Each week usually meant a visit to Trenton. The adults would play cards upstairs while the kids played in the basement. Mark and Peg used to pick on me because I was the youngest and they were older and bigger than I was. We would get in all kinds of things in that basement in Trenton while they were all upstairs playing cards. Uncle Harry and Grandma Graf were still alive and dad would go over there too and play cards.

Grandma Graf always had a fifth of whiskey in her bedroom for when she had a cold ,she would take a drink of it,funny that dad always thought he was coming down with something when he went to Trenton just to get a drink of her whiskey.

We were down stairs as usual and Mark and I put on Boxing gloves and he accidentally hit me hard so I started to cry and Mark tried to get me to stop crying before they would hear me upstairs. He would do everything,he would tell me to hit him back and I did as hard as I could,which was not much with how little I was and he would act like I really hit him hard and would fall on the floor and act like he was really hurt but I still kept crying.

The parents finally yelled down to us to see what was going on (after they got done playing out their hands, of course). We went up stairs and when Uncle Harry found out what had happened he started kicking Mark down the hall, was like a cartoon, he would kick and mark would jump and this went on all the way down the hall.

I didn’t know what he did to him after that but I did stop crying. lol

One year we vacationed on an island that was far removed from civilization. We had to row a boat over to get there or to go to a store, don’t know where Dad found that fantasy island, the only fun thing in that town when you were on dry land was the snake pit. We had an aluminum boat to row back and forth to get the suitcases and any groceries over there,of course we kids thought it was cool. Dad took our only transportation over to land and that was the boat, don’t know what would have happened if someone got hurt and needed to go to the hospital.

Big rain storm that night, lightning the whole bit, lit up the whole little island. There was a full size homemade bunkbed in one room that Peg and I slept on the bottom and Mark slept on the top which made his mattress come just a couple of inches from our noses so he liked that and would jump up and down on it a lot. lol

Around 3 in the morning, we hear yelling “LORETTA, LORETTA”, Mom gets up and in the lighting and rain that you could not see in front of your face for the rain, here was Dad, drunk, rowing the aluminum boat yelling for mom to turn a light on because he didn’t know where the island was.

He gets in finally and someone put a rubber spider on the curtains to be funny and Dad saw it and took a broom to the curtains and was hitting them so hard that they fell down.

Mark, Peg and I go fishing the next morning and Uncle Harry let me use his pole, I was so excited that he would entrust me with it. So we are sitting with our poles in the lake and Mark of course wants to catch this big turtle that he has been hearing about. We came close,but it bit on my line (or rather uncle Harry’s line) and broke the line. I didn’t want to go back in and tell Uncle Harry that I broke his line but he was understanding as usual and he did not get mad.

Peg had a new watch that dad had bought her and she was so proud of because he bought her something. It was a type that you wound up by moving your wrist so Peg rowed me and her around the lake and back. The hands were going around so fast when we got back we could not keep track of it, needless to say it broke from that and Dad was not too happy.

My birthday fell over those weeks that we were on Alcatraz and all I got was a ring from the snake pit with a plastic snake on it.

Margaret Ann Kleiber celebrated her First Communion. here is a little background on this event which is sort of a rite of passage in the Catholic Church.

The sacrament of First Communion is an important tradition for Catholic families and individuals. For Catholics, Holy Communion is the third of seven sacraments received. It occurs only after receiving Baptism, and once the person has reached the age of reason (usually, around the second grade). Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist occupies a central role in Catholic theology and practice.

Traditions of celebration surrounding First Communion usually include large family gatherings and parties to celebrate the event. The first communicant wears special clothing. The clothing is often white to symbolize purity, but not in all cultures. Often, a girl wears a fancy dress and a veil attached to a chaplet of flowers or some other hair ornament. In other communities, girls commonly wear dresses passed down to them from sisters or mothers, or even simply their school uniforms with the veil or wreath. Boys may wear a suit and tie, tuxedo, their Sunday best, or national dress, with embroidered arm bands worn on the left arm and occasionally white gloves.

Continue reading “Pegs First Communion 1956” →

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.

Continue reading “Tribute to House on Tulane” →

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.