753 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/548a9af6b5349de4f619b4e8130ba556.pdf a4db548946089f32252508e7deb1a065 PDF Text Text ll@W lLOW~~@~lJ@~ ©@OJJ i~©llil �I LIST OF OFFICIALS Township Board Supervisor Clerk Treasurer Trustee Trustee Kenneth I. Masak Mona M. Wenze I Isabel M. Vitale Louis Driver Leonard Farmer Planning Commission Chairman Vice Chairman Secretary Philip Gage Louis Driver Mark McMacken George Belyea* Horry Grow Richard Kowalski Stu art Leach Dr. Robert Vanderluis Elmer Warner • • • • • • Planning Consultant Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc. Detroit, Michigan 48226 * Participated in study until June, 1971. Maurice F. Parkins, AIP, ASLA, PCP Brandon M. Rogers, AIP, PCP • �• • • • • • • • • • • • • 1)1, Parkins/Rogers and Associates/incorporated PLANNING AND URBAN RENEWAL CONSULTANTS (][) <>~\ll7p◊ 925 Book Building Detroit, Michigan 48226 (313) 961-9400 MAURICE F. PARKINS, AIP, ASLA, PCP, PRESIDENT BRANDON M. ROGERS, AIP, PCP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT December 15, 1971 Mr. Kenneth Masak, Supervisor Green Oak Township Green Oak Township Board Green Oak Township Planning Commission Gentlemen: We are pleased to submit the Comprehensive Development Plan for the Township of Green Oak. The Plan represents one year of study and analysis of the characteristics and planning problems of the Township. The Plan is designed to serve as a guide upon which Township development can be based during the next 20 years • Essentially, the Comprehensive Development Plan, as opposed to single-purpose, piecemeal decisions, provides long-range and collective judgement on the best means to attract new growth, preserve property values, and better the living environment in the Township of Green Oak. The cha I lenge of its effectuation remains in the hands of Township citizens, businessmen, civic leaders, and elected officials • We wish to express our appreciation to the many officials and citizens of the Township of Green Oak who assisted in the planning program. In particular, we recognize the encouragement and assistance provided by the members of the Township Planning Commission • Respectfully submitted, PARKINS, ROGERS & ASSOCIATES, INC. ·7t l ~ J/ttt?i?~,{ ~ I fit,i #ttJ Maurice F. Parkins, AIP, PCP, ASLA President ~~ Jr\ I a,~~ers, ;,P, Executive Vice President MFP /BMR/s t . �Mark A Wycf(off 400 Everett Dr Lansing, Mich. 48915 GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP Livingston County, Michigan COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1990 PARKINS, ROGERS & ASSOCIATES, INC. Planning and Urban Renewal Consultants 925 Book Bui Id ing Detroit, Michigan 48226 �• • TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Item Letter of Transmittal Title Page V Tab le of Contents VII I List of Tables pst of Maps IX Elements of Community Planning xi Existing Land Use and Natural Resources Inventory of Existing Land Uses Analysis of Land Use Pattern 3 Inventory of Natural Resources 9 17 Analysis of Physiographic Conditions 21 Population and Economy 21 Population Characteristics and Trends Population Composition 24 Popu lotion Projection 28 33 Economic Characteristics and Trends Employment 33 Income Distribution 36 Tax Base 38 Economic Potential and Land Use Needs Ill II II II Ill 40 Residential 40 Commercial 44 Industrial 44 Regional Parkland 45 Agriculture 45 - V - �I I TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Item Page Goa Is and Objectives 47 Basic Issues and Community Attitudes 47 Residential 50 Commercial 51 Industrial 52 Community Facilities 53 Recreation and Open Space 53 Transportation 54 57 Land Use Plan Residential 60 Commercial 64 Office 67 Civic Center 67 Industrial 68 Extractive 70 Regional Parkland 71 Trafficway Plan 73 Highway Inventory and Circulation Analysis 73 Highway Characteristics 80 Roi I and Air Foci Iities 88 Transportation Plan 89 Community Facilities Plan 99 Existing Schools 99 Existing Recreation 104 Existing Fire Protection 108 Existing Police Protection 112 - vi - I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I �_, TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page Item Existing Library Facilities 114 Existing Local Administration 115 Existing Uti Ii ties 116 Community Facilities Pla_n 119 School 121 Recreation 127 Fire Protection 128 Police Protection 131 Library 131 Local Administration 132 Uti Iities 133 Comprehensiye Development Plan 135 Appendix Questionnaire Letter Questionnaire 2 Summary of Socio-Economic Dato 3 - VI I - �LIST OF TABLES No. Page Major Lakes 14 2 Past Population Growth Trends 22 3 Age Composition ( Planning Area 700) 27 4 Popu la ti on Projections, 1980 and 1990 29 5 Employment by Industry Group ( Planning Area 700) 36 6 Household Incomes (Planning Area 700) 37 7 Assessment Roi I by Land Use 39 8 Residential Construction Trends, 1966 - 1969 41 9 Multiple Housing Unit Construction Trends, 1965 - 1969 42 10 Community Attitude Information, 1970 48 ll County Primary Roads, 1970 76 12 County Local Roads, l 970 78 13 County Road Surface Sufficiency Ratings, 1970 81 14 State Highway Traffic Flow, 1969 83 15 Major County Road Traffic Flow, 1969 84 16 State Highway and County Road Accidents, 1968 - 1970 86 17 Inadequate County Road Bridges, 1970 87 18 Recommended Road Cross Section Standards 91 19 Desirable School Standards 100 20 Public School Facilities 101 21 Desirable Recreation Standards 106 22 Fire Company Distribution Standards 109 - VIII - I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I �• • • • • • • • • •II II II II II II II II II LIST OF MAPS Fol lowing Page No . Existing Land Use 4 2 Physic-Economic Limitations for Concentrated Urban Development 18 3 Community Facilities Plan - 1990 120 4 Comprehensive Development Plan 135 - ix - �I I I I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY PLANNING What is Community Planning? Community planning is planning by municipal government. It is concerned with the solving of existing physical, social and economic problems in the community; it also guides future community growth and development . Community planning operates under the general objectives established by State legislation. It is also controlled by the voters of the community through its elected officials . In putting into effect the recommendations of community planning, the governing body is the final authority. The Planning Commission only recommends but does so on the basis of facts and their analyses. The governing body has the authority to act on land acquisition, bond issues, and the effectuation of the public works program recommended by the Planning Commission. It also has final authority on zoning and other legislation to regulate land uses and population densities. · This is the basic legal administrative framework of community planning. What Can Community Planning Accomplish? The most important function of community planning is to coordinate the various physical elements that make up the community. Its aim is to achieve optimum compatibility and efficiency between these elements. Community planning can prevent duplication of effort among the various departments of government and avoid competition for land and funds. Even more important, community planning can influence the stabilization, conservation and improvement of private property and natural resources. In general, it aids in furthering the welfare of the people . What is the Comprehensive Development Plan? The Comprehensive Development Plan is a product of the planning process. Through text, maps and other graphic aids, it explains the philosophy and desires of the community towards the future. Each community must be viewed as a unique area because of the variety of factors that influence its growth. The Comprehensive Development Plan seeks to express an ideal, yet achievable community in terms of existing conditions, growth potential and accepted planning concepts and standards. At the same time, the Plan is flexible enough so that changing future conditions in such areas as technology and demands for services can be met by the community. To be most effective, the Comprehensive Development Plan must obtain the joint participation of citizens and public officials in the orderly development of the community . - xi - �EXISTING LAND USE AND NATURAL RESOURCES �EXISTING LAND USE AND NATURAL RESOURCES Introduction A community's development pattern can be related to a number of determinants, including: natural conditions, technological and economic changes, citizen demands, and political activities. In essence, land use patt.erns are the result of the actions of people modified somewhat by the natural landscape. This study analyzes the present land use of Green Oak Township and identifies natural resource limitations. Th~ existing patterns of land use and the natural resource Iimitations provide the base from which the CompreJ-iensive Development Plan will be pr~pared for the proposed future use of Township land. The land use and natural resource survey and analysis offer the essential information pertaining to the types and intensity of land utilization, patterns of development growth pressures, and land capability. The composition and analysis of this information is basic to an understanding of the Township environment and its potential for accommodating urban processes. Inventory of Existing Land Uses In the summer of 1969, the Township Planning Commission surveyed the Township to obtain information on current land usage. The specific ownership or use of each parcel of land were indicated on a property line map. In the fall of 1970, the Planning Consultant conducted an existing land use survey based primarily on land coverage, Aerial photos of the Township were utilized as field sheets. A windshield survey identified and classified all existing land uses. The survey information was then recorded and generalized in a large base map especially prepared for this purpose at the scale of one inch equals 900 feet. - l - �A classification of land uses is necessary to provide a common understanding of the material presented. Land uses can generally be grouped into major categories, such as residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural. Since these categories were not conclusive enough for Green Oak Township, a further breakdown was necessary. The fol lowing is a description of the various land use classifications used in this study. Single Family and Farm Lot Residential.-- This is an area, platted or unplatted, in which single family, detached dwellings and their accessory buildings are located. This category also includes farm and rural non-farm dwelling units. Multiple Family Residential.-- This is an area in which two or more dwellings per residential structure are located. This primarily includes apartments and townhouses. Mobile Home.-- This is an area in which mobile homes are clustered in settlements known as mobile home parks or on individual lots. Commercial.-- This classification is composed of all areas used for commercial purposes including the retail ·sale of goods (e.g., grocery stores and gas stations), businesses providing services (e.g., restaurants and real estate offices) and commercial transit lodgings (e.g., hotels and motels). Industrial (including Warehousing and Storage).-- This category includes land areas with or without buildings where raw or semi-finished material is processed, fabricated and/ or manufactured. Warehousing and storage applies to land areas which are used for the storage of materials, whether enclosed in a building or not. Open storage for junk cars or waste materials are considered industrial uses because of the possible nuisance factors associated with them. - 2 - I I I I • • • • • • �Extractive.-- Areas in which sand, gravel, clay, peat or rock are mined have been placed in the extractive category. Public, Quasi-Public and Recreation.-- Land areas and facilities such as schools and government buildings, which are available to or used by all the people within a particular service area, are considered pub I ic uses. Also included in this classification are areas and buildings that are used by a limited number of persons with particular interests and who do not have profit as their main motive (Quasi-Public and Recreation). This category includes churches, camps, and public and private recreation lands and facilities. Agricultural and Vacant. -- This classification is applied principally to areas for crop land, permanent pasture land and land lying fallow, but which indicates cultivation at an earlier date. Vacant land not used for any purpose listed in "built-up" areas and undeveloped portions of the Township are also included in this category. Areas occupied by streams, lakes and other bodies of water are assigned in this broad classification. Analysis of Land Use Pattern Map 11 entitled Existing Land Use, shows the major land use categories previously described. For the sake of graphic presentation, the patterns have been generalized. The Township covers an area of 36.8 square miles or 23,552 acres. This is approximately 512 acres more than a "normal" township due to original government survey adjustments. The extreme western sections of the Township were expanded to satisfy these survey needs. Single Family and Fqrm Lot Residential The existing sing Ie family and farm lot residential uses amount to about l, 768 dwelling units. Of these, about l, 133 or 64. l per cent occupy individual lots generally - 3 - �under one acre. These homes were found to exist in several subdivisions and around the "builtup" lakes. Approximately 505 homes or 28.6 per cent gradually occupy lots over one acre of land and were considered rural non-farm residences. These homes either showed previous a~ricultural practices or were of the estate type development. About 130 dwelling units or 7 .3 per cent were considered farm residences. These uni ts norma II y occupied over five acres of land and evidenced active agricultural practices. The pattern of intensive residentia I development is apparent on tv\ap 1. The Wi llmorSaxony Subdivision in the northwest quarter of Section 5 is by far the largest "non-lake subdivision in the Township. Other "non-lake" subdivisions are scattered throughout the Township. The residential development surrounding many of the lakes is generally characterized by small lot sizes. The majority of this type of development occurs around Fonda Island and Briggs Lake in the northern part of the Township, Silver Lake in the center of the Township and Whitmore Lake in the southern portion of the T-ownship. While the original purpose of the majority of these dwelling units was for seasonal use, there has been a trend in recent years to convert them to year-round homes. This trend has created pollution problems around some of the lakes in the Township. Cabins used by campers form concentrations, generally located near lakes, but were not counted as dwelling units. The use of very smal I lake frontage lots without adequate utilities has increased health and sanitation ·problems. Overcrowding of the lakes should be avoided or the optimum use of lakes for recreation purposes is jeopardized. As a result of early settlement patterns and fairly good farmland, farm lots are generally evenly distributed throughout the Township along section line roads and major connecting roads. Lot size is not as significant with residentia I farm lots because of the -4- I I I I • • • • • • • • • • • • • •~ �MALTBY ~] 7 a @ i 1 " t ~J 1 ,, ~ ~ : ~ . , !I . -- ··- i:'":.~1:;: ., "'~~·'.l:t t1},f liffJ~r~~3;r·c~•;/-_:·~: ;: · :~~ ;cf/jjft ·,-.,if,,;_,< :.,,,c1-1'"."?v f':~ 12 >f-- z :::J 0 u RD. MILE 0 z c:i <( ct:: _j ~ <( 0 24 ct:: i.,_, ~ ;-i':tif '1}).,kER MILE ~ BO, "' 30 33 ~ 34 35 WH~~~~RE ~ RD. EIGH T 2 LIVINGSTON I 91 CQ!)NTY WAS HT E NAW CO UNT Y cti V) ~W-- . ....: 1 EIGHT N~~ THF ~ - = I MILE N~ ~ RD -- • ~ , C) • :i:: ------ -, L- -- 36 I I I I ),; . ;~t I - - - - :v:;;:;-----~ - -•------.. EXISTING LAND USE 2700 SINGLE EEZJ -- MULTIPLE 152] MOBILE D AGRICULTURAL AND VACANT a ~ 1800 D m ~600 8 A SE M JJ.P SOURCE ROCKFORO MA PS , 1961 , AERIAL PfiOTOGRAPHS , 196~ Ell 1970 FAMILY AND FARM LOT RESIDENTIAL FAMILY HOME COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL (including warehousing and storage) EXTRACTIVE PUBLIC, QUASI- PUBLIC, AND RECREATION ~ planning & urban renewal 1 SE'PTEMBER , 1970 PARKINS/ROGERS & ASSOCIATES/INC. OJ RESIDENTIAL consultants DETROIT GREEN OAK LIVINGSTON TOWNSHIP COUNTY, MICHIGAN �I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I - land surrounding the residents usually belongs to the owner of the house. When problems of water supply or sewage disposal arise, the farm residence owner is not faced with as great a dilemma since he is in a position to redrill a new well or construct a new drain field or absorption area in the surrounding land. As imp I ied in the above statements regarding residential lot sizes , where no public water or sewage disposal facilities exist, the minimum desirable lot size requirement is dictated to some degree by soil conditions and slope. These physical determinants of lot size wi 11 be analyzed in the natural resource section of this study. Multiple Family Residential Only two apartment complexes exist within the Township. One apartment is ·located near Whitmore Lake. The other consists of three buildings located on Grand River Road near Briggs Lake. Although this housing type is not prevalent within the Township at present, it is anti c ipated that its demand wil I increase. The present tight money market is encouraging higher density developments. The future provisions of public water and sewers within portions of the Township will also make multiple family residential developments more feasible . Mob i Ie Homes At the time of the survey, 141 mobile homes were located within the Township. Approximately 132 or 93.6 per cent of the mobile homes were found in four mobile home parks. The remaining nine mobile homes were scattered throughout the Township. One mobile home park is located on Bishop Road and consists of 47 units. Two parks are located near Whitmore Lake and consist of 47 and 20 units, respectively. - 5- The fourth �mobile home park is located on Silver Lake and consists of 21 units. All the mobile home parks, with the exception of the park on Si Iver Lake, are located near the U.S. 23 Freeway. Commercial Approximately 25 commercial establishments are located within the Township . These consist of local convenience business, such as food stores and general highway oriented commercial uses such as gas stations. Only one concentration of commercial uses is found within the Township. This concentration exists at Academy Drive and Grand River Road in the northern part of the Township and amounts to about one-third of the Township's commercia I enterprises. The majority of commercial uses are scattered throughout the Township. The Township's commercial uses can be considered to be developed no further at this time than necessary to support the existing demand. Generally, the proximity of commercial centers in the City of Brighton and South Lyon have provided too much competition for comparison shopping concerns to survive in the Township. It is highly probable that the emphasis of the future commercial establishment will continue to be on local convenience goods. Industrial Approximately 18 industrial uses are located within the Township. areas of manufacturing, warehousing, and storage. These include The largest concentration of industrial uses is located on Grand River Road and east of Pleasant Va I ley Road. This area is known as the Green Oak Industrial Park and was platted in 1966. Two other areas of significant industrial uses exist adjacent the U.S. 23 Freeway. Additional minor industrial areas are found at various locations in the Township - 6 - �There are several basic criteria for industrial location. These include adequate areas of relatively flat, wel I drained land, good transportation access, large labor force, adequate utilities and accessible markets. Although Green Oak Township meets some of these criteria, especially good transportation access, there stil I exists large tracts of suitable industrial land closer to major markets. It would seem that intensified manufacturing activity wil I increase at a slow rate based on general market considerations. Extractive Extractive activities are a large land use as can be seen on Map l. The Township's geologic post has produced areas of sand and gravel significant enough to support a modern large volume aggregate industry. Actually, considerably more land is being held for future extractive use than is shown on Map l . . However, for purposes of this study, only land which is actively being worked was considered to be in the Extractive classification. A I imited amount of sand and gravel is presently being extracted south of Spicer Road in Section 30. However, this area is actively being reclaimed by refuse disposal. The Township leases the area for its disposal purposes 1 from a private concern who pro- vides refuse pick-up for residents in the Whitmore Lake Area. This area has been omitted from Mpp l since it is actively being reclaimed and will someday revert to another land use. Pub Ii c, Quasi-Pub Ii c and Recreation A great amount of land is included in the Public, Quasi-Public and Recreation category. Two large public rycreation areas constitute the majority of the land. These are the Island Lake Recreation Area and the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority property. The Island Lake Recreation Area is owned by the State of Michigan and is wel I developed - 7 - �with recreation facilities. The Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority property is presently undeveloped but plans have been made for intensive improvements. A couple of private camps and parks located on lakes within the Township also provide recreation for a certain segment of the population. Two large institutional land uses exist within the Township. These are the W .J. Maxey Training School and St. Benedi ct 1s Seminary ( no longer used for seminary purposes). The remainder of uses in the category include two public schools, the Township Hall, the Township fire station and several churches and cemeteries. Greater detail in analyzing and projecting Green Oak Township 1s needs in public facilities and service areas will be forthcoming in the Community Facilities Plan. Agricultural and Vacant The greatest use of land in Green Oak Township is in the Agricultural and Vacant category. This is to be expected since urbanization up to this time has not been rapid in the Township. Lakes, rivers and creeks, also included in this category, occupy a considerable amount of area. Conclusions The existing land use study points to the fact that Green Oak Township is relatively undeveloped. It has, of course, some intensively developed areas around its lakes, but in considering the total Township, there is sufficient land available to accommodate considerable future growth. However, the great amount of land in surface water, recreation open space, and landscape limitations ( discussed in the following section of this report) wi II prove to be constraints on the Township 1s total population potential. Nonetheless, the needs of a growing Township population will place additional demands upon local government for services and - 8- �I create new markets for private enterprise. The fulfillment of these needs will reduce the Township's present vacant areas as various land uses expand. This, of course, presumes intel I igent planning and adequate land use controls in order to coordinate this future growth. With properly implemented plans, Green Oak Township can assume a more defined and positive role within the region. Inventory of Natural Resources The natural resources of a community play a major role in shaping development. Existing natural conditions must be analyzed before future plans can be developed and implemented. A general understanding of the various physical features and natural resources perm its an estimate of the potential of the land for various types of development, avoids conflict in land use and promotes optimum use of the land. Bedrock Geology Bedrock, which dates back about 345 million years ago, underlies Green Oak Township. This bedrock is now deeply buried by glacial formation and is not visible today. The Township's bedrock consists of Coldwater and Antrim Shale and Berea Sandstone. 1 This bed- rock was formed during the M ississippian Period of geologic time. An important natural factor which could affect land uses in the Township is the depth to bedrock. Bedrock depth in the Township averages about 300 feet. 2 Therefore, bedrock depth poses no problem for building foundations or trenches for utilities. Septic Department of Conservation, Geological Survey Division, Geological Map of the ~outhern Peninsula of Michigan (Lansing, Michigan, 1936). 2 Interview with Geologist, American Aggregates Corporation, Southfield, Michigan, 0 ctober, 1970. - 9 - �tank effluent would also not be hindered by the depth to bedrock. bedrock material itself as a resource is hindered by depth. However, the use of For example, Mississippian shales such as are found underlying the Township have excellent potential as materials used for building brick, paving brick, building block and drain tile. However, the great depth at which these shales are found do not permit economical extraction. For purposes of this study, bedrock depth presents no problems for planning considerations. Therefore, a graphic presentation of generalized bedrock formations would also be of little value to th is study. Glacial Geology The movement of glaciers have played a prominent role in shaping Green Oak Township's present surface formations. Much glacial deposition has occurred in the Township as evidenced by the existing hilly topography, thick deposits of glacial ti 11, poorly drained areas and the presence of numerous lakes. Two distinct glacial formations have developed in the Township as a result of glacial actions. 3 Ridges of unsorted mixtures of clay, gravel and boulders, known as moraines, are found at several locations at the edges of the Township. The dominant formation is glacial outwash. Outwash was formed by streams originating from the melting glacier which carried away some of the material of the 1')1oraines and deposited it over a considerable area in layers. The outwash layers, basically, consist of well sorted sand and gravel. The extensive nature of glacial outwash in Green Oak Township has lent itself to modern large volume aggregate extraction and is, therefore, of special economic importance to the Township. 3 Department of Conservation, Geological Survey Division, Map of the Surface Formations of the Southern Peninsula of Michigan (Lansing, Michigan, 1955). - 10 - �Ground water is another economic consideration that is related to the deposition of glacial materials. The majority of the ground water in the Township is obtained from glacial deposits. Ground water resources are discussed in greater detail in a following section of this study. A study of the glacial deposits in the Township has shown relatively good drainage and foundation characteristics. However, it must be remembered that almost al I glaciated areas have some internal drainage problems, and poorly drained areas do exist with in the Township. Topography The topography of Green Oak Township is gently rolling to hilly with sandy uplands and ridges, sandy plains and numerous wet flat plains. Land elevations range from about 860 feet above sea level found in the flood plain of the Huron River to about 1,035 feet above sea level, the high point of a moraine north of Winans Lake Road near the western border of the Township. 4 This "rugged" type of topography presents many possibilities to develope rs with ingenuity although development costs are severely increased. The Township's topography h<;:1s been and will continue to be a principal attraction to residential development. Topography has played a major role in determining locations of highways, railroads, industry and other land uses. For example, roads in the Township have generally bypassed steep hills and swamp areas since the cost of cutting hills or filling swamps is generally too prohibitive to allow straight line route construction. The numerous lakes in the Township have also prevented a rigid straight I ine road network. 4 United States Geological Survey Maps. - 11 - Industry gen- �erally seeks sites that are relatively level and well-drained because of building construction and access considerations. Existing industry in the Township has basically observed physical I imitations of the landscape. It is apparent that the general topography of the Township is not conducive to extensive urban development. This point will be further discussed in the following major section of this study. Soils Soil characteristics influence land use development in numerous ways. The two most important soil considerations for Green Oak Township are its suitability for the disposal of sewage and its ability to support building development. Presently, most of the sewage disposal in Green Oak Township is foci Iitated through septic tank operation. This type of sewage disposal requires a highly permeable soil so that the effluent will quickly filter down into the ground rather than remain on or near the surface and become a health hazard. Unfortunately, the predominant soil types found in the Town- ship such as those of the Miami, Fox, and Bellefontaine series, 5 have porous top soils of sandy loam but with underlying non-porous clay loams. These clay mixtures are generally found throughout the Township and do not readily permit absorption. However, septic tank fields may be installed if the length of drain tile is enough to assure absorption of the effluent waste at a rate compatible with existing sanitation codes. The Township also contains large areas of organic soils, particularly Carlisle muck. 6 Septic tank disposal fields in these areas experience severe operational difficulties due to the unstable organic material and a high water table. 5 6 Filter fields are normally critically saturated during yearly wet periods. United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Livingston County, Michigan Soil Survey. Ibid. - 12 - �I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I - Because of the numerous problems regarding sewage disposal in the County, as well as the Township, public sewage systems have been proposed. 7 Three planned sewage systems would serve specific areas in Green Oak Township. With such systems, existing sewage disposal problems, especially around several lakes, would diminish. Also, many of the areas currently unable to support development in the Township would become usable. It is also possible that sewage systems could be extended from Oakland County into the Township. These public sewer systems will have a definite impact on future land uses within Green Oak Township. Soils are also a prime consideration in agriculture. However, farming in Green Oak Township is rapidly diminishing, and will continue to do so because of urbanizing pressures. Nevertheless, the Consultant mapped Class I agricultural lands in the Township in order to ascertain their extent and distribution. Class I agricultural land has the highest value for growing general farm crops. Miami loam is the predominant soi I type in the Township classified as Class I land. Significant concentrations of Class I land were found in the east central portion of the Township, and throughout the southern tier of sections. As mentioned previously, the Township contains extensive areas of muck soils. Muck soils which can be properly drained lend themselves well to sod farming, an industry which is in severe demand in the rapidly growing southeast Michigan area. However, the high water table in the Township's muck areas has discouraged this type of farming. 7 Commonwealth Associates, Inc., Comprehensive Area Wide Water and Sewer Plan, Livingston County, Michigan (Jackson, Michigan, 1969). - 13 - �Water Water, from both surface and underground sources, is a very important natural resource. Surface water resources are necessary to sustain certain forms of wildlife and to store excess flood waters. It may also be a source to satisfy domestic and industrial water needs and is a definite asset to recreational development. Underground water is essential to the maintenance of vegetative cover and, particularly in Green Oak Township, as a major source of domestic and industrial water supply. Surface Water Resources.-- Surface water is abundant in Green Oak Township as can be seen on Map 1. The Township is part of the Huron River Watershed and contains the main branch of the Huron River. Most of the land adjoining the Huron River in the Township is in public ownership for the purpose of recreation. Many streams ore also in existence within the Township. Glacial lakes are a predominant feature of the Green Oak Township landscape. Table 1 indicates the location and size of the Township's major lakes. TABLE 1 MAJOR LAKES GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN* Location (Section) Name of Lake Whitmore Silvera Island a lnchwogh ~~a Briggs Un-Named (near Silver Lake Rood and McCabe Rd) Sandy Bottom 32 22 4 25 6 4 15 27 Area (Acres) 236 (Total) 152 140 130 83 75 70 56 * An Appraisal of Potentials for Outdoor Recreational Development, Livingston County, Michigan, 1970. a Pub Ii c Access. - 14 - �Some of the above mentioned lakes are presently overcrowded with residential land uses. Nutrients and other pollutants expelled from individual septic tanks around these lakes are a potential health hazard. The natural aging process of the lakes is also accelerated by domestic sewage. Township-wide programs should be initiated and the cooperation of neighboring townships and State authorities procured to preserve the life of these lakes. One significant impoundment of the Huron River exists in the Township. This impoundment is located in Section l and has produced the 1,200 acre Kent Lake in Milford Township, Oakland County. This lake is the main focal point of activity of Kensington Metropolitan Park which is operated by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority. Only a very small portion of the man-made lake is located in Green Oak Township. A future impoundment in the Huron River is being considered within Green Oak Township. The potential impoundment site is suggested in Section 9 to produce an estimated 500 acre lake. The impoundment site and lake would occupy a large portion of the existing Island Lake Recreation Area operated by the State. This proposal would greatly enhance the recreati<m potential of the Township and would have a direct effect upon future Township land uses. Underground Water Resources. -- Underground water resources in Green Oak Township are found in glacial deposits and bedrock. This water resource is extremely important to the Township since it is the main source of water for domestic and industrial land uses. Groundwater from the glacial deposits underlying the Township is good. Generally wel Is of ten inches or more in diameter in the northern third of the Township yield more than 500 G .P .M. In the southern two-thirds of the Township, wells of eight inches or more in diameter generally yield from 100 to 500 G .P .M. although wel Is in certain areas yield less than 100 G.P.M. 8 8 Water Resources Division, U. S. Geological Survey, General Availability of Groundwater in the Glacial Deposits in Michigan (Undated). - 15 - �Groundwater availability from bedrock in the Township is less than from the glacial deposits. Generally wells of six inches or more in diameter will yield from 10 to 100 G.P.M. although in some areas wells may yield less than 10 G.P . M. or more than 100 G.P.M . 9 In Green Oak Township, the great depth to bedrock makes this water resource impractical. The water may also be high in mineral content sin_ce it has to t ravel a great distance which provides more time to slowly dissolve various minerals. Water from Coldwater Shale, a major bedrock of the Towns~ip, is often brackish. It would appear reasonable that future domestic and industrial water needs in the Township would be satisfied by glacial ground water resources. Woodland Green Oak Township was originally forested with hardwoods and evergreen trees, except in some swamp areas which fostered various swamp grasses. Past farming and mining operations have diminished the Township's forest cover but some significant wooded areas still exist. Primarily these woodland concentrations are found in the Island Lake Recreation Area and the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority property. These woodlands and lesser forested areas in the Township are valuable for the absorption of rainwater, windbreaks and wildlife havens. They also add aesthetic value to the landscape. Green Oak Town- ship should encourage the preservation of woodland whenever possible. Minerals The only known minerals in Green Oak Township of any importance are sand and gravel deposits. Such deposits have been found in the glacial outwash and are presently being extracted in large quantities by an aggregate company. Generally, this company now owns all known areas in the Township which contain significant usable sand and gravel 9 Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, General Availability and Quality of Groundwater in the Bedrock Deposits in Michigan. - 16 - �I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I '- deposits. 10 Therefore, the Future Land Use Plan for Green Oak Township will consider only this company's present holdings as those areas for sand and gravel extraction. Adequate control by local ordinances must be exercised to assure usable land after these resources have been removed. Analysis of Physiograph ic Conditions Generally, the physical I imitations for urban development in Green Oak Township fall into two categories: (1) natural hilliness or slopes exceeding ten per cent, and (2) areas with poor natural drainage containing muck soils. Map 2 shows the physio-economic limitations for concentrated urban development in Green Oak Township by landscape characteristics and their estimated degree of I imitation. The fol lowing text provides the background for proper map interpretation. Topography is a key factor in assessing the development potential of an area. The terrain may be suited to one land use and not another which can create development problems. Slope influences both the type and character of land uses. The vacant areas on Map 2 generally represent land with less than ten per cent slope with relatively few drainage problems. Areas within this category are basically suited to all types of development including large residential subdivisions, large commercial and industrial developments and various governmental services. A slope of ten per cent or less is within the economic means of most residential subdividers due to grading considerations. Therefore, the vacant areas on Map 2 represent the potential land for concentrated urban development. 10 Interview with Geologist, American Aggregate Corporation, Southfield, Michigan, October 1970. - 17 - �As slopes increase over ten per cent, areas become less adaptable to a ful I range of land use types and activities. Map 2 indicates a landscape characteristic of 10 to 20 per cent which has an estimated degree of I imitation for concentrated land uses as being moderate. For example, at slopes over ten per cent, a developer's cost rises considerably due to the grading necessary. Therefore, this landscape characteristic economically forces smal !er or clustered residential developments. Commercial and industrial developments also decrease in size. Generally, concentrated urban development is somewhat I imited within this slope range. However, large lot or estate developments are encouraged. Slopes of 20 per cent or over, as indicated in Map 2, pose severe limitations for concentrated urban development. slope would not function properly. Even septic tanks for isolated houses on a 20 per cent It would appear that areas in this slope category should not be used for concentrated development. Muck soils have critical limitations for development. These soils, outlined on Map 2, are composed of very unstable organic material. They are generally found in the existing flood plains of rivers and streams in the Township, in low lying areas around many lakes, and in old lake beds and abandoned drainage channels. These soils are associated with a high water table and are generally subject to flood conditions. Muck soils also have a very high compressibility and are not suitable for building purposes due to excessive and uneven sett I ing. Roads built over muck soils are subject to shifts and cracking because of the soils' variable shrink-swell potential. Public Act 167, 1968 of the State of Michigan has made it unlawful to occupy or fi II for any purpose other than agriculture lands in flood plains and stream beds or channels - 18 - �, .. ~ , - •- {~ - --. ....."isz ". --~ . .~ \ r \.._,.... -:,. , . . .r .,,~'.---.. ~ ~ ,.,~ ' J I ~ ----- - .... _... ~ - --. I' -• ..._____________________ _ _,_____. economic·-· 1i-m itations--for· - concentrated urban development physio ~ LANDSCAPE ~ CHARACTERISTIC ESTIMATED 10- 20 PERCENT SLOPE MODERATE 20 + PERCENT SEVERE MUCK SLOPE DEGREE OF LIMITATION CRITICAL SOILS FEET SCALE i-ii---i-iil 800 PARKINS/ROGERS & ASSOCIATES/INC. iG ~ planning 2 SEPTEMBER,1970 4200 & urban renewal consultants • DETROIT GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP LIVINGSTON COUNTV,MICH. �I I I I I I I '- of streams. A major portion of the Township's muck soil is found within these areas. Muck soils not within these areas should also be prohibited from development due to their hazard to persona I hea Ith and safety. Existing development in Green Oak Township has generally observed the physical limitations of the landscape, except for residential development around several lakes. As development increases with in the Township, the observance of natural landscape I imitations will become critical. All too often the spread of urban development into rural areas has destroyed nature's balance, resulting in floods, storm damage, water shortages or water pollution. Many of these negative occurrences to which "built-up" areas have subjected themselves are directly attributable to the failure to properly relate urban development to the natural environment. Through effective planning, it is hoped to make the natural forces work for Green Oak Township and not against it. Only in this way can nature's balance be protected and urban development be successful. - 19 - �POPULATION AND ECONOMY �I I - Introduction In order to develop plans that are practical and implementable, it is necessary to have an understanding of the dynamics of population and economic characteristics. A determination of future urban needs and the amount of land required for various land uses is dependent upon the area 1s population growth potential. Analysis of population and economic characteristics will establish directions for decision making for Green Oak Township. Information concerning population and economic conditions within Green Oak Township was found to be limited. The 1960 U.S. Census is outdated and 1970 Census data is not available at the time of this study . In any case, townships receive very little analysis by the Census. Therefore, a Family Questionnaire, developed by the Planning Commission and its Consultant, was sent to Township households in order to obtain additional documentation. Distribution of the Questionnaire was facilitated by the three school districts which serve the Township. However, by this sampling method, only that segment of the population which had child ren in the public school system was surveyed. The Questionnaire returns approximate a ten per cent sample of the Township population but the data may be skewed as described above. The data in this study was principally derived from the Questionnaire and from data produced by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) Transportation and Land Use (TALUS) Study. Popu lotion Characteristics and Trends Population Growth Trends Past population growth trends for Green Oak Township and surrounding municipalities are shown in Table 2 . The current population figures from the 1970 Census indicate that - 21 - �TABLE 2 PAST POPULATION GROWTH TRENDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP AND VICINITY, 1940-1970* Municipality 1940 1950 Per Cent Change 1940-1950 1960 Per Cent Change 1950-1960 1970 Per Cent Change 1960-1970 GREEN OAK TWP. Brighton Township Genoa Township Hamburg Township City of Brighton Livingston County 1,049 927 901 901 l, 353 20,863 l, 837 1,645 l, 066 l, 713 1,861 26,725 75. l 77.5 18 . 3 90. 1 37.5 28. l 4,631 2,875 2,402 3, 189 2,282 38,233 152. l 74.7 125.3 86 . 0 22.6 43. 1 7~598 5,882 4,800 5,,481 2,457 58,.967 64. 1 104,6 99 , 8 71, 9 7,7 54,2 Lyon Township Mi Iford Township Vi IIage of Mi Iford City of South Lyon Oak land County l, 324 913 l, 637 l, 017 254,068 1,647 1,065 1,924 l, 312 396,001 24.4 16.6 17.5 29.0 55.9 2,880 1,548 4,323 l, 753 690,259 74 . 9 45.4 124.7 33.6 74 . 3 4,500 2,557 4r699 2r675 907,871 56.3 60 . 5 8.7 52.6 31.5 1,707 1,213 787 80,810 2,848 1,525 975 134,606 66,8 25.7 23 . 9 66.6 3,279 2,097 1,286 172,440 15.7 37 . 5 31. 9 28. 1 3,975 3,001 1,.981 234, 103 21 . 2 43. 1 54.0 35 , 8 Northfield Township Salem Township Webster Township Washtenaw County * U. S . Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, Number of Inhabitants, Michigan, 1960, and U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, Advance Report, Micnigcin, _1970. - 22 - �-I I -II Livingston County had a greater percentage growth (53.4) during the 1960 decade than any other County in the State. Macomb County ranked a close second, with a 52. 9 per cent population change. A comparison of the Counties wh ich sur round Livingston County shows Oakland and Washtenaw Counties to have the most significant per cent growth changes at 30 . 5 and 33.5 per cent, respectively. It seems that the greatest outside population pressures on Green Oak Township are being generated from the urban Detroit and Ann Arbor areas. The urban areas of Flint, Lansing and Jackson seem in comparison to have minimal population growth affects upon Livingston County. There are two important concepts concerning Livingston County's past and present growth. First, the County has displayed a relatively slow and steady historical growth rate, due to the stabilizing affect of its agricultural economy. However, within the last two decades, in- creasing urbanization has been oc curring within the County, with a simultaneous decrease in agricultural activity. This has produced an accelerated population growth rate from that of the past . The construction of the 1-96 and U.S. 23 Freeways through the County has been a primary factor in encouraging this growth. The interchange of these two freeways wi II especially serve as an activity generator and tend to stimulate urbanization around it. The 1970 Census figure for Green Oak Township is 7,598 . This represents an additional 2,967 people since 1960, for a 64 . 1 per cent increase. Of the surrounding areas, only Brighton Township had a greater per cent change (104 . 6 ), due to an additional 3,007 persons during the 1960 decade. Green Oak Township, however , ranks highest in total population in comparison with its surrounding municipalities . - 23 - �~ ~-------------------------------- ____ ................ Green Oak Township experienced constant but slow growth until the 1950 decade. example, from 1940 to 1950 the Township increased by 788 people. For From 1950 to 1960, however, the Township increased by an additional 2,794 people, for a 152. l per cent gain. The majority of this growth probably resulted in the latter 1950's due to completion of the 1-96 Freeway from Brighton to Farmington, in about 1958, and the completion of U.S. 23 from Ann Arbor to Brighton, in about 1960. The Township's total growth of 2,967 people from 1960 to 1970 is only slightly higher than that of the 1950 decade. However, Green Oak Town- ship's proximity to regional transportation foci Iiti es greatly increases its development potential, so that future growth wi 11 unquestionably show significant numerical changes in the coming decades. Population Composition Age group distribution of a population is important to community facility planning. Planning for such facilities as schools and public services is contingent upon this population breakdown. Table 3 shows the age composition for the Green Oak Township Area for 1970 and the anticipated age breakdown for 1990. This information is based on SEMCOG -TALUS data for its Planning Area 700, which includes Green Oak Township, Hamburg Township, Brighton Township, and the City of Brighton. These communities were grouped into one Planning Area since they incorporate similar characteristics and will in the future be subject to similar development pressures. The 1990 age breakdown projections are based on the TALUS Regional Growth Model outputs. These projections take into consideration future population movements and increases for a seven county area. Projected population characteristics for the TALUS Planning - 24 - �-II -II II II II Areas may be considered adequate for purposes of this report. To better understand the present and future age distribution of the Green Oak Township area population, age groups that demonstrate the same facility and housing needs, and that have other similar characteristics are grouped together. Four major age categories and a sub-category are thus formed: Pre-School (Under Age 5).--This age group provides an indicator of future school enrollment. This age group has placed an increasing strain on school facilities in the Township as the size of the pre-school group has been increasing both numerically and as a proportion of the total population. Table 3 shows that the Pre-School population should increase from a present average of about 10.8 per cent of the Township population to about 14.2 per cent in 1990, because population migrations into the Township will consist of primarily young families. Although fertility rates are decreasing, the influx of this population group will prove to increase the pre-school population as a per cent of the total population. School Age (Ages 5-20).--This group places a great burden on community services. Education is the primary service that this group requires. The upper limit of age 20 is included within the school age group, since it is extremely probable that a two year junior college program or similar vocation training program will become an integral part of education by 1990. ( Livingston County does not presently have a community college. ) Such an educational service will, however, not be within the responsibility of local government and, therefore, - 25 - �using the 20 year age l imit does distort slightly the percentage of school age children for local community facility planning. Table 3 shows that the 5-20 age group should decrease from a present 30.7 per cent to about 26.2 per cent by 1990. The 5 -18 age group should decrease also by 1990. The expected decrease of th is age group as a percentage of the total population is due to the significant increase in young families and pre-school children. Labor Force (Ages 20-65).--This age group is the foundation of the community. They are, for the most part, the property owners and taxpayers. They also make the major contri but ion to the financing and management of local government. It is expected that the Labor Force group should increase from about 52.7 per cent of the Township population to about 54.8 per cent by 1990, because of the significant influx of younger "breadwinners". Family Formation (Ages 20-45).