The Kleiber Family Timeline

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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.

  • Easter 1966

    Gearing up for Easter with a trip to Detroit to see the Easter Bunny in person and yes, he did deliver a nice basket for Easter to James Dad.

    The photo used here is a little rough and torn. We did our best to save it but after scanning we realized it was too far gone so this is the only copy remaining of this moment.

  • Remembering Rose Graf 1890 – 1965

    When Rose Margaret Huth was born on September 29, 1890, in Natrona, Pennsylvania, her father, Conrad, was 40, and her mother, Bertha, was 30. She had one son and two daughters with Joseph George Graf between 1920 and 1924. She died on November 22, 1965, in Trenton, Michigan, at the age of 75, and was buried in Flat Rock, Michigan.

    Joe and Rose Graf had 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and many great grand children. James would be their great grandson, although both died decades before James was born.

    Rose lived the last decade of her life in the Trenton house where we visited her often. My mother would bring me over to Trenton and she always had an orange slice candy for me. She was very generous and always placed her concerns for the family and her children over herself, her kindness still lives on.

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  • Cousin Barbara’s Wedding 1965

    One of James Dad’s earliest memories is being a ring bearer at his cousin Barbs wedding to Joe Gedman. His cousin Sandi was the flower girl that day. Dad was not nervous at all about being one to walk down the aisle in front of the bride and groom which was a very good thing as he did a pretty good job.

    Aunt Peg was one of the bridesmaids as well so it was a real big family event, both the wedding and also the practice wedding which James Dad thought was fun.

    This was the first wedding James Dad ever participated at and he also remembers breaking a glass at the reception. It was a warm but comfortable August day so everyone was drinking something.

    All in all it was a great day for everyone.

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  • 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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  • Ken Selvia Serves Military 1963 – 1969

    Kenny Selvia (future husband of Criss) joined the military in 1963 until 1969. He was in the Riverine task force patrolling the Mekong Delta.

    The Mobile Riverine Force combined the 2d Brigade of Army’s 9th Infantry Division with the Navy’s Riverine Assault Force (Task Force 117) to conduct combat operations along the waterways of the Mekong Delta. A large percentage of the Mekong Delta was under water depending on the season which is why both Army and Navy forces were needed. How much of the Mekong Delta is under water is dependent on the season and rainfall at any particular time.

    The Mekong Delta also proved to the U.S. army that their small boat force was still needed as the U.S. military since World War 2 had phased out the smaller ships in favor of larger ones. The Mekong Delta Mobile Riverine Force concept paired newly created assault boat units with a brigade of Army infantry.

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  • Easter 1963

    The Kleiber family celebrating Easter Sunday in 1963.

  • Story – The Spider by Aunt Peg 1962

    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.