The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: General Day to Day

General Events

  • St Albert Class of 1974

    James’ Dad is in this picture (top row, third from the left) from 1974, his class of 1974 taught by Miss Shea. Dad was a bit of a trouble maker in those days. Dad’s friends from those days are known as “the little friends” because they knew each other when they were little.

    St Alberts is still around, but they no longer offer the school. The school was divided into two building, the senior building and the junior building. The Senior Building was grades 5 – 8 while the junior building was 1 – 4. To the best of my knowledge they did not offer kindergarten at least during this time frame.

  • St Albert Class of 73

    James’ dad in 6th grade class photo, third row, seventh from the left.

    St Alberts is still around, but they no longer offer the school. The school was divided into two building, the senior building and the junior building. The Senior Building was grades 5 – 8 while the junior building was 1 – 4. To the best of my knowledge they did not offer kindergarten at least during this time frame.

  • Story – The Great Fire by Aunt Criss 1971

    Mom was in the hospital for an operation on her thyroid gland. Dad, Peg and I, were almost starved to death while she was in the hospital, he was in the “let’s make dinner in the blender” stage. YUCK!

    He put eggs, catsup, vegetables and all kinds of stuff in it that I don’t even remember and no way were we going to drink that stuff, we were young but not that stupid.

    Peg tried making hamburgers in the frying pan, don’t know why but she took the hot pan over to the sink after taking the hamburgers out (hell,she could of left them in there for all I know.lol) she turned on the faucet on as hard as it would go to put water in the skillet, don’t think she had the grease out of it because the kitchen curtains caught on fire and all I heard was her calling for Dad. Now you know you have to have almost lost your mind to call Dad to a fire. lol

    You know how he was about fires and the house burning down.

    He comes in and the curtains were all a blaze, I don’t remember what he said or yelled, I think I blocked that out of my mind. I am sure Peg would remember what he said, think I ran out of the room to a safe area. lol

  • Flower Show 1970

    Every year in the heart of the Michigan winter we would go to the Flower show at Cobo Hall in Detroit MI. It was always alot of fun for the family as there was really not alot to do in Michigan this time of the year. The picture here is of James Dad at one of those flower shows. He was always fascinated with the new devices and electronics that would be on display at this show, but never really had any interest in all the flowers. Never the less, it was a fun family tradition.

  • James Dad 2nd Grade Pic

    James Dad second grade pic at St. Alberts

  • Aunt Criss Senior Prom 1968

    James Aunt Criss at her senior prom in 1968 with her date Randy. James Dad says he remembers Randy and Criss going steady for quite a while. 1968 was a good year in Detroit, with the Tigers winning the world series and of course Senior Prom.

    A year after this picture was taken a new High School was built in Dearborn Heights, Annapolis High. Criss little brother (James Dad) would go to this school ten years later, and Criss newphew James would go to this not so new school anymore about 40 years later.

    You can always date some of these pictures taken in front of the house by how big the pine tree and blue spruce were at the time.

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  • Pegs 21st Birthday 1967

    The twenty first birthday is very special in everyones life as you are no longer considered a child by any stretch of the imagination, twenty one means you are grown up and it does not matter what state you are in, you are an adult.

    Once again, the ever popular picture by the pine tree was taken. The pine tree and blue spruce tree would eventually grow so enormous that you could literally have your picture taken underneath the branches as we had to clear out the lower branches to make the trees look better.

    Eventually in the 90’s the trees were removed and to this date there is a proverbial dip in the grass at those locations, despite the lawn being resodded and leveled several times since.

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  • James Dad Begins Kindergarten 1967

    The night before starting school there was a card party on the back porch and I remember going back there and telling my Mom I could not sleep because I was nervous about school. Really there was nothing to be nervous about and when you think about it you never really leave school, you continue to learn every day.

    Kindergarten was at the relatively new Eton school at the time. I remember this was the year I got the chicken pox and missed a field trip to a farm. Other than a trip or two to the office to see the principle there was not much else outstanding that happened in kindergarten. Since this is part of the Annapolis school system I am including with the Annapolis files.

  • Detroit Flower Show 1967

    This was the first flower show that James Dad remembers going to. One of the items that fascinated him most was a simple elctrical test box where you would touch a pad and if you gave the right answer, a light bulb would light up, but if you gave the wrong answer, a buzzer would go off. Sort of like an educational version of operation but with questions. Other than that, Dad doesn’t remember much else from the show but does remember it was always a good time.

    To this day there are still flower shows all around the country, including Detroit and the Detroit suburbs. Most of the time they are combined with home improvement, hence the name Home and Garden show has evolved. Today you will hear it called the “Home Improvement Garden Show” or something similar.

  • Peg Graduates High School 1965

    Peg Graduates from Lowrey High School in 1965. James Raymond wanted to know why his Aunt Peg did not graduate from Annapolis since she was a Dearborn Heights citizen at the time. The answer is easy, Annapolis had not yet been built.

    The Lowrey School has served its community since in 1927 and was built to relieve overcrowding at Thayer and Miller Schools. The 1920’s saw a large growth in the Springwells Township Unit School District with the coming of Ford Motor Company’s, Rouge Plant. As the number of students increased, the area’s school system had to adjust. As Ford Motor Company grew, so did its employees such as James Grandad Charles and thus so did the children in the Dearborn, Dearborndale, Dearborn Heights area. Additions were made in 1949, and the school was incorporated into a High School as well as its Elementary and Junior High. From 1949 to 1969, the school was used for all three grade levels.

    Today it is used only for grades kindergarten through 9th.

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