Mom went food shopping and we wanted to visit the snake pit (which was across Dixie road from the parking lot,down the hill to the boat). Mom took Charlie with her to the store and she would pick us up after food shopping. As we went into the snake pit we knew this was out of our league. We saw snakes and Spiders behind glass and it was gross. The woman asked if we wanted to see a turtle instead and we both said yes. Out the back door we went and almost tripped over this huge Grey rock right in the middle of the path. This is our one hundred yr old turtle and out popped its head and legs. We asked what he ate and other questions about the turtle. After asking these questions we went into the gift shop where we saw a black metal spider with a pin on the back.

Chris said “get that”!

“Chris they will kill us if I buy that”, I responded. I was in charge of the spending money.

Needless to say I bought the silver and black metal spider with a straight pin on the back. It looked so real, where should we put it so they will notice it? I put the bag with spider into my purse and Mom was waiting for us in the car. After loading the boat up with bags of food, rowing back to our home away from home, unpacking the boat, and tying up the boat we finally went into the house.

There was only one door at the house and that was the front door, everything else was privacy curtains. These were curtains that you pulled for privacy for each bedroom and for the living quarters. That’s were we put the spider, right on the entrance curtain just to the left of the over stuffed chair and sofa.

Then Chris, charlie and I yell all together “SPIDER”. The first person out was Dad and he ran past it without seeing it.

We all pointed to the curtain so Dad grab a fly swatter and started hitting that spider. Dad hit it so hard it fell off the curtain onto the floor, us kids jumped on the sofa and yell “kill it Dad, kill it”. This time Dad was steping on it and saying “Loretta this spider doesn’t flatten like the others”. Mom came out and we sat up and didn’t say a word just like little angels sitting nice and quiet. Mom bent over and picked up the spider and looked at all 3 of her angels than said “this is a metal spider”.

Well, Dad said it sure looked like the ones I’ve been killing all week. Mom couldn’t help but laugh right out loud and say “Well Chuck you were right the kids gave us a show we will never forget. They created the entertainment for tonight”. Dad even laugh too, it was a good joke. Grandma Graf came out and joined in. You know I think that spider brought the family closer than any radio or TV set could. We talked about it at dinner and the next day. Dad invited Uncle Harry and Uncle Joe to the island and told them about the spider story.

My name is Peggy I’m 58 yrs young at the time of writing this. I bought the spider. Even to this day when I get sad or blue I think about Dad hitting that poor metal spider with the fly swatter, then with his foot. I laugh just like I did when I was a kid. I will remember that day for the rest of my life.

According to our sources at Ancestry.com (currently worked by his son James) when Charles Joseph Kleiber was born on December 17, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan, his father, Charles, was 43 and his mother, Loretta, was 40. He married Mary Elizabeth Landis on September 5, 2002, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. They have one child, James Raymond Kleiber. He has two siblings, Christine and Margaret.

Chuck (James Dad) is probably best known for trying to cook cookies on a frying pan, getting his head stuck in a box when he was small, and throwing the ball that hit home plate and ricochet right through the convent window at St Alberts. Chuck also was responsible for several incidents in the Kleiber family including the football birthday cake incident, the fake lottery ticket incident, and the baby stinky incident on Pegs birthday in Trenton.

Continue reading “Charles Joseph Kleiber Birth (Childhood Pictures) 1960” →

We can’t forget devils night when I was young. I was too young to be out at night and it was devils night,we were suppose to go out and ring door bells and soap windows and I wanted to had to be a part of it,but Mom said no way was I going out on devils night,meant only trouble and was too young to go out after dark anyway. I pouted for awhile then forgot about it until the next day when Mom called me and accused me of soaping her windows,told her that I was always blamed for everything that happened around there and was tired of it and that I had not gone out that night because she would not let me and she told me that she knew it was me because they were soaped from the inside.

I also remember that every Halloween we went out got bags of candy,that’s when they gave the big candy bars and you could be out until 11 without getting hurt or the parents being worried. We would come home and I would empty my bag and my girlfriend and I went back out,did this a few times. When I got home for the night and wanted to look at all my treasures,I asked what happened to the big candy bars. Dad had gone through each bag as I left it,not as a caring father to make sure everything was ok with the candy but to take the big candy bars for himself.

I did all the work and he got the candy. I was left with the junk candy and apples,said the apples were better for me

Thirteen years ago Mark was born and almost immediately earned the reputation as the number one troublemaker in the family. Kleiber legend and lore has it that Pappy Graf was so upset with him (Mark saw him walking down the street and shouted “Hey pappy, you going to put down a few at the Bar” which was the final straw) that he waited for him around a corner with his cane (pappy could not catch the fleet footed little Mark) and when Mark walked by, hooked him with his cane and told him what his life would be like if he didn’t start treating people with respect.

Well now this youngster is a teenager and as these picture show Mark was involved in a multitude of activities including playing in a band, playing an instrument in a parade, Scouts, fishing, camping, and many other fun activities most teens would love to do.

Lots of pictures in this gallery including some from a photo booth which were popular in that era.

Continue reading “Mark Becomes A Teenager 1959” →

Camp Dearborn-oh does that take me back in time. We were living on Sherwood ct, in Dearborn, when Major Hubbard decided to buy land and make a park for all the people of Dearborn to enjoy. Our Dads boss Mr Hayford wanted his family and our family to go to camp Dearborn for a week or two. The first time we went there it seemed like a ride to the end of the earth. There were no expressways or freeways, they were not made as of yet. We did get there and it was beautiful two large gates Dad drove the car through and saw a huge sign Welcome to Camp Dearborn.