--This is a sub-group of the Labor Force category. Persons in this sub-group are valuable contributors to the economic activity in the community, in that they constitute a large body of consumers of goods and services. There is a direct relationship between the size of the family formation sub-group and the size of the pre-school and school age groups. This sub-group requires good housing, outdoor recreation opportunities, fire and police protection and other municipal services. It is anticipated that the family formation sub-group will increase from about 33.8 per cent to about 39.7 per cent by 1990. The majority of this increase is expected in the 20-30 age group. Senior Citizen (Over Age 65) . --This age group places special demands on the community for housing, special hospital facilities and other such services. - 26 - It is expected �'-Ill TABLE 3 AGE COMPOSITION FOR PLANNING AREA 700 IN 1970 AND 1990* Per Cent of Total Population Per Cent of Total Anticipated Population Age Group 1970 1990 Under 5 Pre-School 10.8 14.2 5-10 l 0-15 15-20 School Age 10.2 10.9 10.7 8. l 9,6 7.4 30.7 26.2 16.8 17.0 18.9 22.2 17.5 15. l 52.7 54.8 5.8 4.8 100.0 100.0 Age (Year) 20-30 30-45 45-65 Over 65 Labor Force Senior Citizens * Detroit Regional Transportation and Land Use Study, Growth, Change and A Choice for 1990, Volume 3 of 3 (Detroit, Michigan, August, 1969). Planning Area 700 includes Green Oak Township, Hamburg Township, Brighton Township, and City of Brighton. Note: Family Formation, A Sub Group of the Labor Force Group, includes ages 20-65. - 27 - �that this age group will decrease, from about 5.8 per cent of the Township, to about 4.8 per cent by 1990. Nevertheless, the elderly group will increase numerically within the Township and so will the responsibilities of government in meeting its specific needs. Population Projection An estimate of the future population of Green Oak Township is one of the most important and basic steps in the overall planning process. The need for future land uses and community faci I ities cannot be assessed if the number of future residents is not projected . There are no truly accurate methods of predicting future growth, since growth is based on so many variables. Historic growth projections, therefore, must be modified to reflect future growth generators that wil I affect future Township growth. The continuing planning process should provide a periodic review and re-study of long range plans. Therefore, these predictions can be adjusted to reflect changing conditions within the Township . Six different population projections are stated in the following text as to Green Oak Township's estimated population in 1980 and 1990. These projections are shown in Table 4. Livingston County Planning Commission Projection The Livingston County Planning Commission population projection is based on an apportionment method. It was assumed that Green Oak Township wi 11 command the same proportion of the County's future population growth as it presently contains . Green Oak Township is thus expected to contain about 11.7 per cent of the County's growth. -28 - Based upon County �'-II -II -II - TABLE 4 POPULATION PROJECTIONS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1980 AND 1990* Projected 1980 Population Projected 1990 Population Livingston County Planning Commission 8,302 11,019 Straight Line Projection ( 1960-1970) 9,400 11,800 Numerical Growth Projection ( 1950-1960-1970) 10,500 13,500 Logarithmic Projection (1960-1970) 12,250 20,000 Percentage Increase Projection ( 1960-1970) 12,360 20,200 Planning Consultant's Projection 12,800 22,000 * Compiled by Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc., December, 1970. population projections, the Livingston County Planning Commission estimates the Township population to be 8,302 in 1980 and 11,019 by 1990. Straight Line Projection The straight line projection ( 1960-1970) simply extends the Township's population into the future by the same measure as was experienced during the last decade, The lineal equation used graphically keeps the slope of the trend I ine constant. This method produces a Township population of 9,400 by 1980 and 11,800 by 1990. - 29 - �Numerical Growth Projection The Township experienced an additional 3,000 people in the 1950 decade and about the same during the 1960 decade. The continuance of this trend would produce a 1980 Township population of about 10,500 and a 1990 population of about 13,500. Logarithmic Projection A modification of the straight line projection is the logarithmic projection. This projection assumes that the population will increase at a logarithmic rate. is a curved line which increases in curvature each year. In reality, the line produced By this method, Green Oak Township's population would be about 12,250 people in 1980 and 20,000 people in 1990. Percentage Increase Projection During the 1960 decade, the Township's population increased by about 63.4 per cent. Pro- jecting this same per cent increase into the future would produce a 1980 Township population of 12,360 people and a 1990 population of 20,200 people. Planning Consultant's Projection There is actually no accurate way that one can predict the population of a township which fringes a metropolitan area of 4.5 million people. Growth projections based upon historical growth patterns fail to consider new developments which will affect growth in the future also, forecasts based upon an apportionment method do not usually consider factors which stimulate growth in one area more than others. Growth generators, such as freeways, utility systems - 30 - �- and new employment centers can stimulate growth in an area far greater than evident in the past. The extent of new growth that these generators stimulate depends upon many variables. Some of the more important variables are the location, magnitude, and direction of regional growth trends and the physical adaptability, both natural and imposed, of the community. Various factors are expected to accelerate development within Green Oak Township. These factors are as fol lows: 1. The Township is located adjacent the 1-96 - U.S. 23 Freeway Interchange. Urbanization has radiated from the Ann Arbor and Detroit Areas along these transportation systems and will, if unchecked, converge at this interchange. However, it is anticipated that full urbanization at this location will not be completely realized by 1990. 2, The natural landscape of the Township produces a much desired living environment. The many lakes and undulating topography present aesthetically pleasing views and are very conducive to passive and active recreation pursuits. 3. The accessibility of excellent regional transportation facilities, fairly low taxes, good water supply from glacial deposits, and availability of land has increased the Township's housing demand, Various factors can also be expected to retard growth within Green Oak Township. These factors are as fol lows: - 31 - �l. Municipal utilities, in the form of sewer and water lines, are generally non-existent in the Township. 2. Until these utilities are made available, urbanization will be limited. The price of land and development costs are continually rising. This high cost range wi 11 restrict the number of avai Iable buyers. 3. The Township's many lakes, rough topography, muck soils, and regional recreation areas greatly reduce the amount of bui ldable land for intensive development (i.e., subdivisions). The exact impact that these positive and negative growth factors will have upon Green Oak Township is difficult to numerically project. The increased mobility of the population, the Township's excellent highway access and close proximity to employment centers, and attractive natural setting for "country living" could justify a considerable growth by 1990. It is anticipated that the growth rate that will be experienced from 1970 to 1980 will approximate 70 per cent. Between 1980 and 1990, the growth rate could be somewhat higher, since influences from the metro areas should intensify during this decade. It is therefore estimated that the Green Oak Township population will be about 12,800 in 1980 and about 22,000 in 1990. It is not essential that a population projection be absolutely accurate. A population projection provides the planning program with a general basis for determining the extent of - 32 - �II II II II II II II II II II II II Ill II II II II II , future land uses and a variance of several thousand people in a projection wi 11 have minimal statistical effect. However, the Green Oak Township Planning Commission should periodica I ly evaluate the actual growth of the Township in relation to the projected Township growth. In this way, the implementation of the Comprehensive Development Plan can be accelerated or decelerated to meet actual growth . For the purpose of future planning, a 1990 population of 22 , 000 will be utilized. Economic Characteristics and Trends Employment Employment data for Green Oak Township was obtained from the Family Questionnaire as shown in the Appendix. Approximately 95.0 per cent of the heads of households indicated they were employed. About 93.5 per cent reported full time jobs with about 1.5 per cent holding part time jobs. These statistics reflect the fact that primarily the "breadwinners" of the Township (families with children) were surveyed. Approximately 4.0 per cent were unemployed, with about 1. 0 per cent retired. It is felt that the actual proportion of retired heads of households is somewhat higher, since only four senior citizens were included in the survey . The amount of people unemployed also reflects the nationwide auto strikes which were going on during the survey. The place of employment of Township residents is an important facto r in understanding the present economic situation of the Township . Approxima tely 28.3 per cent of the heads of households worked in Oakland County, which represented the highest origin of employment. - 33 - �Those employed in Oakland County originated almost entirely from the Brighton School District and the South Lyon School District in the Township. The second largest place of employment was the Detroit-Wayne County area, which accounted for about 24. l per cent of Township employment. Within this area, slightly less than half work in Detroit, with the remainder in other Wayne County communities. People from the Brighton School District and the South Lyon School District primarily commute to this area. Washtenaw County employment centers had the third highest job participation by Township residents, with approximately 23.6 per cent. Whitmore Lake School District residents primarily work in Washtenaw County employment centers. Livingston County and Green Oak Township accounted for 12.7 and 8.0 per cent, respectively, of the Township's labor force. Genesee County, Macomb County, and the Lansing Area had minimal employment influence on Township residents. The majority of Green Oak Township residents are ,therefore, employed outside of the Township and Livingston County . The distance from places of employment of Township residents is also significant. The Family Questionnaire showed tho~ one-quarter of the household heads work within seven miles of their home, about one+ialf work up to 17 miles, about three-quarters work up to 29 miles, and the majority of the remaining people about 50 miles from their home. This commuting pattern suggests that distance from employment presents little constraints upon population growth. It would seem that the benefits received by being in Green Oak Township are generally greater than the costs of long distance commuting to employment centers . - 34 - - - • • 'I I I I I I I I I I �- Occupation The Forni ly Questionnaire indi coted that the "White Collar" occupations, including the Professional and Technical workers; Managers, Officials and Proprietors; and Clerical and Sales Workers made up about 42.8 per cent of the labor force. "Blue Collar" occupations, which include Craftsmen and Foremen, Operators and Laborers, were 53. 1 per cent of the labor force. Those who wou Id not be classified within the above categories amounted to only 4. 1 per cent. These data indicate that Green Oak Township has a slightly higher proportion of "Blue Collar" workers than "White Collar" workers. The future expected changes in the major employment groups of the Green Oak Township Area are important in order to understand changing socio-economic characteristics. Table 5 shows employment by industry group for the Township area in 1970 and the 1990 projected categories. Anticipated changes in occupation distribution will occur mainly in the Professional and Technical group, which is expected to increase from a present 18.3 per cent to 32. l per cent by 1990. Proportions of Manufacturing of Transportation Equipment, Wholesale Trade, Finance-Insurance-Real Estate, and Public Administration workers should only increase slightly by 1990. Significant percentage losses are expected in Manufacturing (other than Transportation Equipment), Retail Trade, and Services by 1990. Regional trends indicate that service employment, especially professionals, will increase its share of employment in the economy and that Manufacturing will account for a declining proportion of the area's total employment. This is connected with overall projected trends for Detroit and the Nation. - 35 - �Income Distribution The income distribution of residents is an indicator of the housing market and the demand for commercial services. The Family Questionnaire indicated that the majority (60.3 per cent) of Township families have incomes of between $9,001 and $15,000. Those families having incomes of under $5,000 were 5.8 per cent of the total, while those over $15,000 were 12.2 per cent. These iricome statistics fully support the occupation categories as to present wage scales. EMPLOY ME NT BY I ND US TRY GROUP FOR PLANNING AREA 700 IN 1970 AND 1990* Projected Per Cent of Expected Labor Force 1990 6.7 23. l 16.7 Trans. - Comm . - Utilities 7.0 6.6 Wholesale Trade 0.8 4.3 25.7 16.2 l. 9 3.6 Services 14.5 8.9 Profess i ona I 18.3 32. l 3.0 4.9 100.0 100.0 Manufacturing ( Other Than Transportation Equipment) Retai I Trade Finance, Insurance, Rea I Estate Public Administration TOTAL * Detroit Regional Transportation and Land Use Study, Growth, Change and a Choice for 1990, Volume 3 of 3 (Detroit, Michigan, August, 1969). Planning Area 700 includes Green Oak Township, Hamburg Township, Brighton Township and City of Brighton. - 36 - Ill II II 5.7 Manufacturing (Transportation Equipment Only) II Ill TABLE 5 Per Cent of Labor Force 1970 Ill Ill Ill •Ill Ill Ill II " �-II II II II II II II II II II Ill II II II II II II The anticipated shifts in income distribution of Township residents is important in ascertaining future housing and commercial quantities and types. Table 6 shows the anticipated shifts in present area incomes to 1990. It is expected that, by 1990, those residents making over $15,000 will increase from 25.3 per cent to 54.2 per cent of the total. These income projections are in constant current dollars and thus represent growth in real income by 1990. They indicate that Area growth in total income wil I bring a pronounced upward shift in the distribution of family incomes. The probable realization of a four day work week by 1990 together with increased incomes should produce greater demands for recreation facilities and commercial goods. TABLE 6 HOUSEHOLD INCOMES FOR PLANNING AREA 700 IN 1970 AND 1990* Per Cent of Tota I Households 1970 Amount (Dollars) Under $3,000 Projected Per Cent of Total Households 1990 0 .0 0.0 3,000 - 5,999 19.0 9.5 6,000 - 7,999 20.6 18.6 8,000 - 9,999 16.7 8.9 10,000- 14,999 18 .4 8.8 15, 000+ Over 25.3 54.2 100 . 0 100.0 TOTAL * Detroit Regional Transportation and Land Use Study, Growth, Change and a Choice for 1990, Volume 3 of 3 {Detroit, Michigan, August, 1969). Planning Area 700 includes Green Oak Township, Hamburg Township, Brighton Township, and City of Brighton. - 37 - �Tax Bose The level and quality of municipal services that Green Oak Township will be able to provide will depend upon the revenues it can realize. Table 7 shows the 1970 tax base by land uses for the Township. Residential property provides about 64.3 per cent of the tax base, whereas commercia I and industrial valuation contributed about 17. 0 per cent . Genera I ly, commercial and industrial valuation are profitable from a tax standpoint, and they help pay the residential tax load. It would seem that the present residential tax load of Green Oak Township is significantly high. Ideally, the proportion of commercial and industrial ratables should rise in the future. As an alternative, it would be desirable to attract a substantial amount of high quality housing to offset the deficits in non-residential ratables and lower cost housing. Agriculturally oriented property provides about 14.8 per cent of the Township's tax base. Although agricultural property currently represents considerable valuation, it will be a decreasing economic factor. A good tax base, aside from being important in maintaining services such as fire protection, is especially important to an adequate school system. Green Oak Township is divided by three school districts, which splits the tax revenue. Of the total Township tax base, the Brighton Sc;hool District has 60.3 per cent, the South Lyon School District has 23.4 per cent and the Whitmore Lake School District has 16.3 per cent. Any increase or decrease of tax revenue from these individual Township units will affect the respective School Districts. A diversified tax base would allow the school district to provide a higher quality of education as opposed to its potential with a residentially unbalanced tax structure. -38 - 11 11 �•ww•••• ·• • • • • • • • • • • • TABLE 7 ASSESSMENT ROLL BY LAND USE GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970 ''' Persona I Property Real Property Land Use Paree Is Amount Per Cent of Real Property Assessment Parcels -- Combined Rea I and Personal Property Amount Per Cent of Personal Property Assessment - 0.0 333 Parcels Amount Perr ent of Total Tax Base 3,562,650 14.8 3,562,650 16.6 - 56 775,900 3.6 47 455,000 17.0 103 1,230,900 5. l 45 1,601, 100 7.5 7 1,267,550 47.3 52 2,868,650 l l. 9 3,304 15,502,900 72.3 2 4,700 .2 3,306 15,507,600 64.3 - - 0.0 7 953,600 35.5 7 953,600 3.9 3,738 21,442,550 100.0 63 2,680,850 100,0 3,801 24,123,400 100.0 Agricultural 333 Commercial Ind ustrial $ $ $ I w '-0 Residential Utilities TOTAL * Green Oak Township Assessmen t Roll, 1970. �Economic Potential and Land Use Needs Residential The residential construction trends from 1966 to 1969 for Green Oak Township and vicinity are shown in Table 8. Green Oak Township has displayed a relatively constant building trend for this time period. The issuance of building permits ranged from 57 to 81 per year and consisted almost entirely of single family homes. Building activity in the Township Area (Green Oak Township, Brighton Township, Hamburg Township, and the City of Brighton) has been fairly high. The Area has contributed 33 to 41 per cent of total dwelling unit permits in the County over the last four years. to urbanizing pressures. This again shows the strategic position of the Area relative In comparing Green Oak Township's bui Iding trends to that of fringe communities, a steady and moderate dwelling unit construction pattern is realized. Multiple family housing in southeast Michigan has been increasing at high numerical and proportional rates over the past five years. Table 9 shows the per cent of multiple family housing units to single family units from 1965 to 1969. The amount of multiple housing units in Livingston County during this time period is extremely low in amount and proportion when compared to Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne or Macomb Counties. It is significant to ngte, however, that of the multiple units built within Livingston County, the Township Area (three townships in the southeast corner of the County)contributed from 45 to 87 per cent of these units per year. At present, very few multiple housing units have been built within Green Oak Township . It seems, however, that the potential for higher density residential develop- ment will be increasing. - 40- �II •II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II There is significant evidence to suggest that Green Oak Township will increasingly become a relatively higher income, residential community. The natural features of the Township are conducive to large lot, quality development . Moreover, the g reat capital input expected in regional recreation development in the Township wi 11 push the cost of the remaining land so high that lower income groups will find it difficult to afford housing in the Township, particularly in the latter 1980 1s. This phenomena has not yet occurred and, therefore, the best chance for lower income housing is presently . Any substantial amount of higher density housing in the Township is dependent upon a sewerage system. It would seem that a minimum amount of multiple family units will be built until these facilities are realized. Because future Township growth would appear to warrant a sewerage system, planning for such portions of the Township should begin . This is necessary to arrest potential pollution from growth which would occur if septic tanks were to continue. The demand for lower cost housing could be met by prefabricated housing units, such as mobile homes. However, development at this density generally dictates a sewerage system . These flexible features could provide a basis for new developments in Township housing. A recent concept is a "high rise" mobile home park. This design features a steel or concrete multi- story frame within which mobile homes are arranged vertically around a central utility core containing a ventilating system, elevation, laundry and trash chutes. Another concept utilizes the modular housing unit, essentially a mobfle home without wheels, which is· flexibly attached to form varied-sized townhouses or apartment units . The development of these types of lower cost housing for Green Oak Township would be desirable. - 43 - . �• • • • • • • • • • •Ill , Commercial Much existing commercial development in the area is located in the City of Brighton, City of South Lyon, and Village of Whitmore Lake. The trade areas of these established commercial centers generally include the buildable portions of the Township. Areas in the Township outside these trade areas are for the most part regional parklands. It is anticipated that these commercial centers will continue tp provide the bulk of concentrated shopping facility needs for Township residents. The Township does have a potential for some further commercial uses near the recreation areas and the U.S. 23 Freeway. However, the existing commercial establishments cannot be expected to provide a strong tax base for the Township~ The commercial potential for Green Oak Township would seem to be at the neighborhood shopping level (i.e., featuring a supermarket and small stores). Such centers would basically cater to the everyday needs of the residents. These needs are normally food and drug supplies. The strategic location of such commercial centers in relation to planned neighborhood groupings would be essential for sound economics. Industrial Most present industry within Green Oak Township is of moderate scale manufacturing nature and generally of the 11 clean 11 suburban-type. The Township's excellent position in regard to regional transportation facilities is a definite plus factor in encouraging industry. Such plants as Kelsey-Hayes and Haigh Manufacturing, both located adjacent the U.S. 23 Freeway, provide testimony for this fact. There are several large tracts of relatively flat and well-drained -44 - Ill Ill II �•II II II II -, land having freeway or rail access which would be suitable industrial locations. the present lack of municipal utilities preclude large industrial developments. has one large industry which is extractive in nature. ownership is sufficient for 1990. However, The Township It seems that the land under its present Future industrial potential for Green Oak Township seems to be in encouraging moderate size industrial concerns. Regional Parkland Regional parkland within Green Oak Township is a very extensive land use as will be discussed in later studies. facilities. Its potential lies in the preservation of scenic land and provision of recreation Studies have shown that regional parks add very little directly to the local economy due to the nature of transient participation. Also, the local tax base is not directly aided by this type of land use. It is assumed, however, that the benefits of preserving open space in the Township, thereby assuring partial rurality for the future, will override any economic hardships. Also, it is generally shown that park areas attract relatively high quality residences in their vicinity to take advantage of permanent open space. Agriculture Agricultural land uses of areas in the path of spreading urbanization are decreasing. At present, Green Oak Township only has one full timeandseveral part Hme farmers. As urbanization increases within the Township, economic pressures will force much of the remaining agricultural land into other uses. The potential for agricultural uses in the Township is therefore slight. Much of this agricultural land will probably be put to rural non-farm residential use. - 45- �I Summary Green Oak Township is primarily a "dormitory'' community to nearby cities and places of employment. It has experienced a minimal amount of commercial and industrial land uses in relation to residential development as indicated by its tax base. The large amount of existing •I I parkland, rolling topography, wooded areas, and wqter cover are definite assets which will encourage future growth. These excellent natural features, the Township's location in respect to the growing Detroit Region, and goqd regional transportation facilities will place significant pressures upon the Township to "urbanize" much of its undeveloped land by 1990. It is, therefore, of ~xtreme importance that the Township carefully guide development in the coming years to assure sound growth patterns within the interest of the community. ~ -II -1- ~ - 46 - ~ ~ �• • • •II 111 · II II II II Ill Ill II TABLE 8 RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION TRENDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP AND VICINITY, 1966-1969* Total Dwelling Unit Permits Community 1966 1967 1968 1969 GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP Brighton Township Genoa Township Hamburg Township City of Brighton Livingston County 57 66 40 75 62 640 66 134 54 85 721 81 69 72 133 9 883 69 130 88 75 8 795 Lyon Township Milford Township Village of Milford City of South Lyon Oakland County 45 33 17 10 9,209 49 25 25 82 11,426 74 60 22 58 9,225 91 47 19 21 7,850 Northfield Township Salerri Township Webster Township Washtenaw County 25 17 28 3,700 44 7 37 3,020 27 25 17 2,494 28 37 22 3,409 6 * Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Residential Construction in the Detroit ·Region, Detroit, Michigan, 1966-1969. II II II II II, -41 - �The 1990 population for Green Oak Township is projected to be about 22,000. Based on this 1968 1969 Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill ~ projection, an additional 3,350 dwelling units would be required to house the increased population. This additional housing over the next two decades wi II put great pressures upon these portions of the Township that can be developed. It is expected that many young families will comprise a large percentage of the population by 1990. The bulk of the housing demand wi II be caused _by this group. TABLE 9 MULTIPLE HOUSING UNIT CONSTRUCTION TRENDS LIVINGSTON, WASHTENAW, OAKLAND, WAYNE AND MACOMB COUNTIES, 1965-1969* Multiples as a Per Cent of Total Housing Unit Permits County 1965 1966 1967 1.6 4.7 13.4 7.4 2.5 Washtenaw 67.3 68.3 58.5 54.6 72.3 Oakland 44.3 42.3 44.6 40.5 47.6 Wayne 47.9 50.3 46.7 57 . 9 62.8 Detroit (86. 3) (79.9) (80. 8) (84. 3) ( 68 .5) Balance (41. 5) (44.1) ( 39. 8) (50. 9) (61. 7) 29.7 26.7 37.0 53. 1 58.9 Livingston Macomb * Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Residential Construction in the Detroit Region, Detroit, Michigan, 1,969. -42 - II II II II • • • ' ' �GOALS AND OBJECTIVES �-.. -.. .. .. .. .. .. .. Introduction The adoption of community goals and objectives is a vital step in the planning process. The desires and needs of the people must be properly interpreted so that workable solutions can be achieved. It, therefore, requires careful analysis of the various factors which characterize Green Oak Township and the specific problems to be faced. An important function of the Family Questionnaire was to gather information regarding the I iving patterns of Township residents and their attitudes toward present conditions and possible future Township policies. These findings will be discussed in terms of wants and needs and then incorporated into general Township goals. In addition, the general goals and guidelines must be translated into more specific development objectives. These objectives must be related to the various assets and liabilities which Green Oak Township has at its current stage of development. If wisely chosen and consistently pursued, the achievement of these objectives will help mold both old and new Township development. Basic Issues and Community Attitudes Table 10 indicates the results of various questions which were posed to the Township's residents concerning community attitudes. The first and most basic question asked was the reason for choosing Green Oak Township as a place to live. The desire for a rural environment was the primary response. Other significant responses indicated that the Township was a good "child- rearing" community and had housing avai labi I ity. Convenience to places of employment had a moderate response. The issues of low taxes, good schools, and retirement had low responses . - 47 - �TABLE 10 COMMUNITY ATTITUDE INFORMATION GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN* Brighton School District QUESTION Whitmore Lake School District South Lyon School District Total Reason for Choosing Township as Residence Convenience to Work Desire for Rural Environment Place for Retirement Good Place to Raise Family Low Taxes Original Homestead Housing Availability Good Schools Total 13 35 2 25 8 10 26 11 130 8 11 0 6 0 0 10 0 35 17 35 2 20 0 6 14 5 99 38 81 4 51 8 16 50 16 264 40 53 93 8 21 29 13 51 64 61 125 184 67 23 26 20 16 7 10 8 47 13 23 21 130 43 59 49 28 31 13 5 30 14 71 50 71 9 25 3 46 l 142 13 275 87 195 557 52 11 39 102 63 19 49 133 39 15 26 80 5 4 0 161 49 114 Concurrence With a Single Family-Multiple Family Housing Mix for Township Yes No Total Top Three Matters of Importance (First, second or third response) Air and Water Pollution Control Availability of Public Water Public Sewage Treatment Garbage and Refuse Collection and Disposal Quality Township Road System Preservation of Open Space for Future Park and Recreation Areas Quality Schools and Teachers Preserve Public Access to Water Bodies Total • • • • • • • • • • • • • Top Two Priority Development Policies (First or second response) Encourage Business and Industry in Planned Centers Encourage a Balance of Residential Growth with Business and Industry Desire the Township to Develop as a Residential Community Primarily Don't Care Total *Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc., Green Oak Township Family Questionnaire, 1970. -48 - - I 9 324 II �• • • • ,' Ill Ill Ill Ill , It would seem, therefore, that the residents 1 desire for a rural environment is a basic life style need for the people within Green Oak Township " While the concept of rural living suggests low density development, the trend towards higher density living is spreading in southeastern Michigan . The pressures towards higher density living is mainly'due to general present economic conditions . Another queslion asked Township residents · was of their concur"rence with a single family-multiple family housing mix. About one-third of the citizens indi 'c ated 11 11 yes 11 as to about two-thirds with a 11 no 11 vote. In spite of the substantial no 1!vote,nonetheless, there was an appreciable number of persons who recognize the need to have some multiple family housing environments. It is anticipated that the future Township population will increasingly have more young families . Due to market conditions, they will not be able to immediately afford low density housing . There wil I be, therefore, a significant demand for higher density housing with·in the rent range of these families. The Family Questionnaire asked the residents of Green Oak Township to rank in order of preference ·several current important issues . The matter which received the highest response was the desire for quality school 'buildings and teaching staffs. While good schools were a low priority consideration for choosing Green Oak Township as a place to live, the need for good schools is of primary importance once the residents ore established . Another very high response was the need for air and water pollution controls . These controls are necessary to insure the livability of the Township. The lowest response was the need fo preserve public access to water bodies. The remainder of the responses to matters of importance were moderate and fairly evenly dis- - 49 - �I tributed. These, in order of preference, were; (1) the need for a quality road system through the Township; (2) the need for pub Ii c sewage treatment; (3) the need for the preservation of open space for future park and recreation areas; (4) the need for garbage and refuse collection and disposal; and (5) the need for a public source of water " Finally, the Family Questionnaire posed three general development goals and asked the preference for each. The highest response (41.0 per cent) was to encourage a balance of residential growth with business and industry~ The next highest response (3 l .5 per cent) was to encourage business and industry in planned centers. A lower response (24.7 per cent) was the desire for the Township to develop, primarily, as a residential community. Approximately 2.8 per cent indi coted they had no preference. The difference in these responses ar~ not large. It can be said that Green Oak Township residents generally wish to develop as a residential community with significant emphasis placed on a balance of growth with business and industry, which would be located in planned centers. In other words, there is sufficient evidence in the replies of the respondents to indicate that they expect and welcome the idea of Green Oak becoming a more complex urban environment. Through planning, the mistakes which other developing communities experienced may be avoided so that in the end a more satisfying type of urban environment wi 11 have emerged. Goals Residential The goal of residential development is to provide a variety of safe, decent, and sanitary housing so that, within the Township, a family may buy or rent suitable living quarters. -50 - The policies • • • • • • • • • • • • • • �that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows: Provide a full range of housing types within the Township to meet the demands of all age groups and I iving habits. Provide effective protection for residential areas to insure desirable standards and to prevent encroachment from industrial and commercial uses. Require suitable and adequate transition areas or buffers to be established between residential, commercial, and industrial areas to maintain property values and physical rural attractiveness of the Township. Protect residential areas from unnecessary through traffic and intrusion of non-related land uses. Take full advantage of the rolling topography, lakes and wooded areas in Green Oak Township in residential development in order to continue the concept of rural living. Pursue a program of Township-wide conservation and code enforcement to upgrade or eliminate substandard housing and to maintain the sound condition of the remaining housing stock. Commercial The optimum goal of commercial development is to provide a complete range of goods and services at convenient locations for residents of Green Oak Township . However, within the time period of the Plan, it is doubtful that the Township's population size will be able to support a major .. 51 - �commercial shopping center. Also, competing nearby established commercial centers will probably expand and fulfill thE; Township's comparative and speciality shopping needs. Therefore, the Township 's optimum commercial goal will probably not be realized by 1990 . The policies that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows: Encourage convenienc;e goods shopping facilities and professional offices at strategic locations in the Township in proper relation to planned residential development. Encourage uses which mainly relate to the automobile to locate along major highways and at interchanges of the Freeway. Discourage highways cluttered with random strip commercial development. lndustria I The basic industrial goal is to further broaden the range and valuation of industrial activities and employment opportunities within the Township. The policies that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows: Preserve adequate and properly located areas of land for future industrial development. Encourage new industries which have state-wide markets to capitalize on the Township's excellent accessibility to regional transportation systems. Regulate industrial development within the Township through performance standards • • • • • • • • • • • • •I I and other modern measures. Encourage and concentrate future industrial growth primarily in planned areas of the Township. - 52 - •I • �Encourage the extraction of natural minerals with provisions that, after resource depletion, the land be restored to beneficial uses . Community Facilities The basic goal is to promote the public health, safety and welfare of Township residents by prov.iding a high level and quality of community facilities and services. The policies that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows: Cooperate with the school districts serving the Township in the provision of good school facilities and a viable educational program . Protect Township residents' I ives and property by the provision of adequate fire and police services. Provide adequate governmental facilities to house the Township's administrative functions. Provide municipal sewer and water systems in portions of the Township to insure the continuance of the Township's welfare and to promote compatible new industrial uses. Recreation and Open Space The fundamental goal is to insure the provision of adequate recreation and open space for the future . The policies that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows : Make full use of the Island Lake Recreation Area, the Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority Area, and private recreational development as an asset to Green Oak Township . - 53 - �Preserve the hills, lakes, rivers, woods and swamp areas for desirable recreation pursuits and wildlife protection. Initiate and continue efforts to reduce ~ater, land, and air pollution, thus, prolonging the I ife of recreation areas. Encourage joint use by the School Districts and Township of school grounds and facilities for the recreation enjoyment of residents . Transportation The main transportation goal is to promote an effective transportation and circulation network within and through the Township. The policies that will be pursued to achieve this goal are as follows: - Provide an overall plan of thoroughfares to ~ffectively allow the safe movement of vehicles to any area within the Township in the minimum amount of time. Develop a functional system of roadway classifications and standards, consistent with those of the Livingston County Road Commission, to provide sufficient right-of-way widths to accommodate the varied modes of travel which are expected to be present in and through the Township in future years . Encourage the separation of through and local traffic in residential neighborhoods and in planned commercial and industrial areas . Provide for the separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in shopping areas and places of assembly in the Township . -54 - • • • • • • •I • •I I •I •I I I �Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill ' ' ' ' ' II' Provide adequate and aesthetically attractive off-street parking areas to serve commercial, industrial and recreation centers in the Township. Conclusions The proposed goals and objectives for Green Oak Township are guidelines for the future development of the Township. If the planning program is to be more than a confusion of varied opinions, then it is essential that these goals and objectives be seriously considered. They will help insure an orderly, prosperous and attractive development for Green Oak Township. These goals and objectives are suggested as a starting point for the Township officials. As the planning process progresses, the goals 0nd objectives may be altered and new ones formed. objectives of Green Oak Township are flexible and need constant attention, II ,' ' II' Thus, the goals and -55 - �LAND USE PLAN �Introduction Many problems which are facing communities today are the result of unregulated growth in the past. People were allowed to build on their land as they wished without regard for those uses adjacent to them. This has resulted in a mixing of incompatible land uses, wasting of scarce natural resources, and either a lack of services or their provision at high cost. There are locations in Green Oak Township where commercial or industrial development are mixed with residential development. However, due to the present low density of deve- lopment in the Township, incompatible land uses are generally spaced at a great enough distance so as not to be troublesome. As densities begin to increase within the Township, numerous problems could arise with incompatible land uses. Also, demand has begun to be generated for a pub I ic sewer system, due to the inadequacy of present septic tanks. However, sewer systems are very costly for developing communities having a scattered population. Future development in Green Oak Township, therefore, requires a basic framework in which to grow. The Comprehensive Development Plan is intended as a guide for locating private and public land uses in the Township. The Plan serves to coordinate this development in achieving an efficient, pleasant community which will be desired by its present and future residents. , The basic characteristics of the Plan should be: 1. Long-Range - The Plan should conceive its physical relationship in space the year 1990. Ultimate Township development must also be visualized. - 57 - in �2. Comprehensive - The Plan should consid+3r all major land uses. Cofflprehensive- ness must span physicql, social, economic and political relationships. 3. Generalized - The Plan should indicate only broad principles of land use allocations and their relationships. 4. Flexible - The Plan should not discoyrage innovation and unforeseen technological changes. 5. Regional - The Plan should recognize that the application of sound planning principles transcend arbitrary physical boundaries. Regional coordination of the planning effort is necessary for improving the quality of the urban environment. Through discussions with the Township Planning Commission and feedback from the Family Questionnaire, the desires for future growth and development were determined. The Goals and Objectives Study provided a basi$ for decision making for the Comprehensive Development Plan in Green Oak Township. Two alternative plans were discussed with the Township Planning Commission before the Comprehensive Development Plan was decided upon. The Plan, therefore, reflects the type of community which would be desirable, the existing conditions that should be preserved, and the existing and future conditions which will affect cornmunity development. The Comprehensive Development Plan for Green Oak Township is based upon analysis of basiG data and trends in the Township and surrounding areas which were presented earlier in the - 58 - I I • • • • •I •I I I I I I I I I I �Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill planning program. The various land uses have been al located based upon the need and I ikel ihood of development. The Plan should be reviewed periodically as economic and population changes occur within the Township. For example, the market for multiple-family dwellings was practically non-existent in the 1950's and early 1960's in Livingston County. With the extension of the freeway network, availability of finances, and increasi ng talk of utility system construction, a definite greater demand has been created for th is type of housing . 1111 1111 1111 Therefore, it is always necessary to evaluate the Plan in relation to the present economic trends. Comprehensive Development Plan Considerations 1111 Green Oak Township I ies within the "mo ran ic belt" of southeastern Michigan. The topography Ill consists of rol I ing h ii Is, smal I lakes, and swamp land. This type of landscape is very desirable from a recreation and residential point of view. With the introduction of new transportation patterns with in the post decode in southeastern Michigan, Green Oak Township has achieved a higher degree of regional accessibi I ity. This can only mean added growth of the Township in the future. One of the most sig~ificant land forms _in the Township is the U. S. 23 Freeway . This Freeway w ii I act as a corridor for more .intensive development . Its basic north-south orientation fol Is west of the center of the Township and therefore will encourage more intensive development in the western half of the community . The Si Iver Lake Road interchange (one of the four U.S. -59 - �I: • 23 interchanges in the Township) would then be somewhat central to the majority of the Township's population. The utilization of this interchange as the Township's central activity core is proposed in the Plan. Another significant land form in the Township is the regional parkland which generally encompasses the Huron River and adjacent lands. The expansion and development of these lands wil I ensure large scale open space and recreation for the future. Other sizable existing uses of land, such as the American Aggregate Corporation holdings, also represent land forms. These uses should be placed into land use planning categories which are compatible to permit an optimum community environment. Ten land use classifications are proposed for Green Oak Township. Each land use is next discussed along with its special locational requirements which provide a rational basis for the Comprehensive Development Plan. Map 4, fo I lowing p . 135, i Ilust rates the Comprehensive Development Plan for Green Oak Township , Residential Planning The Comp rehensive Development Plan is based on the anticipated 1990 population in Green Oak Township of 22,000 people . Residential areas have been delineated to accommodate this population, in keeping with the community's goals to provide a full range of housing types in the Township . Four categories of residential land uses have been proposed which include estate, low, medium and high density residential areas. The estate and low density categories • • • • • •I I I I I I I I I I I I �are basically single family areas. The medium and high density would be townhouses, apartments or mobile homes. Rural Estate - Agricultural This land is intended for occupancy by those people desiring to live in a country-like estate atmosphere. Minimum rural estate lot size would be five acres . Farms could also be permitted on lot sizes exceeding ten acres. Approximately 6, 150 acres are assigned to this residential land use. There is a growing demand in the Detroit Metropolitan Area for "country-style" living. Residents of Green Oak Township noted the "desire for a rural environment" in the Family Questionnaire as the primary reason for choosing the. Township as a place to live. The Rural Estate-Agricultural category would encourage this type of living. This category would also be utilized to conserve land from intensive development to enable future generations to plan their own type of development rather than be shackled by an unregulated premature development pattern. Two large areas are proposed for the Rural Estate - Agricultural category. One area incorporates the majority of the American Aggregates Corporation holdings which are located adjacent to the southern border of the Island Lake Recreation Area. The other area is located south of Nine Mile Road, generally east of Whitmore Lake . - 61 - �Low Density Residential This land use is intended primarily for single-family residential development. Minimum density would be one to two dwelling units per acre without utilities. When utilities are available,. this density could be raised to a greater density of about four dwelling units per acre. About 8, 100 acres are set aside for low-density development. Green Oak Township does not contain public water or sewer facilities. Normally, lot sizes of less than one acre are not recommended in this instance because indivic;lual septic tanks and wells on small lots often do not function efficiently. In recognition of the great attraction of the many lakes in the Township, and the desirability of getting the maximum utilization of them, half acre lots are recommended in their vicinity. Nevertheless, great care must b~ taken by the County and Township to prohibit small lot development where it appears that septic tanks wi 11 not function properly . . The low density residential areas proposed incorporate the majority of the existing subdivisions .i n the Township. These areas have also b~en oriented around feasible future sanitary sewer • • • • • • • • • • •-. I programs. Although much of the Township is plpnned for single-family residential land use, there is no reason why single-family development need be dull a!'ld unimaginative. For example, designing single-family units in small groups or clusters reduces lot sizes c;md increases common open space. The land area gained through the decrepse in lot size is used collectively for a park area available to residents of that subdivision. - 62 - I _I 'II I I I �Another concept which adds flavor to single-family neighborhoods is planned unit development. This incorporates a mixture of land uses such as single-family housing, multiple-family housing, and common open spaces. This would create a slightly higher density than proposed for the low density residential area but would create a neighborhood unit with a variety of housing types. These new concepts shou Id be encouraged in future single-family development. Medium Density Residential This land use is generally intended for townhouses or mobile home~. Densities should range between five and seven dwelling units per acre when utilities are provided. Until such time as municipal utilities are installed, it is reco~mended that overall densities remain at two dwelling units per acre. Approximately 1,200 acres are allocated for this type of residential density. As mentioned previously, the Township's housing inventory should correspond to the needs of its present and potential residents. Certain segments of its population, such as the newly married and retired people,find townhouse or mobile home living most suited to their current n~eds. Therefore, the Medium Density Residential area is proposed. The Plan indicates one large area for Medium Density Residential uses, between Spicer Road and Winans Lake Road, as part of the Township's proposed central activity core. areas are also shown as conceptually clustered around commercial locations. Five smaller Large medium density projects should be discouraged at these neighborhood commercial locations. - 63 - �High Density Residential The High Density Residential category encourages apartments. Densities should range from eight to 12 dwelling units per acre, when municipal utilities are provided. As with the Medium Density Residential category, present densities should be twq dwelling units per acre. Approximately 260 acres are devoted to the High Density Residentia I uses. Three areas are indicated on the Plan for High Density Residential .Oevelopment. These areas form an integral part of the Township's propos~d central activity core. The Silver Lake Road interchange area would permit direct access to the U.S. 23 Freeway. A commercial area planned at the lnterc;han~e would have increased economic potentiQI due to its relationship to this higher density area. The High Density Resid~ntial Areas are 9lso generally adiacent to the reg ion a I park Iand . Commercial As the population increases in Green Oak Township, so will the demard for commercial establishments. There will also l;,e commercial growth in the Township for regional needs, owing to the convenient access via th~ U.S. 23 Freeway. The location of commercial land uses is an important consideration of the Comprehensive Development Plan because of their economic importance and their effect on traffic and neighboring land uses. Business should be grouped at planned locations in the Township in order that marginal strip commercial activities can be control led. - 64 - • • •II II II II II II • • • • • • "• -~ -~ �Commercial Retail Seven commercial retail centers are proposed for Green Oak Township. The Comprehensive Development Plan recognizes the ·need to distinguish between the characteristics of various commercial activities. Commercial land uses are thus located according to their function. Approximately 190 acres are included in this land use category. Three different types of commercial development must be considered. Local shopping is for the daily shopping needs of residents who live close to the stores. A local shopping area contains a supermarket, drug store, laundromat, party store or other similar business. A second type of commercial development is a community shopping center. This type of shopping facility generally has a junior department store or general merchandise store with a cluster of small businesses. A community shopping center requires a large population to serve and good highway access. The last commercial category is highway oriented businesses. These businesses serve passing motorists. Such uses include gas stations, drive-in facilities, such as restaurants and car washes, motels, and similar uses. Commercial areas in Green Oak Township are shown grouped in strategic locations in the community. The proposed locations by function are as fol lows: Rushton Road and Ten Mi le Road - Local Shopping Ten Mile Road and Dixboro Road - Local Shopping - 65 - �Nine Mile and east side of U.S. 23 Interchange - Local Shopping and highway oriented business. Winans Lake Road and U.S. 23 Interchange - Initially local shopping but with future potential for a community shopping center. Whitmore Lake Road between Lee Road and Maltby Road - Local Shopping and highway oriented business. Grand River and Academy Drive - Local shopping and some highway oriented business. I I I • •I •I I It is anticipated that by 1990, only half of the acreage allocated for the Commercial Retail category wi II be uti Iized. However, the gr~ater amount of land has been planned so as to be flexible to possible unforeseen economic expansion and to permit flexible commercial locations within the Township. Commercial Recreation Green Oak Township has great nah.