How many can you identify including this mystery man? I'll buy drinks at the 50th for the Edison classmates who can identify all or the most in this photo making allowances for the mystery man. Who's in?

Does anybody have a picture of the Edison class of 1955?

Steve, sorry to have missed this forum, but better late than never.  Yes , I can name all but one of our Edison mates from the 25th reunion, but I don't expect 25 drinks  1 for each year. LOL   But I will have ONE.

Row 1) Martha Caul, Polly Bosanko, Joyce Daily.

Row 2) Dean Busard , Marilyn Shunck, Cathy Dritsas, Donna Felthouse, Nancy Farrow,, UNKNOWN??,

               Jill Crawford.

Row 3) Susan Jones, Bruce Buzard, Bob Utterback, Jack Smith (yes he was from Edison) Ken Strobel, Steve Stockmeyer.

Row 4) Bob Hood, Don Thompson, Art Cranston, Weston Schultz, Bob Graham.

Thats about it,    We had a group pix of Edisonites taken at the 35th also , I am still looking for that one.

Hope this helps .

Sure do, will send the pix to you. It was taken on stage in the Auditorium.  Not all classmates  were available for the picture that day, too bad. And yes I can name all of our classmates in the picture. 

Art

 Thanks Art! You're the champ having identified 20 out of 21. The drink(s) are yours at this point, but of course we'll pour some also for the person who can identify the 21st classmate in the picture above. I'm glad you still have our actual Edison graduation picture and the one from the 35th RHS reunion. We'll put those up here as well. Maybe all this will stimulate some of our other Edison classmates to chime in with their thoughts and memories. Perhaps we can even set up our own party at the reunion like the Holcomb people have already organized. Thanks again!

 Arthur Cranston was kind enough to provide this photo to me for uploading. Unfortunately it's not too clear because we don't have the original just a xerox copy and because of its small size. Nonetheless this the graduation photo of Mrs. Fahey's graduating class of June 1955. Art tells me that not all the graduates were in the auditorium that day for the picture. How many can you identify?

So, Art Cranston and I are still waiting for fellow Edison classmates to participate in this forum. Here's one more attempt to stimulate some discussion. Art has kindly provided another picture. This one is of the Edison participants in the 35th Redford Reunion. Art tells me that several Edison folks who attended are not in the picture including Marilyn Schunk Buszard and her husband Dean as well as Sylvan Robes. So now we have both the 25th and 35th posted here. 

What do you think about an Edison gathering at the 50th this September? Who will join us? And who will help us identify all the people in the photographs we've posted so far?

Art has a picture from 1954 of our 7th grade homeroom teacher hanging out the window. She was something else. What do you remember about this very different teacher?

Hi Steve,

I was a January 59 graduate and still have the class graduation picture. I would be more interested in an Edison reunion than RHS, but don't tell that to the RHS gang! LOL. I lost interest in attending the upcomming RHS reunion when I heard that it was primarilly the June class. Ken and Jim invited me and others from the January class, but I guess it would be up to me and those that I have contacted to find the remaining classmates.

I am still in contact with Ken Maxwell, Bob McLean and Nando Haase, but find it difficult to find others, especially the women who have different last names.

Thanks for starting the Edison Forum...

Bill Casey

Hi Bill , thanks for chiming in,  I can picture you but not the name.  I do remember Ken Maxwell, big fellow.  Please use this forum for any questions or discussions  let your other buddies know of it.  see ya

Art

Hi Bill

Thanks for joining in the forum discussion. I understand what you're saying about the reunion. My brother was also a January graduate (1956) and neither his class or the June class of his year had a 50th reunion.Seems like the January classes get the short end of the stick. Nonetheless I hope you're able to attend although I know it would be a long trek for you. Even though we haven't set up anything firm yet, I assure you that we will do something just for the Edison folks that weekend. Keep checking here and you'll find something eventually. All the best

Steve

One of the strangest experiences for me during this process is that I feel much more affinity for my elementary school classmates than for the other 560+ RHS classmates...Do you remember Mrs. Fahey talking about the "terrific" (though I'm not sure she used that particular word, after all) children walking from St. Mary's to the Norwest to see Our Lady of Lourdes?   I still remember occasional words from Evangeline...sometimes a little frightening...

Hi Cathy,  I remember a lot of words from Mrs. F.  none of which was "terrific" at least as directed to me. LOL    What a terrific lady to have as our 8th grade teacher.  I remember walking into her home room in 1954, to see brother Len, I notice above the chalk boards she had across the room the LARGE words that said.    "THINK"  at the time it sort of took me aback but later finally understood what was expected of us.  

The best of times eh!!   Art

Art & Cathy you both brought back some great memories.  I broke my right arm playing football, in the middle of Southfield Road, and thought that I would get out of written reports.  Mrs Fahey had other ideas.  I had to give my reports orally, like we did our book reports, and she had me write left handed.  Today that would be cruel and unusual punishment.  We were blessed with some interesting teachers.

