The Kleiber Family Timeline

Author: James Dad

  • Tribute to House on Tulane

    The house on Tulane was purchased in 1956 by Charles and Loretta Kleiber who moved there from Sherwood Court in Dearborn (near the Beaumont Hospital on Oakwood). There are over 50 years of memories in this house. James’ Grandma and Grandpa Kleiber bought the house before it was even a city. It has undergone many changes such as aluminum siding, awnings, back porch, addition and various cement work and has always served the family well. The basement has always leaked, as many in the area have and it is technically in a flood zone, although the threat of flood is super remote at best. A creek about a mile away that we used to jump over as kids technically counts as a body of water which makes this home currently a poor investment since it requires flood insurance, a plan the Clinton administration came up with to finance the homes on the Mississippi that were constantly getting flooded out.

    To solve the leaking problem om the basement we have added Bee Dry system to the corners so that any excess water will go into the sewer. Since then there has not been any leaking. Bee Dry is not cheap, but it works.

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  • Story – Midnight Excursion by Aunt Criss 1956

    My favorite story of all time one is when I was little,we were on Tulane then,Charlie wasn’t born yet and Dad was working afternoons and back then they only had one car and if mom needed the car for anything like shopping then she would have to drive him in and pick him up.

    He comes home after work and had a few at the bar (the dump as it was commonly referred to) and came into the bedroom and woke me up,now this was after 12 midnight and I was only about 6 or 7 at the time and asked me if I wanted to go and have a hamburger and of course I said yes, middle of the night,that was really cool for a kid. Had to be quiet he said and not wake anyone up so I was quiet, we went to the bar, I got my hamburger, pop and chips.
    He was in deep conversation with some other guys at the bar and had his change from the drinks on the bar as everyone does, I asked dad while he was talking if I could have more chips and he said no,asked again and he said no,so while he was still talking with these guys thought I will get mom to make him get me more chips. This is when I am sure that dad was sorry that I knew the home phone number by heart.

    I took a dime off the bar, he didn’t even notice, went to the phone and called home, mom answered, could tell that she just woke up and sounded groggy, I said “mom, dad won’t buy me anymore chips” she asked who is this? Then she woke up and said “Criss?” I said yes and told her again,so Mom says “let me talk to you father” here I thought,now he is going to get it, mom will make him buy me more chips. I told Dad that Mom wanted to talk to him, I yelled it from the phone, he turns around, omg, talk about a Kodak moment, would of loved to have gotten a picture of his look on his face with the phone in my hand. lol

    He got on the phone and after he got off just said that we were going home, needless to say he never woke me up again to go to the bar with him. Didn’t get that other bag of chips either. lol

  • Story – Grandma’s Nash by Aunt Peg 1955

    Our Parents would leave me (Peggy) and my sister Chris with our Dads Parents for a weekend, while they did other things. Our Grandmother and Aunt Ginny would take us to the Drive-In in their Nash.

    My Grandmother and Aunt Ginny would always have their hearts set on romantic movies. My sister and I didn’t care what was on the screen, it was what was in the trunk of the car we like. There would be a gold mine back there of pop and candy all you wanted. We only went to the canteen to use the bathrooms.

    This one time Chris wanted to buy something – anything so Grandma gave us each a dollar. We went in and oh my gosh it was something, they sold everything you could imagine in there to eat. We bought something to eat like we needed it and Thanked Grandma. We walked back to the car a little taller after all we went to the Canteen.

  • Story – Perry Place by Aunt Peg 1954

    There was a Centennial Parade in Wyandotte in 1954. They had soldiers from past wars marching in the Parade. The earliest war than the next and so on. In this Parade the soldiers not many but were in their blues and grays it was the civil war heroes. Mom told me it would be the last year and I said why? Mom said they are so old now. Mom was right next year they were not there. Our cousin Mark played in the school band and was in the Parade .

    I remember one year when it was after Christmas and everyone was crying when we came through the front door of the house on Perry Place. Our Mom went to her Mom and said is it true? Grandma said I’m afraid so, but he died in his sleep. Dad held onto Mom and they both sat down on the crouch it was the first time I saw our Dad cry, you see our Dad loved Grandfather Graf so much. That was the year everyone in the family brought plots out at Michigan Memorial Park except Uncle Joe his wife was expecting a baby.

    Now Uncle Harry and Aunt Louise had been looking for a home in the suburbs, they found one but they didn’t have the down payment. Grandma Graf asked to take a look at it too. Uncle Harry said that the bedroom with the private bathroom would be her room if she wanted to come with them. Grandma Graf sold her home and more than enough for the down payment for the Trenton house. Now that is how the Trenton house came about.

