  Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2007 |
Hello, Please have a look at what I've put together (and linked to/from) on Mackenzie High School.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M ackenzie_High_School_%28Michig an%29 Chuck Greene MHS, Class of 1976 | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 466 Registered: 08-2007 |
Cool! I graduated in '65. I like the info you have in there. Here are a couple more illustrious grads: Saul Green, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1994-2001. He graduated in 1965, too. His bio is here: http://www.prisoncommission.or g/commissioners_green.asp Also, we had Davis Gloff, class of 1963, I think. Former classical DJ on WQRS, singer, composer and pianist. Here is is page: http://www.wideopenwest.com/~d gloff6278/ | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 467 Registered: 08-2007 |
Let's get in some more fun info. The newspaper was the Dial, the yearbook was the Stag. The school colors were blue and gray. The fight song started, "Fight on Mackenzie, Fight for Victory. We will be loyal, til eternity....." That's all I remember though. The driver training field was great, real streets and stop signs and everything. Kids trained there from other schools, too. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2007 |
Thanks for your reply! GO STAGS CG | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1915 Registered: 01-2005 |
Class of '54 here, and my mother was a Mackenzie graduate in 1935 (she passed away last May). That school fight song (seems kind of lame, now, but I'd never of said that back then!) was written by the long time Music Department head, Robert "Pops" Luscomb. Wasn't that school auditorium just super? So sad that it's history now. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1412 Registered: 02-2005 |
Gaz, my wife graduated from MacKenzie in January 1966. | ||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 232 Registered: 07-2006 |
Anyone remember Ed Gascoinge....???? | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 468 Registered: 08-2007 |
I only went there one year, so didn't get to know everybody, Jiminnm. I was on the Dial and in Russian Club, did she do either of those in '65? We put on Antigone that year, was she in that, maybe? | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2007 |
Amazing Mackenzie Fact: Guidance Counselor Rex Carletti worked at Mackenzie from the early 1930s until the time I arrived on the scene....in 1973! They don't make people like that anymore. (Message edited by chuckjav on September 12, 2007) | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 473 Registered: 08-2007 |
I remember him, he gave me a talking to for wearing boots to school. The kind that you wear instead of shoes, you know? He was nice though. Was Miss Casemore still there? I think she must have been around since they built the place. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2007 |
Ray....Sorry to hear about your mom; there is a copy of the 1935 Stag online: http://www.rootsweb.com/~miwayne/mackenzie1935.htm Gaz....Lulu Casemore was already retired by the time I attended Mackenzie. (Message edited by chuckjav on September 12, 2007) | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1916 Registered: 01-2005 |
Chuckjav, what a find! Unfortunately, Mom was in the July, 1935 class, and the yearbook is for the January class. However, my uncle, Harold Stiles, was in that class and by golly, there's his picture! He married Mom's sister in 1941, and was influential in my life. A WW II vet, they moved to Tucson after the war and he spent the remainder of his life there. He died in 1996. Anyway, I printed out his page in the Stag and am sending it to my aunt, alive and well in Orange, CA! Thank you so much for that link! Lulu Casemore was there when I attended MHS, but never was in one of her classes. I think she came over on the Mayflower. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1414 Registered: 02-2005 |
Gaz, my wife wrote for the Dial in her last semester (as per her last yearbook). Otherwise, she played flute in the band and the orchestra and recollects marching in the Thanksgiving parade one year. She was also on something called the sportsmanship council. I gleaned all this info from her yearbooks, as she claims that her best day in high school was the day she walked out and, except for the parade and a few other things, she really doesn't talk about it much. By the way, did you happen to have Leonard Tyburski for any science classes? He later killed his wife (who my wife says was a student at MacKenzie shortly after her). He said she disappeared in 1985, but their daughter found the wife's body in their freezer in 1989. Scroll down to But what About the lie Detector on this page: http://www.injusticeline.com/c onfess.html | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 491 Registered: 08-2007 |
I remember the story abut Tyburski but I never knew him. That was pretty gruesome. I only went there my senior year and I had to take chem to catch up, Ms. Ott was the teacher. Your wife probably remembers Dave Ferger who was the Dial advisor. I still see him occasionally as he lives in Southfield and is politically active. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2007 |