Don

Hi Don, glad to hear from you.  I remember the incident well,  another break was Jim Holcrofts left arm.  Remember we usually played tackle football with or without equipment so some accidents were bound to happen but I think those were the most serious.  Geez how many hours did we spend in the middle of Southfield  between Acacia and Kendall. Whenever I drive down the Southfield x-press way the mind  flashes back to the good ole days.  Mrs Fahey gave no "quarter" thats for sure. not much simpathy for us youngins back then.  I sure needed some, often.

Art

Don's having to write left-handed because of a broken arm is certainly one of the better "Faheyisms" I have heard.

Just an unrelated thought... maybe we could have an "Edison" table or two or three at the Saturday night event...especially if we don't connect some other way.

"Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in (Into) the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

My favorite story about Mrs. Fahey involves an exercise in business letter writing.  To teach us the proper form in writing business letters, we were to write a letter to a business.  At the time my father owned a store whose legal and public name was: The Kitchen Center, Inc.  Using his business card and the company's stationary I addressed the letter to my father at the Kitchen Center, Inc.

When she returned the letter I received a deduction.  She had circled the "Inc." in the address and wrote that you always spell out incorporated in a business letter.  You never use "inc."  I knew I had her!  So I took the paper, my dad's business card, and the company's stationary and marched up to her desk.  After showing them to her, she paused and said: "Your father also needs to learn the correct usage of incorporated."  Case closed!!!  Today you would be hard-pressed to find "Inc" or "LLC" spelled out in a business document.

On the other hand, she had a real heart for her students.  When my father had back surgery and developed serious complications, she treated me with great compassion.  She even called my mother several times to check on his progress. 

I remember her as my favorite teacher at Edison.  She was tough, fair, and had a great deal of fondness for the success of her students.  If she were to read our profiles on this website, she would be very proud.

Steve,

This is the first I have learned of this forum.  Unfortunately, I never heard of a 35th reunion.  I do not have much to add about Mrs. Fahey other than one would not want a better teacher in preparation for the high school experience. 

I remember Don Thompson breaking his arm; I believe Holcroft had a shoulder separation which, when it finally healed and he came back to play (in the field west of Southfield where the anti-aircraft battery had been located) he separated it again. I remember his mother was really exercised over that one.

It would be nice to have some kind of an announcement on the website proper of an Edison reunion as I believe we would  gather a lot of interest.  Count me in if one is formed.

Bob

Thanks to Cathy Dritsas, Bob Hood, Don Thompson and David Ludington for joining in the discussion. Susan Malony has also contributed with her own forum listing on Mrs. Fahey. Now let's hear from the many others who are reading but not writing!

I agree with David about what a great teacher Mrs. Fahey was and how well she prepared us for high school. I remember being fearful about her given her reputation. But she really made us learn and nobody did with the verve and success that she had. 

I'm impressed with what some of the other grade schools are planning in conjunction with the reunion and hope we're able to do something significant as well. Looking forward to seeing everybody.

Steve

Steve,

I have a picture of our 8th grade class of Mrs. Fahey, different from the one posted,.

Row l Sandra Sherf, Bob Mallon,Barbara Garian,Bob Proctor,Bill Terova,Carole Lentz,Janet Bruce

Row 2 Sharon Newville, Walter Witherspoon, Judy Ramsey,Bruce Miller,Sharon May, Norman Paeble,Janet Thoresen,Dann Horner

Row3 Anne Custance,Jim Holcroft, Jim Bartlett, Mrs.Fahey, John Campbell, Bob Utterback, Carole Otton, John Smith

Row 4 Linda Hick,Ray Nordman,John Shiller, Sharon McKeith,Tom Perry, Nancy Groehn, Don Weiland

Thanks Janet for the information. If people are interested in the other picture Janet mentions it can be found on her profile page. Art Cranston and I have been trying to figure out why the program for our Edison graduation contain many more names than people in the picture I posted above. Art reports that Martha Dent and perhaps others remember that there were two sections in our class -- one that met with Mrs. Fahey in the morning and one in the afternoon. And evidently each section had their own picture taken on the auditorium stage. The picture above is the PM section and the one on Janet's page is the AM section. Mystery solved!

Hi folks, I had a terrific experience a few days ago, Cathy Dritas and myself have our summer homes about 25 minutes apart (thanks to our Redford profiles for giving that info) in upper Michigan near Tawas Bay. We met for breakfast and if we didn't break it off we would have had to order lunch.  LOL

Well, let me tell you if our mini gathering of our Edison mates is half as much fun as ours was we all will be happy. What a time we had, laughing and telling current and of course the PAST stories.  I don't think we got past 1956. What a hoot Cathy is, still the intelligent bright person we always know and of course her sense of humor is tops, needless to say we had a ball. Cathy said to say hi to everyone on the forum and can't wait for our reunion to begin.

Steve and I will be getting together to put some of the ideas and choices that we have received from our Edisonites about where, when and time for this happening. We will post some of this info on the fourm shortly. See ya      Art

Steve, I thought we had the mystery solved,  but as I was watching the water go by the other day it dawned on me we have another quandry on this subject of Mrs. Fahey teaching both our  June 55 class one in the AM and another in the PM.   

