The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: Michigan

Events in Michigan

  • Saulte Ste Marie 2002

    These are pics from the boat tour through the soo locks in Michigans upper peninsula on the Canadian border. We stopped at the Soo as part of our Honeymoon, although most of it will be spent on Mackinaw and Mackinaw Island. The day is very overcast so hopefully the weather will be better for Mackinaw.

    I remember the Soo Locks and trips up here as a kid. Its a great place to spend a day, but I don’t think you could get more than a day out of it, unless you like casinos, then you will be in your glory.

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  • Greenfield Village Henry Ford Museum 2002

    This was Mary’s first visit to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn MI. Mary loves cars and antiques and really loves seeing the sites at the museum.

    I on the other hand was literally raised at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, at least once but usually twice a year there would be field trips from my school to the village or museum depending on the season. This year the big attraction was the Rosa Parks bus and they were working on a new airplane exhibit which will feature some of the most famous airplanes in American history.

    Some of the more gruesome exhibits are the chair Lincoln was assasinated in and the car Kennedy was assasinated in.

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  • Fishing on Houghton Lake 1997

    Our friend Ernie and his family have a cottage up North and we decided to spend a day fishing at Houghton Lake. The first stop was to get fishing licenses and such, then we went to the pontoon rental place and rented a boat which we proceeded to stock with the finer accessories of fishing (ie brew).

    We ended the day pulling into a bar that was on the dock and had dinner, then returned the boat safe and sound back to its owner. Jim was the only to catch anything other than sun that day, but he let the fish go once he got a picture of it.

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  • Red Wings Championship Parade 1997

    After 42 years the Detroit Red Wings broke the curse and won a Stanley Cup, here we are celebrating downtown the day of the parade. It was an extremely hot summer day and we waited downtown for hours, so we were quite parched when the parade finally ended at Hart Plaza. We did not stay for the speeches, only the parade. We went to a great bar with an outdoor barbecue and one of the Red Wings showed up to get a bratwurst off the grill so that was kind of neat.

    Great time was had by all and congrats to the Detroit Red Wings. Now if we can just do something about those Lions…

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  • Waldenwoods Vacation 1989

    This was the year of the infamous sail boat. Everyone was admiring the small individual sail boats that were being sailed around the lake at Waldenwoods. Basically Waldenwoods rented out these small sale boats that could hold one or two people. They offer a free training course that took 15 minutes, but the specific party involved had no interest in this and went along and rented the small craft proceeded to guide it into a swimming area of the lake, with small children dodging the incoming craft since the two people in the party did not know how to turn a sailboat into the wind.

    Yes, the culprits were cousin Mark and James Dad. Shown on the left is James Dad and Aunt carrying the boat back to the rental place at Waldenwoods. Needless to say, lots of fun this year at Waldenwoods but unfortunately this might be our last time here as they are turning it into a golf resort.

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  • Loretta Kleiber’s Retirement Party at Oakwood Hospital 1987

    Loretta worked for Oakwood hospital until 1987 when she retired. She was a switchboard operator and worked the midnight shift, midnight till 8am, so she had lots of stories of the events that went on in the wee hours of a hospital. If you ever called Oakwood hospital between midnight and 8 am odds are that it was Loretta who you spoke to on the phone. When she retired they threw her a small retirement party at the hospital.

    The family always thought that it was strange that someone who had such trouble with their hearing would be the one answering calls at a hospital. I think the headset made all the difference.

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  • Waldenwoods 1985

    This was the year of the fishing exposition, where James Grandma went out on a rubber raft and caught a couple huge catfish and a pike, which was very rare in this lake. The fishing expo began at twilight at about 8pm as the rubber raft left the dock with Grandma, James Dad, and Cousin Ron. It was a very relaxing trip and no one really expected to catch anything (we really just wanted to take the boat out at night), but all of a sudden all the lines were being pulled on and everyone was catching something. Fortunately we had a metal fish basket and placed the fish in the basket to get them home. Once we got out of the boat we noticed the pike had tried biting its way out of the metal fish basket which kind of scared us since we were in a rubber boat and that fish could have sunk us had we not had the basket outside the boat. The next day we had fish for lunch and a great time was had by all.

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  • Waldenwoods 1982

    A visit to Waldenwoods pre A frame era (Waldenwoods built a really cool A frame for rental which was rented by the family in the future). Waldenwoods was an inclusive resort that featured swimming, boating, fishing, and a complete variety of activities. You could visit for a day or a week with membership, and the membership was not cheap and you had to commit to a 20 year membershp to get the best price. Waldenwoods is close to Brighton and located just off U.S. 23 at the M59 exit. Its about an hour drive from Dearborn Heights, an hour and a half from Trenton and the downriver area. You can see it on the West side of US 23 when driving on US 23 between Brighton and Fenton Michigan.

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  • Renee’s First Communion 1982

    Renee celebrates her First Communion and afterwards went to Trenton where they were preparing for a party to celebrate the event.

    Renee received her First Communion from Saint Timothy Church just off West Road on Manning street in Trenton. Saint Timothy Church is a relatively small parish that draws its members from a number of communities from the downriver area. This is the church where all the family members who live or lived in Trenton attend. Saint Tims altar was church is unique with a circular inside rather than the traditional square with pews.

    As with every other event, Renee’s Aunt Loretta (James Grandma) and Renee’s Grandma (James Great Aunt) made sure that a proper cake was on hand for the event.

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  • Criss Marries Danny Merritt 1973

    The wedding took place at Dearborn City Hall and was presided over by Mayor Orville Hubbard. On the back of the photo given to us by the city is the following:

    With Best Wishes From Orville L Hubbard, LLB, Mayor of Dearborn Since January 6, 19942. A very nice gesture from the City of Dearborn for sure.

    After the services at City Hall, the wedding party went to the Dearborn Inn where a reception was held. The band played “Misty” for Criss, since it was her favorite song at the time.

    A good time was had by all!

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