Gaz, Jim, and Ray I had a Chemistry class with Len Tyburski during my Junior year at MHS; seemed like a decent guy & a tough teacher. I graduated in January, 1976. Last time I was in the school - May, 2003; stopped by to donate a computer to Athletic Director Bob Dozier's family planning class. I played JV FB during my Junior year; made it to Varsity as a Senior (after learning how to place-kick). Toward season's end, I was inserted for a PAT vs. Western; the snap was too high for my placer (our QB).....he opted to drop back for a pass into the end zone. I stepped up to block Western's gigantic nose-guard - funny thing is...we both went flying. Our QB got his pass off, but it flew out of the end zone; I was subsequently drilled in the back by a Western defensive end.....right in front of a referee. No Flag. At any rate, that particular play....my one & only Varsity play - earned me a letter in Football. Coach Dozier stopped the projector during team review of game film and announced to the entire team that "Greene is getting a letter for stepping-up". Something like 27 years later, during a retirement tribute for Coach Dozier, I was taken aside by Coach Dozier....who mentioned "you know what, Greene....you were the last white guy that ever lettered in football for Mackenzie". We laughed for about five minutes. Damn, I sure do Love Mackenzie and Coach Dozier. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6505 Registered: 02-2004 |
Most of relatives went and graduated from good ole' Mackenzie High School. Now closed for good and the students ship to bad ole' Cody High School. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1281 Registered: 06-2005 |
My mother worked with Mr. Tyburski. Whats so funny is that the teachers would have a secret pal during the school year, and he picked my mother's name that year. In addition, he was my ex-wife's night school teacher. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 6 Registered: 09-2007 |
Thanks Danny, Folks...please, tell us about Mackenzie High School and surrounding neighborhoods. I am already hip to the trip, with regard to the mid-1970s through present. I know very little about Mackenzie, feeder schools & neighborhoods, from the late-1920s through the early 1970s. One thing I do know, and I try to put out of my mind, is what I saw as a scared-to-death student at Charles Drew Junior High (c/o Wyoming & W. Chicago) during Jan/Feb 1970. Near daily riots at Drew and Mackenzie - many innocent people hurt very bad. Sorry for the gloom and doom; please share. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1918 Registered: 01-2005 |
Well, in the 1950-54 era when I went there, there was a Dairy Queen just south of the school on Wyoming. It might still be there. That was the first Dairy Queen I ever saw and patronized. Big landmark for me at the time. Across the street was a little white cinder block building known as the "Flying Saucer Grill" that was an after-school hangout. Just south of that was another half-assed restaurant known as "Jerry's", that seemed to cater to an exclusive male clientele. Good for a burger and a coke, period. The elm trees of Detroit that we talk about so often were prevelant on campus. They were majestic; beautiful. It's sad to see how bare the "front lawn" is today. Students got student passes from the DSR that allowed you to ride the bus for 15c with a free transfer. Driver rarely asked to see the pass, but once in a while one would have a hair up his ass and start asking for them. The kids in the back of the bus would be handing their passes out the window to the kids at the back of the line who didn't have theirs with them. Fun time. Mackenzie had an Army Junior ROTC unit back then, including a rifle team and a nice shooting range. They used .22 rimfire rifles for target practice and M-1 Garands for drill. The M-1s, which were .30-06 caliber, had no firing pins in the bolts. They also had .30 caliber carbines and a few Browning Automatic Rifles for us to take apart and re-assemble. Heavy suckers, I think they weighed 22 pounds. I guess the highlights of the school year were like most any other high school; the plays each semester, spring concert, and Christmas concert. Football games were played at the field at W. Chicago and Wyoming. I think at one time it was called Hammerberg Field. Nice lighting for night games, but a few brawls in the mid fifties saw all games changed to daylight ones. Stuff happened even back then. Mackenzie was over a half-century ago for me, but I still remember my locker number and where it was. Just inside the "boys" entrance door, locker number four. With lockers numbering into the thousands, No. 4 was an ez remember. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 510 Registered: 08-2007 |