Some things in the park were too far to walk to so Mom drove us kids to the Paddle boats. For fifty cents we could ride for an hour. Chris and I were in one boat and boy was it nice. The first time on a boat that we made go with are feet. Each boat had a number on it and when the man on dock called out your number you had to go in the ride was over. Our number was called. We headed in to the dock we were right in front of the dock so we stopped with our feet, that’s when the boat moved back and now we were away from the dock again. Chris my sister said I will climb on the front of the boat and grab the line and hop onto the dock and pull the boat in. Sounded good, but Chris forgot to grab the line. My sister made it to the dock jumping up and down that she made it. Meanwhile I’m trying to paddle but kept going in circles. I stopped I saw Mom on the Dock now and she wasn’t happy at all. I guess she got angry that the men on dock wouldn’t help little girls. I know she said a few choice words for them. One Guy got into a motor boat and came out to get me as I was in the middle of the lake by now. He grabbed the line and the boat and I were in tow. Needless to say that was my first and last time on the paddle boats with my sister.

Continue reading “Story – Camp Dearborn Paddle Boats by Aunt Peg 1959” →

Criss celebrating 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.

We went to a wedding reception,think it was in Wyandotte. Dad of course got drunk as usual, he usually took home a couple of glasses when he drank but this time since he paid for a gift for the happy couple he decides that he is taking home a chair and yes he did take it out of there, don’t know how but he did.

It was raining on the way home and mom is trying to tell him how to go and he tells her that he knows a short cut and to shut up. We take this short cut and get stuck in the mud from all the rain, not knowing where the hell we are or at least I didn’t because you could not see for the rain again.

Next day they come back for the car and it was stuck right in the middle of a baseball field.

Dad’s short cut, he didn’t know where he was either.

The Kleiber family heard wind of a bridge being built in Mackinaw that would connect the lower peninsula with the upper peninsula of Michigan. The bridge would be open to traffic in 1957 and the Kleiber family rented a cottage and went up to Mackinaw in 1958 to take a look see.

Since then Mackinaw has been a very popular vacation location for Kleibers of all generations. You will find many pictures of the bridge taken by the family but these are the first.

The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The five-mile bridge is the world’s longest suspension bridge between cable anchorages. Fare revenues are now used to operate and maintain the Bridge and repay the State of Michigan for monies advanced to the Authority since the facility opened to traffic in 1957.

Continue reading “Mackinaw 1958” →

On one of our weekends with the kleibers Grandpa Kleiber was telling me about working at Fords and how he met Henry Ford Sr. for the first time. I loved his stories about working at Ford Motor co. There was one story that chill me down to my bones.

The biggest secret I ever kept till now. My Grandfather was a tool and die as he put it a skilled worker for Ford Motor Co. I still don’t know what a tool and die was but I know he must have made a lot of money doing it. Grandpa said Fords went into Germany before the war to build Automobiles cause it was cheap labor over there. Fords built auto plants there and Hired Jews to work in their plants, but they paid the Nazi’s the money. Grandpa why didn’t they pay the Jews they did the work? Grandpa said at that time Jews were being put to death, they could live if they worked for Fords. Grandpa than said when war broke out Fords left Germany, but left the factories they built and all the scrap iron there too. The Germans turn the factories into War factories instead. Why Grandpa didn’t they destroy the stuff instead of leaving it for the Nazi’s? Grandpa said it had something to do with a deal they had made with the Nazis to build there in the first place. Mom and Dad had come to take us home so we said our goodbyes and went home.

At home mom went to the backyard to weed and plant flowers. I went into the living room to ask Dad about what Grandpa had told me. After I told dad he grabbed my arm, dad your hurting me. Dad said Don’t ever repeat that in this house again. Your Grandfather should have never told you that. Your Mother will not understand we could lose everything this house, everything. You have to promise me that you will never say a word about this again. I promise Dad. I never said anything about it again. Years Later Dad die, and I was much older. I was watching the late news on channel 50 when they told the same story that Grandpa had told me. The story I promise never to say. I was so afraid Mom would fine out. One Morning I heard Mom let out one of her blood curling Screams. I ran to the kitchen and asked what’s wrong? Mom was reading the Paper, she pointed to were she wanted me to read. The paper had printed the whole dirty story on a back page. Mom always read page by page of the newspaper. Finally Mom said I just bet your Dad knew all about this! I would have made him quit or I would have divorce him right on the spot. I told Mom we will never know Dad is dead. Your right, but there is something I can do. Dad had stock in Fords and never cash it in. Mom had the stock now. Your right Mom sold the stock. I knew she would miss those dividends that she got from the stock, but this had to be done. I Think back on this now and I realize that is the reason I could tell my brother about the Holidays. The story of the Easter Basket, I knew a dirty secret just between me and my Dad.

When Mary Elizabeth Landis was born in 1958, in Montgomery, Alabama, her father, William, was 30, and her mother, Judith, was 21. She married Charles Joseph Kleiber on September 5, 2002, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. They have one child. She had three brothers.

Mary is the daughter of Howard and Judith, Sister to Bill, Wife to Chuck, and Mother to James. She is one of the sweetest people I know and is always trying to help others. She is a great mother to James and we all love her very much.

Mary has worked in real estate and also worked in restaurants, both managing them and as an employee. Like her father and brother, Mary is very knowledgeable about cars and automobiles, although she stops short of working on them. Her favorite car is a Nash Metropolitan because she used to ride in one to school when she was a kid. She does web designing and has done very well in that area both creatively and financially. She also enjoys running a household and is an excellent cook for James and myself.

We would not know what to do without her.

Continue reading “Mary Landis Born 1958” →