-1ral attractions in its lakes and topographic variations. Much land is committed to public use in the regional parklands. Increased recreation im- provements are also expected in the regional parklands which will increase recreation participation by the public. It is believed that Green Oak Township could aid its tax base by promoting a large-scale commercial area devoted to recreation-tourist services. - 6- -I 'I ' 'I I I I �II II II II This specialized commercial area is located on old U.S. 23 and is generally encircled by Bishop Road. Approximately 100 acres are proposed for its use. This area is uniquely favorable for commercial recreation sales due to its easy freeway access and close location to the regional park lands. It is proposed that the Commercial Recreation category include such things as recreation equipment sales, restaurants, transient lodgings and some recreation uses such as golf driving range. The intended site could be expanded in the future, if necessary. Office The Office classification is intended to facilitate planned locations for grouped office facilities in the central activity core of the Township. This is a preferred method of accommodating the pQtential need f9r office space along interstate freeways. This classification would also permit other commercial uses that would service possible office development. About 150 acres are indicated for office use on the Comprehensive Development Plan. Civic Center Approximately 25 acres are shown on the Comprehensive Development Plan for a proposed Township Civic Center. Its intended location is on Silver Lake Road adjacent to the U.S. 23 Freeway i'nterchange as part of the central activity core concept for the Township. It has also been located adjacent to the Huron River to permit an aesthetic setting for the complex. Specific development of the proposed Civic Center will be discussed in the Community Facilities Plan. - 67 - �•I lndustria I In the past, there has been little industrial development in Green Oak Township. However, with the provision of freeway acyess over the last decade, a small amount of industry has been attracted. It js anticipated that the intensity of industrial development will continue to be gradual until municipal sewer and water facilities are in the Township. However, in order for the Township to compete for future industry, about 2,200 acres are programmed for i ndustri a I use. Two types of industry are recommended for the Townshjp. One of these industrial types is of light, non-nuisance operation that could function efficiently on small sites or in industrial parks. This type of industry could be controlled ade9uately to allow its inclusion adjoining residential areas. The other type of industry is of the general nature which normally requires a larger site size than light industry, which have a relatively greater impact on the neighboring area and which may have a need for railroad faciliti~s. Seven industrial sites are indicated on the Plan for Green Oak Township. These sites and their intended functions are as follows: Area south of Spicer Road (west of U.S. 23) This is the largest area proposed for industrial use, General industry should be allowed. Trans- portation facilities include M-36, U.S. 23, G.T.W. Railroad and A,A. Railroad. Much of the - 68 - I • •I I I •I I I I I II I I I II �land in this area contains muck soils which would physically reduce a heavy industrial density on the site. Possible adverse effects to Hamburg Township could be minimized by that municipality providing a buffer along the eastern side of Hall Road. The proposed industrial site contains the Maxey School which should be compatible within this intended land use district. Area south of Maltby Road between Whitmore Lake Road and Rickett Road This area presently contains the Kelsey-Hayes plant . This industrial operation has so far proven to be very efficient and compatible with nearby land uses. Therefore, the general site has been expanded for future industry with Iight, non-nuisance operations. Transportation facilities include easy access to U.S. 23 Freeway. Area north of C & 0 Railroad and west of U.S. 23 Freeway This area contains existing developed industry of a light manufacturing nature. Area on east side of Lee Road - U. S. 23 Interchange This area is recommended for light and general industry types. Transportation facilities include U.S. 23 Freeway and C & 0 Rai Iroad. This site is presently being promoted for industrial usage by the C & 0 Rai Iway Company. Grand River Road and Pleasant Valley Road Some expansion of the Green Oak Industrial Park area is recommended. Present industry �is of the non-nuisance variety. Pl~asant Valley Road provides access to 1-96 Freeway. Area adjoining Kensington Road and Silver Lake Road Area presently owned by the American Aggregate Corporotion. Recommended possible usage is for general industry. Transportation foci I ities include the C & 0 Railroad and Kensington Rood, a recently reconstructed Class A road with access to 1-96 Freeway. Area south of Ten Mile Road on eastern border of Township This area is intended as on extension of the adjoining industrial land use in Lyon Township. Transportation facilities include the G. T. W. Railroad and Ten Mile Road. The above locations include the significant locational factors frequently considered by new industries. They also pose minimal threats and conflicts to other land use areas provided that there is proper enforcement of performance standards contained within a modern zoning ordinance. Extractive Extractive forms of land use are located generally in the central and northeasterly portions of Green Oak Township. There are small gravel pits scattered throughout the area, usually in the proximity of the lakes. The intensively used extractive areas are located in the northeast corner of the Township along the north side of Marshal I Road and Rushton Road. This adivity is primarily operated by the American Aggregate Corporation, who have developed plans and purchased land in anticipation of expanding their present activities. The importance of the extractive industry to the general well-being of Green Oak Township has been recognized in the Comprehensive Development Plan, (See Map 4 following p , 135) , - 70 - •I I I • • • •I I I I I I I I I I I �.. It is a recommendation of the Plan that two areas for extractive usages be identified in the northeasterly portion of the Township. As shown on Map 4, these are along Marshall Rood north of Silver Lake Road, and along the Oakland County border in Sections 12 and 13. Regional Parkland Two large regional parks are located in the Township. The larger is the Island Lake Recreation Area which is located east of the U.S. 23 Freeway. The other land is owned by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority and is located west of the U.S. 23 Freeway. A primary intention of both of these parks is in the preserving of Huron River flood plain and volley development. The Comprehensive Development Plan hos basically linked these two pork systems together to achieve this conservation goal. Also, the present land holdings of both parks have been modified and rounded off for conceptual form purposes. Conclusions The Comprehensive Development Plan suggests how Green Oak Township could and should develop . This type of development and use of lands will not occur, however, if there are no guiding forces. Several methods may be used in con junction to accomplish the basic measures of the Comprehensive Development Pion. These methods include: official Township adoption of the Comprehensive Development Plan, Zoning Ordinance revisions, capitol improvements program, subdivision regulations, coordination of plans with other governmental agencies and the State, a program of public relations in order to make the general public aware of the goals for Green Oak Township, and encouragement to developers in the Township to adhere to the principles and objectives of the Comprehensive Development Plan. - 71 - �TRAFFICWAY PLAN �II II ,,' ' ', ' Introduction Highway systems and road patterns are developed to provide efficient means for the movement of people and goc,ds within and through a community. Adequate transportation facilities are therefore a major consideration in a community 1s development. Accessibility to other parts .of a region is vital to the growth and development of al I communities. As popu'lation increases ard automobiles likewise increase, traffic problems related to congestion and inadequate road design become apparent. It is paramount that careful planning provide for the safe, congestion-free moverpent of people and goods . This study will examine the ~xisting highways and other transportation modes found in Green Oak Township and the surrounding area. The adequacy of the existing trafficway facilities · will be assessed. Then a future plan for transportatior, facilities will be prepared in relation to proposed future land uses and the traffic generated by such uses. Highway Inventory and Circulation Analysis Not all roads provide the same function for carrying traffic. Motorists with their destination or origin outside the Township will generally travel on regional thoroughfares. These high- ways are generally indicated as State routes and are engineered for fast moving traffic between major population centers. Roads which are designed to provide links between major land uses relating to employment, shopping and residential uses within the Township are considered as County Primary roads. Roads which provide access to abutting property are considered local - 73 - �roads. The following is an inventory of these three types of roaqs in Green Oak Township. State Highways The only U.S. trunk line route passing through Green Oak Township is the U.S. 23 Freeway, a four-lane, divided thoroughfare. State-wide implications. It is the only thoroughfare within the Township thot has It connects the entire south central portion of the State with other regions via the freeway system. More specifically, the U.S. 23 Freeway connects the Township directly with such population centers as Ann Arbor, Tol~do c;md Flint. The interstate freeway system ( 1-96) which intersects with the U.S. 23 Freeway immediately to the north of the Township increases the accessibility of additional urban population centers such as Lansing and Detroit for Green Oak Township residents. The section of U.S. 23 in Green Oak Township is approximately 5.7 miles. It has a 300-foot right-of-way with 24-foot pavement wipth qn each side of the median. There are four interchanges within the Township (Lee Road, Silver Lake Road, M-36 - Nine Mile Road, and Eight Mile Road - Whitmore Lake). This freeway adequately provides Green Oak Township residents with regional accessibility . Another State route within Green Oak Township is M-36 , It begins at an interchange wi~h U.S. 23 in the Township and travels west through Pinckney and beyond. This State route generally serves as a connector between smaller urban areas in Livingston and Ingham Counties. Approximately 2 miles of M-36 exists within Green Oak Township. - 74- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • - �County Primary Roads The designation of a County Primary Road is made by using two criteria. The first is location (e.g., they serve as connecting Iinks between regional thoroughfares as wel I as other communities). A second criteria relates to the amount of traffic volume ~hat may be carried by the road. The transportation network of any township wou Id be adversely affected if it were without an adequate County Primary road system. The County Primary road system is established by the ~ivingston County Road Commission after approval by the Michigan De,partment of State Highways. By designating a road as part of the County Primary road system, the County can obtain Federal and State highway funds to help maintain said road. There are about 29.4 miles of County Primary roads in Green' Oak Township. Table l l lists these County Primary roads by surface type. Taking an overall view of the County Primary road system in Green Oak Township, the major problem is the lack of uniform road distribution and continuity. This is largely due to the Township's topography. The many lakes, the Huron River Valley, pockets of muck soils, and areas of steep slopes have produced circulation difficulties not evident in most southeast Michigan communities. These natural features impede straight-line road construction between traffic generators. Therefore, the typical grid street system, based on section line roads, is not possible. No road in Green Oak Township continually follows any section line for any great distance. Also there are no direct north-south or east-west roads in the Township. Con~iderable meandering is required for anyone traveling in either direction. - 75 - �TABLE Jl COUNTY PRIMARY ROADS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970 * Road From To Hard Su rface Whitmore Lake Road Eight Mi le · Road., Towns hip Boundary Eight Mi le Rood Towns hip Boundary Whitmore Lake Road Nine Mi le Road U.S.23 Ru~hton Road East .Shore Towns hip Boundary Nine Ml le Rood Whitmore Lake Township Boundary G • T. W. Ra i Iroad Si Iver Lake Road U.S. 23 Rushton Road Doane Road Dixboro Roap Doane Road Silver Lake Road Rushton Road Rushton Road Nine Mi le Road Doane Road Ten Mile Road Rushton Road Dixboro Road Kensington Road Si Iver Lake R0ad Grand River Road Academy Drive Grand River Road C & 0 Rai !road • • • •I 'I I I I I Grand River Rood I Gravel Surface * Si Ive r Lake Road Doane Road Rushton Road Rushton Road Doane Road Silver Lake Road Livings ton County Road Commission, Livingston County Road Map (Howell, Michigan, 1970) . I I I I I - 76 - ' I �Besides the topographic barriers to traffic movement evidenced in the Township, man-made barriers also present problems. While the U.S. 23 Freeway has facilitated easy north-south travel through the Township and regional access by Township residents, it has also disrupted continuous east-west Township travel. Presently, only the Silver Lake Road interchange and the M-36 interchange permit overpass facilities for continuous east-west travel across the U.S . 23 Freeway. Large land users within the Township also prevent through traffic facilities. In particular, the Island Lake Recreation Area and t_he American Aggregate Corporation lands, generally located in the north central portion of the Township, are barriers to traffic movement. The:;e two large land users also prevent an equal distribution of County Primary roads through the Township. County Local Roads Under the Michigan Highway Law, Act 51 of 1951, as amended, all roads under County' jurisdiction other than Primary roads are considered County local roads. The County local roads are perhaps a more vital link in the transportation network than might be imagined. Obviously, if the local roads are in such poor condition as to impede good accessibility to the Primary roads, then the Primary roads and indeed the Regional highways themselves are of reduced utility to the Township resident wishing to gain access to them. There are about 52 . 66 miles of County local roads in Green Oak Township. Table 12 lists the County local road;; by surface type. As with the County Primary roads in the Township, their basic highway design problem is concerned with road distribution and continuity. �TABLE 12 COUNTY LOCAL ROADS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970 * Surface Type From Hard Surface Winans Lake Road Township Boundary Whitmore Lake Road Rickett Road Township Boundary Winc;:ins Lake Road Lee Road Rickett Road U.S. 23 Fieldcrest Road Nine Mile Road Lee Roacj Marshall Road Nine Mile Road Si Iver Lake Road Post Lane Eight Mi le Road ( end of cu I-de-sac ) Lemen Road Eight Mi le Road M-36 Spicer Road M,-36 Fieldcrest Road Whitmore Lake Road Marshall Road Musch Road Spicer Road Winans Lake Road Hammel Road Township Boundary Rickett Road Maltby Road Township Boundary Whitmore Lake Road Lee Road Rickett Road (dead-ends in Section 6) Tuthi 11 Road Spicer Road Marsha 11 Road Silverside Drive Marshal I Road Doane Road Marshal I Road Eight Mi le Road Nine Mile Road Mc Nally Road Mars ha 11 Road East Shore Drive ( interrupted in center by creek) Rushton Road Eight Mi le Road Nine Mi le Road Gravel Surface - continued - - 78 - • • • • • • • • • • • • •-. -. • • •I �TABLE 12 (Continued) COUNTY LOCAL ROADS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970* Surface Type From To Eight Mi le Road Marsha 11 Road Dixboro Road Nine Mi le Road Rushton Road Di~boro Road Dixboro Road Eight Mi le Road C 8 0 Railroad Ten Mile Road Silver Lake Road Twelve Mile Road Rushton Road Dixboro Road Peer Road Ten Mi le Road Twelve Mile Road Bishop Road Fieldcrest Road Fieldcrest Road Evergreen Road Si Iver Lake Road McCabe Road Sutherland Road Kensington ,Road Grand River Road Butcher Road Sutherland Road American Aggregate property McCabe Road Bishop Road Silver Lake Road Evergreen Road American Aggregate property Grave I Surface (Continued) * Livingston County Road Commission, Livingston County Road Map, ( Howe II, Michigan, 1970). - 79 - �Highway Characteristics The nature and effectiveness of any road system is governed by a number of factors, such as condition of the road surface, traffic volumes, traffic accidents and bridge sufficiencies . All these factors are related when considering the adequacy of a road system. Highway Surface Conditions Every two years the Michigan Department of State Highways makes a survey of State Highways. In these surveys, the agency attempts to reveal certain adequacies or inadequacies, as the case may be, of each road in terms of sufficiency ratings. Surface and base conditions of State Highways are included in these surveys. The entire length of U.S. 23 in Green Oak Township has its surface and base rated as sufficient. 11 However, M-36 between U.S. 23 and Pinckney, surface and base conditions are rated as critically deficient . Approximately 9.8 miles of surface improvements of M-36 between U.S. 23 and Pinc ney are presently scheduled by the Department of State Highways in the proposed 1971 construction program for Livingston County. Eve ry year, the Livingston County Road Commission makes a survey of all County Roads us to surface adequacy . Table 13 shows the County Primary and County Local road surface sufficiency ratings for Green Oak Township by surface type and number of miles of each surface type. 11 Michigan Department of State Highways, Sufficient Rating, District 8, ( Lansing, Michigan, 1970). -80 - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • �Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill TABLE 13 COUNTY ROAD Sl)RFACE SUFFICIENCY RATINGS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970 * Road Classification Primary •Ill Gravel Local Miles Inadequate Total Miles 3 . 83 3.83 Prime & Seal 2.05 6. 17 8.22 Mixed Bituminous 7.01 2.54 9.55 Bituminous Concrete 7.80 0 7.80 '16.86 12.54 29.40 Earth Gravel * Miles Adequate D.N . A. Sub Total II •Ill • • Surface Material D.N.A. 11. 02 '. 5.37 5.37 19.46 30.48 Prime & Seal 7.36 0 7.36 Mixed Bituminous 7.61 1.76 ~.37 Bituminous Concr~te 0.08 0 0.08 Sub Total 26.07 26 . 59 52.66 TOTAL 42.93 39. 13 82 . 06 Livingston County Road Commission, County Primary Road and County Local Road "data sheets", ('Howell, Michigan, 1970). · D.N.A. - Does not apply. - 81 - �Of the 29 A miles of County Primary Roads in the Township, 16 , 86 miles are considered to have adequate surface with 12.54 miles of inadequate surfaces . Gravel roads are considered inadequate for the Primary system by the Livingston County Road Commission , The 52.66 miles of County Local roads in the Township generally have 50 per cent (26 miles) adeqwate surfaces and 50 per cent inadequate surfaces. The moj ori ty of the County local Roads are gravel (30.48 miles). Earth surfaced County local Roads are considered inadequate by the County Road Commissiqn. Generally, County road surface adequacy in Green Oak Tqwnship is good in comparison with the other townships in Livingston County. However, continual improvement and maintenance of the County Road network in Green Oak Township will be increasingly important a~ greater traffic volume is experienced , Traffic Volumes As may be expected, the U , S. 23 Freeway in Green Oak Towri~hip carries the greatest volumes of traffic. State Highway traffic volumes within the Township are shown on Table 14 . The least traveled State Highway in Green Oak Township is M-36 . This highway experiences about 2,600 vehicles per day which is less than some County Primary Roads within th~ Township . The traffic volumes on County roads within Green Oak Township are considerably less than on U.S. 23 . General 24 hour traffic flows for the County roads are shown on T9ble 15. .. 82 - • • • • • •I • • • •I I I I I I I I �TABLE 14 STATE HIGHWAY TRAFFIC FLOW GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1969 * Highway From To 24 Hour Traffic Volume U.S. 23 1-96 Interchange Lee Road Interchange 18,000 Lee Road Interchange Si Iver Lake Road 19,500 Interchange Mr36 Si Iver Lake Road Interchange M-36 Interchange 21,500 M-36 Interchange Livingston -Washtenaw County Line 23,500 U.S. 23 Interchange Township Line 2,600 * Michigan Department of State Highways, Average 24 Hour Traffic Flow, ( Lansing, Michigan, 1969). - 83 - �TABLE 15 MAJOR COUNTY ROAD TRAFFIC FLOW GREEN <;)AK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1969 * Road Vehicles Per Day Grand River Road Kensington Roc;id 3,000 - 4,000 Te111 Mile Road 2 I 000 - 3 / 000 Eight Mile Road Nine Mile Road Academy Ori ve Lee Road ( east of Rickett Road) Winans Lake Road (east of Rickett Road) l , 000 - 2, 000 ~ •II • II Silver Lake Road Whitmore Lake Road Fieldcrest Road Rickett Road Doane Road East Sho re Road Rushton Road 1,000 * Livingston County Road Commission, County Primary Road and County L!!>cal Road ''data sheets", (Howell, Michigan, 1969 ). Note: The rema lnder of the County roads wjthil'l the Township gE;!nerally have less than 1,000 vehicles p~r day . ~ 84 - • • • • • • • 'II ' �All the County roads in Green Oak Township are two-lane facilities. A significant question is how great must the traffic volume be on such roads to justify more than. two lanes. road must be individually studied to accurately answer this question. Each However, .a general "rule of thumb" is that a road approaching a traffic volume of 12,000 vehicles per day should be considered for expansion. to four lanes.. Presently, all County roads in Green Oak Township are considerably below this figure and therefore can be considered adequate for existing traffic volumes. Traffic Accidents Large traffic volumes on paved or gravel roads do not necessarily mean such roads wi II become greater traffic hazards. The ability of any road to carry larger volumes of traffic is related to engineering design of the road, number of moving lanes, and number of ingress and egress points along the highway. traffic hazards. Table lq shows However, larger volumes of traffic tend to accentuate a comparison of State Highway and County road accidents over the past three years. It is interesting to note that during the last three years, traffic accidents occurring on the State Highways within the Township have increased from about 25 per cent to 35 per cent of the total Township accident count. County roads have respectively decreased from about 75 per cent to about 65 per cent during this same time period. This is especially significant since the total accident count for each year has not changed radically. The rapidly increasing traffic volumes on the State highways are thus increasing their accident rates as compared to the County Road System. ~ 85 - �Ill TABLE 16 STATE HIGHWAY AND (;OUNTY ROAD ,,\CCID~NTS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1968 - 1970* Total Acciqent Count Road u.s. 1968 Per Cent of Total 1969 Per Cent of Total 1970 Per Cent of Total 40 21. 1 59 25. l 61 29.8 7 3.6 10 4.3 10 4,8 County Roads 14~ 75.3 166 70.6 134 · 65.4 TOTAL 190 100.0 235 100.0 23 M-36 * 205 100.0 Information from the Michig·an State Police Department, March, 1971. Traffic accidents on the County Road system within the Township itself also corresponc!s closely to traffic volumes. Grand River Road exReriences q signi£icant amount of Township accidents . 12 Other high accident roads are Nine Mile Road (particularly between Marshqll Road and Rushton Rood), Ten Mile Road, and Winans Lake Road. Coritrary to normal expectations, the majority of the County road accidents which took place in the Township were not at intersections , Instead, most of the accidents were caused by 12 Livingston County Road Commission, 1970 accident sheets for Green Oak Township, March, 1971 , - 86 - • • •I • • • • • • • • • • • • �turning movements in~o or out of residential uses spread_ out along these highways. Ingress and egress movements associated with commercial and industrial land uses at non intersection locations also created accidents. Bridge Adequacy Bridges are an important aspect to the proper functioning of a highway system. Adequate bridges are also of paramount importance to highway safety. Green Oak Township has 16 bridges (in- cluding one culvert) over which the Co1Jnty roads traverse the natural drainage systems. Of these, one County Primary road bridge and five County local road bridges are in need of replace- " " " ment. Table 17 indicates the inadequate bridges in Green Oak Township. TABLE 17 INADEQUATE COUNTY ROAD BRIDGES GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, 1970 ~oad Type * Comments Bridge Location Primary Nine Mi le Road ( East of Grand Trunk RR) Bridge is narrow and has settled on one end because of muck soil. Still carries legal load limit Local Rickett Road ( Huron River) Five ton I im it, 60 foot span. Spicer Road (Sec. 28) Five ton limit. Dixboro Road (Sec. 13) Eight ton I imit. Sutherland Road (Huron River, Sec. 3) Unpasted load limit. Only adequate for light use. Marshal I Road ( North of Tuthi 11 Road) Unpasted load limit. Only adequate for light use. * Livingston County Road Commission, March 1971. - 87 - Unsafe for school buss es. Unsafe for school busses. Unsafe for school busses. �The Livingston Cc,unty Road Commission requires all new County road bridges carry the maximum legal load ( H-20 design). Replacement cost of the inadequate bridges in the Township range from $20,000 to $60,000 each dep~nding upon construction variables. Eventual replacement of these bridges is necessary to insure traffic safety. Rail and Air Facilities Rail Facilities There are three rail facilities now ~erving Green Oak Township. These are the Chesapeake and Ohio, Grand Trunk Western, and Ann Arb9r Railroads. These facilities account for about 13.4 miles of primary track within the Township. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad has about 6, 1 miles of primary track in the Township. Fr9m a major junction point in Plymou_th, Michigan, this line travels through the Township towards Lansing and Grand Rapids. The Chesapeake anc;l Ohio Railroad Company, through its subsidiary lines, serves much of the State of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. Via a line across southern Oritorio, the C & 0 also has con- nections at Buffalo, New York and other lines serving the east. The Grand Trunk Western Roi Irood hos about 6.4 miles of primary track traversing the southern portion of th~ Township. This rail line is a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway Company and is directly linkeq to the Canadian system at Port Huron and Detroit. - 88 - •I I • •I •I •I I • •I •I •I I �To the west of the Township, the G. T. W. leads to Grand Rapids and Muskegon, from where the G .. T.W. operates a ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin . . The Ann Arbor Railroad Company has about 0.9 miles of primary track located on Section 31 of th~ Township. This main line extends northwest from Toledo, Ohio, through Livingston County and terminates at the City of Frpnkfort on Lake Michigan in the northwestern part of the State. Via a ferry across Lake Michigan, the Ann Arbor Railroad offers connections with other rai Iroads serving the upper midwest. Air Foci I ities · There are currently no airport facilities in Green Oak Township·.- However, two smal I private airfields dre nearby. They are Hyne Field in Brighton Township and New Hudson Airport in Lyon Township. Transportation Plan The purpose of the Transportation Plan is to develop a system of trafficways that will adequately provide for the long-range needs of residents of Green Oak Township. Because of its permanent character, the existing road system must form the base for the future highway network. However, consideration must also be given to future land use patterns, the amount · and type of traffic that will be generated by the land uses, correction of existing traffic hazards, and other factors: - 89 - �Standards The standards for the various types of roads correspond to those established by the Livingston County Road Commission qnd the Inter-County Highway Commission of South~astern Michigan. Table 18 indicates the recommended road cross...section standards for Green Oak Tpwnship. The Livingston County Road Commission has established a policy of requiring at least 120 feet of road right•of-way width on all County Primary Roads, and 100 feet' of road right-of-way width on all County Locql roaqs. All subdivision streets are req~ired to have a 66 fqot rightof way for streets without curb and gutter . The Livingston County Road Commission is requiring these road rights-of-way so that when traffic increases and a County road must b~come multiple lane, the public right-of-way will exist. Green Oak Township should require building setbacks that wi II coincide with these present County requirements . The recommended road righh-of-way for Green Oak Township (see Table 18) are consistent with the Land U~e Plan objectives. Map 4, following p . 135 is the 1990 Comprehensive Development Plan for Green Oak Township and also contains the Traffi cway planning recommendations. Freeways Freeways are part of a nationwide system of limited access highways designed to carry transient traffic around, through or between urban centers with a minimum of conflict wjth local traffic. They have one function - to carry large volumes of traffic at maximum speeds . They are multilaned and do not provide direct access to abutting properties . The few intersec:tions that are provided are generally grade separations that allow traffic to flow without interruption from - 90 - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •II • - �-- "• • - TABLE 18 RECOMMENDED ROAD CROSS SECTION STANDARDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN * Road Number of Traffic Lanes Freeway 4 (Rural) Minimum Right of Traffic Lane Way Width (Feet) ( Feet ) Maximum Grade a 12 300 - 350 + 3% 2 - 4 12 120 5% Secondary Thoroughfare 2 11 100 5% Col l~ctor 2 11 100 5% Industrial Street 2 12 100 5% Residential Subdivision Street 2 11 66 ~% Maj or Thoroughfare * Inter-County Highway Commission, Livirigston County Road Commission, March, 1971. · a The Livingston County Road Commission also requires a minimum grade of five per cent. - 91 - �other traffic control systems. inter-regional traffic. The Freeway is perhaps the most desirable method of moving However, traffic volumes in many instances will not warrant the expense of providing this type of foci lity. Therefore, some inter-region9I traffic;: must use major thoroughfares for travel. Green Oak Township hc;is the benefit of the U. S. 23 Freeway, an inter-regional four-lane freeway. The Michigan State Highway Department does not foresee any new freeways traversing the Township by 1990. Also, the Plan does not recommend any changes or improvements for the U. S. 23 Freeway. However, the State has suggested that the Lee Road Interchange be partially redesigned to accommodate a proposed new major entrance to the l~land ~ake Recreation Area. Maj or Thoroughfares A major thoroughfare is often multi,-laned to provide for large volumes of traffic, Their main function is to carry large volumes of traffic between major land uses in the Coµnty, such as traffic betw~en residential homes and industrial (employment) ar~as. They also provide access to the freeways and often augment the freeway when traffic volumes between regions are not heavy enough to warrant a freeway. Route continuity is an important fac;:tor. Access to abutting la17d uses should be by means of a frontage or margina I access roads. The major thoroughfare designation on the Comprehensive Development Plan is consistent with the 120 foot major arterials recommended by the Inter-County Highway Plan and adopted qy the Livingston County Road Conimission. 'I 'I II -I • • • • • • •II II II - 92 - II �Major east-west route continuity through the Township is achieved by three road systems. M-36 - Nine Mi le Road - This road system has an interchange with U . S. 23 and provides a continuity of inter-regional east-west traffic flow. It is recommended that the Livings- ton County Road .Commission study the feasibility of eliminating the jog of Nine Mile Road -at East Shore Drive. The Plan indicates a possible road realignment at this location. Winans Lake Road - Silver Lake Road - Doane Road - Ten Mile Road - This road system also has an interchange with U.S. 23 . Again inter-regional east-west traffic flow is accommodated. l. Road re-alignments are proposed at three locations. Winans Lake Road and U.S. 23 Interchange - Align Winans Lake Road and Freeway overpass to permit continuity with Silver Lake Road. 2. , ,Silver Lake Road and Marshall Road -Align Silver Lake Road and Doane Road thereby permitting route continuity . 3. Doane R0od and RushtQn Road - Align Doane Rood and Ten Mile Road to form route continuity . It is recommended that the ~ivingston County Road Commission check the feasibility of these road relocations. - 93 - �,•. •I Grand River Road - Tpis road accommodates inter-regional east-west traffic thravgh the northern portion of the Township. No recommendations are made for route im- provements. Other major thoroughfares indicated on the Plan which permit inter-regional east-west movement I but which lack continuity through the Township are Maltby, Twelve Mile and Eight Mile Roods , Major north-south circulation through the Township is also achieved by three road systems. Whitmore Lake Road - This road ( Old U.S. 23) parallels the west side of U.S. 23, It's present role is generally that of a freeway service drive through the Township. However, Whitmore Lake Road still is an important major County highway providing route continuity with its link with Hartland Road to the north. Marshall Road - Silver Lake Road - This road system is an important central northsouth thoroughfare providing residents access to the 1-96 Freeway. It is recommended that Silver Lake Road beprovidedan uninterrupted flow pattern at its junction with Rushton Road. This proposed realignment is shown on the Plan and shoul<;l be checked by the Livingston County Road Commission for its feasibility. Truck circulation from the American Aggregate Corpora ti on property at this intersection shou Id also be assessErd so as to avoid possible conflict with through traffic. These considerations should be taken into account before this section of Silver Lake Road is hard surfaced . - 94 - I • • •I 'I I ' 'I I I I I �Rushton Road - Kensington Road - This road system also provides important north-south continuous traffic flow for Township residents. No route improvements are suggested for these roads. There are three additional proposed major thoroughfares of a north-south orientation. Pleasant Valley Road should become a major thoroughfare due to its interchange with the 1-96 Freeway. Leman Road from M-36 to Eight Mi le Road is recommended as a major thoroughfare to accommodate greater traffic flows and permit better circulation in the proposed industrial area. Also, Dixboro Road is recommended as a major thoroughfare. Although the continuity of this road is interrupted between Ten Mile Road and the C & 0 Railroad, due to Lyon Lake, it has regional significance towards the south. Secondary Thoroughfares Secondary thoroughfares move traffic on a Township-wide basis and act as principal feeder routes to the major thoroughfares , Their main function is to carry large volumes of traffic and as a secondary function to provide access to abutting properties . There are four roads proposed as secondary thoroughfares , Rickett Road is recommended as a secondary thoroughfare to foci Ii tote north-south travel from the proposed high intensity land uses in the southwest portion of the Township to the City of Brighton. It is also recommended that Rickett Road be extended from Winans Lake Road to Spicer Road when development progresses in this area . - 95 - �Spicer Road is recommended as a secondary thoroughfare to improve circulation between the large industrial area in the southwest and the proposed higher density residential area. The Plan indicates an improved intersection of Spicer Road with M-36. Lee Road is suggested as a secondary thoroughfare due to its interchange with U.S. 23. Although Lee Road presently ends in Section 6 of the Township, its future connection with Hamburg Road, a proposed major arterial in Hamburg Township, should be sought. The Plan illustrates this possible future connection to the west of the Township. Fieldcrest Road parallels the east side of U.S. 23 in the same manner as does Whitmore Lake Road on the west side. However, Fieldcrest Road lacks regional continuity and therefore is significant only to Township residents. This road is recommended as a secondary thoroughfare to service abutting property along the Freeway. Fieldcrest Road will be particularly instrumental in the development of the proposed commercial-recreation area. East Shore Road is shown as a secondary thoroughfare. Its present designation is that of a County Primary Road and mainly serves the residents along the eastern side of Whitmore Lake. This road's junction with Nine Mile Road should be improved. Collectors These roads collect traffic within residential neighborhoods and channel it to the major and secondary thoroughfares. Local property access should be only a secondary function of - 96 - I I I I I I I I I II I I I I 'I I I I 1 �collector streets. The roads proposed as collectors include Hammel Road, Bishop Road, Tuthil I and Spicer Road (east side of U.S. 23 Freeway), Silverside Drive, Peer Road and Academy Drive. These roads wil I experience greater traffic columes than other local roads. The remainder of the existing and future road systems would be designated as local streets to provide direct access to abutting property. The movement of traffic is a secondary function and through traffic should be discouraged from using these streets. Suggested standards for local streets (residential subdivision and industrial streets) are given in Table 18. Railroads Green Oak Township is very adequately served by three railroad lines. railroad crossings in the Township also appears ac;lequate. Signalization at the All crossings are either equipped with flashers or half gates with the only exception being the Marshall Road crossing with the G.T.W . Railroad. This crossing only has a standard cross buck warning which should be replaced with better signal iLation. Conclusions The Comprehensive Development Pl an shows an efficient system of roads by function and recommends several route relocations which, if substantially accomplished, will allow for greater ease of movement of people and goods within and through Green Oak Township. The Plan is practical, being based on the existing transportation system and on proposals of the regional agencies having the power to plan and construct new roads . It is hoped that these agencies will give consideration to the Green Oak Township Comprehensive Development Plan when making decisions affecting traffic movement in or near the Township. - 97 - �COMMUNITY FACILITIES PLAN �II II II II II II • Introduction An urbanizing community has constantly recurring needs for new, enlarged and improved community facilities and services. The proper location and size of these facilities results in cost savings and optimum utilization. It is, therefore, to the benefit of the taxpayer and the municipality that a well-planned program for the development of facilities and services is available to public officials involved in the decision making process. This study is an analysis of basic data concerning the existing community facilities of Green Oak Township. It discusses the ability for these facilities to meet current needs. There are also recommendations relative to satisfying the 1990 needs of Township residents. Existing Schools Three separate school districts, Brighton Area Schools, South Lyon Community Schools, and Whitmore Lake Public Schools, occupy portions of Green Oak Township. Each district has unique characteristics which reflect the characteristics of the population contained within its boundaries. Community planners are primarily concerned with the physical aspects of the school system. These include the location of schools, site size and student capacity. Evalu- ation of the public schools attended by Township students will be made on the basis of these physical aspects. - 99 - �Standards To evaluate the adequacy of schools, standards must be applied. The standards used in this report follow the recommendation of the National Education Association, and are summarized in Tab le 19. It was found that the standards used by the three School Districts serving the Township generally coincide with the national standards. The desirable service area for each type of school, as indicated in Table 19, represents the ideal in school location. Present population in the Township as well as within each school district does not warrant schools spaced at these intervals. Bussing is the only feasible way in collecting the area's dispersed students. As the population increases and becomes more concentrated within the Township, the desirable school location standards should be considered. Inventory and Analysis Table 20 indicates the public schools used by Township residents. Only the Hawkins Elementary ( K-5) and the Green Oak School ( K) are .located within the Township. The majority of the Green Oak students attend schools outside the Township. TABLE 19 DESIRABLE SCHOOL STANDARDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN* School Elementary ( K-5) Intermediate ( 6-8) High School ( 9-12) * Desirable Site Size (Acres) Pupi I Enrollment 5 + 1/100 pupils 15 + 1/100 pupils 25 + 1/100 pupi Is 400 600 700 - 1,000 1, 000 - 2 , 000 Adapted from standards of the National Education Association. - 100 - Desirable Service Area (Walking) 0.5 miles 1.0 miles 2 .0 miles • • • • • • • • •I ,. •I •I I I I I �~ , . ,,. ._,,. ..... ... , . , '~ .. , ~ ,. ,. ~ ... , TABLE 20 PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES SERVING GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN-·, Grades Enrollment Estimated Capacity at l 00% Utilization Site Size Acres BRIGHTON AREA SCHOOLS Hawkins Elementary West Elementary Brighton Middle School Brighton High School K-5 K - 5 6 - 8 9 -12 626 518 855 949 560 550 867 867 K-5 6 - 8 9 -12 340 821 880 340 625 l, 200 K l -6 6 -7 8 -12 86 506 233 377 150 600 240 550 40 12 10 52 ~ ~ SOUTH LYON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS South Lyon Elementary South Lyon Junior High School South Lyon High School 7 (" 20 _j 35 WHITMORE LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Green Oak School Spencer Elementary Whitmore Lake Middle School Whitmore Lake High School * Information from school officials representing each school district, 1971. 6 7 J 17 �• Brighton Area Schools 13 . --Township students attend four schools within the school district. These include Hawkins Elementary, located in Green Oak Township, and West Elementary, Brighton Middle School and Brighton Hig;h School located in the City of Brighton . Generally, these schools have reached or exceeded their capacity. Present site sizes are adequate except for the Middle School which only has 10 acres. Hawkins Elementary School is of particular importance to future Township planning since it is located within the Community. This school is in excel lent condition and its site size of 40 acres is more than adequate for elementary school needs. The school contains 17 classrooms and two kindergarten rooms. Additional facilities include a multi-purpose area, library, cafeteria, two hard of hearing rooms and a mentally handicapped room. The estimated capacity of the Hawkins Elementary School is 560 pupils. Three portable units are presently used to help accommodate the 626 students now attending the school. The Brighton Area School District is presently considering the construction of a new elementary school, the renovation of the present high school to permit use as a second middle school and the construction of a new high school. The estimated cost of this bui !ding program is about 11 million dollars. In addition a $500,000 swimming pool is planned. These facilities are badly needed due to the present overcrowding which exists within its School District. 13 Interview with Assistant Superintendent, Brighton Area Schools, November 1970. - 102 - • • • • •I I I I I I I I I I I I I �South Lyon Community Schools 14 .-- Township students attend the Elementary, _lunior High and High School located in the City of South Lyon with the exception of about 15 Township pupils along Dixboro Road which attend the New Hudson Elementary School. The South Lyon Elementary School and Junior High School both occupy a site of 20 ocres which is below standards for a combined site. The Elementary School is presently at capacity with the Junior High over capacity. Mobile classroom units are used at the Junior High School. The High School site of 35 acres is adequate .for this facility. The High School enrollment is presently below this plant's capacity. Currently, there are no definite plans for building a school in Green Oak Township. How- ever, the School District believes that future growth could justify an elementary school in the Township within the next five years. The South Lyon Community School District intends to bui Id future elementary schools on minimum sites of 14 acres with a maximum capacity of 600 pupils. Whitmore Lake Pub Ii c Schools 15 . -- Township students attend four schools within this School District. These include the Green Oak School, located in Green Oak Township, and the Spencer Elementary, Middle School and High School located on the same site in Whitmore Lake . These schools are presently under their maximum capacity and are al I in 14 Interview with Superintendent, South Lyon Community Schools, November 1970. l5 Interview with Superintendent, Whitmore Lake Public Schools, February 1971. - 103 - �good physical condition. The school park (Elementary, Junior High and High School) in · Whitmore Lake has a site of 17 acres with a 35 acre recreation site nearby which appears adequate. The Green Oak School within the Township was built in 1953 and consists of five classrooms. Only kindergarten children attend the school. Consideration should be given to expanding this school fa·cility in the future. This would necessitate increasing the school's present site of six acres to at least ten acres. Also, the plant facility itself would have to be expanded to meet K-5 or 6 requirements. Presently, the only proposed construction under consideration is a gym, an art room and two or three classrooms added to the High School. Existing Recreation Rising family incomes and more leisure time have increased the demand for recreation facilities. Greater space is needed for recreation and open areas, especially within urbanizing communities. Therefore, the provision of open space for recreation is a recog>iized responsibility of government. Standards A variety of recreation facilities should be provided since each age group has its own special • • • • • • • •I I I I I I I I • - 104 - I I �interests. Table 21 indicates the different types of desirable recreation facilities, for whom they are intended, and the various standards for their development. Inventory and Analysis Green Oak Township is unique in that much of its land is devoted to recreation use. Of particular importance is the regional parklands in the community. Additional facilities are also supplied by the School District and ·private parks. The residents of Green Oak Township find their recreational needs satisfied much more readily than residents of other municipalities due to the close proximity of these facilities. Also, many recreation and leisure time activities are often a part of a homeowner's own property and he need not seek other areas. This is particularly true of the owners of lake property. With the emphasis p!aced on recreation within the Township, current needs are well satisfied. The recreation facilities located within Green Oak Township are next described. School District Foci Ii ties 16 area with playground equipment. . -- The Green Oak School contains a small recreation The equipment is used by the kindergarten children. The Hawkins Elementary School also has playground equipment plus basebal I diamonds and a football practice field . This school's 40 acre site allows for ample expansion of future recreation needs. 16 Information from South Lyon Community Schools and Br ighton Area Schools, February 1971. - 105 - �TABLE 21 DESIRABLE RECREATION STANDARDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN * Recreation Foci Ii ty Acres/I, 000 Population Remarks Desira,b le Site Size (in Acres) Playground These are usually located adjacent to elementary schools to ser~e the entire neighborhood population, especially the pre-school and el.ementary school age groups. 1.5 5 ... 10 Playtield These are usually located adjacent to junior and senior high schools and ore meant to serve the community with active recreation facilities for children of secondary school age (ages 13 to 18). 1.5 15 - 20 Comm1,mi ty Park These are usually located in areas of particular scenic value and are intended as active and passive recreation areas for families. They should include facilities for picnicking pl us active sports such as tennis and swimming. 2.0 25+ a Major Park These are designed for active and passive recreation by large groups and families. Service ar~as for major parks generally overlap municipal boundaries and they ore developed by County, State or Federal bodies or regional authorities. 5.0 * a 100+ Adapted from standards by the National Recreation Association. Smaller community parks may be warranted, when having a passive recreation or scenic function. - 106 - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • �Island Lake Recreation Area 17 . --This large State recreation area presently has about 3,400 acres of land in public ownership, the majority of which is in Green Oak Township. The Huron River winds through the park and is a popular attraction. The park has excellent facilities such as stores, two campgrounds (rustic and organizational camping), picnic sites, ball diamonds and tennis courts, and two bathhouses and beaches. Boats and canoes are also available for rental at the Kent Lake Unit. The park area is well adapted to picnicking, hiking, nature study and scenic tour activity. An outdoor center, which includes 14 cabins, large dining hall, and modern facilities is located in a secluded portion of the park. Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority Lands . --This area, known as the Ore Lake Lands, is located to the west of U.S. 23 in the central portion of the Township. Presently, the land is unimproved for recreation use. The site, which encompasses the Huron River, is easily accessible from the Si Iver Lake Road - U.S. 23 Interchange. Future pork development of this site is anticipated by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority . Other Recreation Foci lities 18 . -- Green Oak Township has additional recreo ti on facilities which are provided by public and private concerns . These facilities are as follows: 17 18 Michigan Department of Conservation, A Comprehensive Planning Study of Island Lake Recreation Area, Lansing, Michigan: June 1968. Interview with Supervisor, Green Oak Township, Michigan: - 107 - November 1970. �1. Sokol Camp 2. Upper Peninsula Club 3. Dibrova Ukranian Park 4. Kyjiv Estate Inc . Park 5. Whitmore Lake Rod and Gun Club 6. U .F. W. Park 7. W. J. Maxey Training School 8. St. Benedicts Seminary 9. Private Subdivision Parks These facilities provide recreation for a certain segment of the population and tend to supplement public facilities. Existing Fire Protection It is a great responsibility of a municipality to protect its citizens and investments from fire damage . The adequacy of fire protection not only affects the degree of safety which is provided but also has a direct relation to property insurance rates in the community. Standards The National Board of Fire Underwriters has provided standards for the desirable service radius of fire stations • These standards are presented in Tab Ie 22. - 108 - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •I �L EE • 6 A MALTBY I'I c::i . Q:: B 1111 ~""~;.,•= :::i,,gi@',, i1~Rft RVATION II 7 t ss,,,,..,,,. ~~,,,,,l<..,,.,~"'" ~·A EA ~~{,:1c:.. 4 . ·. ~ "\ I 12 , A~ K -1 1 ~ - ,, I\,. I I I ~ t->- I ~ y ~T I I- z ::, 0 15 / ~ I 16 14 ;1 TWELVE I I Milt ~·~ ; RD. 1·1 u0 , 1 z <l: _..J 1 I u / )\ ~ I 0 Ii ~ 24 Q:: 4J ~ MILE 2 ~ ~ RDS 30 D M-36 34 35 < RD. EIGHT 36 ~11 2 -------, EIGHT N O R T H FIELD t. Cl ' :i:: V) ::::, MILE TOWN;;IP\ ~\ WAS HTENAW FACILITIES COMMUNITY ElllSTIIIB • ~ .. ■ ~ 0 900 1800 2700 3 6 00 8ASf M JI.P SOURCE ROCKFORD MAPS ,1961 • A N O AERIAL PHOTOGR A PHS , 1965 tl 1970 * C OU N TY 1990 PLAN PROPOSED 0 ELEMENTARY A MIDDLE SCHOOL ~ ~ ** c::i I RD. Q:: I I LIVINGSTON -----------=•-•---=--~-~-.. SCHOOL REGIONAL RECREATION IMPOUNDMENT ( Island Lake Recreation Areo ) SEMI-PUBLIC OR PRIVATE RECREATION * * CIVIC CENTER D FIRE STATION -0- POLICE STATION * 1 2 3 TO BE VACATED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOUNDARIES BRIGHTON AREA SCHOOLS SOUTH LYON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS WHITMORE LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS PLANNING STUDY UNITS LIBRARY SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT November, 1971 GREEN OAK LIVINGSTON TOWNSHIP COUNTY, MICHIGAN 3 �' ' '• • ''-I -~ ~ ,' TABLE 22 FIRE COMPANY DISTRIBUTION STANDARDS GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN* Optimum Service Radius in Miles from Engine, Hose or Engine-Ladder Company District and Required Fire Flow High-Value District (Commercial, Industrial, Institutional) 3/4 Residential District: Where there are buildings in the district three or more stories in height, including tenement houses, apartments or hote Is. 1-1/2 Same as above, but where the I ife hazard is above normal. * For bui Id ings having an average separation of less than 100 feet. 2 For buildings having an average separation of 100 feet or more. 4 American Insurance Association (National Board of Fire Underwriters), Fire Department Standards -- Distribution of Companies and Response to Alarms, Special Interest Bulletin No. 315, January 1963. The service radius of a fire station is influenced by time-distance factors dependent upon the highway network. An efficient transportation system will tend to expand the recommended fire coverage area, whereas a congested system will tend to decrease maximum area coverage. - 109 - �Inventory and Analysis 19 Green Oak Township has one fire hall located on Fieldcrest Road, north of Silver Lake Road. The fire hall was constructed in 1969 and has three bays. Its facilities are in excel lent condition. The Township Fire Department presently consists of 25 volunteer members of which 21 are active. Nine monitors ( red phones) are located in the area which immediately relay fire alarms. Six of these phones are in private homes, one phone in the fire hal I, one phone in a gas station on Lee Road and one phone in a roller rink in Brighton. the Fire Department has five CB radios. In addition, One radio is located in the fire hall, the other four will be installed in the fire fighting rigs. Equipment of the Township Fire Department is ckscribed below: John Bean High Pressure Pumper - 750 gal Ions - especially designed for rural fires - 1971 - excellent condition. International Tanker - 1,640 gallons - 1962 - good condition. G~M.C. Pumper - 1,500 gallons - 1952 - needs extensive repair. l Ward Lafrance Pumper - 1,275 gallons - 40 gallon foam capacity - on loan from the State since Township has large amount of State-owned land 1954 - good condition. Jeep - 180 gal Ions - on loan from State - equipped to fight grass fires 1963 - good condition. 