If she was teaching our class in both the AM and PM  who was teaching the Jan 55 class ( Jack Roberts, Geo. Ginger etc.) ??  it was also Mrs. Fahey now how is that possible,  I also checked with a buddy from the Jan 60 class and of course they had Mrs. Fahey,  my brother Rich Jan 59 also had Mrs F. and also she taught the June classes,  I know of no Edison student that didn't have Mrs. Fahey as their 8th grade teacher,  Jan or June.  Our  Jan 55  and June 55 class  had to have had at least 90 students.  Hope someone can explain how this could be possible for Mrs F. teach all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art still mystified!!!!

Art, if there were 2 grade 8A classes and 2 grade 8B classes with homeroom classes in the morning and in the afternoon, all taught by Mrs. Fahey, it was either with smoke and mirrors or she was even more mystical than we thought.  She was certainly good enough.  The only logical answer, there had to have been another teacher although I cannot think who that may have been.

Glad to hear you and Steve are working on an Edison function.   Bob

Another '55 Edison grad
Posted Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 10:51 PM

Hi all,

Not an exciting Saturday night.  Clicked onto the forum for curiosity and decided to join in the discussion.  I'm not computer savvy, but here goes.  I remember all of you.  We grew up together.

This is Georgeanne(Leffler)Verbridge a grad of Edison Jan. '55 and RHS Jan. '59.  Yes, I also remember Mrs. Fahey.  In retrospect, she did prepare us for our overwhelming entry to Redford.  At the time we thought she was being cruel to us.  And, no, neither George Ginger or Jack Roberts led our class, at least not in an educational way.  Does anyone remember Mr. Keener-Science teacher?  He was fun and funny-also had a lot of weird things in his classroom.

Bill Casey(Jan '59)has a picture of the Jan. '55 Edison grads(including Mrs. Fahey).  I'm sure he would share it with you, as he did with me.  I can identify most, but not all of the classmates.

I am working with a few other RHS Jan. '59 grads to locate and encourage attendance at the Reunion.

If I can help with an Edison gathering IN CONJUNCTION with the Reunion, please contact me.

See you in September!!

Georgeanne

ATTENTION EDISON GRADUATES

Graduates of Thomas Alva Edison Elementary will be gathering in the dining room of the reunion hotel on Friday evening, Sept. 25. We will have our own area set aside in the Cascades Restaurant and will be in operation from 5 to 8PM. Attendees can have a drink, order dinner, just stop by to say hello and chat or whatever before the Redford reception. In order to complete the arrangements, we need to know which Edison graduates and spouses/significant others are planning to attend. So please send a private message to either of us through our profiles on this site or email us directly and let us know.

ART CRANSTON (ausable-1@prodigy.net) 

STEVE STOCKMEYER(sfstockmeyer@mac.com)

Sorry that I didn't up-load this picture of the January 55 class before this. Wow-54 years ago!!!

All of your pictures look great, but I looked like i was sleeping off a bad night...Where are all of these people now and what have they done with their lives? Let's try to get together...

Thanks to Ken, Steve and Art for getting the ball rolling with this website.

Bill

Bill, thanks for the pic,   Even though my eyes aren't what they used to be , I still recognize some of the January group.    George Ginger, Ken Maxwell, Georgeanne Leffler, Tim Roberts,  Jack Roberts, and Al McDonald,  yourself , thats about all I can identify. Oops ,  don't forget Mrs. Fahey and your class of 29, our class of 40 and class of 29,  Geez only 98 students for her to teach.  How, still a mystery. 

See ya 

Art

  Bill, I think I also recognize  Jean Soderman.

Art

Truly impressive, Art.  There were several that had me stumped.

Jill

I remember her telling us that while we might often complain during the time we had her for a teacher, we would thank her some day.  She was tough, but set high standards and helped us reach them.

I can still say much of The Charge of the Light Brigade and The Gettysburg Address.  I'm sure there were other things we had to memorize -- just can't think of them at the moment.

I sure do remember Mr. Keener.  He had so much interesting stuff in his classroom and in the attached greenhouse.

Do you remember playing "skeleton" ?  One person would be the skeleton and there would be a student on each side.  As Mr. Keener named bones, the trick was to be the first to touch that bone on the skeleton.

Our family was also lucky to be on his list, from time to time, for surprise paintings of crocus and daffodils on storm doors as spring approached.  One morning you'd just open the door, and he would have secretly done his work.

Thanks to all those who have responded to the Edison reunion event. We now list some 23 attendees including 15 Edisonites and 8 spouses/guests. This attendance insures a successful and fun affair.

We need to hear from the rest of you who are signed up for the Redford Reunion or still thinking about it. Can we count you in for the Edison gathering (Friday, Sept 25, 5-8 PM in the hotel restaurant)?  

I meant to do this when Bill sent the picture of the Edison Jan. '55 class.  If anyone can fill in the blanks or help with a contact, particularly for Edison/Redford grads, it would be appreciated. Bill helped with the few I couldn’t identify.

Georgeanne    

I finally made my reservation and David and I plan to arrive Friday in time to come to the Edison get together