Kitty corner across Chicago and Wyoming was Puri-Test which sold donuts and other goodies. I particularly remember the Crispy Creme Donuts. I lived on Littlefield south of Chicago, when it was lined with a tunnel of majestic elm trees. I walked east on Chicago to get to school and passed, among other things, Elliott General Hospital, Mara's Italian Restaurant, and a wonderful Greek bakery that had the best bread. I dated two of the guys who worked for the bakery, but they had caveman illusions about American girls, so that didn't last long. If I walked down Westfield, sometimes I would see this guy hanging out and driving slow by Manor. One time a lady called the police on him, saying he was stalking me. I got called to the office (!!!) and interviewed. I didn't think it was me he was after, I said. A while later, I saw him and a middle aged lady in a housecoat and rollers in her hair, making out in the front seat of his car. So that's who he was after. I knew it wasn't me. I wonder if her husband ever found out. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 10 Registered: 09-2007 |
Ray (glad you enjoyed the '35 Stag) and Gaz Thanks for the great posts. Oh yes, I remember those awesome elm trees. One of the many schools I attended after leaving Drew (see above) was George Ford; a very nice school - even in 1971. I would sometimes walk home via Hubbell to Fullerton, then east to my house (Ward & Foley). Anyhoo.......... Talk about a tunnel of elm trees; Hubbell to Fullerton - probably all the way to Cooley High - totally unbelievable! | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1919 Registered: 01-2005 |
Some of the "feeder" schools were Monnier (Schoolcraft and Ward); Parker (Plymouth and Appoline); and Tappan (stuck somewhere behind Sears-Roebuck). I lived just off'n Schoolcraft near Meyers, and had my choice of Mackenzie or Cooley. Naturally, since Mom was a Mack grad, my choice came easy. But I did go to Cooley one summer to make up a class. Guess I was kind of a Benedict Arnold for that lapse of judgement...... | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 13 Registered: 09-2007 |
Cool Ray..... I used to walk from my house (Ward, near Fullerton) - all the way up Meyers - to Linden...for swim practice at the Jewish Community Center. I sure was bummed when the JCC left Detroit for Southfield. I sure as hell was not going to walk to Southfield. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1920 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeez, I hate the grammar and spelling police, but it's Lyndon, not Linden, Chuck. Now I just ruined a beautiful friendship, didn't I?  My grandparents lived on Sorrento just south of Fullerton (just off of Foley street, actually), and my greatest childhood fun was watching the trains go by on that track that paralelled Fullerton. Steam engines, of course. So I know your old neighborhood well! | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 19 Registered: 09-2007 |
Doggone it...Linden - - - what was I thinking? Must have been all the yammer about elm trees yesterday - Detroit doesn't have many elms...but it sho-nuf has plenty of linden trees. Oh yes....we all had great fun with the trains along Fullerton; made some fine jewelry out by train-squishing coins on the tracks. Picture this: sometimes I would take a vaulting pole home from Mackenzie...on foot. Then, when bringing it back to school - I would hop the eastbound train behind my house and ride it to the corner of Plymouth & Wyoming...carrying a 14-foot vaulting pole. Then, suffer the slings & arrows from the Drew students on my sojourn down Wyoming to MHS. Good thing I wasn't carrying a javelin...I might well have been tempted to chuck it at one of the moronic middle-schoolers. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1921 Registered: 01-2005 |
Yup, I put a few pennies and maybe even a nickel on the tracks. Sure did a number on them. Never had the balls to hop a train, though. My hat is off to you on that one. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 22 Registered: 09-2007 |
Tell 'ya what Ray - I gave up on most of my train-hitching (eastbound-only)...after a gun was drawn on friends and me, by a railroad detective at the Schaefer Yard. Yikes! | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 23 Registered: 09-2007 |
Dang....almost forgot. Ray, you graduated from MHS two years before Barb Gilders - she was a springboard diver on the 1956 Olympic Team; placing 4th at the Melbourne Games....by less than one dang point! | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 3952 Registered: 10-2004 |
Are the lights there by the driving course or athletic fields EVER turned off. It seems that they have been burning for almost twenty years now, although I haven't been that way for a few years. Is it THAT unsafe there? | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 25 Registered: 09-2007 |
Livernoisyard....I can't say for certain, I've only been by the school during the daytime. I do recall stopping by MHS in the summer of '96; the field behind the school looked as though it hadn't been mowed in months, the grass had to be four-feet tall. But it was never like that again; there have been some very nice all-years reunions behind the school, during the last weekend of June, for many years now. |