4 Private pickup trucks - 250 gallons - used for grass fires. 19 Interview with Fire Chief, Green Oak Township, Michigan, April 1971. - 110 - �The Township Fire Hall houses all this equipment with the exception of the G.M.C. pumper which is in storage. The four private trucks are located at various locations in the Township. The Department equipment is adequate for present conditions. The Township also has agreements with the City of Brighton, the City of South Lyon, Northfield Township (Whitmore Lake) and Hamburg Township for fire fighting assistance. Green Oak Township is also a member of the Tri-County Fire Protection Association. The Michigan Inspection Bureau rates most municipalities in the State on a ten point scale as to their adequacy of fire protection. Fire insurance rates are determined, based on this evaluation. Those communities with a rate of two pay the lowest fire insurance rates ( no one rating is given), and those with a rate of ten pay the highest insurance rates. The classification is based on a number of factors, including the distance from the fire station, availability of water, number of permanent employed firemen and other variables. Green Oak Township has a classification of ten. A great majority of the fires which occur in the Township are located along Grand River Road between U.S. 23 and Kensington Road. In particular, these fires are concentrated in the subdivisions around Fonda Lake, Island Lake, and Briggs Lake. The homes in this general area were bui It many years ago which increases their fire hazard potential. This area is geographically isolated from other parts of the Township because of the road network. The Township Fire Department's response to these fires is much longer than for other parts of the - 111 - �Township due to the lack of direct route access. The Fire Department is presently con- sidering a substation near this hazard area to alleviate the problem. Presently, fire protection for the Township is adequate with the exception of the above mentioned isolated area. The Land Use Plan for Green Oak Township indicates potential areas of high value development (Commercial or Industrial). The one existing station would be unable to adequately protect these potential areas of growth. Future fire pro- tection coverage is discussed in the Community Facilities Plan. Pol ice Protection Police protection and law enforcement is another vital service that municipal government must provide. It is of great importance that adequate police protection is available in a community, especially if that community has high value industrial and commercial establishments requiring protection and highways carrying higL volumes of traffic that must be patrolled. Standards No set standards for police protection are given because of the high number of variables that affect a police department (e.g., crime rate, amount and type of roads that must be patrolled). Therefore, various factors affecting police protection in each community must be weighed. - 112 - • •II II II I •I I I I I �' ' ' ' '-~ ," p Inventory and Analysis 21 Green Oak Township has a Police Department with two full-time officers, three part-time men and 15 auxiliary men. The three part-time men are used on weekends only. Present police headquarters are located in the Township Hall on Silver Lake Road. The Department has one patrol car equipped with a State Police Radio. Another patrol car is presently on order. The Township Hall also is equipped with a State Police Radio. The Michigan State Police Department (Brighton Post) is located adjacent to the northern border of the Township on Grand River Road. They are on cal I if necessary. The Livingston County SheriH's Department is also on call if the need arises. The recently expanded Township Police Department is adequate for the present Township popl./lation. However, there is a need for more room for their operations than presently available ot the Town~hip Hal I. Current problems in the Township include enforcing of hunting restrictions, and 11 run-away 11 boys from the Maxey School. As with fire protection, increased development of Township land in high value uses will necessitate greater police protection. Also, increased development and use of public recreation lands in the Township wi 11 place increased demands for weekend law enforcement. Recommendation on police protection for the Township will be made in the Community Facilities Plan. 21 Information from Supervisor and Police Chi~f, Green Oak Township, Michigan, November 1970 and Apri I 1971 . - 113- �Library Fae i Ii ti es Library foci I ities have an important place in the culture of a municipality. A I ibrary provides an informational source for everyone in the ·community, including private citizens and cultural and educational organizations. Standards The American Public Health Association has recommended that one branch library be provided for each 25,000 population in a community. A library should be located within reasonable proximity of residential ·areas so that a sizable number of children and adults will be within walking distance. Inventory and Analysis 22 At present, there is no permanent I ibrary located within Green Oak Township. Township residents use library facilities located in the City of Brighton and the City of South Lyon. There is no charge to Green Oak residents for these services. lhe libraries in the City of Brighton and the City of South Lyon are both members of the Washtenaw County Library System. The Brighton Library maintains a stock of over 10,000 volumes and has an average circulation of about 3,500 to 4,000 books per month. The 22 Information from Librarian, Brighton Library, Brighton, Michigan: April 1971 and Librarian, South Lyon Library, South Lyon, Michigan: Apri I 1971. - 114 - • • • •II •II • • • • • • • �South Lyon Library has an inventory of about 15,000 to 18,000 books and an average circulation of about 3, 100 books per month. Use of library facilities by Green Oak Township residents was considered to be very good by both libraries . It is estimated that these library facilities will continue to meet the needs of Green Oak Township citizens for some time. The eventual creation of a Township library will be discussed in the Community Facilities Plan. Local Administration Administration buildings are very frequently focal points within a community. Many of the local transactions, as well as pl,lblic meetings, are carried on in these buildings. As development increases, the administrative structure must expand to meet increased demands for effective and efficient government. Stcmdards The determination of the location for administrative offices depends a great deal on the particular community. Of primary importance is general accessibility to the public. In a community the size of Green Oak Township with a population that is distributed throughout the area, it is desirable to group administrative functions in one area, commonly called a civic center. - 115 - �Inventory and Analysis 23 The Green Oak Township Hall is located 011 the north side of Silver Lake Road and is approximately in the geographic center of the Township. The original building was constructed in 1856 and is presently used as a public meeting room. Kitchen and lavatory facilities were added to the main building in 1950. The present office space 'M:IS completed in 1968. The Township Hall's office space is used by the Supervisor, Clerk and Treasurer. The Police Department also utilizes office space. Generally, office space is adequate, but there appears to be a need for separate foci I ities for the Supervisor and Police Chief. There are no immediate plans for expansion of the administrative offices. As population increases in Green Oak Township, it will be necessary to increase the administrative space. Therefore, on a long range basis, space within the present building will not be sufficient. Recommendations for an eventual new administrative center are in- cluded in the Community Facilities Plan. Utilities Water and sewer facilities are strong inducements to all types of development within a municipality. Before concentrated development occurs, utility systems of this nature 23 Information from Supervisor, Green Oak Township, Michigan, November 1970. II - 116 - • �•J • '-~ ''~ ' mtJst be provided . Water Existing Sources.--At the present time all the water supply of Green Oak Township is from wells. All the wells are private with the exception of three Township wells which service the Saxony Subdivision . The Maxey Training School has a private !ocalized system. Water resources in the glacial deposits underlying Green Oak Township are good. Potential Foci I ities. -- Current plans of the Detroit Metro Water Department do not include Green Oak Township. 24 However, if sufficient demand for water was generated in an outlying area such as the Township, then water could be provided. There are two existing water transmission mains lying to the east of Green Oak Township. One water main is on Eight Mi le Road and ends at Sheldon Road in the center of Northvi I le. The other is on Fourteen Mi le Road at Newburgh Road. This main services, at the present, is in the eastern ha If of Novi. Wixom is now negotiating with the Detroit Metro Water Department for water services. 24 Interview with Engineer, Detroit Metro Water Department, (Detroit, Michigan: March 1971 ) • - 117 - �The Detroit Metro Water Department's construction plans for 1972 to 1980 include a proposed storage reservoir, repumping and booster station on the west side of Wrxom. A 96 inch transmission main is also proposed which would run north and south from this station. It would appear feasible that upon completion of this facility, Green Oak Town- ship could be served with water if there was enough development along a proposed transmission line extension to justify water service. Another possibility for water service has been proposed by Livingston County. 25 This ; Plan envisions the extension of existing facilities to include larger service areas. The proposed Brighton, Chain of Lakes, and Whitmore Lake Service areas would include portions of Green Oak Township. The extension of water service from the City of South Lyon is also possible. Sewers Existing Foci lities. -- Individual septic tanks are currently used by the majority of homes in Green Oak Township. Only the east and west side of Whitmore Lake is served by a municipal system as is the Maxey Training School. This sewage is treated at a modern plant located in Section 31 of Green Oak Township which is owned and operated by Northfield Township. 26 It is a trickling filter plant, built in 1964 with an installed capacity of 250,000 gallons per day. 25 26 • •I I I I I I Commonwealth Associates, Inc., Comprehensive Area Wide Water and Sewer Plan, Livingston County, Michigan (Jackson, Michigan: 1969). Ibid. - 118 - I �'• • • • • •J -~ ~ ' ' Potential Facilities The Livingston County Sewer Plan proposes the extension of existing sewage foci I ities and the construction of various lagoon systems. with the proposed water service areas. The service areas of these foci lities coincide Extension of the present sewage facilities from the City of South Lyon is also possible . Another possibility is the provision of sewage foci lities on an area basis. SELCOG ( Southeast Livingsh;:>n County Counci I of Governments) is presently studying sol id waste needs of their area. The SELCOG area consists of the City of Brighton, Ge11oa, Hamburg and Green Oak Townships. The provision of sewage facilities on an area basis would lessen the cost to the individual municipalities. Community Facilities Plan The Commcmity Facilities Plan is based on the long-range needs of Green Oak Township residents for public facilities . Adequate and efficient community facilities affect the growth potential of a municipality in that they attract population and investment by providing services to its people and greater security for developers. Previous studies by the Toymship Planning Commission and the Planning Consultant were needed as a basis for the Community Facilities Plan. The Population Study projected the 1990 Township population to 22,000 persons. analyzed earlier in this report. Existing public facilities serving Township residents were Utilizing the standards for public facilities, the need for - 119 - �additional services is determined for the expected 1990 Township population. The location of these facilities is directly related to the Land Use Plan which directs growth so that the population will be concentrated within the Township. This allows a more efficient system of public facilities to be developed. The Community Facilities Plan, Map 3, shows the existing public facilities .in the Township and indicates the general location of public facilities needed by 1990. Public officials hove the opportunity to purchase or reserve land in these areas before the need occurs and the price of land increases. Planning Study Units The Community Facilities Plan is based upon a delineation of the Township into planning study units, each of which has been analyzed as to future population characteristics and specific facility needs. The planning study units basically include those areas shown on the Land Use Pion as low, medium, and high density residential uses. Eight planning study units are delineated in the Community Facilities Plan, as indicated on Map 3. The boundaries of each unit are influe~ced by existing school district boundaries, existing and proposed road networks, and existing planned non-residential uses. Since the expected 1990population of Green Oak Township does not represent the population at total development, the planning study units are flexible and may be adjusted as changes in land development warrant. Community facil _ities planning has, therefore, been accomplished with consideration given to further subdividing of the planning study units if necessary. II - 120 - II II �I • • • ' ' '-II • ,' Public control over fvture neighborhoods is primarily effectuated through subdivision regulations which do not provide a direct means for developing neighborhood areas, they are quite adequate in encouraging such growth in most instances. Responsible subdividers realize that a good neighborhood environment with adequate community services has values that can be measured in dollars and cents. School Plan The objectives of the School Plan ore to indicate the general location and sizes of schools necessary to serve the educational needs of the expected 1990 population of Green Oak Township. The Plan uses the d!;lsirable school standards presented earlier in this report and indicates individual school district standards. Expected School Population and School Needs The estimated number of students for the Township was computed based on the expected 1990 Township population. Of this population, approximately 30 per cent or about 6,000 persons can be expected to att~nd sch9ol. 27 It is estimated that 3, 102 persons or about 47 per cent of the total school popvlation will be in elementary schools (K - 5); about 1,518 persons or about 23 per cent of the population will be junior high or middle school pupils (6 - 8); and about l, 980 persons or about 30 per cent wi 11 be of high school age. These figures represent the total projected school population in Green Oak Township by 1990 based on a K 5 - 3 - 4 school plan. The probable attendance of some of these children in parochial schools such as St. Patricks in the City of Brighton is not considered, owing to the difficulty of determining suc;:h an estimate for privately operated schools. 27 TALUS Data modified by Brighton School Surveys, 1970. - 121 - �Based on the expected 1990 school population by grade distribution, Green Oak Township could support six elementary schqols, two middle schools and one high school. However, the Township is divided by three school districts which directly influences school location decisions. The service areas of these school districts and the probable 1990 population distribution within them in relation to the expected 1990 Township population distribution is considered in the final assessment of Green Oak school needs. Criteria for School Location Efficiency, safety and economy in transportation are important criteria in determining the proper location for a prospective school. If population is sufficiently concentrated, elementary schools may best be located in the center of a neighborhood unit rather than on a major road. This would aliow children to walk to school without crossing a major road. However, the topography of the Township and the anticipated residential densities will dictate a continued dependence on bussing. Therefore, elementary school locations with the Township are best situated near paved secondary roads. For secondary schools (middle or hi_g h) centrality to the population served is important since bussing costs are reduced. Due to the dependence on vehicular transportation, secondary schools are best located on major roads. The location of schools in Green Oak Township is based on the recommendations of Land Use and Trafficway Plans. Whitmore Lake Public Schools Only one planning study unit is included in this school district. This basically incorporates that area around Whitmore Lake. The area to the west of U.S. 23 which is within the - 122 - �school district boundary is generally shown as industrial on the Comprehensive Development Plan and therefore is not included for school foci lity planning. Elementary School R~commendations -- The existing Green Oak School (K) should be expanded to accommodate elementary school needs .for the west side of the Whitmore Lake area. An additional elementary school located near East Shore and Seven Mile Roads in Northfield Township could be built to service the east side of Whitmore Lake if the 1990 population so dictates. Middle School and High School Recommendations -- Expected 1990 Township population in the Whitmore Lake Public School district would not warrant an individual middle school or high school. The present Whitmore Lake Middle School and High School location wi II adequately meet Township needs. Brighton Area Schools Five planning study units are included in this school district. Two planning study units are located on the west side of U. S . 23 with three planning study units located on the east side of this Freeway. Green Oak Township lies in the south central and southeast portion of th is Schoo I District. Elementary School Recommendations -- The continued utilization of the Hawkins Elementary School plus the construction of two new elementary schools should fulfill the needs of the Township's 1990 population in this school district. - 123 - �The planning study unit in which the Hawkins Elementary School is located could actually warrant two elementary schools if the area was fully developed. This is dependent upon ful I residential development of the Fisher property which comprises a major porf-ion of land in this study unit. If such development did occur, an elementary school would be necessary as part of this development. The planning study unit which incorporates the land between Spicer and Winans Lake Road on the west side of the U. S. 23 Freeway is planned for medium and high residential uses. Upon ful I development of this area in such land uses, an elementary school could be supported. The planning study unit, however, conflicts with the Brighton areo schools and Whitmore Lake Public School boundaries. A slight change in this boundary may be necessary dependent on school bussing economics. The Community Facilities Plan indicates a Rroposed elementary school on Musch Road. The Tri-Lake (Fonda, Island, and Briggs Lake) planning study unit could not support an elementary school by itself. Therefore, an elementary school is not proposed for this area. It is suggested that the children from the Tri -Lake area continue to attend the Hawkins Elementary School or a possible new elementary school in Brighton Township near Pleasant Valley Road. The planning study unit between Nine Mile Road and Silver Lake Road to the east of the U. S. 23 Freeway could support an elementary school by 1990. This school would also serve the planning study unit enclosed by Bishop Road and homes in the northeast portion - 124 - • • •II �' ' ' ' '-II -II ' ' of the Township. The proposed elementary school is shown on the P Ian with an intended location near Silver Lake Road and Marshall Road. Middle School and High School Recommendations -- It is suggested that the 40 acre site of the Howkins School include a new middle school. The expected middle school population around the Ore Lake area in Hamburg Township could support such a facility by 1990. The present 40 acre site could accommodate both schools based on National and Brighton Area School District standar.d s. The expected 1990 high school population of <;;reen Oak Township within the Brighton School Dis~rict could not solely support a high school. The location of a new high school within the school district will be based on centrality to population concentrations. Due to the location of Green Oak Township within the school district and the fragmentation of Township residential area~, it would appear doubtful that a future high school would be located in the Township. Therefore, 1990 Township High School needs will probably be met by the high school within the City of Brighton or a new high school located in an adjoining area such as Brighton Township. South Lyon Community Schools Two planning study units are located in the South Lyon Community School Disrrict. One planning study unit includes Sections 22 and 27 and the west half on Section 23 and 26. The other planning unit includes Sections 24 and 25, and the east half of Sections 23 and 26. - 125 - �Elementary School Recommendations -- By 1990, the expected elementary s_chool population in Green Oak Township in the South Lyon School District could support two elementary schools. The first elementary school could be built near Ten Mile Road and Rushton Road. This school would service the existing population concentrations around the lakes in the central portion of the Township and would be ideally located in relation to the remainder of the South Lyon S~hool District ·population in the Township. As population increased within the area, another elementary school cou Id be supported. This elementary school is shown off of Peer Road and north of Ten Mile Road as a possible future site. Middle School and High School Recommendations -- The South Lyon Community School District incorporates a large area. Green Oak Township only occupies a sma1.I western portion of the School District. The present middle school and high school are within a half mile from the l'ownship boundary. It is anticipated that the present middle school and high school facilities located in the City of South Lyon will continue to serve Green Oak Township students by 1990 . . Elementary School Site Standards New elementary schools ar~roposed for the Brighton School District and the South Lyon School District. The Brighton Area School District presently uses the site standards of ten acres plus one acre for each 100 pupi Is. Minimum and maximum enrollments range from 500 to 550 pupils. Therefore, site construction would require about 15 acres for an elementary school. The South Lyon Community School District - 126 - �has a minimum standard of eight acres plus an additional acre for each 100 pupi Is of predicted maximum enrollment. Thus, the minimum site sjze for an elementary school of 600 pupi Is would be 14 acres. The maximum capacity for any future elementary school in the South Lyon District is set at 600. It is suggested that the bui Iding of these new elementary schools in the Township by 1990 be in conjunction with recreation areas. By developing the school and recreation area together with each other, the school may assume the additional role of a neighborhood recreation center. The recreation facilities would then be available as school play areas and as neighborhood recreation areas after school hours and during summer months as a joint school-community effort. The combined sites eliminate the duplication of expensive recreation areas and facilities, while encouraging joint participation meeting neighborhood needs. An elementary school-park concept would require a site of J 5 acres and include both active and passive types of recreation. This site requirement of such a complex coincides with both School District standards for an elementary school . Recreation Plan Public attitudes towards the provision of recreational facilities have undergone considerable change in the last few decades. Due to the pressures or urbanization, more leisure time for workers, and a generally higher standard of living, citizens have come to demand and expect more recreational activities. These factors are also heavily influential in the - 127 - �residential development around many of the Township's lakes and expansion of public recreation areas. Since recreation is integral to the type of living that most Township residents enjoy, no major expansion in recreation areas are proposed. The Community Facilities Plan, therefore, recommends the current facilities be kept as part of the recreation scheme. However, Map 3 does indicate the proposed impoundment of the Huron River in the Island Lake Recreation Area and the additional land acquisition required to round out the Park boundary. Also, it is urged that active and passive recreation areas be provided in an elementary school - park concept for proposed elementary schools in the Township. Fi re Protec ti on Pl an Fire protection affects the safety of the residents as well as their fire insurance rates. The service radius of a fire station is important in providing good fire protection. The service radius of the Township's present station could not efficiently cover the extent and type of development planned by 1990. Therefore, three additional fire stations are recommended to provide adequate fire protection for the Township. The existing fire station and the three proposed foci lities are located on Map 3. The existing fire station, located on Fieldcrest Road north of Silver Lake Road, should adequately service the central portion of Green Oak Township by 1990 . Its service - 128 - I I I I I I I I I I I I �' ' ' ' ' ' ''-~ p area would include the nearby proposed commercial - recreation area, the higher intensity commercial and residential uses adjoining the Silver Lake Road Interchange and the majority of the low density residential uses to the northwest and southeast of this station. The Land Use Plan proposes additional development of commercial, industrial and multiple housing uses in the remainder of the Township. To service these uses, as well as sections of residential development, three additional fire stations are proposed. These three proposed stqtions are located on Map 3. The proposed fire station locations are related to degree of high value development, according to the Land Use Plan, efficient transportation means according to the Trafficway Plan, and current area coverage problems of the existing fire station. The need for these three stations is described below: a) Proposed Fire Station #2 - This fire station should be constructed first and located near Grand River Road and Pleasant Valley Road. This station would be ideally situated to service the area between Grand River Road and the 1-96 Freeway which is physically isolated from Green Oak Township and Brighton Township. This area presently contains Tri-Lake residential area, industrial ·~ses, apartments, commercial uses, and a hospital. Proposed future uses include the expansion of industrial uses along Grand River Road and the expansion of multiple uses around Woodruff Lake. - 129 - �Also, the Island Lake Recreation Area to the south could be served by the station as could future residential subdivisions north of the 1-96 Freeway. It is suggested that the station be a joint venture between Green Oak and Brighton Townships. The station should also be located near Pleasant Valley Road which is central to this isolated area and provides access across the 1-96 Freeway to the north. b) Proposed Fire Station #3 - This fire station should be built when needed based on degree of development in its service area. The location of this station is suggested on Nine Mile Road near the U.S. 23 Freeway Interchange. This proposed station would basically protect the planned industrial area in the southwest portion of the Township and the Whitmore Lake residential area. The station would also aid in the protection of the higher intensity uses between Spicer Road and Winans Lake Road and residential uses to the east of the U.S. 23 Freeway. c) Proposed Fire Station #4 - This fire station is suggested near the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Rushton Road. This station would basically cover the eastern portion of the Township which is presently served by the City of South Lyon Fire Department. Again, the construction of this station would depend upon the degree of development in its service area. The three additional fire stations would be able to provide Green Oak Township with - 130 - ■ ■ I I I •I I I �complete "in-house 11 fire coverage by 1990. However, the cost of present agreements with adjoining communities for fire protection service must be carefully weighed against costs of new Township fire station construction. Also, the building of additional fire stations and more fire fighting equipment will not in itself substantially lower the Township's fire insurance rating. The provision of municipal water and area coverage with fire hydrants is necessary before the insurance rates are greatly improved. Police Protection Plan Green Oak Township presently has its own police force. Due to the expected influence of high value residential, commercial, industrial and regional parkland development by 1990, the Township's police force will need further expcnsion. Such expansion will require facilities over and above those now provided at the present Township Hall. It is suggested that police facilities be provided as part of the proposed Township Civic Center which will be discussed later in this report. Police facilities would require a site of at least two acres so that additional facilities could be provided when necessary. Library Plan Libraries play an important role in a community and their proper site location is important if they are to adequately perform their function. Presently, residents of Green Oak Town- ship utilize libraries located in the City of Brighton and the City of South Lyon. It is suggested that, when the Township population reaches the 22,000 people expected by 1990, library facilities should be provided by the Township. - 131 - �A member library of the Washtenaw County Library System is recommended to serve the residents of Green Oak Township. Such a facility should be centrally located within the community so as to be readily accessible to al I residents. It is suggested that provision be made at the site of the proposed Township Civic Center for an eventual inclusion of a member library. This library location would be within reasonable proximity to higher density residential development anticipated for the Township. Also, the location is at a major highway intersection (Silver Lake Road Interchange) thereby providing easy access by automobile. The site should provide adequate off-street parking, either separate or in conjunction with the administrative functions of the Civic Center. Local Administration Plan The analysis of the present Township Hall earlier in this report indicated an increasing need for governmental office space within the Township. Considering the extent of the Township's land areas and relatively small population, it is recommended that eventual new administrative offices to serve Township residents be grouped in a central location near the U.S. 23 Freeway. The Plan recommends that a site on Si Iver Lake Road adj a cent the U.S. 23 Freeway Interchange be set aside for a Civic Center. This center should include administrative offices, an assembly hall, meeting rooms, a police station and a library. A site of at least ten acres is suggested for the Township Civic Center. The proposed site, as shown on Map 3, is presently under Catholic ownership . The site offers the aesthetic advantage - 132 - I I I ■ ■ ■ �of the Huron River. Since the Civic Center should present a positive three dimensional image to residents and visitors, the arrangements of buildings and landscaping in relation to the natural river development should be carefully analyzed prior to the construction of the Civic Center. Utilities Plan The primary concern with the provision of utilities in a developing community is that they typically function as a catalyst to land development. When municipal water and sewers are provided, the intensity of development increases since land can be used more intensively. Therefore, municipal water and sewer systems can be used to direct growth in a community. The provision of municipal sewer and water foci Ii ties is presently in the study stage as concerns Green Oak Township. The answer to any specific utility system will depend largely upon the result of the current studies. Long-range planning of these major utilities is as important for the Township as the planning for schools, industrial areas, and commer~ial areas. It is recommended that provision of future utility systems in the Township be based on the Land Use Plan as to areas of priority. These priority areas are as follows: l. Existing lake property development. 2. Extensive high intensity development (industrial, commercia I and medium and high density residential uses). 3. Low density residential development. - 133 - �The priority of areas for water and sewer facilities as generally outlined above should be undertaken _to properly channel growth in the Township. The orderly admittance of these . facilities into a community physically limits and directs growth and can therefore be used as an effective tool in overall community development. Conclusions The Community Facilities Plan has outlined the type and extent of community facilities desired to properly service the residents of Green Oak Township. Good community facilities enhance a community and raise its standards of I iving as wel I as provide greater security to investors in the community. The Plan is based on future anticipated population requirements; therefore, not all of the proposals must be immediately e'ffectuated, but may be programmed to coincide with fiscal ability and future need. It is recommended, however, that land requirements be met by purchase or options as soon as possible to assure low purchase prices and availability. With careful planning and capital programming and the cooperation of the various departments of government and the public, the community facilities needed by Green Oak Township may be provided to the extent and in the locations desirable for optimum efficiency in use and operation. - 134 - • • • •I �COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN �Comprehensive Development Pion The individual plans of the Comprehensive Development Plan (e.g . , the Land Use Plan, the Trqfficway Plan, and the Community Facilities Plan) have been related to each other after preliminary study and review. They have been integrated into one plan as illustrated on Map 4, entitled Comprehensive Development Pion. As has been discussed previously, the recommendations of the Comprehensive Development Pion are of a long-range, general and flexible nature. Changing population and economic conditions wi 11 affect recommend~tions if the individual plan elements, which in turn will affect the Comprehensive Development Plan. - 135 - �)::i){{\f\/···•i: :: 35 '-·-,j=it·.......; "-~ Ir WWW I 56"7( NORTHFIELD I -- ·- - MILE RO ' ~ 36 ' TOWNSHIP\ TOWNSHIP\ ~· .... ~_,' ON WASHTENAW ...• * ** RURAL ESTATE - AGRICULTURAL LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL OFFICE COMMERCIAL RECREATION -· COMMERCIAL RETAIL ~ SC ALE ~ 900 1100 2700 INDUSTRIAL ELEMENTARY FREEWAY MIDDLE SCHOOL MAJOR THOROUGHFARE LIBRARY CIVIC SECONDARY THOROUGHFARE ... ,.,.,.,... COLLECTOR • CENTER FIRE STATION POLICE STATION FREEWAY INTER CHANGE - • - • - EXTRACTIVE ~~ REGIONAL PARKLAND F' E ET ,,oo IASf MAP sou1tc:c · IIOCICf"OltO MAPS ,19 &1 ANO A£111AL PHOTOGIIAPKS,1941!1 II 1970. COMPREHENSIVE PARKINS/ROGERS & ASSOCIATES/INC. planning & urban renewal consultants 01 ~ SCHOOL 1· . SSWN I y i COUNTY DETROIT DEVELOPMENT GREEN PLAN OAK LIVINGSTON November, 1971 TOWNSHIP COUNTY, MICHIGAN 4 �', J J J I r r r r r r r r r r r APPENDIX �Dear Resident of Green Oak Township: The Township of Gr~en Oak Planning Commission is in the process of conducting planning sh ,dies which will lead to the preparation of a Township Master Plan governing future development of Green Oak Township. In order to assist us in making a determination of the growth potential of Gree·· Oak Township , we need to know certain information which is not readily available to us. ' ' 'IJ You, the present residents of Green Oak Township, con assist us greatly by answering the questions contained in this questionnaire. Your assistance in this regcrd will indirectly benefit you because it will help us come to a more rational and objective conclusion as to the growth potential of Green Oak Township. The School District is cooperating in this survey and this information will be of value to it. This information will help to develop a reasonable future land use plan and consequently enable the Township to plan in advance for necessary improvements and possible expansion of school foci lities. Ill Ill Ill Return to one of two places: I. Public School 2. Green Oak Township Hall Sincerely yours, /17~/3~ Marjorie Berz, Recording Secretary , , Ill J , , , , , Sta pl~ Staple �GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP (To be Filled in by Head of Household) 1. DO YOU LIVE IN GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP? 2. EMPLOYMENT: Yes No FAMILY ANNUAL INCOME RANGE: Under 5,000 9,001 Over Full Time Port Time Unemploy~d Retired 3. 6, 7. PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: (Choose that which most closely describes your place of employment.) Convenience to work Desi re for rura I environment Place for retirement Good place to raise family Low taxes Original Homestead Housing Availability Good schools Livingston County (e.g., Brighton Howell, Fowlerville, Hartland, etc, ) Washtenaw County (e.g., Ann Arbor, Ypsi Ianti, etc,) 8. Under 5 years old Between 5 and 13 Between 14 and 17 Detroit 9. Lansing Area Other (Name) DISTANCE FROM PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: 0- 6miles 7-12miles 13 - 20 miles 21 - 30 miles 31 - 50 miles Over 50 miles 5. 10. () () ( ) () () ( ) () () () () () () ,. ,. () ( ) () I CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING MATTERS TO BE OF MOST IMPORTANCE. NUMBER IN ORDER Of IMPORTANCE (1, 2, 3, etc.) WHAT KINDS OF DEVELOPMENT POLICY WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE TOWNSHIP FOLLOW: NUMBER IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE (1,2,3, etc.) Don't care Part-Time -- () Male Female Between 18 and 44 Between 45 end 64 65 and over Encourage business and industry in planned centers Encourage a balance of residential growth with business and industry Desire the Township ta develop as a residential community primarily TYPE OF OCCUPATION: Full-Time Female Air and Water Pollution Control Availability af Public Source af Water Public Sewage Treatment Garage and Refuse Col Iecti on and Di sposa I Qua Ii ty Rood System throughout Township Preservation of Open Space for Future Park and Recreation Areas Quality Schaal Buildings and Teaching Staff · Preserve Pub Ii c Access to Bodi es of Water in the Township Macomb County (e.g., G.M. Tech Center, Warren, Sterling Heights, etc.) 4. HOW MANY PERSONS OF THE FOLLOWING AGE LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE? Male Oakland County (e.g., Pontiac, Southfield, Wixom, Novi, Farmington, S. Lyon, New Hudson, etc.) Wayne County (e.g., Livonia, Westland, Dearborn, etc.) 5,000 9,000 15,000 15,000 WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE IN GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP? (Choose that which most closely approximates your reason ) Green Oak Township Genesee County (e.g., Flint, Fenton, Grant Blanc, etc.) S - Professional or Technical Workers (Teachers, Engineer, Draftsman, Clergymen, etc,) Managers, Officials and Proprietors (Superintendents, Business Owners, etc.) Clerical (Secretaries, Bank Tellers, Insurance Adjusters, Office Help, Clerks, etc,) Sales Workers (Real Estate Agents, Workers, Gas Station Attendants. ) Craftsmen and Foremen (Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers, Metal and Stone Workers , Mechanics, Die Makers, Millwrights, Pattern Makers , TV Repairmen, etc.) Operators (Bus Drivers, Truck Drivers, Deliverymen, Sailors ) Laborers (Cor Workers, Truck Drivers, Assembly Line Workers ) Others: Please list. 11. NATIONAL TRENDS IN HOME BUILDING INCREASINGLY INCLUDE MIXED DEVELOPMENT OF SINGLE FAMILY AND MULTIPLE FAMILY. DO YOU CONCUR WITH THIS TREND FOR GREEN OAK TOWN SHIP? Yes Note: Na In view of the fact that school children are cir c ul a ti ng this questionnaire, it is possible that a family may receive more than one questionnaire. a fa mi I z sh o u I d _re t_u r r,_ _<)_ n_l_y In such cases, one q u est i on n a i re . �SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFORMATION GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN* Brighton School District QUESTION Whitmore Lake School District South Lyon School District Total Employment 3 1 27 0 3 0 70 2 2 1 186 3 8 2 Total 94 30 75 199 Green Oak Township Livingston County Washtenaw County Genesee County Oakland County Detroit Wayne County Macomb County Lansing Area Other Total 8 19 17 1 24 13 13 2 0 2 99 2 1 21 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 29 7 7 12 1 35 7 14 0 0 1 17 27 50 2 60 "2 29 2 0 3 84 m 24 7 17 21 22 4 95 4 5 9 6 4 0 28 18 12 19 8 15 2 74 46 24 45 35 41 6 197 16 13 4 7 29 5 15 2 9T 6 2 2 0 13 1 2 3 29 14 14 3 2 23 5 10 3 74 36 29 9 9 65 11 27 8 194 7 24 57 5 93 2 7 14 6 29 2 10 43 12 67 11 41 114 23 1"§G 66 192 26 168 21 1 474 10 51 6 45 14 0 30 141 46 110 28 3 358 106 384 78 323 63 4 958 Full Time Port Time Unemployed Retired 89 l Place of Employment .. .. .. II .. Distance From Work 0 - 6 Miles 7 - 12 Miles 13 - 20 Miles 21 - 30 Miles 31 - 50 Miles Over 50 Miles Total Type of Occupoti on (Full Time) Professional or Technical Managers, Officials and Proprietors Clerico I Soles Workers Craftsmen and Foremen Operators Laborers Others Total Family Income Range Under $5,000 5, 000 - 9,000 9,001 - 15,000 Over 15,000 Total Age Distribution (Mol e and Fe ma le ) Under 5 years old Between 5 and 13 Between 14 and 17 Between 18 and 44 Between 45 and 64 65 an d O ve r Total m •· Park ins, Rogers & Associates, Inc , , Green Oak Township Family Questionnaire, 1970. �Planning Consultant Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc. Plarr:ng and Urban Renewal Consultants 925 Book Building Detroit, Michigan 48226 Maurice F. Parkins, AIP, ASLA, PCP Brandon M. Rogers, AIP, PCP Gerald J. Mears, AIP, PCP John F. Chihan, AIP, PCP George A. Peek, AIP, P Robert L. Stockman, P. E. , PCP Edward J . Fi sch President Executive Vice President Manager of Planning Manager of Urban Renewal Manager of Special Projects Manager of Environmental Planning Project Planner � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wyckoff Planning and Zoning Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Planning & Zoning Center (Lansing, Mich.) (Organization) Wyckoff, Mark A. Description An account of the resource Municipal master plans and zoning ordinances from across the state of Michigan, spanning from the 1960s to the early 2020s. The bulk of the collection was compiled by urban planner Mark Wyckoff over the course of his career as the founder and principal planner of the Planning and Zoning Center in Lansing, Michigan. Some additions have been made to the collection by municipalities since it was transferred to Grand Valley State University. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Michigan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960/2023 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/870">Planning and Zoning Center Collection (RHC-240)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">No Copyright - United States</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Comprehensive plan publications Master plan reports Zoning--Michigan Zoning--Maps Maps Land use--planning Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-240 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Green-Oak-Twp_Comprehensive-Development-Plan_1971 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1971-12-15 Title A name given to the resource Comprehensive Development Plan 1990 Description An account of the resource The Comprehensive Development Plan 1990 for Green Oak Township was prepared by Parkins, Rogers & Associates, Inc. and presented to the Green Oak Township Board and Planning Commission on December, 15, 1971. Subject The topic of the resource Comprehensive plan publications Green Oak Township (Mich.) Livingston County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/870">Planning and Zoning Center Collection (RHC-240)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4b0b59501a12770701e55d02646c117a.pdf 4d888ae142d4fae216c75e5e995cd18b PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Exercitationes veteris artis Aristotelis [folium 124] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_124Parreut1494 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Parreut, Johannes Description An account of the resource One leaf from Exercitationes veteris artis Aristotelis by Johannes Parreut. Printed in Nuremberg by Friedrich Creussner on May 29, 1494. [GW M29479; ISTC ip00121000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Nuremberg: Friedrich Creussner Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1494 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ef7fbfe0b9779c9fc2a36ef89888f2c7.mp4 58d4ffa3216b069047733e0fc2960793 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/02866acb1ce9c1da7dc5f827b8623ca3.pdf b7310fae9324fd3e901b037d81eb6b83 PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Richard Paschke Date: 1984 Part: 1 of 3 [Barbara] You’re right at the beginning because you need to hold that in front of your face. It's called white balancing; it gets the camera to read whites correctly. Okay, you’re done. Yeah, that looks nice. If we could begin where we began before. You were at James at the beginning, and how did we manage to not just use the name William James like someone would use, you know, Woodrow Wilson High School, but really to become Jamesian? [Paschke] Well, I think there were a number of things involved. One was that we had already planned for us a synoptic lecture series with people that were so various that all of us had to scuffle around, and read, and learn about these people, and then we had to interact with these people. And it forced us outside of our training. It really pushed us in all kinds of ways. So, I think in that way, by “Jamesian” it means to have a hunger for knowledge and a non-departmentalized kind of a style of thinking that just the synoptic lecture series forced us to do that. That's how we started that first fall, with almost every other week having speakers come in and talking to people from all over the country that we never would have talked to before, I think. There were lots of incentives to break categories, to look at things in a broad way, since we were given, what we thought, was a blank check to create a college and do the best thing we could for a liberal arts, and sciences, and liberal education. Again, I think that pushed people beyond themselves, to broader perspectives. I don't know that everyone read William James, but certainly a lot of us did. A lot of us reread William James, and went off and found things to read, and were sharing articles and whatnot even about William James, so that kind of feeling was in the air for a lot of people. Thinking about community, I think back to the very first meetings that we had in the college which we spent, I don't know, six to eight hours a day for several weeks, every day, meeting [firetruck sirens] to work out everything. [Barbara] Why don't you start again? [Paschke] Thinking about community and the history of the development of the community of William James, I think back to the original meetings when, I can't remember when exactly, during a two- or three-week period, before the beginning of the fall semester, the original faculty sat in a room, or various rooms, pretty much all day. Six, eight hours a day, sometimes at evening meetings, working out everything that had to be worked out for the college. We had to decide on �grading policies, we had to decide on all that administrative stuff that people usually have in place when they start teaching at a college. But we also had to decide on how to implement a philosophy, which meant a lot of talks with one another about how we saw things. Sort of at a less than… a higher level than a paperwork level, but personally, philosophies of things. We literally, maybe this is an incorrect recollection, but I think we didn't pay as much attention to the original planning documents that were around as we should or we could have. I guess a lot of things had been worked out in task forces and whatnot before we got there. We pretty much redid all that stuff. Sat down and figured it all out and in that process worked out a really close sense of community. And again, it may not be an accurate recollection, but I think we got… by the time the classes started, we started meeting with students, there was already a sense of community. We were living, literally, in one another's hip pockets during that whole time. Working out ways to talk to one another was very strange, you know. I had never talked to a person who was as close to a Buddhist monk, I think, as Ken Hunter was. As anyone I had ever seen, you know. To talk to a person who knew about all that stuff and then try to figure out how to negotiate decisions with a person like that. And someone like Robert Mayberry, who was so careful and so, you know, articulate in the way he thought about things and spoke about things was a really intense kind of experience. A sort of trial by fire for that…those first meetings were sort of a rite of passage in the community. After that I think we insisted on it. Our hiring included a lot of times where people would sit around and talk. I think that's where the real interviewing went… not interviewing, but the real screening went on to see how people handled themselves in answering questions, and how they thought on their feet, and what they were like when they had a few beers in them, and those kinds of things were real important. There was a real sense of operating, intuitively, from something that was a sense of community. At level though I think there really was a real community. At another level there wasn't because some people lived in Grand Rapids and some people live in Grand Haven and it was always a joke from the beginning that there was the Grand Haven group and the other group. And the sense of community was really obvious when, I think, people from either the Grand Haven group or the other group would wonder why they weren't invited to a particular event or I mean it was a sense of being left out after the first year. You lived together so intensively so you had a sense of loss, almost. So, I'm not…how did it happen… the original meetings, past the administrative meetings, started including students. We would meet in Lake Huron Hall, with one hundred and thirty, or forty, or however many students there were in the student body, and there were these big town meetings, or whatever. And no one really seemed to be really self-conscious about that. Everybody seemed to sense it was an opportunity to speak up, to become known in the community, to have your voice heard, to work things out, to be in on the ground floor. And so, it was a really big community by the time September rolled around, I think, of a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty people. And again, that whole group of a hundred and fifty people meeting every �two weeks for a synoptic lecture series, meeting with the speakers, meeting in small groups exchanging ideas. There was just a lot of interaction. It would be, I guess I've used that example before, but it would be like the kinds of survival courses that they do for inner-city kids during the summer when they send them out to the wilderness, and they have to learn how to live together and talk to one another. And in some ways the rest of the campus was a wilderness. Not many of us went out and explored very much and talk to other people very much to think there was more than enough to do in trying to get to know those hundred and forty, or so, people that were right around you. [Barbara] Okay, that's at the beginning, that's a good [Inaudible] answer, but when I came in or when the students who had been interviewing came in, that was much after the beginning, and the community was still so very strong. What were some of the mechanisms for that intensity? [Paschke] Well, I think the way council meetings went on were a mechanism. People could still, not a hundred and forty anymore, but anyone could come and could either contribute to or tie up a whole group of people for hours and hours in discussion. That kind of continuing discussion was almost an addiction to discussion. I think in the hiring that went on, everyone had their eye on one another. Again, a sense that the people who are being hired could talk. I think the word of mouth spread quickly among students. There were students all over Grand Rapids are who were looking for a place like that to emerge and then when they found out about it would come in. And they were sort of prepped already for that kind of community life and expectations of interacting and contributing. We drew very heavily on students, I think, from the Grand Rapids area who had been around, who had been in other kinds of school, who were just ready for something like that to happen. [Barbara] Let me change that shot. Nice. When we were doing hiring, it was, indeed, an interesting experience where you really pushed people, to pushed all of ourselves, but it seemed as though we all understood what the criteria were for somebody we would hire and somebody who wasn't right. What the hell were those criteria because we never talked about them explicitly. We never drew up a list. [Paschke] Well, when I think about it now, the closest experience I have today is when I'm talking to someone that's seventeen or eighteen and I can understand what they're saying, with the part of me that hasn't gotten to be forty yet, I guess. A part the of me that wants to break the rules, that doesn't want things to go on forever in a really conventional way, to have people tell me what I have to do. There's a part of me that resonates, even now, with, you know, seventeen-year/ sixteen-year-olds. People who are going through searches for self-identity, going through, sort of, a personal crisis, trying to figure out who they are and what their �voice means. I think everyone that came here, students and faculty, felt that way. It partly had to do with coming off of the sixties, and where people were, and that kind of stuff was in the air. And you didn't want to go sit in at the U of M, but you wanted to be given a little peace that you can call your own; make something out of it that really counted, that really made a difference. Idealism, I guess. And I think we looked at people, and people who are sort of dreamers, and idealists who weren't afraid to have dreams… weren't so worried that they might not be practical dreams. That's a weird mix. That's a weird mix to have people… well on the one hand, we're all very pragmatic, I think, too. People could all do things that were very practical but were dreamers and idealists, in a way, I guess. And I think you could… we thought we could recognize that in other people. People came in… I remember one person… people we would interview, we would look at their style of writing, and their letters, or other applications, that was one thing. But when they came in, when we talked to them, if they seemed to have scripts that they were running out, that didn't seem to work. If they weren't really listening to us. If they didn't seem excited by what we were doing, it was sort of a self-centered approach. This a really neat thing we have going on here and if you're not excited about it you probably are not going to work out very well here. I think age has something to do with it because I can think of one person in particular who when we interviewed, we felt was quite a bit older than the other people and felt would not have the same kind of vision. I can remember going through something with that person. When I look back on it now I realize that we put one another on the spot in ways that people probably would be mortified by if they were interviewing at Old Kent Bank or some other corporation. I mean, we asked some very personal kinds of things. I don't mean like: "What kind of pillow do you use when you sleep?" About like: "What do you really think about whatever religion?" Those kinds of questions. The kinds of questions that, you know, when you're seventeen and eighteen you might spend all night, sitting someplace, you know, smoking, and having intense discussions about… those kinds of things usually drop off when people get into their twenties and thirties. And they didn't drop off for the people that were around James, it seemed like. [Barbara] Do you… when you check that tape, would you go on…I think, to me, the follow up to that has something to do with: we recruited the kinds of students we were. Is there any way to get to that from what we've just been talking about. The misfit thing that you said. We were recruiting in our own image, not only faculty but students, we were talking about before. [Paschke] But the image didn't have anything to do with how we looked, I guess, but had to do with how we felt, maybe, or how we thought. And I do think the people that came to William James saw it was sort of like California, you know, in the eighteen-hundreds or something. You would come to William James, thinking that you would have an impact on it. Somehow your voice would be heard. Something about a whole bunch of individuals, together. The similarity had to do �with this idealism, or hopefulness, whatever words you want to use there, I think. Kind of a youthful idealism. I don't think that we saw sought it… because we didn't screen students the same way we screened faculty. Students would apply, and they did write letters and things, and people did read those letters, but I don't think everyone knew each student came in so well when they were first coming in as they knew the other faculty. But there was something just about the same thinking that would draw students who are a lot like the people who were doing the thinking. We were, in many ways, if you think about the teaching style. People who had gone through educations in which they were one of two hundred people sitting in a lecture hall we're now sitting in a circle on the floor with a bunch of people. And if an administrative person were to walk by, they might not be able to single out who the faculty person was in the group, because the age differences weren't really that great. They seemed big to me then, but I realize now the difference between a seventeen-year-old, or an eighteen-year-old, and a twenty-five-year, or a twenty-six-year-old, were really not that great. And so, we looked a lot like the students, I think, and dressed a lot like the students. We didn't have uniforms. And certainly, talked and taught like the students, in lots of ways. So, it was a kind of a situation in which there was a community with faculty and among faculty and students. [Barbara] Would we then, even if they hadn't closed us, would the mere fact that we all got older have diminished the community? [Paschke] I think it could of. I think maybe it did, in some ways. You know, I think maybe you can't go back to that kind of thing as an older person. But I don't know. We did bring in older people. We brought in Leo Hurwitz, who obviously had a big age difference. And people understood him, and he seemed to understand the students. They're talking on the same wavelength. Like there has to be a part of you that didn't grow up as far as, you know, totally buying into a really narrow vision. You had to be curious and want to explore, you know. And you would sense that in other people. A person could come in who was thirty years older, I think, and you could understand within a short time, within a paragraph, that they knew what you were talking about. They have been there themselves, maybe never gotten out of it, in some ways. [Barbara] We're running out of tape. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_60_Paschke Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paschke, Richard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Richard Paschke interview (1 of 3, video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Richard Paschke by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Richard Paschke was a faculty member of William James College and longtime Grand Valley professor who retired as Professor Emeritus of Psychology. In this interview, Richard discusses the "hunger for knowledge" that unified the William James College community, how searching for self-identity bonded the faculty and students, and the youthful idealism of that place and time. This interview is part 1 of 3 for Richard Paschke. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Identity Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6a0aaa812667b4a163b47dbcfa9364b.mp4 3bea9c7be7f2f4c41d7e7b53dac310d4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/66d9b1e4b0e895437a3943fc27bd5be5.pdf 782feff71eba389772e2f041b08c3df9 PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Richard Paschke Date: 1984 Part: 2 of 3 [Barbara] Cameras warmed up yet, so you don't have to stand in an odd position while it warms up. [Paschke] Okay. [Barbara] Okay. Check my focus. I like head shots, which gets risky because you can't cut as well. Do you have one last comment on, like, our core that has to with pedigrees? [Paschke] I don't know if it has to do with the sort of the sense of community and communal thinking that was worked out in the first few years or if it has to do with the people, but something that was at the core James, I think from the faculty point of view, was the sense that you didn't have to be pedigreed in an area. The idea that you could be curious if you want to learn. That if you were a professional reader, if you ready for a living, you could read books, and you could talk to people, and you could learn things, and teach about things that you hadn't had a master’s degree in. That's sort of a unique notion that's not like that in many other places in the world, I think. And somehow, we transcend the usual way in which people get on one another's case about whether they're really prepared, or whether they really ought to have a right to teach certain things, or talk about certain things, from the front of classroom. And I think that's too bad. I think that when I talked before about community or how the students and faculty fit or what they had in common, I think the kind of curiosity the students have and the kind of hunger for new material was a hunger that was promoted. That was allowed and it was even promoted in the first five, six years of the college. People would go off and you didn't have to talk about faculty development. People would go off and prepare new courses on their own. You didn't have to set aside special time to do it. If you look at the numbers of courses… the numbers of different things that people taught, new preparations, it's incredible. It's a burnout kind of pace. But it didn't feel like that to people. I think, certainly, not in the first five or six years. Because it felt like they were doing what they wanted to do. The lid had been taken off, somehow. They were able to explore and expand. And that was really neat. And you don't find that in traditional departments. I'm going to meetings now in which people are talking about how to do trans-disciplinary teaching and whatnot. And you can't just get together a group of three people to team teach a course and have that same sense of wanting to read, and the other �person's part of the library, and wanting to have something to say about the things that they teach, and you're wanting to learn about, and teach about. [Barbara] That's fine for us, but what did it do for the students? [Paschke] What it did for some students is provide a really rich culture in which to find things out about themselves. Other students it blew away. Other students ran away and went to more traditional forms of schooling that had more structure. Identifiable traditional structure and expectations. And so, it didn't do the same thing for everyone. [Barbara] Changing the shot. Nice shot. You had a career before you came to James. [Paschke] Right. [Barbara] And you still have a career today. James came and went, and we devoted enormous amounts of time to it. How did that work in your whole life pattern? [Paschke] You mean how did I keep the same career? [Barbara] Yeah, if you did. [Paschke] Well, I don't think I did. I think I really changed careers pretty drastically. And several times while I was here, although people probably didn't know about it. One thing that's important is, I think, is that I think I am a pack rat. I really carry around too much stuff with me because I'm afraid to lose some sense of history and some place. I want to make sure I've got something in the drawer that connects me to other parts of my life. I don't let go of things very easily. In one sense, I think I like to explore a lot of and be curious a lot, but I need a really solid base, like some sense of continuity, someplace in my life. And I guess my identity as a psychologist was important to me and that way. That I maintain some connection with the literature at the national and international level; that I go to a few meetings now and then and be in touch with what people were doing. That was probably driven by the sense of not wanting to be seen as a sham either. The sense of how important it was to let other people know that we were professional, that we did know what we were doing, we weren't just dabbling. So, I did stay in touch with the literature, but I had a whole career in music. I didn't really know what I was going to, you know, do. Where I would end up. I guess I still don't. And that I made several readjustments in my career from a research psychologist to sort of an applied psychologist, to a sort of environmental psychologist. And then we hired people who really did that in a more pedigreed way, certainly. And so, I sort of… I moved around. And as we hired different faculty, I think what I did changed in response to where they were. And I still don't feel finished yet. But I guess there is some sense in which I'm still a psychologist. �[Barbara] You were in or you interviewed in the CAS Psychology and then you went to James for fourteen years. Come back to CAS… [Paschke] Psychology. [Barbara] …psychology, essentially, how did that work? How did it feel? [Paschke] Well, it was hard because after the first few months at William James I tended to ignore my colleagues who were psychologists on the campus. Felt like they had a very narrow visions because they were just being psychologists. And I didn't really feel that I had a lot in common with them, a lot to talk about. It sounds really egotistical to say, but it felt to me like I knew what they knew, plus I knew some other things. I had been outside of psychology and so where it fitted into other things. Coming back was hard because some of the same people are still there that were in the first department. And I had to deal with being, sort of, a snobbish kid, you know. Back fourteen years ago. But it's gone relatively well, I think. Staying low-key, not trying to act like I know everything. And not bringing my William James experience into what I'm doing now. Eventually, you know, the dust has settled. Plus, I wasn't the only person that came into the Psychology department now. There were three of us who came in from other units and we sort of deluded, you know, the going medium there. It felt like a relief for a while, to teach only a few courses, predictably the same courses every year. The same courses every fall, same courses every spring. I've already started to get itchy though. And I feel sort of constrained by the fact that in order to do a new course, I would have to go through so much rigmarole. Not just think it out, not just know what books I wanted, not just know what concept should be in the course, not just be able to defend the course, but all the paper stuff that goes with it. The ego stuff to goes with it. Making sure I'm not touching on someone's personal area of expertise. That I've decided not to do that, I guess. And I've changed my reading, my personal reading, still runs pretty freely around a lot of areas, and it just doesn't show up in preparation for classes anymore. The adjustment wasn't impossible. I do feel like I have to stay low-key in order to fit. Because in some sense it feels… this is a terrible thing to say… in some sense, it feels like I've been to, you know, to Jerusalem or something and come back and other people haven't been, and I know some things that they don't know, but I can't tell. [Barbara] But isn't part of that being older than some of the colleagues? Or isn't it? I don't know the department. [Paschke] No, the department is generally about my age. [Barbara] I have personally been accused by a student just this summer of having sold out. "Where did James go? You guys were teaching us about being future-oriented �and then the future came, and it wasn't any [inaudible] and went, “Hey! I'll take my paycheck!'" Have you had that kind of experience or do you recognize it, or do you think we sold out? [Paschke] No, I don't think we sold out. I think people tried really hard and they fought with everything that they had. We were not people who had lived through corporate mergers and things like that before. We didn't know how to do that. But I think everyone tried to handle that in the best way that they knew how. I think it was inevitable that James would be re-assimilated, you know, into the large college. I think that started right from the beginning of the college. It's like the death of James began as soon as the college was in place and people realized various things. That they would like to have been in the thing that they created, but they weren't. That the thing that they had created was sort of a thankless child that almost immediately after its birth turned its back on its parents. Even stuck its nose up in the air, I suppose, in some ways at the parents. That it was scary. It broke traditional kinds of boundaries. That it did things that sort of like having a rebellious teenager, I suppose, around. Sometimes the things that James did embarrassed the parent, you know, entities. Sometimes they got to places first. The parents: "Gee I wish I thought of that. Should've been doing that." But it was a competition almost right away. And the fact that the college didn't do exactly what its planners hoped it would do, made a kind of a chaffing kind of effect. You can see if you looked, I think, back five, six years before the college change, the reorganization changed everything. You could see a kind of inevitability. There was a kind of, a natural progress leading toward the end. Actually, surprised me that it lasted as long as it did with people fighting as hard as they and being as clever as they were about, you know, dancing and getting out the way or whatever because it was inevitable. It had to go down, I think, for the whole college to live. [Barbara] You mean Grand Valley? [Paschke] Grand Valley as a whole, yeah. [Barbara] Why? [Paschke] Well, I guess for the reasons that I said. If it's true that people who were there were there because they weren't quite finished, that they were always becoming something and trying to figure out what they were going to be when they got big and grew up and sort of finished up. They're always pushing the limits, testing limits, asking questions, being provocative, being gadflies, whatever. Their job, their sense of self, lead to keeping things in suspension. Sort of up in the air, sort of thing going… people might go out in and they might march in Grand Rapids with the placards or something, and embarrass people, write articles in the newspaper, or do things that, you know, didn't quite fit. Their job wasn't to �maintain complacency, and when you are the gadfly there's always the flyswatter there, right. Eventually going to get that damn fly. [Barbara] Surely then, we did do a bad job of preparing our students for this inevitable end. [Paschke] Well, I think student cycling through, although some of ours were on longer cycles than four years, certainly. The normal cycle for the student was shorter than the faculty cycle, certainly, by the end. Faculty that have been there for fourteen years or twelve years. I think there were, in the lifespan of the student, there would be a time in which they would really discover what William James, you know, was or what it was supposed to be. They couldn't really get it, always, right at the beginning. But they would start to appreciate that by the time they were in their junior year, I'd say, in a lot of cases. And they didn't want that to go away. And I think some of the students who were so negative and feeling that the faculty had been irresponsible about keeping the college alive, were, in a way, being idealistic. In a way being selfish. Saying: "Keep this around for me at all costs!" And in a way, it was contrary to the whole thing that James had, which was to change. In some ways, for its whole period of time, we added people, we added programs, we change programs around. We were responsive and it just kept changing. There was a way in which there was a mystical golden era in which that students didn't want to change, I think. That's part of it. But I think we weren't very good. We didn't build the kinds of bridges that you would normally build and to make sure that you come out with your piece of the pie in a mergerin a corporate merger. We didn't really know how to do that. But I think in the sense of inevitability was obvious to a lot of people. There were people that left. Everyone who came to William James on the faculty didn't stay the whole time. People came and went. Some people would see the frustration, would see the inevitability, I think, of the end. Even some people on the faculty would see that you couldn't keep doing what we did during the time when everything in the country got more conservative. Students were more serious about: "I, you know, I want a job. I want a certain kind of paying job. I want certain kinds of courses." There was a more of a rigid kind of feeling that wasn't there at the beginning. That students wanted some different things. They wanted a kind of a tightening up. And the more we went from being what we were toward being like what the rest of the campus was like, I think the more threatening it was for the rest of the campus some ways, too. I don't know, there's a lot of levels to that, I think, to try to understand. I don't think I understand all of it myself. But I knew that I had the feeling that the end was inevitable, and it was only because there were people who were literally willing to throw themselves in front of the train at the eleventh hour, like Robert Mayberry, that kept it going as long it did. [Barbara] Okay. Tape out. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_61_Paschke Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paschke, Richard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Richard Paschke interview (2 of 3, video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Richard Paschke by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Richard Paschke was a faculty member of William James College and longtime Grand Valley professor who retired as Professor Emeritus of Psychology. In this interview, Richard discusses the communal thinking that was at the core of William James College, the rich culture provided to the students, and how he transitioned to working in the College of Arts and Sciences. This interview is part 2 of 3 for Richard Paschke. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e22232efcabe3929759797f054049eb.mp4 47b7df9f5ca4d0691fb04e364c3907ec https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/53ea654a5e96c36a514e912f28315dd0.pdf a7f705d10a5a6e720fca27df0a537511 PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Richard Paschke Date: 1984 Part: 3 of 3 [Barbara] Final question that we have here is… oh, I don't like the wide shot. We don’t need the palm tree in the way. That's better. You were talking about James is over, but you read in the newspaper stuff that suggests that James [inaudible]. Can you comment on that for a while? [Paschke] Well, it makes me angry. It’s always that saying, "You can't be a prophet in your own lens," has always upset me. It just seems like you should be able to. It makes me angry to see those articles now. I don't know quite why. Maybe to think that I, you know, should have fought harder to keep it. I still have this sense that if we had continued it right to the present moment, they'd kill it off and redo it again from the beginning somehow. Just couldn't work. That it could be like it was and then suddenly come into its own and be right. I don't have a sense of that being able to happen. In some ways what we did at James, I think, is what the good teachers all over in other kinds of schools have always done. Sort of, maybe they might be thought to be eccentric in their department or sort of an interesting person to have around, but there has always been people, I think, who did the kinds of things that we did at James, they just didn't have whole colleges to do it in. Whole department in colleges to do it in. I think it's right. I mean part of me claps and says: "Well, I'm glad that people are finally realizing in the national committees and task forces what's important." I'm glad that we did it. [Barbara] What are some of those things that are going to be reinvented? [Paschke] The idea of transdisciplinary approaches to, you know, take a problem, make a course focus on a problem area rather than on a topic or a content area. And then bring to bear whatever you need to bring to bear to solve the problem and cross disciplinary lines in that way. I think people are reinventing those kind of things. I just attended a meeting where they were trying to talk about how all the behavioral sciences together could teach certain class courses and certain problem issues. And I think that's important. The importance of critical thinking, learning critical thinking, which is I think one thing that our students learned, a lot of them. The better ones learned. Probably because you had to develop critical thinking to figure out what was going on, sometimes, at the college. So, it was already the real world in terms of problem solving a complicated organization. But also, because people asked a lot of questions. There was a lot of the Socratic, you know, method was used a lot in teaching. Asking questions, not �having answers always. That kind of an approach to a liberal education, I think, was important. [Barbara] To pick up something, I would appreciate it if you would say again what you said in our pre-interview, just a sentence. You said something about that the founding of the college, it was your impression, that what it was… [inaudible] a lot of us were sixties people and we took that energy and directed it. I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but could I please put words in your mouth, and would you say something around those lines because no one else has? [Paschke] Well, when all of the faculty were in college, it was the sixties, largely. And there was a kind of an energy then, I think, that had to do with the questioning, andand reacting, revolting, if you will, or whatever. A kind of an energy which was still there in the seventies, for the faculty. And, you know, I think that they brought that energy to bear on what they were doing, you know, in a different way than they would have in the sixties, in a lot of cases. In some ways and sometimes not so differently than they would have done in sixties. We had some sort of sit-ins and protests, too. We would bring things to the central administration and what not. I think the energy had to do with not accepting things as being finished and in inevitable categories. Saying: "Hey, I'm a person. I'm just getting myself together. I don't want to have a whole structure laid on me without having anything to say about it." And so, the idea about equality, the emerging idea that was I think was there already in the sixties, and certainly in the seventies, and the feminist movement. Ideas in general about equality. The student should be voting members of this committee, the student should have things to say, they're people, too. A lot of our students were older than we were, coming back to school. And there was that kind of a feeling of… it’s romanticizing it too much… I think of Martin Luther King, and I think of Selma, and people holding hands, and being passively aggressive, you know, and their protests and their certainty, and being sort of a cloistered community that we were, and, you know, going against the outside world, and being, sort of, flower children. Somebody went to a wedding recently, I heard, of a William James student and described it as being like the old days. And what the old days meant was the part of the sixties that carried over into the seventies. Where they went out and picked wildflowers for the bouquet, where people were into organic foods, and, you know, all that kind of sort of natural, you know, corduroy, and whatever, flannel. I mean a lot of that was a carryover from the sixties. And we looked a lot, I think, like people going to college in the sixties and were now teaching and didn't change a lot. But I think what the sixties tapped was a kind of a thing that's there in recent United States during adolescence for everyone, at some point. They’re starting to say: "Who am I, what can I be, what's out there?" You start reacting against established institutions, you start trying to find a voice. And to find a whole faculty that, in some ways, was going through its adolescence right in front of your very eyes over a period of ten or fifteen years was unusual. And again, maybe it couldn't �happen again today. You can't take a group of people in the eighties that went to college in the seventies and have that same magic or charisma, a kind of a… remind me, what is that mythological creature that has a lot of heads? [Barbara] Medusa, no. Hydra? A Hydra? [Paschke] Gorgon? Was that it? I don't know. Anyway, in some sense, it was always a problem for our administrators, at least within the college for our dean, to really feel like things were under control. Because it was like a group of people, again, emerging from this equal, everyone should have a say, kind of mentality of the sixties moving into the seventies. It was sort of a structure that went like this, it wasn't hierarchical. It was more people at the same level trying to make decisions, wanting to have something to say, thinking they had a right to have something say to say. Made a heck of a time for somebody trying to administer that. It was more like a band of people who were moving along, more or less, you know, in the same direction. That seemed like a sixties kind of a thing to me. I mean we had crowd mentalities and that kind of thing. [Barbara] So what you really see is some of the things that we were doing that are valuable coming up in completely different contexts in different forms? [Paschke] Uh huh. [Barbara] There's a question that I ask everybody, I think you already answered it but I'm going to ask you anyway. A one sentence answer, two sentences max, to you, personally, the one key thing that was William James, that characterized William James. In a word, in a sentence, two maximum. [Paschke] The man or the college? [Barbara] The college. [Paschke] Oh, personal freedom, whatever that means. [Barbara] Good. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_62_Paschke Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paschke, Richard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Richard Paschke interview (3 of 3, video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Richard Paschke by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Richard Paschke was a faculty member of William James College and longtime Grand Valley professor who retired as Professor Emeritus of Psychology. In this interview, Richard discusses the interdisciplinary nature of William James College, the Socratic method approach to liberal education, how the spirit of the nineteen sixties inspired the teachings of the William James faculty. This interview is part 3 of 3 for Richard Paschke. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b02c2ff180cc87f95dec10b1c88e92f3.mp4 7b2e4c89693c8a8b2c0732590d80099a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6508bf519b89fa801d4ceaa153ed4d5d.pdf cbad0d8dfeab85f3d146cb1b688a8339 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans' History Project Gene Pasma World War II 1 hour 41 minutes 28 seconds (00:00:18) Early Life -Born in Moline, Michigan on August 28, 1923 -Father owned a ninety acre farm east of Moline -Spent early childhood there -Moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1934 -Father had a job in Grand Rapids -Economy was bad due to the Great Depression -Grand Rapids had better employment prospects -Father had been born in the Netherlands and had moved to the U.S. when he was seven -Father lost the farm near Moline during the Great Depression -Remembers when his father sold his last horse -Things improved in Grand Rapids -Attended Alexander School for elementary school -Attended South High School -Attended Davis Tech High School and graduated from there in 1941 -Siblings that are still alive: Theodore, and three sisters -Came from a family of thirteen (had twelve siblings) -Five have died, and three died in infancy -Oldest sister died when she was twenty one due to a heart condition (00:04:55) Start of the War -Father had followed the news of the war in Europe closely -Pearl Harbor happened the winter after he graduated from high school -Kept up with the news on the war after Pearl Harbor -After Pearl Harbor happened he and his friends began to talk about what the war would mean -Namely if the Allies would be defeated and if their freedom would be lost -Knew that he would eventually get drafted -Older brother was drafted in 1942 (00:07:20) Getting Drafted -He received his draft notice in January 1943 when he was nineteen years old -Sent from Grand Rapids to Fort Custer near Battle Creek, Michigan -Some of the barracks, the mess hall, and a gymnasium from then are still standing -Arrived at Fort Custer on a Friday and was placed on KP (kitchen patrol) duty -The next day, on Saturday, his parents and sisters came down to visit him -Stayed at Fort Custer for less than a week (00:09:48) Basic Training and Technical School -From Fort Custer he was sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland -Ordnance center of the Army �-Received basic training there -Attended at technical school there and learned how to be an armorer -Learning how to repair and inspect weapons -Lasted eight (or ten) weeks -At Fort Custer he had already begun to be treated like a soldier -Discipline was being instilled in recruits right away -Wasn't hard for him to adjust coming from a large family and having responsibilities -Enjoyed the order and the discipline -Went on several bivouacs during basic training -Went on several fifteen mile marches -Went to the infiltration course -Crawling under barbed wire while a machine gun is fired over your head -Basic training consisted of drilling most of the time -Had to go through gas mask training -Go into a building filled with gas and then put on your gas mask -Received rifle training with the 1903 Springfield rifle -Rifle that had been used during World War I -Basic training lasted six (or eight) weeks (00:14:35) Stationed at Camp Myles Standish -From Aberdeen Proving Ground he was sent to Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts -Had to have supplies ready for troops that were going overseas -There was a large ordnance program set up there -Inspect, repair, or replace men's weapons after the men had gone on maneuvers -He was part of an ordnance unit that was stationed there -He wound up at Camp Myles Standish due to receiving an appendectomy in Maryland -Had to stay in the hospital for one month -In the meantime his friends were sent to Missouri for Aircraft Armament School -He had hoped to do that but wasn't able to after the appendectomy -He was sent to Camp Myles Standish after being released from the hospital -Each company came through his department for a weapons inspection before being deployed -Some men took care of their weapons, others did not even though they were supposed to -Saw his cousin come through and serviced his rifle -Worked on anything from a .45 caliber pistol to a 37mm cannon -Men would go from Camp Myles Standish to Boston to embark -Arrived at Camp Myles Standish in mid-1943 -Stayed there until September (or October) 1944 (00:21:45) Pre-Deployment Training -Things were starting to get rough in Europe, so more men were needed -He was sent down to Camp Plauche, Louisiana near New Orleans -Learning how to operate cranes on Liberty Ships -From Louisiana he was sent to Camp Howze, Texas -Spent Christmas 1944 with a family in Dallas -Received advanced infantry training there �-It was essentially a more in depth version of basic training -Remembers in Louisiana you could get a steak and fries in town for only $1.25 -In advanced infantry training they were receiving more weapons and tactics training -Received training with the M1 Garand rifle -Semi-automatic and held ten rounds -Received training with the .45 caliber pistol -Received bazooka and mortar training -Some of the instructors in Texas had already been overseas -Some had fought in Europe, others in the South Pacific -There were German prisoners of war near Camp Howze doing menial tasks on the base -They were glad to be there and some could speak English -He was able to learn a little German -Late 1944 was pretty bad because of the Battle of the Bulge -There was a desperate need for troops, which was why he was called up for deployment -Did not want to be sent to the Pacific Theatre after hearing about the fighting there (00:30:40) Deployment -Left Texas and was sent up to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey -By now it was January 1945 -Spent a week at Camp Kilmer -Boarded the John Ericsson with 7,500 other troops -Fast enough that U-Boats were not a threat -He was going over with plans to be a replacement for the 69th Infantry Division -They were already in England, waiting to go to the continent of Europe -He would eventually get his unit assignment in England -2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion -NOTE: 271st Infantry Regiment -The voyage over wasn't good -The food was bad and they had to stand up while they ate -Slept in hammocks -Landed at Liverpool, England -Stayed there for a couple days -Took a train from Liverpool down to Southampton -Stayed in a large warehouse in the port waiting to cross the English Channel -By now it was February 1945 -NOTE: The 69th went over to Europe in late January 1945 (00:37:42) Arrival in the European Theatre -Crossed the English Channel on a Liberty Ship and landed at Le Havre, France -The weather was bad going over -Went through Aachen, Germany then arrived at the Siegfried Line in mid-February 1945 -A line of fortifications established along the French and German border -Had boarded trucks in Le Havre and drove to the Siegfried Line -Saw dead German and Allied soldiers along the side of the road -Aachen had been destroyed -Remembers seeing pillboxes and bunkers on the Siegfried Line -Placed on tanks made tank infantry �-Rode on tanks and was supported by tanks as they advanced -The 271st, 272nd, and 273rd Infantry Regiments were moving as a giant line into Germany -Made contact with German forces on the Siegfried Line -The Germans would retreat and then mount a counter attack -At this point it was Germany's last stand (00:43:12) Advancing into Germany Pt. 1 -Any village that they came to they would have to clear it of German resistance -Had to deal with German 88mm artillery guns and "Screaming Meemies" (rockets) -They were moving northeast across Germany -Reached the Rhine River south of the Ludendorf Bridge at Remagen -Army Engineers built a pontoon bridge so that troops could cross the river safely -Had to do this while being attacked by German Stuka dive bombers -By now it was late March 1945 -Took the city of Kassel, Germany -Went through more villages -There was resistance in some, and others they could pass right through -His regiment alone captured 7,000 German soldiers -In one village he went into a barn and single-handedly captured two German soldiers -As they got closer to Berlin the younger the soldiers became -At the end of the war they were going up against the Volkssturm -German national militia made up of everyone aged fifteen to sixty five years old -They were the meanest combatants that he ever encountered -Last, desperate attempt to defend Germany (00:50:07) End of the War & Getting Wounded -Went through Leipzig, Germany and cleared a bunch of houses there -It was a major sometime -Entered Leipzig on April 18, 1945 -Remembers that it was after President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 -Got wounded in the vicinity of Eilenburg and Torgau on April 25, 1945 -Germans mounted a counter attack -Met the Russians at Torgau on the Elbe River before he got wounded -Most likely got wounded on the same day that he met the Russians -U.S. troops made contact with Soviet troops on April 25 -Thought that they were a bunch of "rogues" -Remembers that men and women fought together in the Red Army -Germans were terrified of the Russians and they fled to the Allied lines -There were so many prisoners and refugees that it was almost impossible to travel -After he got wounded he was sent to a battalion aid station, then to a field hospital -From the field hospital he was airlifted via C-47 to Reims, France -Stayed in the hospital for a month -In the hospital when the war ended -Couldn't believe that the war had ended -The Russians were in the area and were celebrating by shooting off guns and cannons �-Didn't think that he'd make it out alive with all of the chaos -When he was released he was able to rejoin his old unit in Germany (00:59:50) Liberation of Leipzig -In Leipzig there was a large monument where 300 SS soldiers were holed up in the basement -After the city had been taken they were sent on patrols around the city -Collect documents, weapons, and alcohol -Went upstairs in a house and found a German sitting in a chair in the office -Asked him to show him his papers and if there were any guns -Man complied, turned out he was Police Chief Wilhelm von Grolman -Surrendered his pistol to Gene (which his family still has) -Took some shotguns from the house and had to destroy them -Felt it was a shame since they were beautiful guns -Went house to house to talk with civilians -Walked into a house and the couple welcomed them in for tea -They were German citizens that had migrated to the United States -Had to go back to Germany to retain their citizenship -Got stuck in Germany when the war broke out (01:09:50) Occupation Duty -Rejoined his unit in Erfurt, Germany sometime in mid-June 1945 -Still had to do marching and drilling to stay in shape -Didn't have any duty there other than to just maintain a presence -Stayed there through the summer of 1945 (01:14:08) Advancing into Germany Pt. 2 -Came into a town that wound up getting nicknamed "Hill 88" -Named because of a large contingent of German 88mm artillery pieces -Germans started to bombard them -First time that his unit had to retreat, simply because the barrage was too intense (01:15:48) Coming Home Pt. 1 -Still in Germany when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan -Sent from Germany to Antwerp, Belgium in August 1945 -Relief because there was talk that they would have to go to the Pacific to invade Japan -Being sent home was based on the "points" system -Points awarded based on length of service, rank, dependents, and combat -He had enough points so he was sent home and didn't have to worry about further duty overseas -Left Antwerp on August 28, 1945 -Took twelve days to reach the United States (01:19:05) End of Service -In the Army until November 1945 -Upon arrival in the United States in September 1945 he was sent to Fort Sheridan, Illinois -Allowed to go home for a couple weeks to visit his family -From Fort Sheridan he was sent down to Camp Polk, Louisiana -Got issued new uniforms and new gear -Got discharged at Camp Polk in November and was sent home �(01:22:14) Coming Home Pt. 2 -Came back to Grand Rapids by train -Got off the train at the station then walked home to his parents' house on College Avenue -On the way home he stopped in Chicago to get a few white, button-up shirts -They were a rarity at the time -Store owner took him to the back and got him five white, button-up shirts -Did it because he was a soldier and still in uniform -Always appreciated the show of gratitude and patriotism from the store owner (01:27:25) Talon's Out Honor Flight -Participated in the May 2015 Spirit of Grand Rapids Honor Flight to Washington D.C. -Got to see the National World War II Memorial and learn about it -Learned that there are 4,800 stars each representing 400 Americans killed in action -NOTE: There are actually 4,048 stars, each star representing 100 Americans -One of the most spectacular experiences that he has ever had (01:29:17) Life after the War -Wasn't quite sure what to do with his life after the war -Met up with some of his friends that had come home and reconnected with them -Worked for a contractor in Grand Rapids -Worked for Wolverine Boats, a boat company in Grand Rapids -Made Chris Craft style boats -Went to college for one year -Wound up working at Consumers Power Company (now Consumers Energy) -Worked there for thirty eight years (total) and retired from there in 1986 -Partially owned and operated a Howard Johnson franchise restaurant in Holland, Michigan -In the restaurant business for two years -Had left Consumers after working for them for eight years to do this -Went into business with his father-in-law and brother-in-law -Didn't enjoy and was able to get his old job back at Consumers (01:33:38) Reflections on Service -Taught him camaraderie, strengthened his faith and patriotism, instilled in him a love of order -Showed him that family is one of the most important things in his life -Parents saved a lot of his letters from when he was in the Army -Made patriotism one of his most important values -Army wasn't too foreign for him coming from a large family with responsibilities -Learned that everything in the Army had to be done "the Army way" -As opposed to the "right" way or the "wrong" way -Felt that it was a good experience (01:38:58) Medals Received -European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal -Two battle stars representing the Central Europe and Rhineland campaigns �-World War II Victory Medal -Bronze Star -Purple Heart -American Campaign Medal -Good Conduct Medal -Combat Infantry Badge � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_PasmaG1773V Title A name given to the resource Pasma, Gene H. (Interview outline and video) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-26 Description An account of the resource Gene Pasma was born on August 28, 1923 in Moline, Michigan. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was drafted in January 1943. He received basic training at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland as well as went to a technical school to learn how to be an armorer. He was stationed at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts from mid-1943 to fall 1944 servicing small arms for men going overseas. He was pulled from that duty and received further training at Camp Plauche, Louisiana and Camp Howze, Texas and was sent to the European Theatre in January 1945 as a replacement infantryman. He joined the 69th Infantry Division in England and was assigned to 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 271st Infantry Regiment. They went over to Europe in late January 1945 and he saw action on the Siegfried Line, in the Rhineland, and across Germany until he was wounded on April 25, 1945. After recovering from his wounds he rejoined his unit in Germany and stayed with them until the end of August 1945. He left Europe in late August 1945 and was finally discharged from the Army at Camp Polk, Louisiana in Novembber 1945. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pasma, Gene H. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jones, Adam (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/76d9216aceac2f863a5a82146a4539ac.mp4 76c4016a13e0418294ff56ec691f9505 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8934fd73d3a1c3857293e0ed75f9b401.pdf eafb5aa89f93a2cc74e1c808c63f540d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of Interviewee: William Patrick Name of War: Korean War Length of Interview: (00:38:35) (00:05) Background Information • • • • • • • • • William was born in Maywood, California on April 9, 1931 He grew up in CA, his father was a chiropractor and his mother was a teacher William’s family got along fine during the depression and he felt he was too young to notice problems with others William had a few family members that fought in Germany during WWII and his father had been a pilot during WWI William felt it was his duty to join the Air Force after the Korean War had broke out He graduated from Huntington Park High School in 1949 William then began going to college for pre med at Los Angeles City College He went for 2 years and it only cost $7.50 per semester William enlisted in the Air Force in August 1950 (5:05) Training • William was inducted in Los Angeles and then went to boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas • The men were always told that they were technicians and not soldiers • They went through calisthenics, marching and other physical work for about 13 weeks • After boot camp William was sent to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX • After he graduated he was sent to Denver, Colorado for preliminary air training school in which he would train to be a gunner on a B-29 • During this time he had run into an old friend that was just coming back from Korea and his friend told him to get out of the program as soon as possible • He said that in Korea they were having as much as 90% losses with B-29 strikes • William then volunteered to go to advanced computer training, working on computers in B-29s that controlled the fire systems • After going through the computer training system William was transferred to Randolph Air Force Base in Texas • He lived off base with his wife, whom he married in April 1951 • William worked about 8 hours a day in Texas for the remaining 3.5 years of his service (12:20) Strategic Air Force Base • In early 1954 William went to work like any other day at Randolph Air Force Base �• • • • • But overnight a hangar had been completely surrounded with barbed wire and armed guards They were instructed not to go anywhere near the hangar or they would be shot dead Randolph Air Force Base had become a strategic base overnight They later found out that they had been storing atom bombs in the hangar because the Russians had flown bombers into Guatemala William had been ordered to prepare the atom bomb racks on a few B-29s even though he did not have security clearance (17:20) Maintenance • William became an inspector on weapons systems and navigational devices near the end of his service • He checked everything after it had gone through maintenance • William had once checked an airplane after maintenance and found 13 errors • His master sergeant decided to try his part in the inspections and looked over the same airplane, but only found 3 errors • Everyone had thought that William was trying to make the sergeant look bad and he received a few threats • The staff sergeant would not allow him to leave the base and go to the hospital when his wife was going through labor with their second child (21:30) Working • During William’s last year of service he got a job working part time off base at a gas station • He was not supposed to work in a civilian job off base, but his family was growing and he could not afford to support them with his service pay • Many of his friends he worked with knew that he was working off base and helped keep his secret • They would sign in his name sometimes on work sheets, even though he was not there • At one point a plane that he has “signed off” of had the door open during flight when a bombardier had stepped on it • The door had been malfunctioning, but William had not gotten in trouble because the bombardier had not been supposed to walk in that area of the plane (25:50) Crashes • One day a B-29 had been passing over a field on base and the entire engine fell out, with the crew coming out right afterwards • William had questioned the pilot when he caught him whistling the next day; the pilot told him that he was just so happy to be alive despite the crash the day before �• • Altogether 9 planes had crashed during the 3.5 years that William had worked on the base The most terrible crash was when he had seen a pilot crash and die and the man’s wife had been there watching (28:55) End of Service • William was discharged from the Air Force on August 24, 1954 • He had taken enough courses to be an equivalent of a college degree and they had offered to put him through Officer Candidate School • William declined the offer because that would have required him to stay for another 6 years • He moved back to California and got a job working as a draftsman at North American Aviation • William made his way up through the ranks working in engineering and his boss later asked him to move to Muskegon, Michigan with him and start a company • The company had failed and the men had lost all their money after one year • William moved to Texas with his family, but moved back to Michigan after 2.5 years (35:30) Retirement • William had been working in engineering in Michigan about 80 hours a week, but it was causing problems at home • He decided to do what was best for his family and got a job as an engineer consultant, where he worked for 11 years • William has now been retired for 16 years, living on a lake in Muskegon with 16 acres of land � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PatrickW Title A name given to the resource Patrick, William Mc Kee (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Patrick, William Mc Kee Description An account of the resource William Patrick was born in Maywood, California on April 9, 1931. William enlisted in the Air Force in August 1950 and went through basic training in Texas. He then went through preliminary air training school as well as advanced computer training in Texas. William then spent the rest of his 3.5 years stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas where he inspected B-29s before they took off for Korea. He discusses several air crashes that he witnessed, along with more routine duties. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McCauslin, Kelly (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-12-13 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20e7eb36a54ebfb66933b8cd774e7977.mp4 3bd73a931e01964604fd3757029067d6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/803ee41969ef76f93b35a98bf9eaee87.pdf a6e03fde6a4f7848815e25ff1dd29761 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II, Women’s Army Corp Irene Paxson Length of Interview: 54:02 (00:00:10) JS: We’re talking today with Irene Paxson, of St. Joseph, Michigan. The interviewer is James Smither, of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project. Now Mrs, Paxson, can you start by giving us some background on yourself. To begin with where and when were you born? IP: Well, I was born July 15, 1917. And my mother said it was just as the sun came up on Sunday morning. Christ child. And I was born in Illinois. In Mount Vernon, in a rural area of Mount Vernon. JS: And were your family farmers? Or did they just live out there? IP: They were…my family were farmers. Doctor. Teacher. Hunt. JS: What did your father do for a living at that time? IP: My dad was farming. And teaching country school, at that time. JS: And how many acres did he have? (01:04) IP: A hundred acres. JS: And what kinds of things did he grow there? IP: Well, I don’t remember anything about that because he left when I was three years old. So I assume wheat and corn. That’s what people grew in that area. JS: All right. And so then, did you stay in that area? IP: Well, I didn’t stay because my father’s crops were destroyed by the weather. It didn’t rain for about seven weeks and they dried up, and then my father had to find something else to do. JS: Okay. And so where did you go after that? (01:43) IP: After that, he went to St. Louis and took a civil service examination. He went to work for the Post Office in St. Louis. Where he worked until he retired. �JS: So did you grow up in St. Louis then? IP: I grew up in St. Louis. JS: Did you live in the city of St. Louis, or… IP: I lived in the city until I was 11 years old and then we moved to a suburb. A suburb called [Aveton]. JS: did you go to public schools? IP: I went to public schools. JS: And did you graduate from high school? IP: I graduated from high school. JS: And what year was that? IP: That was 1935. (02:27) JS: And then what did you do after you graduated? IP: After that, I went to business school. And then I went to work. JS: Okay. Now business school, was that for… IP: Bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing. JS: Okay, so kind of a secretarial…what we might call a secretarial school. IP: Yes. Yes. JS: Now how long was that program? IP: About six months. JS: And, then what kind of job did you get? IP: Well, the first job I got was at [Warsaw] Company, in St. Louis. It was a low paying job. I was very very shy. Afraid of going on interviews. But fortunately when I went to this school, I did well enough that, the lady who ran the school, um, suggested me for a state job, working for the Missouri Public Service Commission. And that’s where I worked after that. A very high paying job. (laughs) �(03:31) JS: Now, you’re doing this, this is the late 1930s… IP: Yeah. JS: This was the middle of the Depression. IP: It was. Jobs were hard to get. So, you went…you had to make sure that you were good at what you did, or you’d end up working in a dime store or something like that, so… JS: Okay. IP: So, I was fortunate enough to have…going from a low paying job to probably one of the better paying jobs at the time. Any state job pays well. JS: Now at this time were you still living with your parents, or are you out on your own? IP: Yes. I was still living with my parents. (04:08) JS: Okay. And then how long did you stay in that position? IP: Oh, several years. JS: And were you still doing that when World War II started? IP: No. After a few years, my father had accumulated time working for the government. A couple of months vacation and he wanted the whole family to go on a trip out west. And I was a little reluctant to go and, but it was important to my father. The war had started in Europe in 1939, and I had a brother two years my junior and another one a few years younger. But I think he saw the hand-writing on the wall. And he wanted the family to take a trip out west. So he rented a trailer, and we went traveling out west to a lot of historic places. My dad had always been interested in history. And we went to San Francisco, to the Fair. In San Francisco. And then I stayed out there for a while. In Long Beach, California. And got a job, because I wanted to just see what it was like, make a life of my own, on my own. So I did. Got a good job. And then, I received an invitation from the Treasury in Washington, to go to work there. In the Accounting department. (05:44) JS: Now when was that? IP: That was in, I think it was 1940. JS: Okay. So you weren’t really in California all that long then? �IP: No. I was only there about seven months. And so I got the invitation to go to Washington, so… It just so happened that the aunt I was staying with, her only daughter lived in Washington D.C. And her son-in-law was head of the legal department for the Veterans Administration. And I had several other nice contacts when I went to Washington, so, it worked out very well for me. (06:19) JS: Tell me a little bit about what you remember about living in California, though, for that time. What kind of work… IP: You know what I remember most of all? I worked in an accounting department. And, um, I’m trying to think. Southern California Gas. And what I remember most about it, I had a friend that was a librarian. And she used to bring home books to me. And she brought a book home, it would be “The History of the Hapsburg Dynasty.” Which started a lifelong interest in biographical history. JS: Well, the Hapsburg’s would give you a lot to choose from. (07:05) IP: Well, I was fascinated with the contacts of the royal family. And how they secured their alliances with other countries, through marriage and family. Yes, that I remember most of all. I did a lot of reading, because I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any dates or anything. But I had a friend who was a librarian so I did a lot of reading. JS: Okay. Now at the same time, were you following events in the world carefully? With the war in Europe, and that kind of thing? IP: Oh, yes. Yes. JS: And were you worried that your brothers might get drafted? Or some else like that? IP: Well, my oldest brother was in. Tommy’s was one of the first groups to go to England. And sure, I was worried about my brother. I was worried about my friends. I was worried about my country. Cause we had Germany heading toward Britain. And then we had the Japanese attack. And fighting a two front war…and I think I was just part of a great movement in our country that we hadn’t had before. Or since. Because we were attacked and people everywhere tried to do what they could, for the war effort. Society women went to work in factories. Farm girls were gone, went to work in factories. People were doing whatever they could. Kind of like the best of time, the worst of times. (08:45) JS: You know if we can kind of follow your story. You go to Washington before America’s gotten into the war. IP: Yes. �JS: You worked in the Treasury Department, did you say? IP: I worked in the Treasury Department. JS: What kind of work did you do for them at that time? IP: I worked in the Accounting department of the Treasury. JS: And, then, were you doing that job when Pearl Harbor happened? (09:10) IP: I was doing that job right up until Pearl Harbor. And I had decided to leave Washington. An affair of the heart, I guess I would say. (laughs) And I decided to leave. And I went to San Francisco. I fell in love with San Francisco when we were there before. But my cousin who was very close to me had married a big name ball player. And he was out there. And she wanted me to go out there, so I did. And I got a job working for the U.S. Army Engineers out there. JS: Now was that still before Pearl Harbor or was that right after? IP: No, that was after. I felt kind of guilty about leaving Washington. My boss tried to persuade me to stay. But I didn’t. (10:08) JS: Okay. Yet, you wind up back with the government pretty soon anyway. IP: Um hmm. JS: Cause eventually you decide to enlist in the Women’s Army Corp, known as WAC. How did you come to that decision? IP: Well. When I was in Washington, I stayed at a place where there were quite a few Canadians. One young man was a downed pilot. RCAF pilot. And another young man that stayed where I did was with the Canadian Legation in Washington. And he had three young women from, Canadian women that were service women, that came to work at the Legation, that he wanted to find a place for these three girls, that he thought were typical American girls. And I happened to be one of them. And so I was acquainted with this service woman from Canada. She was in uniform all the time. Got a lot of attention when she was walking on the streets. All the magazines, like Cosmopolitan and unique ladies magazines…and they were…I had these people around me that had been in the war for a long time. English people and the Canadian people. And I was following the war pretty closely. But it was a difficult decision to make up my mind to go in the service. You know, that regimented life is not all that easy. And of course as a woman, you were volunteer. The men were often drafted. Well, that’s the way it was, when you went in the service. (12:10) �JS: All right. Now, what the actual process when you decided you wanted to enter the service and then what did you do? IP: I just went down. I was in St. Louis. I went back to stay with my folks for a while. I just went down and registered. JS: So an Army Recruiting Office, basically? IP: Yeah, I went to the recruiting office. WAC Recruiting Office. JS: Now at this time was the government making much of an effort to publicize the women’s branches of the service, to encourage women to joining? (12:43) IP: Well, actually women were getting a lot of attention, because this was the first time we had women in the service. And, um…so I just chose the WAC. I went to basic training. Then Des Moines, in Iowa. JS: All right. What kind of facility did they have there? What kind of place did you train at? Were you training at an Army base, or… IP: Are you talking about training for what I eventually did… JS: Basic training, first. IP: Basic training was at Fort Des Moines. And I think I was there about six weeks. And at that time, you were tested to find out just what you might be going to do. You go through, get all the shots, the whole routine. And then I was sent to Kansas City to be trained for radio school. (13:43) JS: I want to go back a minute to the basic training part again. The men’s basic training, there are certain standards that happen. One of the things was there was a very strong emphasis on discipline and following orders. IP: Indeed. JS: So you got the same thing? IP: Oh sure. JS: And did most of the women adjust to that pretty well, or… IP: I would say most of them did. Most of them. (14:09) �JS: And did they have anything by the way of physical training? Exercises, and that kind of thing. IP: Oh, yes. Of course, one of the best exercises in scrubbing floors, after we took showers. JS: So you had a kind of version of the same thing the men got? IP: I think so. Probably not as tough. I can’t imagine going into the service now, where women do things they never would have thought of doing before then. (14:40) JS: Did they give you any weapons training, for instance? IP: Oh, no. No. JS: Cause that would be standard now, for women. IP: Sure. JS: So they send you to Kansas City next. What are they training you for there? IP: A general training. A basic training is just, um, getting all the shots and just getting adjusted to regimented life. JS: And now I was asking about the next step. You go to Kansas City next? (15:09) IP: I went to Kansas city. For radio school. For five months of radio training, there. And I was stationed in a hotel, and they were very strict. I do know we were called very unprepared for war. And everything was rush rush rush. We didn’t even make our beds there. We had room service. Cause very minute counted. You had to work hard to train. And so, um, and so I spent five months there, and from there I went… JS: Wait, wait. I’d like you to describe a little bit the actual training itself. And so you’re in radio school. What does that mean? What were you actually doing? IP: I was in radio school, I was actually learning international morse code, all this time. For five months. JS: How did they teach that to you? What kind of exercises did you have to do? (16:13) IP: Well, you started first with the letters. Letters of the alphabet. Done in code. Dot dot dot, I made up a song like that. And that was tough for some of the girls who washed out there. JS: Did you have to get to a certain speed, that you could either decode or type? �IP: Yes. You had to. And some of us were better than others. JS: Now, did you get any language training at this point? IP: No. No language training. JS: This was just the code itself. Did they have you doing anything besides that? Was it just learning the code or did you do other things? (17:03) IP: We did other things. And now, right now it’s kind of difficult for me to recall. There were other things that we did learn. But it was chiefly being able to intercept code messages. JS: so you were listening to something and you had to be able to copy it to… IP: Oh, yes. JS: And so, you survive that five months. And during that time, you said they were very strict. You were living in a hotel. Someone made the beds for you. Did they feed you right there in the hotel? IP: No. We had to go several blocks to a place where they fed all of us. JS: So you weren’t just going someplace, to a restaurant. It was some place… IP: No, it was for just the service women. (17:56) JS: Okay. And what kind of women were you working with? Like how old were they, what kind of backgrounds did they have? IP: Oh, I think they had all kinds of backgrounds. But a lot of them had dome secretarial work before. In offices. There were teachers. Quite a few teachers. One of my particular friends was a teacher. And then there were girls that did various things. But mostly I would say office work and teaching. JS: Well, that’s part of what you have to do, is type quickly. I guess that makes sense. IP: You had to type sixty words a minute. I never considered myself a typist but that was required in order to be a part of the program. JS: Now did you get any free time? Or time off? Did you go anywhere or do anything? IP: Not really. I got married. (laughs) To a young man I knew before I went into the service. And we were married in Kansas City. �(18:59) JS: Okay. So you had seen him again, when you came back to St. Louis, before you were… IP: Oh, yes. I saw him. Cause he was stationed in the country and so was I. So we went to places like Chillicothe, Ohio. And Altoona, Pennsylvania, him and I. JS: Once you finish your training program, then, where do they send you? IP: Well, I went to Camp Crowder for more training. A couple months of training. And then we went to, let’s see. We were sent to [ ], where we had more training. I would say, all together, we had about eight months of training. (19:44) JS: Now, do you remember anything about this additional training? Were you… IP: I can’t remember exactly where it was. But I didn’t do anything but what I just told you. JS: Okay. IP: But I read a book that my doctor gave to me, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, you’re probably familiar with her. [unable to hear recording] It made me realize that we were so woefully unprepared for war. Because Roosevelt knew that we had to help Britain, an, but he knew the country did not want to go to war. There were secret meetings arranged between Franklin and Churchill. Meeting off the coast of Newfoundland. And reading that book helped me realize again how fortunate we were that Hitler didn’t invade England. Because he decided to go change directs and go to Russia. That would have changed everything for all of the free world. But that was a very wonderful book to read. (21:17) JS: I want to kind of get back to what it was that you sort of saw and did and experienced, a little bit. So, what year was it actually then that you get out to [Bent Hills?], do you remember when that was? IP: I think that was, it must have been 1944. JS: Yes. Do you remember where you were sort of Christmas of ’43? Were you still in Kansas City, or St. Louis? IP: In Christmas of ’43, I had to be in Kansas City. JS: Okay, so probably not too long after that you get out to Washington. All right. Now when you move to Washington, what kind of living accommodations, now Vint Hills, did that, where is that relative to Washington? IP: Well, I lived near Dupont Circle. �(22:03) JS: Okay. So you lived in Washington? IP: I lived in Washington, and my dad had a cousin that was there during World War I, and she had this dear friend that stayed in Washington and she met me, and she helped me find a place to live. It was very expensive, as most capitals. And I was so discouraged, looking at rooms. And maybe a blanket would cover the wall. And the blanket would have a hole in it. [can’t hear recording] Finally, we found a place that had just been newly opened about six weeks before. A nice big place with a big friendly front porch. And it was right near Dupont Circle. And I found a place to stay there. And it was just before Christmas. And the people that were there were mostly home for Christmas. So I said I would like to have a roommate. It would be more affordable for me. And so this lady that owned the place said, well there’s a nice young lady that I think you’ll get along with. And share the room with her. So I moved into a room with a young woman I didn’t even know. I was looking at her shoes and her dresses to see, you know, how she was, find out something about her. And Christmas night she came in, with a great big grin and brown eyes. And she brought fruit cake and brandy and we sat down and got acquainted and became fast friends. Her name was also Irene. (24:03) JS: All right. So now would that be Christmas ’44, then? Or Christmas, ’43? IP: It was Christmas, ’43. JS: I try to figure out, as best we can, the time line. IP: Yes. Well, anyhow, that’s when it was. And then the next morning we went down to breakfast and I got acquainted with the other people that were there. A gal from California. Her father was a college professor and she had gone around the world on a tramp steamer. Wow. (laughs) Margaret Strong. And then there was another girl from Pennsylvania. Another one from Escanaba, Michigan. One young man, he was a lawyer. And I think we all sat a long table. A very inviting room. A fireplace, it was chilly at that time. And we got acquainted and became fast friends. (25:09) JS: All right. Now you had mentioned this place called Vint Hills. Is that where you started working, or did you…? IP: Yeah. I started working there. JS: Now how far is that from Washington, itself? IP: It was about forty miles south. Near Warrenton, Virginia. JS: So how did you get out there, then? IP: Well, we went out, they took us by bus. �JS: Okay. IP: And the barracks were temporary barracks. We had a little potbellied stove we had to stoke every day. We had to put coal in. And the snow in the winter time would come right through the cracks in the floor. To keep warm we had to bring all the covers we had, that they’d provide for us. And flannel pajamas. Was it cold in Virginia, in the winter time. (26:12) JS: So you would have, you said you had a place back in Dupont Circle then, in town. Were you keeping that room? IP: Oh, no no no. That’s before I went into the service. JS: Oh, okay. I was trying to piece together the story there. So that would explain that. This Christmas there, with these people, that was a little bit earlier in your story. But now you’ve come out and you’re staying out at the Vint Hills facility, and so you’re living in these improvised barracks IP: Um hmm. (26:40) JS: Can you detail what you were doing there? IP: Yes. Monitoring our own troops in North Africa. To see what kind of information they were giving away. Of course the enemy is doing the same thing we are, listening in. And then I was transferred to Special [unable to hear] Network, which was operated by a legendary figure in the � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PaxsonI0616V Title A name given to the resource Paxson, Irene (Interview transcript and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paxson, Irene Description An account of the resource Irene Paxson, born July 19th 1917 near Mount Vernon, Illinois, was working for the U.S. Treasury when Pearl Harbor happened. Not long afterward, she enlisted in the Women's Army Corps and trained as a radio operator and cryptographer. She was assigned to a special base outside of Washington, where she intercepted German radio messages, and also monitored American traffic to watch for security breaches. A little older than most of the other women in her unit, she soon became a leader, but left in 1944 after she became pregnant. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army. Women's Army Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-08-12 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cb053f95a1e108e1b75cb14e70a62df0.pdf d2794b0e3c142e73d7899a88de23c05f PDF Text Text Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project Johnson Center for Philanthropy Grand Valley State University Oral History Interview with Michael R. Payne, February 28, 2012 The Council of Michigan Foundations, Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), and GVSU Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives present: An oral history interview with Michael R. Payne on February 28, 2012. Conducted by Dr. James Smither of the History Department at GVSU. Recorded at GVSU, Grand Rapids, Michigan. This interview is part of a series in the Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project documenting the history of philanthropy in Michigan. Preferred citation: Researchers wishing to cite this collection should use the following credit line: Oral history interview with Michael R. Payne, 2012. Johnson Center Philanthropy Archives of the Special Collection & University Archives, Grand Valley State University Libraries. James Smither (JS): We’re doing this interview with Mike Payne, on the staff at Grand Valley State University [retired professor, School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration]. This is for the Johnson Center for the study of philanthropy and the interviewer is James Smither of the History department from Grand Valley. Now basically what we’re doing here is we want to, we’re gathering information on sort of the history and origins of the Johnson Center, so, and we’re talking to various people who were involved in it in one way or another, and before we get into that we like to fill in a little bit of background on who we’re talking to. So, we’ll start with when and where were you born? Michael Payne (MP): St. Louis, Missouri, 1946, so. (JS): And then did you grow up in that area or somewhere else? (MP): Grew up in and around St. Louis until mid-late 60s, mid 60s, I guess. (JS): Ok. And then what did you do at that point? (MP): Well, those were Vietnam days, so I spent four years on active duty until 1970. 1 �(JS): Well you’ve just gotten yourself into a good deal of trouble since I run the veteran’s history project, but we won’t worry about that now right here. So, were you in the army or? (MP): Air Force for those four years. (JS): Air Force for four years, alright, and for four years then let’s see, were you an officer or enlisted? (MP): Enlisted. One of those many folks that didn’t carry enough credits to keep their deferment, so, you had a choice of finding something you wanted to do or be drafted. I found something I wanted to do so I spent four years doing electronics for the air force. (JS): Alright. Now did that take you to Vietnam at some point or did you stay in this. (MP): No. I worked with training pilots for the Air Force. We did all the training at home. They went to Vietnam to work. (JS): When did you leave the air force then? (MP): Early discharge in I think it was January of 1970 to go back to school, so I went to the University of Missouri in St. Louis and finished an undergraduate degree, and then from there to Syracuse for a Ph.D. in economics. (JS): What did you do the undergraduate degree in? (MP): Economics. (JS): So, it’s economics all the way through. (MP): Yes. (JS): In what area of economics then did you focus your research on as you were doing dissertation work? (MP): Started out with a fellowship to study economics of education which sort of expanded to human resources, human capital kind of resources not personnel. And from there, narrowed back to health care. So I studied for-profit and nonprofit hospitals as they behaved in New York State back in late 60s. (3:19) (JS): Was there a central message or lesson that you took out of that? (MP): Sure, being an econ and numbers guy, there was all kinds of theories about how hospitals behaved, and back in those days, there was a rift between for-profit and 2 �nonprofit hospitals, one accuse the other of all sorts of things, and the way I wanted to get at that was look at the actual expenditures; how did they spend money? If they spent money differently then maybe there was a difference. Turns out they didn’t spend money differently at all. So, I had data on every hospital in New York from Blue Cross was the financial intermediary for the federal government to pay hospitals through Medicare. So I had access to all of their data, and stratified by size and scope of hospital they behaved exactly the same. There was no statistical difference in behavior no matter what the theory said. (JS): And you’re measuring behavior basically just by what they are paying for or... (MP): How they spent their money. If you and I spend our income the same way, we may have very similar motivations. Since we had very good theory about for-profit hospitals, and how they are profit maximizers, I wanted to find out if the nonprofit hospitals behaved in a more philanthropic way or if they behaved the same. Turns out they behave the same. Part of that was artificial I think because they were reimbursed the same, so they were only going to be reimbursed if they did a, b or c. If they did something that was non reimbursable, they didn’t get any money for it, and they chose in general not to do that. I didn’t look at how the money came in; I looked at how the money went out. Very interesting, so, I was doing philanthropy stuff back in nineteen whatever that was, ’74, I guess, mix of for-profit and nonprofit. (JS): As you were doing this, were you publishing papers or things like that or does that come later? (MP): A little bit then, I had a research assistantship, worked on some projects around Syracuse, but, at least thirty some years ago, the main focus was, get the dissertation done, then do something else. The model was, get it writ. (JS): So, how long then did you spend in grad school? (MP): Three years on campus, I gave myself a three year window to finish the coursework and pass the exams, get a dissertation started. I had a family so that was my time frame, three years I’m out of the door. Then I took another year, taught full time and finished my dissertation while I was teaching. (JS): And then did you teach at Syracuse or did you go somewhere else? (MP): No. I went to Union University in Albany New York to teach for that one year. I was the combined departments of Economics and Sociology, one guy. I was the only one I think that didn’t have a white coat. Everybody else was very much in the science model. (JS): And then, once you completed your dissertation, where did you go next? 3 �(MP): I was recruited through a health, I had a fellowship to do my dissertation, and was recruited by Western Michigan University to come there and do health economics. (7:10) (JS): And did that put you into their economics department? (MP): Yes, economics department. I was appointed there over the fifteen years or so I was at Western. That moved to being a great appointment for me but a very risky one for a young faculty person. I was physically appointed in economics, but my time was split between the Center for Public Administration and the College of Health and Human Services. So I had sort of three hats but kind of risky thing to do. (JS): Now, was this a conventional tenure track position or a contract position or what was it? (MP): Conventional tenure track position, as I started moving away from my department, basically made a deal with the dean to protect myself. So, we had a sort of a contractual arrangement of how the other two departments would be involved in my evaluation and promotion, because econ was not completely thrilled with having me on their payroll but working really spending two-thirds of my time outside the department. (JS): Now, given the nature of your work, was that kind of outside of the experience or knowledge base of most of the colleagues in the economics department or were there a fair number of people who dealt with sort of public sector stuff of different kinds? (MP): Most didn’t. We had some courses in urban economics of course, or transportation, but I think I was the only one that taught outside the department. One guy might have taught a class in political, sort of economic political science or something like that. But it was a pretty traditional department. I was sort of the odd duck, which wasn’t unusual for me, so I spent most of my time, as that continued on; I spent most of my time in public administration. (JS): What kind of sort of research track or program did you develop then while you were there? What were you getting into? (MP): Really a mixed bag. With my econ colleagues, it was large scale general equilibrium models about urbanization, and much of that focused in the developing world and how urbanization was coming about, whether it was rural to urban movement because of agricultural revolution or population explosion or whatever it happened to be. And then some work also on some health care, I kept sort of a health care stream going along. Over in the school of, what was still then the Center for Public Administration, we developed a health curriculum, a master’s degree concentration in health, and so I taught health economics and developed several of those courses in the late, mid to late 80s. 4 �(JS): Alright sort of for a lay person when you’re teaching health economics, what does that actually mean in terms of course content? (MP): Sure, it’s applied microeconomics primarily, function of the firm in this case hospitals primarily, also but also large private practice and at some level insurance companies. So, the traditional things that you would study if you were looking at any micro economic slice of an industry, how are they reimbursed or how they are paid, labor issues in the case of health care you had multiple unions, so part of that was about reimbursement and expenditures, part of it on some labor theory, a bit of it is how do hospitals behave, are they profit maximizers, back to my study from twenty years before, or do they function in some other way. We have a very good theory about how firms operate if they’re trying to make money, we have virtually no theory about how firms operate if they aren’t trying to make money, so there’s this constant question about how does this firm really function? So, really and that was continuation for years of my dissertation. By the way that question is still out there today. Focused in health literature on quality of care, cost of care, access to care that came up in the early 1900s at a conference it’s the topic today, hasn’t changed in over a century. Details have changed. (JS): Did you start getting involved with sort of outside foundations or organizations, the Kellogg Foundation for instance or some of these others, or do you start to build up connections with those as you do your research or? (MP): Somewhat limited at Western, the focus there was primarily on developing curriculum, and we also started a, then it was a DPA, doctorate in public administration offered in Lansing, and then Western was in the satellite business as they still are. Western has a campus down the road. Thirty years ago I was teaching in Grand Rapids one night a week for Western with the health concentration, so we exported that concentration to several different communities, in fact that’s how I got to Grand Valley. (13:23) (JS): But you didn’t have much connection really with things like philanthropic foundations or organizations while you were at Western? (MP): Not much. A little, obviously there was the ongoing grant writing kinds of things, but the focus, and I even taught grant writing for a while, but my focus was more curriculum and student focused. Much like Grand Valley back in those days, Western was very much a teaching institution. I was never the grant researcher. I did enough. (JS): Your CV has a good list of published papers and all of that kind of stuff. (MP): And then for a while I edited a journal, I did a few other things that were...it was boxes you needed to check, you know, don’t mean to sound cynical but as you know 5 �there are things you need to do if you want to make associate or full professor. You just sort of have to go through the hoops or the hurdles. (JS): And you made both of those jumps? (MP): Right. (JS): At what point did you come to Grand Valley and how did that happen? (MP): 1990 I was recruited by Grand Valley to help them develop truthfully a competitive program with what Western was doing in health administration. It was a very small department and in fact it wasn’t a department, it was a center within the social science division back in those days, and there were only four of us. Eleanor French, the director at that time, short, very feisty lady, Mike Mast, who I think you’ve interviewed, Bob Clark, who passed away a few years ago, and myself. That was it. There were four of us and we did it all. Some things better than others most likely, and the interest and the reason I was hired was to develop a curriculum for a new concentration in health administration which I managed the one truthfully very parallel program at Western, kind of picked that up and brought it here. While Western continued doing their version of it, we implemented something similar, not exactly the same but similar here at Grand Valley. Focus was on mid-career students, looking for the student with maybe five years’ experience in administration with an interest in health care and moving typically from a clinical position into an administrative one, or they might have been in an administrative position and sure wished they knew more of what they were doing. So, that was our student body. (JS): Now were you doing this at the graduate level? (MP): Graduate level only. I taught very little in the past thirty years at the undergraduate level. My focus is virtually always been graduate or I try to forget about it, I was not an undergraduate focused faculty person. (JS): Now, how was it that you got involved with what would become the Johnson Center, at what point did you start developing that angle? (MP): Really the second year I was here. I came in fall of 1990. We got the curriculum which was already partially developed before I got here, put the finishing touches on that got that off to the curriculum committee. Maybe it was ‘91, started talking with Kellogg, and my interpretation of what Kellogg wanted, you’d have to ask Kellogg, but my interpretation is they had an interest in doing, of trying to instill philanthropic ideas and volunteerism in the undergraduate curriculum. If you read their proposal, that’s what I take from that. We were primarily interested in graduate study for nonprofit execs and wannabes. They wanted undergraduate stuff, so we came to this grand compromise, we’ll 6 �do what you want if you let us do what we want. Don Lubbers was involved with a group of college presidents with Kellogg at a meeting and Kellogg pitched their idea, everybody thought it was fantastic until Kellogg said, “But we are not going to pay for the whole thing,” then interest I think dwindled a bit. Don Lubbers was really tuned in to philanthropy, he was a phenomenal fundraiser, had good people around him including Dottie Johnson and a host of others that were just neck deep in philanthropy, and so they well understood what we wanted to do as a center, and that was communicated to Kellogg. We’ll be glad and we understand the undergraduateness of what they wanted to do, and I think, this was unwritten, my impression, Kellogg saw the nature of the student body changing over time, now we’re up to 1990, there’s an awful lot being written about first generation college students, well if they’re first generation therefore they don’t have the history that previous college students had. I think Kellogg was concerned that the underlying understanding of service to the community and philanthropy and giving was somehow different in new students that we were getting at the college level than students from 10, 20 years before. Whether or not that’s true, I have no idea. That was my impression. Through the 70s, 80s you know we did the women’s study thing and nonwestern world and there were several attempts to kind of infuse in the curriculum new ideas. I believe Kellogg wanted volunteerism and service learning to be that next bit of infusion to get students thinking about how to give back to the community. (20:21) (JS): On some level, it may have been they may have assumed maybe that first generation students are looking at an undergraduate education as a credential or a ticket to a better job. They are looking to sort of improve their own position, and maybe not seeing as far past it. (MP): That could well be, and I don’t think it was an elitist position, you know, the wealthy kids of the past understand all this, you know how you’re supposed to play the game but these new kids don’t. I don’t think that was it as much as the numbers were so much bigger. We were getting you know, Grand Valley back in 1990 was what 10,000 students or less. (JS): Hit eleven thousand in 1990. (MP): Now we are at 22, 25. (JS): Twenty-five. (MP): Western was 14, and it went to 30, you know, so the magnitude of the number of people on campus was just mushrooming, you know. I’m the leading edge of the baby boomer; you can’t get any older than me and be a baby boomer. I was born in 1946. Bill Clinton, and George Bush and I, we’re all the same age. That means there are 75 million 7 �people behind me, and that boom is what Kellogg was interested in, I think. You’d have to ask them. (JS): Alright, now, if there hadn’t been a Kellogg grant or this thing had not come up, do you think there would have been much done in terms of study of philanthropy or things here at Grand Valley? (MP): It was beginning to happen in the literature. There were a couple early conferences that some of us went to, where the chat, the conversation in and around public administration was beginning to identify the nonprofit sector as sort of the third leg of the stool. And it was gaining in importance, so there was interest in gee, how do we, public administration is more than government, we know it’s not business, but it’s more than government, and by the way is anybody at all paying attention to nonprofits? Basically the answer was no. So, public administration as a field, I don’t think of it as a discipline, public administration as a field was moving to begin to incorporate some nonprofit administration at least, and so we were headed in that direction. We ended up with concentrations, a concentration in health care that had a set of courses that were contained almost like as electives within a master’s degree, and we were beginning to develop the same idea for nonprofit, we had the same in urban, and in criminal justice, there were four I think, concentrations that a student could select one of, they had to select one. So there were these core courses in administration, history of the field, personnel, statistics, policy analysis, those sorts of things, then there were specialized courses if you were interested in health administration, or nonprofit administration, criminal justice, then you would splinter off. Then come back together at the end with some capstone kinds of things. So the idea was to bring this variety of students together for some common knowledge. Split them off into specific concentrations and then bring them back together again, and as we brought them back together again they discovered they were more alike than they were different. They had some of the same problems, may have used different words, they had a different terminology from nonprofit to health care, but they were both concerned about getting the grant money and reimbursement and serving a client. So there was tremendous overlap that they didn’t understand at first, nor did we completely. (JS): Now, what sort of impact did it have ultimately on our programs here, once the Kellogg grant happens, what goes on or starts to happen that either couldn’t have happened or wouldn’t have happened as quickly? (The phone rings @ 25:11.) (MP) I don’t think the grants for service learning and all of that would have taken place, certainly not with the scale it did. Our deal with, let me back up to think about the service learning piece, our deal with Kellogg was that they would fund us but we had to put up money as well. It was a shrinking Kellogg component over a period of years. One of the 8 �things they were really interested in was us developing grants to faculty to get them involved in the community and not much of that had been happening without the grant. That was a new initiative. In part we were able to dangle dollars in front of a history professor or someone in who knows where, art, and ask them to go out in the community and find a connection, take their students with them, and we’ll pony up some grant money for it. So that was the carrot to get them to do that. I think most of that wouldn’t have happened without the Kellogg grant. I think we would have had a bit at least of the graduate concentration but not as much or as fast. (JS): How does an academic center like this one that you are creating, how is that going to actually relate to or connect with ongoing philanthropic activities, or organizations particularly within Michigan? Where are the connections? (MP): Connections? Again so much of this was historical. There was another organization in town back in the early days called the Direction Center, and they were involved with providing ongoing nonprofit support in the form of training and classes and all that sort of thing. Part of it was contractual work; part of it was in-service training. We had an agreement with them that we would do the credit level graduate work and not do the in-service learning kinds of things. They were going to focus on affirmative action workshop or whatever the latest ADA compliance thing was, they were going to focus on that. We were going to focus on the academic courses and try and improve the graduate level students that were working in West Michigan in nonprofit work, and then of course our connection through Kellogg and then with the Council of Michigan Foundations we have ongoing work there. A tad later, Kellogg funded a large effort about youth philanthropy and some of us were involved in that as well. (JS): Now as this, what becomes the Johnson Center, initially kind of gets off of the ground, who were sort of the key people in making that happen and what were they doing? (MP) Ninety one, ’92, don’t remember exactly, I am sure it’s in a file in some place, the grant’s awarded, we do a search and hire a new director or the first director, a guy named Thom Jeavons, came out of a religious philanthropy background, and that I suppose was the start of the center although it wasn’t called the Johnson Center yet, it was just the Center on Philanthropy. There was money in the grant to provide funding for some faculty. I was one of the named faculty. When I came here from Western, I brought along a journal that I was editing, New England Journal of Human Services, and we did that out of what’s now the Johnson Center. Published that for a while, and started doing the earliest part was starting the service learning projects as I recall and getting the curriculum through the curriculum committee to really get the graduate nonprofit concentration off the ground. So, key players, John Gracki, out of the president’s office I think he was associate provost back in those days, Eleanor French was still the director, 9 �Mike Mast worked on this some and had the real undergraduate focus that I didn’t have, Bob Clark was split between political science and public administration, tangentially involved with nonprofit, Jeavons, then we had some others that sort of came and went. (30:55) (JS): Now to what extent has, the creation of the center, how has that affected the kinds of classes you teach and the kinds of students you’ve seen in them, and if you’re looking at the students who were, is it attracting more or different students than you had been teaching back before this started or? (MP): Well dramatic change in the student body over the last 20 years. Twenty years ago, and this sounds like ancient history, you know, twenty years ago was primarily midcareer students in each of the concentrations, required to be mid-career in health care, turned out to be mid-career, because that’s where we, what little marketing we did, that’s where we marketed and they were local. We didn’t offer this in Toledo or any place else. It wasn’t online, so if you couldn’t drive here three nights a week, and it was only an evening program, if you couldn’t drive here you weren’t going to have it. Little later on we did some off campus stuff. So, western Michigan, mid-career, sort of nontraditional students that was our graduate niche. The undergraduates were Grand Valley’s undergraduates, of the day, and we didn’t have a specific undergraduate course in nonprofit for a long time until PA 300 came about some years later. But over that time, the student body at the now School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration, if I’ve got the name right, now there’s that mid-career element, much much smaller, there’s a foreign student element that wasn’t there previously, an occasional one student, and now there is a very large pre career component to the MPA, folks that got their degree last year maybe in psych or soch or history or business or who knows what, and they are pursuing a master’s degree in public administration. In those mid-career students, that group now also has some folks that are changing careers. They used to be at Hayworth or they used to be at somewhere else, but they’re not anymore and they’re interested in either government or nonprofit, to a large extent they are interested in nonprofit. That’s the other big change. It went from a Center for Public Administration that in the name meant government, now, and you have to check upstairs, but I would bet a third or less are going to be “government students”, two thirds or more are going to be nonprofit and health, and a good half of those are going to be nonprofit, so it’s, nonprofit is not the tail of the dog, it’s a very large component of what’s now public administration. (34:27) (JS): Now you’ve got this sort of influx of what we would I suppose call traditional graduate students in a way, they completed undergrad they go on to grad, so is it now in 10 �part that people go in through college, they recognize there are real career opportunities in nonprofit and then this kind of work in nongovernmental organizations and actually targeting that as an area to go work in? (MP): I think so, if you ask the incoming freshman they wouldn’t answer that in the affirmative. I don’t think it’s managed to work its way down to the high school yet, as they go through an undergraduate degree, and some begin to look at, alright, what are my opportunities when I leave here, some of them aren’t real satisfied with the options and start looking then for another avenue. Clearly there’s been growth in the service sector and in the nonprofit sector. There are jobs there, at the moment. If you are really interested in a job in government maybe your opportunities are a little thin, so where are the jobs, so part of it I think it is career driven, I think part of that is just the reality of the day. (JS): Now as far as the center itself has developed, how has, what have you observed in terms of the evolution of what became the Johnson Center over the course of time. You’ve now been able to look at it over twenty years, what’s happened to it over that time? (MP): It started out very clearly an element of the School of Public Administration, housed together, staffed together, separate budgets, but in the same pot. Today, very separate, physically, in different buildings, different staff, some crossing, but limited between PA faculty and Johnson Center activity, much less than there used to be, until whenever it was two or three years ago, whenever the new building was put up, we were still housed together. Even when we were still housed together, we were on opposite sides of the hallway, basically on opposite sides of the street, and the PA faculty mostly did PA faculty stuff, and the Johnson Center had their own staff doing a lot of work in the community. There was some cross-pollenization there, in part because many of our graduate students ended up being either interns or employees of the Johnson Center. The Johnson Center director historically has taught at least one course a semester a year, I don’t know, in the School of Public Administration, I don’t know if that’s still happening or not. The previous directors had been faculty members in the School of Public Administration, whether it was Thom Jeavons, or Dott, or Donna VanIwaarden, and Donna was a PA faculty that took over that job and kept her faculty title. Margaret Sellers Walker was a PA faculty that moved to what’s now the Johnson Center, but she was still faculty. I think we’ve lost that. That’s my impression. (38:26) (JS): Does the Johnson Center at this point have its own faculty or are there courses that are taught that relate to what it does that are those still public administration courses right now? 11 �(MP): To my knowledge the Johnson Center doesn’t have any faculty. The graduate programs, the academic stuff is still in the School of Public Administration, I think. But I’ve been gone for a few months, life may have changed. It’s a non-degree granting and as far as I know, non-tenure track faculty center. They have folks that work on a contract. To my knowledge, there’s no tenure there. And they’re in the main, maybe exclusively except for the director, not Ph.D. folks. They’re master’s level trained in general. I think that’s true. (JS): Ok. And do you see the center as providing a kind of complementary function to what is done in public administration, that if they can focus on a lot of the outreach and the training for because they run various programs and seminars and all this kind of stuff? (MP): Very much complementary, noncompetitive, the world is sort of divided up into credit granting and not. There’s some research that flips back and forth, may be funded by the Johnson Center and carried out by a PA faculty person, there may be a workshop given by the Johnson Center that a PA faculty person runs. But I think there’s a lot more separation now, clearly more separation than there ever has ever been. (JS): They are off at the Bicycle Factory now. (MP): Yeah, they got their own little universe over there. We certainly talked about all of us moving together and the faculty, as I remember, the faculty voted by a very slim margin not to do that because the faculty argued, rightfully so, that their focus needed to be where the students were, not off at the bicycle factory. I think by making that decision though, it created a large space between what they do and what PA does. Without sort of the constant connection, I believe you lose something in the separation. (41:30) (JS): Now to what extent do you see what we’re doing here with the Johnson Center as being kind of distinctive or unusual in terms of what universities do? (MP): Clearly, clearly outside the box. There’s only, I don’t remember the acronym, anyway there’s three of these centers: Indiana, Arizona, and here. The other two are both academic centers and a Johnson Center-like environment merged. We’re not, although I think we’re still considered an academic center, you’d to ask the Johnson Center folks, certainly less academic than the other two. But those three: Arizona, Indiana, and Grand Valley, that’s it. Those are the three big places. There are certainly other universities, San Francisco and others that are doing things in nonprofit, but it seems like that triangle, or triad or tri-something, that’s where an awful lot of work is being done. (JS): On some level you could kind of look back at the initiative that started this center 20 odd years ago now, as being something of a gamble, let’s go try this and see what 12 �happens which was the kind of thing that Don Lubbers did in a variety of situations, how successful has that gamble been? (MP): I think it has been hugely successful. Again we are talking about twenty years ago; Grand Valley was a very entrepreneurial place back then. Gee, I’ve got this idea, well go try it, see if it works. It didn’t work, come up with a new idea. It was very entrepreneurial; ah those days are long gone. It got more bureaucratic overtime, and I don’t mean for this to sound like the old guy complaining, but it just changed, you know. Changed for the better in some cases, and I think changed for the worse in some others. Comparing Western to Grand Valley -- and I taught at Western for 15 years and 20 at Grand Valley -- very, very different environments. Couldn’t have done this at Western. It was very bureaucratic then, it’s even more bureaucratic now I think. There was a little room for innovation because public administration was able to pull off some things, but it was a much more formal higher-ed model, where Grand Valley was still this young kid that was growing and you could do all sorts of things. If you had an idea, you typically skipped the provost, you went right to Don Lubbers, you call, “Hey Don, can I come in and see you?” “Oh sure.” You go in, you see Don Lubbers, and you pitched your idea and if he liked it, he gave you a check, basically to go try it and see what happens. (44:40) (JS): And this was a pretty big thing, the University of Michigan and places like that had the opportunity to do this and they passed it up. (MP): They passed it up. I think we were a gamble on the part of Kellogg. They would have bet, my guess again, I don’t speak for them, I think they would have been more comfortable with the U of M, you know some, or at least Wayne State, but Grand Valley? West side of the state, relatively young, I’m sure we didn’t do nice pretty proposals like U of M did, but we had the interest and the drive to do it, and willing on the part of the board of trustees to put up the money. And I think that was the gamble that Grand Valley was taking. We’ll try this, and we will fund it in a growing percentage over the period of three or five years to the point where the Kellogg money is gone, and then we’re committed to continue this as a line-item budget. And the other universities, I think they were very willing to do it if Kellogg paid for it. But Grand Valley’s model for many grants has been, we’ll pay part. If we think it’s a good idea, we ought to put up some of our own money to make the case that we think it is a good idea. Where, I believe anyway, in general terms, Michigan State or U of M were willing to take virtually any grant that comes along as long as there’s 100% funding, they don’t have anything to risk. (JS): I guess this is sort of my final question here. Where do you see the center and its programs going, what do you think is the most important thing for the center to be doing over the next decade or so? 13 �(MP): Truthfully I don’t know much of what the center is doing. There’s a new master’s degree in nonprofit administration. I’m not at either place anymore since I retired. I think they can be a stand-alone west Michigan center that does what they do, and most likely they do it very well. My opinion, the center and public administration should get back together. Quit the squabbling, not that they’re really squabbling, patch up the divorce or whatever it is, and get back together. I think they can do more together than they can apart. That’s an idea. But no one asked me. (JS): The historian did. Ok. In that case I’d like to just close out here. Thank you for taking time to come talk to us. (MP): Glad to do it. (47.56) 14 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7290ae56072fbad0a448c45c0aa5ff0f.mp4 9b7819efcbee864e3f7452a13af2396e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project Interviews Subject The topic of the resource Philanthropy and society--Personal narratives Family foundations--Michigan Charities--Michigan Description An account of the resource The Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) was initiated in 2006 as an innovative partnership between the Council of Michigan Foundations, StoryCorps, Michigan Radio and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University to create an oral history of Michigan philanthropy. Additional video interviews were created by the Johnson Center for Philanthropy to add to the depth and breadth of the collection. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/516">Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (MPOHP) (JCPA-08). Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Sound Text Moving Image Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf video/mp4 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JCPA-08 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2006-2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson Center for Philantrhopy Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource StoryCorps (Project) Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/516">Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project (JCPA-08)</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Payne, Michael R. video interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Payne, Michael R. Description An account of the resource Michael (Mike) Payne, Ph.D., discusses his service in the Air Force, education in economics at the University of Missouri and Syracuse, his study of for-profit and nonprofit hospitals in New York State in the late 60s, and teaching at Union University, Western Michigan University, and Grand Valley State University. He discusses developing health administration curriculum at Grand Valley State University, incorporation of nonprofit administration in the public administration field, and development of the Johnson Center for Philanthropy. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, Michigan Philanthropy Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Philanthropy and society Personal narratives Grand Valley State University Education, Higher--Curricula Universities and colleges--United States--Administration Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JCPA-08_PayneM Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Relation A related resource Johnson Center for Philanthropy Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-02-28 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/490d60f59c5d3abc7f05e04c57226784.jpg ac629bc87081266865d0e9a2f3719b0a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Michigan Novels Collection. PS3521.E19 R6 1907 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0029 Title A name given to the resource The Road to Damascus: A Novel Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peabody, Marion (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of The Road to Damascus: A Novel, by H.A. Mitchell Keays, published by Small, Maynard, 1907. Unsigned cover design attributed to Marion Peabody. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c8fbfcac38169265d6a90d4645275f5f.jpg 96c8eafb77ddc5e2e330143445d64752 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS3507.A87 U6 1900 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0135 Title A name given to the resource Up in Maine Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peabody, Marion (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of Up in Maine, by Holman F. Day, published by Small, Maynard, & Company, 1900. Unisgned cover design attributed to Marion Peabody. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b391f145181636b11bd52c0b6128c099.mp4 7652c20df4defae8aa7081adf1b73444 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dfe3054c6cb1b7ec6bd19cfcb985ed81.pdf 8e28d3a635eda19986054e19310c2e51 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Dr. Robert Pearson (1:43:48) (00:02) Introduction • Born in Toledo, Ohio. • His father was a CPA who traveled a lot. • Remembers being poor during the depression but not really noticing it. • Graduated from Northern High School in Detroit, Michigan. • Was able to graduate in January instead of June, in order to go into the service. • Feels that people generally felt the United States were going to war, however they felt it would be against Germany. • His first response when Pearl Harbor was attacked was to ask “Where is Pearl Harbor?” • He had about a year in the service when Pearl Harbor was attacked. • Most men got into the military before any conflict occurred to rise in rank so they would not be sent to war as just a G.I. • Although he was told by the physician at his physical that his colorblindness would prevent him from becoming both and officer and a pilot, he became both. (04:40) Enlistment Process • Pearson and his father went to the federal building to sign the papers guaranteeing he was both eighteen years old and wanted to be in the Army. • The next day he was send on a streetcar and was sat in a room with other men until they could memorize their serial number. • He was then sent to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan for two days where he received his uniform. • He was then sent to St. Louis, Missouri. • Pearson signed up for work with aerial photography, and was sent to Denver, Colorado to attend aerial photography instruction. • His main amount of basic training occurred in St. Louis. • Pearson was at the aerial photography school in Denver when Pearl Harbor happened. (07:43) Aerial Photography School • Learned basic camera work. • There was also a fair amount of academic work. • The men were then allowed to fly with aircraft that were leaving the area to practice their photography skills. • He was then sent to Montgomery, Alabama to work in the photo laboratory. • The cameras were mounted in the airplanes. • The photographs taken aerially would then be used to create maps, which was his work in Montgomery. (09:08) After Pearl Harbor �All of the Army training was sped up after the advent of war. A lot of men were shipped to the Philippines. Remembers helping stamp away the discharge dates of the men serving with a new stamp saying “Duration of hostilities plus six months.” • Men were being shipped to the Philippines before the attack on Pearl Harbor. (11:00) Montgomery, Alabama and Waco, Texas • He took a course in camera repair. • The army was in such a hurry to get men out of training, his final examination was to look at a piece of metal and describe it. When he did accurately, his commanding officer told him that it was “good enough” and he passed. • While in Montgomery, he heard there was an active recruitment for men to be glider pilots. • His first flight was with his father and Charles Lindbergh. • He wanted to become a glider pilot and passed the physical examination. • He was then sent from Montgomery to Waco, Texas for glider school. • The men flew a number of different small gliders, and each made two landings in the larger glider. • By the time he completed his training, the military had too many glider pilots to use and the men were sent to a camp. • While in camp, everyone but Master Sergeants and Technical Sergeants did the mundane tasks, such as KP and guard duty. • Pearson learned one day the artillery was looking for liaison pilots, and signed up. • He passed the physical for this duty and was sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. • His first time flying as a pilot was in Spencer, Iowa, during a ten week training before he attended glider school in Waco, Texas. (15:10) Fort Sill • He obtained additional flight training as well as artillery training at Fort Sill. • 65 horsepower Piper Cubs were used for flight training. • 500 feet was a long enough runway to land the Cubs. • The weather had to be relatively fair, because the Cubs did not have any instruments in order to navigate without seeing the ground. • In addition to flight training, he learned to tell where the actual shots fired by the artillery landed compared to where they were supposed to land. • He was taught to land on curved roads, and take off from fields that were too short to take off from (18:04) Mohave Desert and Camp Bullis • He was stationed just north of Needles, California. • Member of the 4th Armored Division, 22nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion. • He feels that serving with this group was one of the best things that happened to him while in the service. • Each battalion had two airplanes. • The entire division, except for tanks and heavy material, was moved to Camp Bullis, Texas. • They continued the training they had been doing while in the desert. • • • �He was the first pilot assigned to the division, and therefore was senior and chief of the air division. • The radios in the planes used for communication only had two channels. • He would communicate with the fire direction center, and rarely with the battalion commander. • Pearson got to know many of the men in the battalion very well. There were 35 officers including himself, and he knew them all. As far as he knows, there are three remaining. • He was the only officer without college education. At the time they were all Sergeants and at Camp Bullis they learned they could become officers by going through artillery officers basic school. • After becoming an officer, small tasks were taken care of by other people for them. (23:00) England • Shipped from Boston on the Oriente to Europe in January 1944. • He went home on leave for a few days before leaving for Europe. • None of the heavy equipment went with the men to Europe, when they arrived they had all new equipment. • There were no U-boat scares on the trip overseas. • He landed in Bath, England and took a train to Devizes England. • The battalion had its own conclave while in Devizes. • There were aircraft waiting for the men when they arrived. • The men were able to fly quite regularly despite the English weather. • There was very little interaction with the local civilians. • He took his plane to London on several occasions, including having a personal tour of Westminster Abbey. • He was one of the few men who knew when the invasion of Normandy was to happen, but he did not know until the night before. • He told a group of senior officers that he knew when the invasion was to be, none of them believed him and they all placed their bets. • He knew the invasion was going to happen when he was flying past an RAF airfield and saw the men painting invasion stripes on the gliders. • Very rarely did the Germans carry out air reconnaissance around his area. • His division did not go into Normandy early in the invasion. • They stayed in England for about a month after the invasion began, and carried out maneuvers daily. • Patton noted his division as a fine division, and they received the first unit citation for an entire division. • He would take the division commander with him in the aircraft to watch the artillery do their maneuvers. (33:33) France • He landed on Utah Beach. • He began flying in combat roles three or four days after landing in France. • The pilots would fly above their own lines and look ahead into enemy territory. Pearson remembers seeing all of the horses the Germans used in combat. • �As they got ready for Operation Cobra [breakout from Normandy], the entire division was only 1000 yards away from the enemy. (36:35) Memory of Patton • There was a division officers call while still in England. • The men were all gathered into an auditorium when Patton walked onto the stage. • Pearson notes that there was no large flag behind him like in the movie Patton. • Patton told the men he was going to command the Third Army. • He also spoke of his experiences in Africa, including making sure that an officer was in a jeep while in a convoy, so he can look around. A second lieutenant was in the jeep keeping watch, at one point he decided there were no enemies in the area so he did not continue his watch. His jeep was then hit by an 88 and blew up. • After hearing the story, the entire auditorium was silent. Patton then said “Gentlemen, I’m glad that son of a bitch is dead.” • Pearson felt that Patton was an impressive character and really the only famous commander the men had heard of at that point. (39:56) Break out of Normandy • He remembers watching numerous bombers leave to bomb the German troops. • This bombing is when General McNair was killed. • He felt that he had a lot of training and experience flying. • The danger for the Liaison pilots was the divisions would follow the roads, so any space between the roads were dangerous to fly over. • On the advent of breakout, the liaison planes were grounded until the division began to move. • The pilots went wherever the division went, on average using two different airfields a day. • The task of the chief mechanic was to look at fields and figure out which ones were suitable for the planes to land at night. • One night, while the planes were situated on the front, they came under heavy artillery fire and had to evacuate their vehicles and aircraft from the area to divert losing their equipment. • The divisional artillery was shooting from side to side to prevent attacks while moving. • There was a lot of German anti-aircraft fire aimed at the liaison pilots. • The pilots would fly around 500-600 feet and up to 1500 feet in the air. • A large number of the aircraft sustained damage, 7 out of 9 pilots were missing or killed during conflict. • Pearson compiled over 9000 hours combat hours. • They would fly around 1.5 hours at a time while on artillery patrol. • Describes the breakout period as chaos. • After the breakout, they crossed the Brittany peninsula and stopped in Vannes, France. • A lot of casualties occurred on route to Vannes. • There was a fight between General Wood, who wanted to turn left instead of crossing the Brittany Peninsula, and Patton, who wanted to go to Vannes. 51:10 Impression of France: • �Usually, the French people would come out to the troops and offer them wine and food. • When in Vannes, members of the Free French of the Interior met him at his plane and marched him to a church nearby. Where they had captured collaborators and killed them. Pearson describes this as the moment he lost his “moral virginity.” It was also the first time he vomited in France. • He believes they wanted to show the American military how helpful they were being to the cause. (54:36) France and Germany • They were sent Eastward. • They served on the southern flank of the gap. • He had no knowledge of the “big picture” of the war, they very rarely knew where they were heading. • He describes the movement across France as “racing across France” to the German frontier. • The most important mission of the 4th division was the relief of Bastogne, Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge. (01:00:00) The German Front • While waiting on the German line, they pilots would still fly every day. • The men would stay in sleeping bags, usually in abandoned farmhouses and barns to sleep in. • The only time the planes were replaced was when they were shot down. Pearson was shot down three times. • The first time he was shot down, he had learned that once a German aircraft fires at you once, they will not come back because they will lure the ground fire at them. However, this time the German aircraft firing at Pearson did come back and shot his tail off. • They would burn the plane if it was too badly damaged to repair. • There was a unit with the division whose only job was to manufacture the planes needed for liaison purposes. (01:05:55) Battle of the Bulge and Germany • His division was to the south of the Bulge. • He was in the commander’s office when the orders were handed down to prepare to move that night. • Because he could not fly at night, he watched the division move until daylight. • He had no idea where his division was all day while he flew, until he found someone who had an inkling of their position. He finally found them. • He could see the unit’s markings and the shape of tank turrets while flying to meet with the division. • He flew every day around the time of the battle, despite the weather. • He was told to register each of the battalions and an 8-inch howitzer on a small town south of Bastogne, in order to TOT. So the shells will arrive on the town at the same time. • He was farther south of Bastogne, and never actually reached the town. • He then traveled east from the area. • �They crossed the Siegfried line east of the Bastogne area. He describes it as a rat chase, but no major battles with the Germans. Once inside Germany, they were not allowed to have any contact with any German civilians. • The United States military would be fined $65 for talking with a German citizen. • The men would sleep on the ground in the German countryside. • There was a lot of damage throughout the countryside. (01:19:45) Concentration Camp • Remembers the exact date, April 4th 1945. • He was flying over it back from a mission. • He couldn’t figure out what the enclosure was. • He landed on the road and walked up to the gate. It was camp Ohrdruf. • Pearson walked in. Other 4th division men were there, the Germans had abandoned it. • Several days later, Patton and Eisenhower arrived to see it. • Before landing at Ohrdruf, he had heard of the Death Camps, but most wrote them off as nonsense. • After the war, he learned the Russians had discovered a death camp but had never told the United States. • He was dropping leaflets to help refugees get away from the Soviets. (01:24:54) After Europe • The men had a party for Pearson and then he left. • The army was going to discharge him, but he did not feel comfortable leaving the military until the war was over. • He went to Fort Sill to be a flight instructor. • He told the men in charge of Fort Sill that he felt he should be a captain. • However, when someone returned from Washington DC he found out that there were no promotions to be given. (1:28:00) After the Service • He attended Wayne State University and attended medical school there. • He spent 13 years as a general practitioner. • He then moved to Traverse City and became the director of Adult Services as a psychiatrist. • After he retired, the hospital closed. (01:30:30) Other memories of the service • He had a friend who lived in Houston and was speaking about the war with him. Who said one day that there is no bond that is stronger between two people other than serving in a war together. • He also served as a member of the board for the Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas. • While in Houston serving as a psychotherapist, he met a woman who was a prisoner in a concentration camp during the war. • A lot of survivors said they would not speak of their experiences in the war until they met the people on the board. • • • �One man he spoke with frequently was in a concentration camp for over six months until his wife bribed his way out. (01:35:35) How the Military affected him • He began writing about how his experiences affected him after his wife asked him about it. • He is not a pacifist, and is proud of his time in the service. • He also believes that Germans hate World War II, not because they lost, but because it was such a horrific time for everyone. • � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PearsonR Title A name given to the resource Pearson, Dr. Robert (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pearson, Dr. Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Pearson served as an artillery liaison pilot with the 4th Armored Division in WW II. He describes his reasons for enlisting prior to the start of the war, his training first in gliders and then in observation planes, and his service in France, Belgium and Germany. His experiences include action in the breakout from Normandy, the relief of Bastogne and the invasion of Germany. He also discusses an encounter with the French Resistance and his spotting of the Ohrdruf death camp in Germany. After the war, he became a physician and a psychiatrist, and helped to found the Holocaust museum in Houston, Texas. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-02-12 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9c98578313225f05817eb194a8321dd7.pdf 2a7def24dbed2de83aa50e81891bb077 PDF Text Text Young Lords In Lincoln Park Interviewee: Ted Pearson Interviewers: José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 7/12/2012 Biography and Description Ted Pearson is a long-time resident of Lincoln Park who has been active within the progressive movement all his life. Early on in 1968 and 1969 he would come by the Young Lord’s People’s Church to offer his support for the Young Lords and their programs. For most of the Young Lords who had just stepped out of gang violence in Chicago, it was their first time ever being involved in protests, demonstrations, or sit-in occupations of institutions. It was a difficult beginning for the Young Lords, who lacked role models and reference points. Some people were even afraid of their unrefined meager appearance, though they were creative and dressed in their best with what they had. Nevertheless, the Young Lords did not originate from a middle class movement. They did not even resemble a student movement at first. It was only later when they began to grow that students and others joined them. Back then there was pride to say you were “Lumpen.” Mr. Pearson and others like him stood for working people, and he hated discrimination and racism then and now. He was one of several who did not judge, but related, relaxed, and took the time to talk and get to know the original members of the Young Lords. It was easy to notice that he genuinely cared for the plight of the poor, and in turn for him to realize that the Young Lords were not evil but were his friends. They were odd looking but they shared the same values. He was also strong on the need to fight racism. Mr. Pearson co-chaired the Chicago branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. His mother had been active in the Women’s �International League for Peace and Freedom. She was a strong supporter of a movement called, “The Right of a Black Family to live in a White Community.” This movement was led by Carl Braden and was put forth during the Red Scare of the 1950s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee was hunting for communists, in all parts of government and the country. Mr. Pearson has supported many democratic causes since before the 1960s. They include the Young Lords and Black Panthers, Voter Registration Drives, Immigrant Rights, The Committee to Defend the Bill Of Rights, Harold Washington for Mayor, the Obama Campaign, and the Lincoln Park Neighbors United for Peace Against the War in Iraq. This was a grassroots group of neighbors who came together to speak out in a unified voice against the war. They believe in using peaceful non-violent solutions, to promote social justice, conserve the environment and protect civil and human rights. �Transcript TED PEARSON: Ted Pearson, I was born July 22nd, 1942, in New York. JOSE JIMENEZ: In New York? TP: Yeah. JJ: All right. Ted, we’re talking about your mother and you coming here to Chicago. You said you were the only child? TP: Mm-hmm. JJ: What about children? Did you have any children, or what’s your spouse’s name? TP: Kathy. And we’ve been married since December 1963. We have two children and four grandchildren. JJ: What are their names? TP: Two children named Allen and Robert and then four grandchildren, Matthew, Emily, Lee, and Lynn. [00:01:00] And of course, they’re all above average, right? JJ: They’re red diaper babies? Is that what you’re saying? TP: Well, no. Lee and Lynn are not, because their family situation was more complicated. Our son married their mother. We call them our grandchildren, but they’re not directly related to us. And then our other two kids, they’re very political actually. Kids aren’t political these days. I don't know what’s the matter, but they just don’t get political. JJ: Do you feel bad about that? TP: Well, I worry about the future of the world when so many kids seem to be not that concerned, but I think it’s changing. I think today, more and more young people 1 �are becoming concerned about the way things are going and what’s going on. But to be honest, I have to say that we didn’t do our job very well, in terms of bringing up the young people to have more of a social conscience [00:02:00] and think more about the future of the world and the people and where we’re going. JJ: When you say they’re not political, do they recognize that there was some discrimination of some people? TP: Oh, yeah, they’re progressive, I would say. They’re democratic, you know, in the small D. JJ: They’re not Republican. TP: No, they’re against discrimination. They’re for peace. They’re for all the right issues, but they’re not activists. JJ: And what is an activist to you? TP: An activist to me is a person who devotes themselves to the movement, who sees that as their main reason for existence, so to speak, you know, the way we were. JJ: So, you mean someone that goes out and will pass out some flyers or go to meetings? TP: Someone [00:03:00] who feels responsible for the future of the world and the city and the community, who doesn’t say, “Yeah, yeah, I agree, but let somebody else worry about it.” JJ: And that’s what’s going on today? TP: I think so, too much, but more and more young people are getting involved. I think the Occupy movement was a good example. It’s a turning point. We’ll see. 2 �JJ: And what did happen to the Occupy movement in Chicago? I remember making a call, and it took me a long time to get through, so I could tell that there was some kind of repressive thing going on there, when I can’t even get ahold of somebody. TP: Yeah. The Occupy movement, of course, it’s very diffused. JJ: And there was something with the phone. It wasn’t that they didn’t respond. I clearly connected to their office. It’s not a response issue. TP: I mean, there are a lot of different currents, and there’s no leader of the Occupy movement, so it’s a kind of a loose [00:04:00] coalition of people. They come, and they respond to specific things, but I think that the spirit is there. They’ve changed the conversation in the country. That’s what’s important, I think. JJ: And a lot of the stuff are issues that at least the Young Lords were concerned about, in terms of the Bank of America and housing and all this other. TP: Yeah, they’re anti-corporate. They’re anti-bank. They’re anti-finance, and many anti-capitalists, but they don’t have a clear revolutionary perspective, I don’t think. JJ: So, what would you say, that they’re just in their infancy, or are they gone? TP: Yeah, it’s a very new movement. No, they’re not gone. I think the State is trying to disrupt them. They’ve been victims of repression. They’ve been infiltrated by the police. They’ll learn. They’re learning. First of all, [00:05:00] you can’t characterize them as such because there’s so many different currents, and I think it’s a very fluid situation. People are learning. People will study. I don’t think that they express a class struggle approach, per se, but they certainly project a struggle approach, and they’re 99 percent against the one percent, but they 3 �might not see it quite as a class struggle because they don’t understand classes the way Marxists would. Let’s put it that way. But still, I’m very optimistic. JJ: I agree that they’re similar in, well, kind of anti-what we were. We wanted to try a different approach or something. For example, the whole too much, like ultrademocracy, they would call it, they wanted [00:06:00] more democracy. They wanted more looseness, and we couldn’t understand. It’s difficult for us -- TP: We’ve been there. JJ: -- to understand that. TP: We have to be very careful we don’t say, “We’ve done that. we could tell you what’s wrong with it.” They gotta learn that for themselves, and they’ll figure out maybe a better way. Not like we had such a great success story. Once we ended the war, things kinda fall apart. JJ: It’s been kinda quiet for a while, so it’s good that they’re there. So, overall, you feel that they’re surprising -- TP: I’m very optimistic, yeah, if we can keep the world from melting in the meantime. (laughs) JJ: So, you mentioned your children now. You said you lived in Lincoln Park since 1964. TP: Yeah. [00:07:00] JJ: Did you live on the western part of Lincoln Park at that time too? TP: We lived at Menomonee and Cleveland, 1808 Cleveland, and we moved there from Hyde Park. My wife and I had just gotten married. We’d just gotten out of 4 �school. We needed a place that we could afford to live. I went and worked for the movement right away, right out of school. I’d never worked at a regular job. JJ: What do you mean? You got a job? You actually got a job? TP: Yeah, I got, well, a paying job. I got 35 dollars a week (laughs) for working for the CP. I started working in the bookstore, and I was also an organizer for the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs, which was a precursor to the Young Communist League, which came later. JJ: So, it was called, at first, the W.E.B. DuBois Club? TP: Yeah. JJ: And what was that like? TP: It was a socialist-oriented youth organization. That’s what we called it, coming out of the McCarthy period. It had an obvious relationship to the Communist Party, but it wasn’t organizationally [00:08:00] connected to the Communist Party. But we needed a place to live that was inexpensive. We couldn’t afford to stay in Hyde Park, so at that time -- and this was back when the Old Town School of Folk Music was still at North Avenue and Cedric. JJ: Oh, I didn’t know they were there first. TP: Yeah, they were at 333 West North Avenue. Also in the building was the Proletarian Party, which you probably never heard of. JJ: No, I never heard of that. TP: This was a bunch of old guys who -- and I mean, they still met. They were a spinoff of one of the socialist parties. JJ: Three-thirty-three, is that where that was? 5 �TP: It’s right on the corner of North and Cedric. There had also been a progressive Marxist school there. JJ: So, how was it for you? That was a progressive area? TP: This was in the ’60s, in the early ’60s, late ’50s. So, we figured the North Side was kind of a cool place to live, [00:09:00] and we wanted to live up there, so we found an apartment at Menomonee and Cleveland, 65 dollars a month for six rooms. And you had to heat it yourself, and had the hot water heater in the kitchen, and the landlord, her name was Bonafede, an Italian couple. The daughter lived on the first floor. They lived on the second floor, and the apartment on the third floor was the one they were renting. JJ: So, was this an Italian area, you think? TP: Well, there was some Italians. It was a mix. It was a mix of Italians, Germans, different European nationalities. JJ: Is your background Italian too? TP: No. My background, my father was Jewish, and my mother was a Presbyterian. So, when we went up there, my wife and I went up there in the evening, [00:10:00] and we liked the place, and the guy says, “Oh, well, my wife made a mistake. When we she showed it to you, she told you 65 dollars, and we’d been charging that for years, and we decided we were gonna raise the rent to 75 dollars. Is that okay?” He said, “Just after a year. It’ll be 65 for the first year and then 75, and I’ll never raise the rent again. I promise.” I said, “That’s great. That’s fine.” I said, “Where is the lease?” He says, “Lease?” He says, “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?” (laughter) He says, “You pay the rent, and you 6 �live there. What else do you want, you know?” That’s the way it was back in those days. We lived there five years. He never raised the rent after that, and the only reason we moved was because our kids, we had one kid, and we wanted more, and we’d need more room and bought a little house over on Magnolia Avenue and Webster, and we’ve been there ever since. So, that’s it. But when we bought our house -JJ: Did you live on Bissell also? TP: No, never on Bissell. [00:11:00] We bought our house in 1969 for 13,000 dollars. Most houses today over there are going for over a million dollars. I mean, that’s how the neighborhood’s changed. JJ: Magnolia and Webster in Lincoln Park? TP: Yeah. I mean, when we moved over there, south of Menomonee on Cleveland was mostly Puerto Rican. South of North Avenue was all Black. JJ: South of Menomonee and Cleveland was Puerto Rican in 1964? TP: Yeah. And west of there, Larrabee Street was mostly all Black, and west of Larrabee was mixed, Puerto Rican, Black, white. They tore down all of Larrabee Street. They tore down most of North Avenue, all that North Avenue. They widened the street. They tore all that stuff down. I mean, they just pushed all -- JJ: Because I remember North Avenue was like the borderline. Just like north, [00:12:00] it was beginning to start spreading Puerto Ricans that had come from the Carl Sandburg Village area. TP: Yeah. 7 �JJ: Now, let me ask you a question because you mentioned that Cedric and North Avenue was the aggressive area, also what they used to call Bughouse Square. TP: Yeah, that was at Washington Park. JJ: So, was that also part of that community? TP: Well, it’s south of there, but it had a tradition. JJ: That’s what I mean. TP: It was expected that -- it was a very -- what’s the word? “Progressive” is not quite the right word, but it was a very tolerant area. People, even the old-timers in the neighborhood, would tolerate people who were different, which is maybe why the neighborhood attracted a lot of artists and a lot of hippies and, you know, young people and some radicals [00:13:00] and folk singers like Win Stracke. The Old Town School of Folk Music was right over there. I used to drive a cab, and this is really not very important, but I used to get off work at one or two in the morning. I would go to -- there used to be a place of North and North Park. I drove out of the Checker garage on North Park and North Avenue, and after work, I’d go over to this place, the Saddle Club, right on the corner of North Park and North Avenue. And Win Stracke and all the kids from the Old Town School would come in there after their classes, and they’d sit around, and they’d sing, and they’d drink. It was the greatest time, you know? Nobody does that anymore. Maybe the Old Town School in their new location does that. I don't know. I haven’t been up there. But it’s just, that’s the way the neighborhood was in those days. And everybody was welcome. It was one of the few places in Chicago, even though it was structured -- I mean, it was segregated. [00:14:00] I don’t want to make it 8 �sound like it was -- it wasn’t heaven, you know. There were little ghettos here and there. There was a Puerto Rican block and a Black community. Like west of Sheffield, along Maud and along in there, that was all Black, South of Armitage, west of Sheffield, in that triangle. Now there’s no Black people living there at all, not any, unless they’re wealthy, and I don’t think there are very many that are wealthy. JJ: That’s what you mean by it was segregated? TP: Yeah. But even though it was segregated like that, there was still tolerance. Everybody got along. You mentioned earlier the gangs that were growing up around in the ’60s. I wasn’t aware of that really, to be honest. JJ: But I mean, you didn’t see like Armitage was starting? Because at nighttime, we only saw for a while -- I think it was actually until 1955 [00:15:00] and ’60, I think that the youth, the social clubs became gangs. But at nighttime, there was more Spanish people living there at that time as you went. TP: Yeah. JJ: After like ’66, they were already moving out. TP: Moving west further. JJ: But around ‘64, you could still see some Spanish people living there. TP: Oh, yeah, but I wasn’t aware of gangs. JJ: Oh, you weren’t? TP: No. Of course, we didn’t go out late at night very much. I mean, you’d see people on the street, but -- JJ: Yeah, during the day, they weren’t out. 9 �TP: It was not like it was a high crime area. I don't know. It was a nice place to live, really. And you know, sure, stuff happens. Things would happen. JJ: In fact, they called themselves social clubs, and a lot of them were really playing softball and different -- did you see any of that [00:16:00] going on? TP: You’d see people playing softball, sure, in the schoolyard. Right. But I wasn’t aware of organizations of youth, of young people, because I wasn’t young enough, I guess, and I wasn’t really from that neighborhood in the same way they were. I know there was a little store downstairs from where we lived on Cleveland, you know, one of these little mom-and-pop stores. And the people that ran it, they were racist. They really were. They would say things about Black people and Puerto Ricans that were very uncomplimentary, to say the least, but they never refused to take money from any of the people. They would let kids come into the store and buy things, and people would buy things. They had attitude problems, but still in all, you know. JJ: Now, at that time, there was a big -- it was a group called the [Corps?] that hung around in the playground of St. Michael’s. [00:17:00] You never saw it? TP: I wasn’t aware of it, no. JJ: We were just looking for -- we were young, and we were (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). TP: Right. I wasn’t very aware of that at all. It’s not that I never saw it, I’m sure. I just didn’t think about, you know. JJ: But you were aware that there were these different sections in there, the (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) sections? 10 �TP: And I was very aware of the urban renewal that was going on already. JJ: What was that? TP: Well, like on Larrabee Street, there was a big struggle to save Larrabee Street as a Black community, or just as a community, because it was a thriving neighborhood. And there were all these tensions. There was the Ranch Triangle Association, the Lincoln Park -- what were they called? JJ: Neighborhood Association. TP: Neighborhood Association, they wanted urban renewal, and we would all, “we,” now I’m talking about the left-wingers, would always argue, “You know, you guys are shooting yourselves in the head. You allow them to push out these people, [00:18:00] they’re gonna end up pushing everybody out.” And that happened. Most of those folks are all gone, can’t afford to live there anymore, but we lost that struggle. JJ: So, did you go to some of those meetings? TP: Yeah. JJ: And what -- TP: Well, we’d speak, and we’d try to raise hell, but we didn’t win. And it wasn’t ‘til later really that the Neighborhood Commons and the Young Lords, later in the ’60s, late ’60s, that there was more of an organized fight back then. JJ: But in the beginning, you struggled. Were there any Blacks or Spanish people going to the meetings? TP: Sure, because their communities were being affected, but they just spoke as individuals. That’s my recollection. Now, I could be wrong. I remember some of 11 �the progressives in the neighborhood that I thought they were not so clear on it, because everybody [00:19:00] wants to live in a nice neighborhood, right? But how come living in a nice neighborhood means that certain people have to be pushed out of the neighborhood? It’s not right. And I remember the Tap Root Pub. It’s the only thing that was saved, and then they lost their liquor license, but they kept going for a couple years, and then they finally left. JJ: What was his name, Buddy? Buddy was his first name or nickname, Buddy from Tap Root Pub. TP: He was a Libertarian or something. Yeah. JJ: And a shrewd businessperson. TP: Yeah. I can’t remember his name. JJ: But he was still there the same day that they were knocking it down. TP: Yeah. JJ: So, he (inaudible). TP: He held on as long as he could. What the heck was his name? JJ: Buddy. It was Buddy something. TP: Yeah. I don’t remember. JJ: But then he moved. He used the fact that the pub got destroyed, and he moved it [00:20:00] right around the block, so he had a lot of customers. TP: Yeah, but then that’s gone too. JJ: That’s gone now? TP: Yeah, it’s all gone. JJ: That’s sad. 12 �TP: Yeah. I don't know what happened to him. JJ: But he did fight. He was a businessman fighting urban renewal. TP: Yeah, he fought, but he fought by himself. And one man is easy. They picked him off eventually. JJ: Because I know when he was in the building, they were knocking it down. He was still in the building. TP: Yeah. JJ: Okay. So, you were going to the meetings. What about, just ask you because that was during that time the Democratic Convention was close to -- I mean, the neighborhood was also called Lincoln Park, and you were living there. TP: Right. JJ: So, were you active? What was your role? TP: See, I wasn’t active in the neighborhood as I should’ve been, to be honest. [00:21:00] I feel that way now. I was active in the peace movement. I was active in the broader youth movement. There was a demonstration in May of 1968. Clark Kissinger was one of the main organizers of it. You remember Clark? JJ: I remember that name. TP: Good organizer. We marched from Grant Park to the Daley Plaza. The police had closed the Daley Plaza, but they neglected to tell anybody that it was closed, so it was 10,000 people. It’s a pretty big demonstration for Chicago. It was against the Vietnam War. We get to the Daley Plaza, and the police say the plaza’s closed. They wouldn’t let anybody on the sidewalk even, couldn’t get in at all. Nobody in the back of the line knew what was going on in the front of the 13 �line, [00:22:00] except that people were just getting pushed more, tighter and tighter and tighter, and then finally the police said, “You’re a disorderly mob. You have to disperse.” And they started beating the shit outta everybody. This was a precursor to the Democratic Party Convention. It was like a practice run, and arrested I don't know how many people, a lot of people. They beat up. I mean, people were thrown into paddy wagons. They were bloody, fractured skulls. Nobody got killed or anything, but I was there. I was working for the People’s Daily World. I was taking pictures of what was going on. They grabbed me. I got hit over the head, thrown in a wagon. They grabbed my camera, and obviously I didn’t get any of those pictures. And then they threw us all in a tank at 11th and State. It must’ve been 50 people crammed into this holding cell they had. But I missed the Democratic Party [00:23:00] Convention because I got hit by a car in June. JJ: Oh, okay. You got hit by a car? But these people were all from Chicago? TP: Yeah. These were all Chicagoans. This demonstration was all Chicagoans. JJ: This was a precursor to the -- TP: It was a precursor. JJ: -- to the Democratic Convention. TP: Right. And the Democratic Convention, I was in the hospital. I watched it on a TV, felt terrible about it. JJ: You got hit by a car, you said? TP: I got hit by a car, crossing the outer drive, in June of 1968. JJ: But it had nothing to do with the demonstration. 14 �TP: No, I was just on my way to a meeting, actually, and was crossing. I used to park on the other side of the drive. Used to be able to park over there for 25 cents for four hours. (laughs) That was a long time ago. And so, you could park all day for 50 cents, basically, and so I was walking to my car, and I got hit by a car, crossing the drive. Guy ran a red light, and he was going pretty fast, and I spent four months in the hospital. [00:24:00] JJ: Where was your office, and where were you functioning? TP: My office was downtown in the Loop at Monroe and Wabash. That’s the People’s Daily World office and the CP office. JJ: Okay. And now, you mentioned before about the different groups, the W.E.B. DuBois organization? TP: Yeah, W.E.B. DuBois. JJ: Was that a precursor to the -- TP: To the Young Workers Liberation League, which then became the Young Communist League. JJ: Would you say that there were different forms organizing or something like that, different meeting structure, different structure? TP: Well, I mean -- JJ: Without going deep into description, I’m just trying to -- TP: No, the organization was not focused on the neighborhood. Like the DuBois Club, we had a Chicago organization. It wasn’t very large. It was only maybe a couple dozen people. [00:25:00] We were involved in the movement, the civil 15 �rights movement, the peace movement, but not any neighborhood movements per se, although some people were. JJ: So, there was a struggle of saying that they needed work in the neighborhoods? TP: No, we didn’t, not really. I tell you, I became more aware of the neighborhood movement in Lincoln Park when you guys took over the seminary. And that, for me, was really the beginning of involvement in that kind of a struggle, in the neighborhood. I’d been on the periphery of the struggle before. I had opinions. I’m one of those people who has an opinion about everything. I don’t know much, but (laughs) I’ll give you an opinion on anything. JJ: So, what was your involvement with the connection with the Young Lords? TP: I was at McCormick Theological Seminary when you guys sat in. JJ: I remember going to a meeting, I think, with you, if you recall that. TP: I don't know. JJ: We went to a meeting. It was a CP meeting or something. I was just being introduced. [00:26:00] TP: There was a guy that lived in Lincoln Park, David Engelstein. You remember him, his wife, Fritzi Engelstein? He named the clinic after her. JJ: That’s right. TP: He was in the party, and he actually had a group, a study group, I think, and I think you were in the study in the group, and I might’ve gone. JJ: I wasn’t in the study group, but I came. I came to one of the meetings. TP: Because I know he talked about you. JJ: Oh, maybe it was him then. 16 �TP: He was very impressed with you. But anyway, he was more involved in Lincoln Park in the neighborhood. JJ: Okay, so maybe it was him that brought me. But then I don't know how we got to know each other, we got in contact. TP: Well, I got to know you in McCormick Theological Seminary. When you guys, when that sit-in took place, Donna Morgan was involved in that struggle, and I had a personal relationship with her, which I don’t want to go into because it was not the most healthy situation. JJ: Oh, okay, so you knew Donna or something like that? [00:27:00] TP: Yeah, but I got involved in that, not through her, but in part, with her. JJ: Now, did I ever meet [Canti?], or did I meet Donna? TP: You probably met Donna, red-haired woman. She lived on Bissell. JJ: That’s the one. Okay. TP: Right. She had two kids. And she ended up taking a bunch of money from the settlement from the sit-in, which was very bad. She did some really bad stuff. JJ: From the -- TP: From, you know, when you guys got the settlement from McCormick, and I don’t remember. I mean, I don't know, I never knew how it was actually -- the Young Lords got some money. I don't know. JJ: People accused me of taking some money, and I was trying to say, “What money?” TP: There was this group, Angie Lynn? JJ: Angie Lynn, yes. 17 �TP: She had Angie Lynn that set up this working in welfare mothers in Lincoln Park, and they got some money. JJ: Yeah, it was called Mothers and Others. TP: Something like that. Anyway. JJ: Oh, the welfare [00:28:00] group, okay. TP: Yeah. So, they got money from McCormick. JJ: That was Omar Lopez then, the Latin American Defense Organization. TP: Right, that was a different -- JJ: They were working with the welfare rights. So, Donna was working with them? TP: They ended up spending the money, and she spent it on herself. JJ: Okay, because they did get money for a clinic. They got 25,000 dollars for a clinic. TP: Well, they never set up a clinic. JJ: No, they did, but maybe she was managing some of the monies for them. TP: She mismanaged a bunch of the money, because I remember you guys -- JJ: Yeah, because they closed down. We kept our clinic. TP: You guys were really pissed because the question came up, what happened to the money? And I know you came to me. JJ: Exactly. And I got blamed for it, and I never even knew there was money. TP: I didn’t know what was going on. And when we asked Donna about it, she gave us these photocopies of all these checks made out to cash, signed on the back by either her [00:29:00] or Angie Lynn. But she had falsified them. She had whited it out in the main photocopies. 18 �JJ: But Angie Lynn was our communications secretary. TP: Yeah. I got blamed for it because I had the -- JJ: She must’ve falsified Angie’s name. TP: Yeah. I think so. Yeah. But anyway, it doesn’t matter. JJ: Right, but it’s good to know because I’d been accused. I didn’t even know that there was money. TP: I heard on the grapevine years later, well, not that long later, a year or two later, that somebody at McCormick had asked Donna, why did she take all that money? And she said she used it for my campaign. I was running for the Constitutional Convention for 1970. JJ: Exactly. That’s what that was. TP: And she said she used it for my campaign. I said, “What?” JJ: That’s the meeting I went to, was the Constitutional Convention. That’s what it was. TP: I said, “What?” “That’s what she said.” So, I got, “No wonder you guys [00:30:00] came to me mad, wanted to know where the money was.” (laughs) We had a meeting in your office, and it was pretty rough because you thought I had the money, or took the money, I think. JJ: I was accused of having the money, but I would get accused of anything any other members did. TP: Well, they accused you of everything anyway. JJ: Anything the members did, I got blamed for, but that’s all right. That was my responsibility. 19 �TP: Well, I remember you guys used to have those -- it wasn’t a picnic -- like a barbecue, remember, at the church, when you took the church over? It was for [Delares?] or something, and we used to go out and get vegetables and food and bring it over. Remember that? JJ: Right. Yeah. TP: Because we’d have to go down to the old South Border Market and get a lot of stuff for free. JJ: Well, no, I don’t remember completely, so explain to me [00:31:00] about that, and what was that? We had the people (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)? TP: I don’t remember the details, but there was more than once, I think. There was a big cookout, and I think a party, a big neighborhood party. JJ: Yeah, we had a block party, the first block party in that area. Now it’s everybody has block parties there. TP: Yeah, and so we went out to the market, and we got vegetables and -- because you know, the market after 11 o’clock, if they can’t sell it, they throw it away anyway, right? So, we would get all the stuff that they hadn’t been able to sell, get corn on the cob and lettuce and tomatoes and all kinds of good stuff. We got some meat from some of the packers, even. I think we got some ribs and stuff. I don’t remember. It was a trunk load of stuff, and we brought it over. It was a great time. JJ: So, you were at McCormick, and that kind of lasted a week. TP: Yeah. I stayed. I slept there a couple nights. JJ: What was it like being in there? 20 �TP: It was fun. I don’t remember. [00:32:00] JJ: What do you remember? TP: I remember there were a couple of big meetings. Was it in the administration building? It wasn’t in the chapel. It was fairly big building. JJ: Yeah, the administration building. TP: And Noel Ignatin was there. Remember Noel and his wife Hilda? JJ: Yeah. She was pretty active with Angie, right, the Mothers and Others? Yeah. TP: Right. And Clark Kissinger was there, and he was waving a Little Red Book all the time. JJ: Clark Kissinger, he was into the Red Book. He was real close to us, and he actually was the artist that did the work inside, the murals inside. He did a whole Puerto Rican history inside the -- TP: I didn’t know that. JJ: -- for the daycare center. He drew it. TP: Yeah, he’s with the RCP now. He’s prominent in that. JJ: Revolutionary -- TP: Revolutionary Communist Party. It’s the Maoists, the only surviving Maoists. JJ: Wasn’t Eugene his dad or somebody? [00:33:00] TP: I don't know. JJ: Eugene Feldman, right? TP: Eugene Feldman, I know, but I don't know -- JJ: Was he related in some way to Clark? TP: I don’t think so. Maybe he was. I don't know. 21 �JJ: Maybe (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). Who was Eugene Feldman’s son? TP: I don't know. Gene Feldman was at the DuSable Museum. That’s how I knew him. JJ: Yeah. But he worked with us too. He was supporting us too. We had a bunch of leaders around us that I didn’t know that they were leaders ‘til later. TP: He was older. JJ: He was older. He was very active and supportive. TP: There were a lot of left-wingers used to live in Lincoln Park. Remember Syd Harris? Did you know him? JJ: No. I heard that name though. TP: He was a photographer. He did a lot of work for the labor movement. JJ: Who? TP: The labor movement. JJ: Oh, he did, Syd Harris? Okay. I knew he (inaudible). That’s what I mean. All these (inaudible) people came around the church TP: His son just published a book of his work a couple years ago, Jerry Harris. Do you know Jerry Harris? JJ: No, I don’t know him, but [00:34:00] I want to get to know him now because now that you mention these names, I remember that they would come. I would get introduced to them. TP: Yeah, Syd used to work on Cedric. Remember where Twin Anchors is, or was? I don't know if it’s still there or not, at Willow and -- is it Willow? JJ: Willow and Cedric. 