  • Story – Door Slamming Incident by Aunt Criss 1954

    I remember being at Hudson’s with Mom and Peg (we lived on Sherwood court at that time before Charlie was born,I was only 4 or 5 at the time)

    They had those glass shelves there and one little boy the same age as me had a balloon and let go of it and I tried and jumped up to grab it in the air and on my way up scraped against the corner of the glass and cut the crease on the side of my nose(which I still have a little scar from)so Mom with the bleeding was taking me to the hospital because I needed stitches as I got out of the car,scared,blood all over me my sister Peg shuts the car door right on my hand.lol

    The doctor said I needed stitches and Mom asked while I was there if he would look at my hand that I got slammed in the car door on the way in.

    Funny being so young and I remember it so well,was on the table and they gave me a gas mask I remember thinking it looked like a strainer and wondered what they were doing with a strainer over my face.lol

    I remember only seeing the needle going to and from my side of my face.

    We went home and the wizard of Oz was on that evening and remember sitting in my little rocker with an ice pack on my head and my doll in my arms rocking and watching the wizard of oz.

    I remember it vividly,maybe it was because it was the scariest thing that happened to me up until then.

  • Donald Kleiber Marries Mary Ann Chmura 1953

    According to our sources at Ancestry.com (currently worked by his great nephew James) when Donald W Kleiber was born on November 22, 1933, in Michigan, his father, Benjamin, was 39 and his mother, Mildred, was 36. He had two sons and one daughter with Mary Ann Chmura between 1954 and 1962. He had three brothers and two sisters.

    Standing up in the wedding was Donalds brother Charles and Donalds sister Virginia.

    Please note we do not know the exact date of this event.

  • Michigan Memorial Lots Purchased 1953

    Charles Thomas Kleiber (James Grandpa) purchased 6 lots at Michigan Memorial for $920 plus $10 carrying fee. Charles put $5 down and agreed to pay $15 per month to pay off the balance (no interest so long as the payments were on time).

    At the time, the Kleiber family was living at 1089 Lindberg in Wyandotte Michigan and Michigan Memorial was over 25 years old and located in nearby Flat Rock so it seemed to be a perfect match. Shown in this picture is Peg and Criss looking down at the first person buried in the plots, James Great Grandpa Graf.

  • Remembering “Pappy” Graf 1887 – 1953

    Pappy Graf is James Great Grandfather, Father to his Grandmother Loretta.

    When Joseph George Graf was born on March 18, 1887, in Schönfeld, Lower Austria, Austria, his father, Joseph, was 33 and his mother, Katherine, was 30. He had one son and two daughters with Rose Margaret Huth between 1920 and 1924. He died on January 2, 1953, in Wyandotte, Michigan, at the age of 65, and was buried in Flat Rock, Michigan.

    Pappy was very creative and used to make the childrens gifts by hand. He also created beautiful miniature village displays that were so popular in the neighborhood that the press would come out and photograph them for the newspaper. All of the houses in the display he would make by hand. He would setup this display around Christmas time which created a tradition that lasted for decades in the family of having displays set up at Christmas time.

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  • Joe Graf and Teresa Pingitore Marriage 1952

    Joseph (Joe) Conrad Graf married Teresa Eva Graf Pingitore on November 15, 1952, in Detroit, Michigan. Joe is James Great Uncle and Teresa is James Great Aunt.

    The couple had three children – Terry, Sandy, and Joey.

    According to our sources at Ancestry.com (currently worked by his great nephew James) when Joseph Conrad Graf was born on November 30, 1924, in Natrona, Pennsylvania, his father, Joseph, was 37 and his mother, Rose, was 34. He had two older sisters, Loretta and Louise.

    When Teresa Eva Graf Pingitore was born on April 1, 1928, in Saskatchewan, Canada, her father, Sarafino, was 34, and her mother, Susanna, was 22.

  • Howard Landis Middle Tennessee Agriculture Club 1950

    Howard studies included agriculture at Middle Tennessee and in 1950 he was a member of the Agriculture club. Agriculture is still a main curriculum at Middle Tennessee and the agriculture department is still accepting students and their facebook page is very popular with the students.

    Since 1911, more than 100,000 students have graduated from MTSU. Despite the university’s growth from a campus of 100 acres (0.40 km2), 125 students and a faculty of 19, to an academic city of more than 500 acres (2.0 km2), more than 26,000 students (second largest in Tennessee), and a faculty of more than 900, the institution is still essentially a “people’s university” with a concern for the diverse needs of the area that it serves. In the 1980s and 1990s, the institution dedicated resources to become a leader in technology, both in the classroom and in many services to students.