22 �TP: Willow and Cedric, right on the corner, Syd lived right next door to there, and his house burned down. Oh, it must’ve been in the early ’70s that it happened. JJ: So, the church became like (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). TP: His wife, his first wife, lived on Orchard. Remember Fran Vivian? Does that name ring a bell? JJ: You know, it does ring a bell. TP: Yeah, an older white lady that lived at like 1848 North Orchard. She and Syd, not naming the other, Phyllis Harris, lived in that building. They had a two-flat. JJ: If you hadn’t mentioned the names, I would’ve forgotten them. TP: These were old-timers. They’d been there for a while. [00:35:00] JJ: And did they always live in Lincoln Park? TP: Yeah. I don't know about Syd, but I know Fran had lived there for, I don't know -- JJ: Ages? TP: -- a thousand years. (laughs) JJ: So, they were from Lincoln Park. They were the progressives of Lincoln Park and the CP. (laughs) TP: Yeah. Well, David and Fritzi lived in Lincoln Park. They always did. They used to live on -- JJ: That’s right, because the clinic was named after her. TP: -- what was it -- on Belden just east of -- JJ: So, what was Fritzi? Why were they involved, and what did they do? TP: David is an educator. JJ: I know they named the clinic after her. 23 �TP: And Fritzi was active. I think she was active with -- remember what’s-her-name -Kathy Devine and all those people that had -- JJ: Pat Devine. TP: Pat Devine, yeah. JJ: I actually interviewed her too. TP: Good. And she’s still in Chicago? JJ: She’s still in Chicago. She’s on the South Side. TP: I haven’t seen her in a long time. I probably wouldn’t know her if I saw her now, you know? JJ: Yeah. Well, you’ll see her. The interview’s on YouTube. TP: Okay. [00:36:00] But Fritzi somehow got involved, maybe coming out of the meetings that David had with you guys. I don't know. There was a lot of fervor. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) were involved. JJ: She was involved with Pat. Pat was definitely going with us. Pat was one of the people that got me involved in the (inaudible). TP: Yeah. And I’m trying to remember, was the clinic -- I don’t remember why she -- JJ: Well, the clinic, right in the beginning, we had one clinic, and that was Fritzi Engel’s thing. That was more on diversity. But I knew them, so I knew these people, and I knew why they named the clinic after her, so she must’ve done a lot of -- TP: Yeah, she was a very good person. I think she passed away. I can’t remember when she died. I’d have to look at some files. JJ: What was she involved with? 24 �TP: You know, I don't know. I’d have to go back and look. I could find out. [00:37:00] She was obviously well-known enough that they named the clinic after her. JJ: Right. So, she must’ve done a lot. TP: Have you talked to Mike James? He would know. JJ: I have talked to Mike James. But I will talk to him. I got to talk to him, especially now. So, what Eugene Feldman? What was he? TP: Feldman, I only knew from the DuSable Museum. I really didn’t know him from Lincoln Park. JJ: So, he was connected to the DuSable Museum. TP: He lived in Lincoln Park though, I think. JJ: He lived in Lincoln Park? TP: Right. The main way I knew him was through the DuSable Museum. JJ: Yeah, Lincoln Park had offices in tabloids, newspaper tabloids. All the different groups were -- TP: Yeah. I remember the Wobblies used to -- well, Johnny Ross and them, the Threepenny settlement, and he was kind of a character. JJ: Well, actually, he would give us monies from his theatre, and we actually one day went to him for monies, and he refused. And we sat in, in his office, and then the reporters [00:38:00] came and wanted us to talk against him, but then we decided not to do that because we had a lot of respect for him, so we just walked outta there. And the next day, he called and says, “Okay, we can talk now,” and he gave us a donation. But we didn’t want to go against someone who was progressive. 25 �TP: Yeah. He had that building. JJ: And that was good. TP: He had that building on Lincoln Avenue, where the Wobblies had their office, you remember, upstairs? JJ: Right. Oh, that was his building? TP: Yeah. JJ: I know he had the (inaudible) theatre and all that, Threepenny, something like that. TP: He had a bunch of theatres in Chicago, all on (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). JJ: Yeah, that’s what it was. He had the Spanish theatres too, were his. TP: Right. He had one up on Sheridan Road. I forget the name of it. It was like Sheridan and south of Lawrence. JJ: Oh, yeah, that’s right. We actually had a meeting there. TP: I think it was a big theatre. I don’t remember the name of it though. JJ: I can’t remember what it was. TP: Palacio something. I don't know. JJ: Palacio Theatre. Yeah, [00:39:00] he was (inaudible) TP: Anyway, you bring back memories, you know? I would’ve never thought of this stuff. (laughs) JJ: That was Lincoln Park. TP: But actually, Johnny lived in Hyde Park, but he had a lot of connections in Lincoln Park. JJ: He had fought against the fascism of the Spanish Civil War. 26 �TP: He was in the Lincoln Batts, yeah. JJ: Which we didn’t know. I mean, we were there. The Young Lords, it was the first time we were ever active. Our parents were not as active as some of the Independence Party or anything. That was the first time we were active. TP: Syd Harris was in the Spanish Civil War also. JJ: Who’s that, Syd Harris? TP: Yeah. JJ: So, what else then, in terms of the changes in Lincoln Park after the Young Lords are no longer there? TP: What time is it getting? Oh, but the coffee. Shut off the (inaudible). Let’s get the -- (break in audio) TP: Everybody that lives there now -- I’ll start [00:40:00] with my block. I live on the 2200 block on Magnolia. Of the people who lived there when we moved there in 1969, there are probably three families left. Erwin Helfer lives across the street. I don't know if you know him. He’s a blues piano player, kind of well known. He was there when we moved in. There was a lady across the street just died this week. And then the Midlers, who live two doors down from us, they’re still there. That’s it. I think I said we paid 13,000 dollars for our house. [00:41:00] Our taxes were 9-- dollars a year. Now our taxes are 25,000 dollars. JJ: A year? From 900 to 20 grand? TP: Yeah. You know, there’s tremendous pressure on people to sell their houses. All the old-timers are gone. 27 �JJ: Would that be the main pressure, that the taxes are up? TP: It’s a big part of it, sure, because you can’t afford to live there. It’s like paying rent to the county. You think you own your house, and you’re paying all this money to the county. Now, I’ll be honest. We rebuilt our house in 1995. We were going to make it bigger, but then it turned out it was actually cheaper to tear it down and build a new one, so that’s what we did. So, that caused our taxes to go up. If we were to rehab the house, it wouldn’t be as high. [00:42:00] I don’t think we realized what the effect would be. So, people whose houses have not been torn down and rebuilt, their taxes aren’t as bad as ours, but it’s still like paying rent to the county. And if you’re a working-class family on a pension, you can’t afford it. And the only reason the Midlers are still there, I’m sure, is because their son lives with them, and he's got a good job, and they can afford to stay there. JJ: But I mean, that did help you, the equity of your house, right? TP: Yeah, but big deal. You can’t spend your equity. What are you gonna do? They say, “Well, these people are complaining about their taxes, but when they sell their house, they’ll get all this money.” But we’re not selling our house. We don’t want to move. We want to stay where we are. A lot of other people had to sell their houses because they couldn’t afford to live there anymore with the taxes because the property values were going up so high. [00:43:00] I mean, when we moved there, the rents were like less than 100 dollars a month. Now a twobedroom apartment, you’ll pay 2,000, 3,000 dollars a month for it. JJ: And when you say that, you’re talking about a big area? 28 �TP: Yeah, the whole Lincoln Park. Where we live on the western edge of Lincoln Park, it’s not -- JJ: Is it by the (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) square area? TP: Yeah, it’s becoming even more than over east. It’s costing more. Now they’re building -- you didn’t know these people, I’m sure, but there used to be an old German couple that lived on our block. They had a nice building. Their mother lived there with them, and they rented out one apartment. It was a lot and a half. They moved to Las Vegas or someplace. The building got sold. The guy who bought it tore it down. They built a mansion there. It’s like a 20-room house with a huge drawing room and a [00:44:00] grand piano in it. It’s ridiculous, you know? (laughs) The house on the corner of Belden and Magnolia just sold a couple years ago for four million dollars. Who could afford to live in a neighborhood like that anymore? Working-class people can’t afford that. When we moved on that block, on our block, it was a very mixed block. Around the corner, two Black families, two mixed Black and white families, actually they’re still there. Surprisingly, they’re still there. In fact, the guy that used to work at the hardware store at Armitage, Armitage hardware, what was that, Frank’s Hardware, remember? He’s a Black guy. He used to work at that store on Lynwood. JJ: And he lives on Lynwood? TP: Yeah, he lives around the corner still. He still lives around the corner. JJ: But is the hardware store still there? [00:45:00] 29 �TP: The hardware store is gone. Now, I mean, they have like a bail order business there or something. It’s not really a store. You can’t go in and buy stuff. JJ: And that was pretty well established. TP: Yeah. That was a good hardware store. Also on the block, there was a Mexican family, been there a long time. The whole block was working-class people. Next door to us, there was a couple that had come from Kentucky. He’d been a miner. He was retired early because of black lung. All these people are gone. The neighborhood, rest of like Southport over there was mostly Latino. South of Webster, between Webster and Armitage and Sheffield and Racine was mostly Puerto Rican. That’s my recollection anyway. North of Webster were the old Germans and Italians, and [00:46:00] remember the Kellys? They still live there. They still live on Seminary. Kelly’s Pub, you know Kelly’s Pub on -- JJ: Yeah. TP: They’re still there, but they got money. They were never hurting. But I bet you a lot of the Kellys that used to live on that block aren’t there anymore. I haven’t checked. I’d have to go look. But I ran for alderman. JJ: So, there was a block of Kellys. TP: Yeah. When I ran for alderman, I went door to door, getting signatures on my petition, you know? JJ: You ran for alderman there? TP: In ’71, yeah. JJ: When? TP: Seventy-one. Yeah, I ran against Bill Singer. 30 �JJ: Oh, I didn’t know that. TP: That’s how I got to know Bill Singer, is running against him. JJ: Actually, when he ran for mayor, he came by the church and wanted our endorsement, and then he took a picture with us. (laughs) But we would’ve endorsed you. TP: Well, I didn’t run for mayor. [00:47:00] But the neighborhood is so different now. South of Armitage was all Black, west of Sheffield, south of Armitage, that triangle, east of Clybourn, Maud Street, Kenmore, what was the other? What’s the block west of Sheffield? JJ: West of Sheffield? TP: Yeah. It’s not Dayton. That’s Clark Street. JJ: Yeah, you got Kenmore, and you got Seminary. TP: Yeah, it was Kenmore, Seminary, yeah, those two streets. It was all Black. Now it’s all white, all white. There used to be machine shops all in the neighborhood. Remember? JJ: Right. TP: You know? They’re all condominiums now. People used to neighborhood. Nobody works in the neighborhood now unless they work in the stores, you know, as a clerk. And they don’t [00:48:00] live in the neighborhood. They have to take the bus to get to the neighborhood. But the machine shops, they’re all gone. They’re all condominiums now. Remember there used to be a place on Fullerton, west of Ashland, called [KRIVO?] that catered to the machine trade, the machinists. They had every tool you could imagine. If you could think of a 31 �tool, they had it. There’s no place like that left in the neighborhood. There used to be a place on Clybourn that’s just this side of the tracks, between Fullerton and the railroad tracks, on Clybourn. It had nothing but nuts and bolts. It was entire store, a city lot store filled with nuts and bolts. That’s all they sold. There was no screw that you could possibly [00:49:00] want that they didn’t have. I used to work on my car, and I had an English car. If I broke a bolt, you couldn’t get it at a hardware store. You’d go to that little store, they would have exactly what you needed, the right length, the right thickness, the right thread, everything. That store is gone. All the stuff, when Chicago used to actually make things, in that neighborhood, we used to make stuff in that neighborhood, you know? There used to be that, remember the Pink Lady soap factory over on Lakewood? JJ: Yeah. TP: That’s condominiums now. Believe it or not, they converted that chemical company into condominiums. If those people had any idea what had been going on in that building before they got there, they knew what toxic chemicals were in there, they wouldn’t live there, but nobody told them, so now it’s condominiums. JJ: I believe I had read something that Lincoln Park had a history of [00:50:00] working-class families that, I mean, some of the housing was built back in the ’30s and ’40s war, so like you mentioned, the factories. TP: Yeah, because there were all these factories right in the neighborhood, you could walk to work. You had a couple big machine shops on Clybourn, and then Finkl was over there. They’re still there, Finkl is, although they’re moving too. They’re 32 �going to shut that down now and move that too. They’ll probably put a shopping mall in there or something. JJ: Yeah, they moved all the factories that were there, so that was something that I hadn’t looked at. Now, as an activist person, as someone that knows about racism and all that, how do you feel about what took place in terms of -- I mean, I’m looking at it [00:51:00] from a Latino perspective, but the Black community was wiped out of there, and working-class people were wiped out of there. How do you see that? How was that done, and how do you feel about it? TP: Well, it was done because nobody saw that -- I mean, there were a lot of white property owners in Lincoln Park who thought that making the neighborhood better, which is code for getting rid of the Latinos and the Black people, would somehow make their neighborhood safer and better and all that stuff, except that they couldn’t afford to live there anymore either. So, they were snookered. They were tricked, and racism does that. JJ: What do you mean they were tricked? TP: The real estate agents, the real estate interests, the people, the City, the people who pushed urban renewal. JJ: The City was also involved? TP: Yeah, I mean, of course. It was the whole power structure in there. It was not just a few individuals. [00:52:00] I mean, they had a master plan. Come on, you know that. They planned the get rid of Cabrini-Green 30 years ago, 40 years ago. They realized they made a big mistake when they allowed Black people to live there. They started attacking that project from the beginning. You know 33 �what? You mentioned Fred Hampton. People don’t remember this. Six months after Fred Hampton was murdered, two police were killed at Cabrini-Green, allegedly by snipers. They went through Cabrini-Green. They knocked down all the doors. They arrested hundreds of people. They finally settled on a couple of people that they pinned that crime on, and we’re in touch, the alliance is in touch with those guys now, much [00:53:00] later. JJ: You said, “the alliance.” What’s the name? TP: The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. I’m completely convinced that they’re innocent. They’ve been in prison for 40 years, 42 years. They’re very well adjusted to prison life because when you’re facing a life sentence -- JJ: What are their names again? TP: Johnnie Veal and George Knights. Johnnie Veal was 16 or 17 when this happened. They accused him of being the triggerman who actually shot these two police. Fact is, he was there when it happened, but he wasn’t where they said he was. He wasn’t upstairs shooting at people. He was downstairs playing basketball. We’re struggling to try to reopen his case, but they targeted CabriniGreen for destruction that long ago. They were already thinking about ways, [00:54:00] and they just let the place go to hell, you know? They didn’t do anything to stop the gangs there. They didn’t do anything to make it livable for people, and they made it impossible for people to live there. And then when they wanted to tear it all down, they could get away with it. And you look what’s over 34 �there now. They say they have mixed-income housing, you know, mixed, maybe one or two Black people, and everybody else is middle income. JJ: So, the community was kind of integrated, in a way, segregated? TP: Segregated but mixed. JJ: But mixed. TP: Right. JJ: But how does it look today? TP: Today, it’s all white, except there’s still a few little places left they haven’t got to yet, but it’s just time, just time. JJ: So, you see that as clear race, a racist thing, as an activist person, or how do you see it? TP: Sure. Absolutely. It couldn’t have happened -- [00:55:00] if the white people would’ve objected -- JJ: Because apparently legally, it’s not racism because otherwise they would’ve been sued, right? TP: Well, they were sued, but that’s another story. I mean, sure, you can sue them, but you won’t win. If the white people in the community had not been taken in by this idea of racism, by the idea that somehow getting rid of Black people would make the neighborhood better, and the Puerto Ricans, and the neighborhood would still be livable for those people. Those people are all gone now. They’ve been pushed out just like everybody else. I mean, a lot of them have died. Let’s face it. It’s true too. A lot of them stayed until they passed away, and their kids sold the house. The kids didn’t stay there. They cashed it in. 35 �JJ: So, from your vantage point, how would you attack something? If it’s a racist plan, how would you attack it, from your vantage point, still being living there, [00:56:00] but seeing how everyone got kicked out? TP: I don't know if there’s anything that can be done now to save that neighborhood. JJ: No, not to save their neighborhood but I mean other, the future other. TP: The same thing is going on in Logan Square and in Wicker Park. Wicker Park is probably too late. Logan Square, maybe it’s still possible. I don't know. JJ: Some people say, “Let’s join the zoning board,” or, “Let’s run for council.” TP: I’m for that. You can fight in all those areas. What time is it? I got to watch because I got a meeting. What time is it? JJ: I think it’s time. TP: But, you know, we can continue if you want, I mean later, some other time later, but talk to other people too. END OF VIDEO FILE 36 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3744a8195158c1733d017ce090ddf04f.mp4 92c6122616fcf53a6550281530cf1b8d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives. The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2012-2017 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Título Spanish language Title entry Ted Pearson vídeo entrevista y biografía Sujetos Spanish language Subject terms Young Lords (Organización) Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Narrativas personales Justicia social Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65_Pearson_Ted Title A name given to the resource Ted Pearson video interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pearson, Ted Description An account of the resource Ted Pearson is a long-time resident of Lincoln Park who has been active within the progressive movement all his life. Early on in 1968 and 1969 he would come by the Young Lord’s People’s Church to offer his support for the Young Lords and their programs. For most of the Young Lords who had just stepped out of gang violence in Chicago, it was their first time ever being involved in protests, demonstrations, or sit-in occupations of institutions. It was a difficult beginning for the Young Lords, who lacked role models and reference points. Some people were even afraid of their unrefined meager appearance, though they were creative and dressed in their best with what they had. Nevertheless, the Young Lords did not originate from a middle class movement. They did not even resemble a student movement at first. It was only later when they began to grow that students and others joined them. Back then there was pride to say you were “Lumpen.” Mr. Pearson and others like him stood for working people, and he hated discrimination and racism then and now. He was one of several who did not judge, but related, relaxed, and took the time to talk and get to know the original members of the Young Lords. It was easy to notice that he genuinely cared for the plight of the poor, and in turn for him to realize that the Young Lords were not evil but were his friends. They were odd looking but they shared the same values. He was also strong on the need to fight racism. Mr. Pearson co-chaired the Chicago branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. His mother had been active in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She was a strong supporter of a movement called, “The Right of a Black Family to live in a White Community.” This movement was led by Carl Braden and was put forth during the Red Scare of the 1950s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee was hunting for communists, in all parts of government and the country. Mr. Pearson has supported many democratic causes since before the 1960s. They include the Young Lords and Black Panthers, Voter Registration Drives, Immigrant Rights, The Committee to Defend the Bill Of Rights, Harold Washington for Mayor, the Obama Campaign, and the Lincoln Park Neighbors United for Peace Against the War in Iraq. This was a grassroots group of neighbors who came together to speak out in a unified voice against the war. They believe in using peaceful non-violent solutions, to promote social justice, conserve the environment and protect civil and human rights. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-07-12 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9d2ce8837367e77bb5ff56c1a419662.mp4 2790c3b82ab7b06d806de46046085c0d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/220e95d4388f6039be518dab0ff141a3.pdf d841667a5fc7b90fc81a272ce9646cb0 PDF Text Text Living with PFAS Interviewee: Graham Peasley Interviewer: Dani DeVasto Date: September 2nd, 2021 DD: I’m Dani DeVasto, and today, September 2nd, 2021, I have the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Graham Peasley. Hi Dr. Graham. GP: [chuckles] Hi Dani. I- I’m Graham Peasley. I’m a professor at the University of Notre Dame, and I am now spending a g-good deal of my life studying PFAS. So, the story I’d like to tell is just, how did I get into this. I was a nuclear physicist of all things, and I have, or I, trained as a nuclear chemist, and I began studying environmental issues back in the 2000s—early 2000s—and it revolved around a lake. I didn’t know anything about lakes, but I needed to get tenure, and I decided I was gonna study the local lake. But in that process I met someone looking at brominated flame retardants, and we studied brominated flame retardants with our technique. And, I met a woman who's probably the leading PFAS scientist in the country at a conference, and she said, “That’s great work on the brominated flame retardants, can you do that with fluorine?” And I laughed and said, “Nobody can do that with fluorine.” It’s not got any-any ways to detect fluorine that are quick and easy. I had a quick and easy way to detect bromine, and I thought about it for a couple weeks after the conference, and there is an old technique that could detect fluorine quickly, but, gee, it wouldn’t really work, would it? And so I-I called the woman back up—this was Jennifer Field—the-the- one of the leading PFAS experts in the world, and I said, “can you send me something that’s fluorinated? I would like to see if I can see it,” and she knew my technique, and she—her grad-her grad student sent a piece of a pair of pants to me, and I stuck it in the beam, and in less than an hour we had the signal that was predicted to be there, and it was really strong. It was like—wow, that was easy. We had no idea whether it was all material that had to do with this or just this one pair of pants, so I had to get a t-shirt off a student [chuckles] Said I assume a t-shirt isn’t fluorinated, stuck it in the beam, and there was not a signal, and it was like, okay, so we see fluorine and we can prove it. And it took, oh 2 or 3 years from that point to get it published and cause we saw more fluorine than there was PFAS, and the world’s leading expert tells you, “that’s too much fluorine” and we-we only measure this much. But the techniques are different—ours measures all fluorine. And so, it took us a couple years to understand that and to our credit, the leading scientist understood what we were seeing, and published several papers at that point saying, “look [chuckles] we don’t see most the fluorine that we measure, most standard measurements we’ve talked about, all publishments to date have been on less than 1% of all the fluorine that’s out there, and so that’s the scary news. These PFAS are everywhere and we aren’t looking at most of them. We’re looking at the ones that are recognizable, that we know have health concerns, that there's a whole bunch that are being made, 1 �and have been modified in their environment that, sort of, they’re starting to decay, but they don’t decay very rapidly, or not at all when they reach the base unit, and so these final products are-are always measurable, but there’s a lot of what we call precursors that turn into these final products, and that’s been my scientific career as a sort of change from that moment in 2013/2014 to now, where a good fraction of my research group and effort is in PFAS. We still do lead and brominator flame retardants, and a few other things, but the funding and the interest is really gone into PFAS. And the reason is that PFAS is used so widely. It’s used in every product that is a [unclear] that came out recently, and Europe has showed 200 different uses of PFAS in our society from clothing to papers to flame retardants that we use in the airports and things like that—everything that people know about, then dozens of other uses— fluorinated ski wax. The Olympic Committee has contacted us to see if we can tell fluorinated ski wax, which is now banned, from non-fluorinated because they need something they can test for the-the doping in the Olympics. Well, okay, and it turned out not to be my technique because I could not put it up on a hill but— DD: [laughs] GP: They found a way that they can measure that. And so that was fun, I mean, it-it was a project that walks in the door, we answer a question and we can help somebody measure quicker. What has really made an impact is the-the human impact of what our stories have done, and the fact that we can change things, as scientists. Which, you know, scientists don't do anything except study things, you need politicians, you need lawyers, you need somebody else to change something, but we can actually make a difference. And it began after this discovery that I can make rapid measures of fluorine, I was hired away to Notre Dame, where I was asked to do the applied physics program here, and we had an accelerator that I could devote to this type of study, and they allowed me a lot of resources this time doing it, and we ended up looking at all sorts of products— food packaging was the first one we did before I came— but then we looked at textiles for occupational exposure for firefighters, and we looked at most recently cosmetics, and we’re still looking at dozens of others things that we’ll eventually get published, and everywhere we look we see fluorine. And so, the next question is, is that fluorine PFAS? Cause there are some natural forms of fluoride, but we don’t see a lot of that, except in rocks. So, unless there’s rocks in the product, there’s unlikely to be, you know, organic fluoride. You know, toothpaste, okay, but very few other things have organic fluoride in them. And so, the inorganic fluorines are all man-made, they’re all PFAS, all the ones of concern, and they, as a family, there’s you know, 4,000, 5,000 of these things that are known, probably more, based on our studies there’s even more that are unknown, and these chemical compounds persist forever. 2 �Then-so what we started looking for were ways we could get rid of them out of the products, and bringing attention to them as a scientist is one way we can do that. So we published a study on food wrappers, originally, and it was brought by a student. We were measuring these pants, we were measuring samples from soils, we were measuring water samples, and suddenly a student says, “can I test the food wrapper that I’m eating off?” “Sure.” And it had fluorine in it. And so, then we commissioned a study and a bunch of students all over the country went and got, from 7 different states, a whole bunch of food wrappers, and we could do them rapidly, we were measured 300, 400, 500 of them, and we found that about 30-40% were fluorinated. And we published that, and we were completely unaware how big a story that would be— because the media got a hold of it— and it was just the right time that the-the news story broke, and people were looking for a feel-good story or an alarm story, and ‘oh my god I’ll never eat a hamburger again.’ Well, the hamburger doesn’t spend much time in the wrapper, as people were quick to point out, and we even said it in the paper right, I’m not worried about the hamburger, I’m worried about where did the wrapper go after you eat the hamburger: It goes in the landfill. These are forever chemicals, and in about 60 days they all wash out a landfill and they’re back in the drinking water, and you and I, and our children drink- that’s not good, okay, and so we made that story, they didn’t read the second part of that paper, they just read ‘oh my god it's in every major fast food chain,’ and then the remarkable thing happened. A- the story was popular, er, okay, and I-I have wonderful scientific publications of lots of people haven’t read, and then this one paper everybody’s read. And it’s like, okay, it wasn’t even that big a study. Some students read some papers and we got a measurement and- but it was the impact, it was in what people ate, could be in what people ate, more importantly what everybody was gonna be drinking, and so I kept trying to make that point. But then- oh a few months later I got invited to give a talk to the packaging industry, and I thought oh my god they’re gonna throw darts at me. No! They were delighted by my paper. Come tell us about this technique and how did you find that out and-and why were they so excited? Well, it turns out for almost all applications, the companies could switch, and when they were contacted by a Senator who out of Illinois that wrote them a letter saying, “I understand from the Washington Post you have this in your packaging, but your policy for removing it, how soon will it be done?” When a sitting U.S. Senator writes that to a CEO, you know, they had a meeting somewhere, and the CEO said, “Make this go away; we sell hamburgers, we sell tacos, I don't want anything.” And they-they change packaging three times a year anyway. It’s Christmas season, so they just switched, and they switched away from it based on a scientific study, and the fear of it, of-of regulation coming down the pike, or worse yet, lawyers. Litigation is a-a big tool in this country to force companies to do the- to do what they should be doing, and most companies do it long before the litigation stage. They say, “whoops, this isn't good,” and they didn't know it was there; they just were told it was a better packaging material, and it is, its better to keep grease off, but they could go back to the old stuff; they could go back to double wrapper, they could use middle foil, so they switched and everybody did it without a law being changed 3 �for the next two years. Laws have now started to change, based on the paper, but, I-it was remarkable that a paper caused all the big named brand industries you know of to switch without me having to go to boardroom to boardroom to come persuade them to do that. They just said “Nah, brand impression is important, and we don’t want to be associated with this chemical, it-it isn’t necessary for what we need to sell our product, it’s gone.” And that was what we call a-a, you know, a low-cost effort to change an industry. And I was amazed cause I was not aiming for anything so grand other than, we found an observation that nobody had seen before, let’s see what we can do with it. And the next story comes, related to that, is- I got a- based on the publicity from that, we got- I got a very nice email from a spouse of a firefighter. And Diane Carter had written to, at that point, 6,000 different emails to various government officials, to various manufacturers, to various people, her husband had cancer. And she knows she can never prove where the cancer came from, but she found the suspicion that, you know, PFAS is a chemical that causes cancer, and firefighters are very well aware of it cause their firefighting foam is made out of it, and now the whole country switched away from that type of firefighting foam, which is a huge progress being made, but she said, I think the gear’s made out of it too. And she got some hints from what she read online, but she couldn’t prove it, and nobody would listen to her, and say, “nah nah nah, go away, it’s all safe.” And she wrote to me, and a heartfelt letter; she talked about her husband’s cancer, he survived, and- but he’s no longer able to work, and he’s too young to retire, so she’s pissed, and-and wrote it in a very eloquent way. And I said, okay, I’m at an institution where I’m supposed to work with the public. I can do that. Can you send me a sample of the gear? And they did, a couple swatches of gear, and it was through the roof in fluorine. It was very high and fluorinated. And I said okay, is all gear like this? Or is it just yours? Does it come off? Or does it just stay on the gear forever? And does it get into a firefighter if it does come off? I kinda answered the third one— that’s an exposure science question— but I can answer the first two. And we got a group of volunteers in the fire services to send me samples of used turned-out gear or new, sometimes they had new gear, and it’s very expensive, the- so they couldn’t get a lot of samples, but I got 30 or 40 samples, and the students loved it. They ran with it. We discovered that it was all required by law to have the same type of treatments, which were all fluorated, and heavily so. And, it came off, our students have found garment-to-hand transfer— that’s not good. They were wearing gloves, they were after- we measured the glove before and after, and we could reproduce them. We could get rub-off. You could rub it off. It wasn’t easy to get off, it wasn’t; it was still water-proof after we did this, but it was a- added to the garment to be waterproof. And we found it everywhere, and nobody had recorded this before, and the companies all said it was safe, safe, safe, but they’re just- they don’t have a chemist on staff, they just, sew the textiles from the textile manufacturer who said it was safe, safe, safe, we don’t have a chemist, they just buy the chemicals and use it. And the chemical manufacturer says it’s safe, safe, safe, and here’s the [unclear] rap sheet saying it’s safe, safe, safe, and I said, oh wait a 4 �second, I know these companies. I know they’ve been using that [unclear] rap sheet for years— that’s not what is actually true. I mean, they’ve moved their workers out of the assembly line back in the 1960s; they know it isn’t safe, and so took a couple years to publish that because it was so out of the area of the- that anybody had published before, that we weren’t convinced that anybody would believe us. So we did a lot of tests to confirm it, and I had a independence done in Australia and tested it and said, okay, we get the same answer, and so I published it in July of 2020, and the students who did it did a great job, we-we got the results and that one didn’t go as viral as food packaging, for a couple reasons. One is, there’s only one million people who are firefighters, there’s 1.2 million in this country, but there are 300 million people that eat fast food, so there's different audience. It was occupational exposure, so ‘I’m not a firefighter I don’t care.’ But, it was also a- behind a firewall, so you had to pay to get the journal article. So it was like, okay, I didn't have $2,000 to spare to make it public access, and then, I didn’t think it was that important, but the firefighters did cause they felt like they’d been lied to. DD: Hmm. GP: And they had been. Not by anybody who's making money off of it except for the manufacturer, the gear you know. It’s all safe because I was told it was safe. Well, there’s a lot of evidence that PFAS aren’t safe, and there’s evidence now that it’s on the gear and comes off. And they couldn’t really squirm out that it was on the gear cause they kinda knew it was on the gear, but, well, the amount that comes off is very small. I said, well, it’s 10 times higher than what’s in your blood, and you wear the gear every day; is that a possible source in addition to what-what could elevate a firefighter’s blood level? And in that process, I started a series of talks, and I talked to firefighters and chiefs and all the people that made decisions and being hit with a-a triple F- the-the firefighting foam the year before, so they were pretty keenly aware of PFAS on the firefightng front, and nobody wanted to believe it was in their gear because they were told it wasn’t, and it was safe, safe, safe. Well now it is but it’s the safe form. Okay, and so I said, well, so we looked at the gear, you wear-you wear the suit for 10 years before it’s out of service, and it all became safe in 2016 by switching to the short-chain PFAS right? I claim that that’s no safer, but even that you know, half your guys are still wearing gear that has got the old stuff on it. Well, it’s only trace amounts even if it wasn’t as safe, and so they're just back paddling. And it was just me giving talks, but the firefighters heard it, loud and clear, and this woman who’d been on social media for a year complaining, that, you know, nobody’s listening to her, was really grateful. We published this paper, and it was just in the right time because companies were starting to get mad that anybody would question them. And I-it was confirmed in science-peer-reviewed science paper, and we got some publicity. Notre Dame decided to make a movie of it, and put it on the half-time show. Which is just, you know, a three minute infomercial for the University. But they thought it was pretty neat, and they didn’t. Food packaging was a little controversial because there’s some big companies out there 5 �that might not like their name associated with that, but this one- these are just textile manufacturers. They didn’t know any of those names, so they-they didn’t mention any names in the commercial, which was good, but they showed me fighting to protect the brave. Oh, what I was doing was trying to make the gear safe for them, and it was a-it was a-very [phew]- they did a professional job and they made me look good, which is hard to do. And they-they did this commercial at halftime, and it got 7 million viewers in one halftime show- it was a big game. And it got the award for the most-watched commercial that year, and so it ran again the next year— they always take one from the year before that was best— and so its been seen by millions of people, and it shows a very nice scene of the staff in the fire department. They even, they asked them to run the trucks out for them can you-can you run the truck out of the- and I was like, you did what [laughs] always asked, they did, and-and they had the rookies run the truck out to show how it works, and it was like, oh my god, I didn’t in-intend them to do that, but we-I been working South Bend fire department; they-they’d help me get the message out, and they were happy to be on that commercial. And it-it-it-it resonated with— I’ve got 500 Facebook friends that, you know, I haven’t met any of them because they’re all firefighters. I’ve met some of them, but they all thank me for bringing light to this issue, and this January they had a meeting that they- reunion meeting- National Association of Firefighters, where they introduced two resolutions. And they named one after me, which was a little embarrassing, but it was one of those things that they voted to take the manufacturers out of their conference; they’re not allowed to take any money from them anymore until they offer a PFAS-free alternative. And remarkably, one company had read the tea leaves the year before, and started working on a PFAS free alternative and had it, the other three companies, [chuckles] well, they didn’t have it, but within a week of that resolution all of them vowed to have it within the next six months. And so, that was done not by publicity, it was done by telling the-the firefighters look, there’syou should wear the gear to keep you safe in the fire, but it’s being treated with material- treat the gear very carefully, and keep it separate from your living space. Don’t wash with other things, all sorts of things you should wash but not with other things, things that they hadn’t thought about before, and nobody had told them that, and these guys go into burning buildings for a living- they know about risk, this is just one more risk. We’re all gonna die, but this would just, you know, enchant-en-enhance-they've enchanted the-enhance for other diseases, and firefighters are already on the frontlines for cancer. They have double the national rate of cancers; is PFAS a part of that? It could be. I can’t prove that- all I can say is that there’s an exposure risk to PFAS, and getting that article out felt one of the best things I’ve ever done. It wasn’t the best piece of science ever done. It was done without a budget, as doing it for free, and we had a little donation from a a-a-a formal firefighter association in Massachusetts, which was great. They got us some of the tests done, but we got a great discount from the test company too because they-they were being nice to service personnel. And so, I think that tells a story of- everyone wanted to get this story out there, and it 6 �changed the industry. And I don’t have anything against the clothing industry, they-they fought it for a while, but they just had no idea, they weren’t told the truth either, they were- and so, as a bunch [unclear] she’s changing, it’ll cost some money to do so, I’m sure, but firefighters will be safe, and it will take years to do, but they get it now. And, I think that’s the sort of story of where my life as a scientist changed cause I’m doing something for society that I can go home and be very proud of, you know. It was an argument, and I think I was right, and there’s a paper coming out next month that’ll show that I was right, but I missed a whole part, there’s a whole- there’s even more there than we thought, and you know, that’s the purpose of putting a scientific paper out, that other people can copy it. And they did, it got a lot of results, and then they said, by the way, we ran the qi aspect as well, and I got a different load of PFAS coming out, and I was like, oh my gosh, it’s even worse than we thought, which means it was good to get the paper out because now other people have done other studies. There will be more studies of firefighter blood, which we made to make sure that this is the type of source that’s getting into them. I’m gonna pray it might be, and you know, but my biggest fear is that I’m right, and that’s a terrible thing to have, it- I’m hoping that it’s-it’s small compared to other source contributions. It’s just one of the many that we get, but it also applies to- gee, who else wears the uniform? Well, the military does, our flight attendants do in the sky, people go to school in uniforms. Guess where these companies have actually put their chemicals? All the above. And so, this has much larger implications, and the firefighters are just a- as usual first on the scene, and they are the first ones to be exposed to this. And you know, I hope that isn’t the source of exposure that’s killing them, but it could be, and that- we’d need to report that, and people who do exposure science are now working on studies to see how much of it is through the skin. We’ve got a study going on during that too, and it looks like it goes through the skin, but how much is the question right. And so, if that’s the- if you’re wearing it and it goes through the skin, then these guys are really on the short-end of the stick; they shouldn’t be wearing it, they should be wearing something else. And I don’t think it’ll go, the skin is a pretty good protector, it shouldn’t go through skin well, but somebody’s gotta measure that, so that’s what’s going on now. How does that change my life? Well, I get invited to go to firefighter conventions now, I’ve never done that before, and they took pictures of me standing in front of shiny red trucks, but it’s really good to talk to people who don’t necessarily speak science every day, or they-they speak in at a whole different level, the complexion sciences, but they this is a a exposure risk that I want to communicate without alarming people. They got to keep wearing that gear, they can’t go in a fire without gear on, that would be unsafe, so we clearly have to change the gear, and that’s something that they can help buy-buying the gear that you have this choice of gear with the chemical and without, and both are safe. Well then they’ll buy the one without, the other one’s gotta be proven safe, and follow NFPA standards. 7 �So, that’s where my life is, I spend hours a week now talking with firefighters, talking with, everybody has something that they want to send in, will send me a product, and say, is this possibly- I've done underwear, I’ve done turf grass on natural turf grass fields, I’ve done, everything gets sent in, and we’ve had very- we’ll get upset by saying, hey, why is it in underwear? Why is it in my turf grass? And we-we go back to natural grass. And there’s an industry that says no we can’t, we got to go the [unclear] our stuff, and there’s reasons why we think there are PFAS in some of those fields, and that’s coming up. So there’sthere’s a whole bunch of issues out there, and there’s no right or wrong- it’s just what we’ve decided as a society that’s important, and measuring these things I can do. And so that’s what I stick to, the science, but I have to be able to present it to the right people, and the right people can make changes. We just fired a shot across the cosmetics industry now, we did the same thing with food packaging, but we did it with 230 cosmetics we got off the shelf, and there’s fluorine in all of them, and that was everybody’s favorite paper because everybody wears cosmetics. Well, not everybody, but half the country wears cosmetics, and the other half drink what goes into the waste. [chuckles] And that means everybody’s concerned by this. And, it went viral. A lot of people were very concerned with their cosmetics [unclear]. It wasn’t designed- I only measured 200, there’s 20,000 out there so I didn’t measure your cosmetics, I can’t- I can’t answer that, but I can-I can say that the industry didn’t label it, and they know they didn’t label it, and so, what can they do about them? Well, they can, they don’t make the chemicals, they just formulate them into-into the cosmetics. So they can put a requirement on their suppliers that they don’t use fluoric chemicals, that they don’t use PFAS. And that’s all that they need to do. They need to say, I don’t use it and here’s the label saying I don’t intentionally use any of them, and that- and then they have to spot-check. Somebody has to do a-a test, but for a 20 billion dollar industry, doing a few spot-tests, they can afford. And this won’t drive any of them out of business, it’ll just change the way that they do-do business. And the consumer will be safe. And I can go to sleep with that every night. I’m not hounding any company out of business- I’m not, that’s not my job. I work with industry more often than anything else because this paper was designed for industry to realize that, oops, we forgot to label this, and it’s getting why, and some of them didn’t know they had it in them. I’m sure some did, but some of them had no idea that that this formulation they were using that worked so well, was actually highly fluorinatedDD: Hmm. GP: -and had PFAS in it. And so that’s where, I think, education, I’m an educator as well as researcher- that’s we educate people; we don’t do it to make lawsuits. I don’t work for law firms. [chuckles] I don’t work for car- private companies that say, hey, can you measure my stuff? I’ll measure anybody’s stuff for free, but I’m not gonna be on a contract with a company to get the 8 �right answer. And that’s the independent academic model. I don’t want to test things for a living; I just want to understand where the fate and transport of these chemicals go, and if I know that we’re using them in in carpet, we’re using them in turf grass, we’re using them in clothing, we’re using them in packaging, we’re also reusing them, and it’s pretty scary how much is getting into our bodies. And I don’t wanna go as the how it’s getting into our bodies, but most of us are eating and drinking it. Maybe some of it’s going through our skin, but either way, the best way to get rid of it is get rid of making this material with PFAS. So that’s my story, it’s a-it’s a fascinating scientific story. I don’t know if it’ll be any interest to the public. What it’s done for me and- the most common question I get asked is, well, have you changed anything personally since this epiphany that it’s everywhere? And I have, I’ve changed to a fluorine-free home as best as I can. [chuckles] I discovered that my dental floss had it, oops. I discovered that my cookware, that’s all gone. I-I don’t think much comes off from cookware because it’s pretty [unclear] on there, but the process of manufacturing- it makes a lot of this stuff, and it poisoned all the people and dark waters that you saw in-in West Virginia, so why don’t we just stop buying it and having any consumer brand, and I thought my eggs would fail ever since then cause how do you get something off the stick? And it turns out, my eggs weren’t that good anyway, but theyDD: [laughs] GP: -they are just as good. They work on a ceramic pan. I-I was amazed, they cook just as well. I hadn’t been hoodwinked into thinking that teflon was the only thing that was non-stick- it’s not true, it works fine. And so, there are alternatives for most PFAS, and then there are a few cases where there aren’t alternatives like space [unclear] based used of lubricants. Well, if I’m sending a rocket 30 years out to Pluto, yeah- it’s gotta have a fluoric [unclear] it’s the only thing that’llDD: [laughs] GP: last that long and keep working, but I use a test tube of that a year, but 50 ga- you know, 50 tonka trucks a day, which is what we’re producing now, and so I think that’s the scale. And there’s an- I know of an ocular-operation procedure that doctor’s use and they-they need fluorine packets in there, sure. How many retinal detachment surgeries do you need a year? It’s not gonna be a big barrel, where as going to the mall and staying waterproof, but really the best waterproof we’ve ever made, you know, that’s not essential use, nor are cosmetics, you know. I-I’d love to keep mascara and not looking like a raccoon out of the pool, but we are getting so far as that we’re fluorinating swimsuits- that people can go from the pool to the bar without a towel because they dry naturally—they’re water resistant. I would-I would claim that that’s not essential use, and [chuckles] and that, you know, if that chemical comes off, or certainly will when you dispose of it at the end, then we’re all gonna drink that, and that chemical lasts for thousands of 9 �years. It will cycle through us and our children and there’s-there’s no purpose to doing that, and so that’s the soapbox I stand on, and I’ve been to a lot of audiences saying that now, and it-it feels right to do something that’s positive. And it feels, I connect with the community better— people like what I’m saying even if they don’t like the message sometimes in the industry. But, industries actually do like finding this out before they find out from lawsuits some other way, and this is-this is- you know, several industries are changing just because they know now there’s an alternative they can use, and instead of selling the most stain-resistant pants, they sell the most stretchy pants, turns out that was a bigger seller. DD: [laughs] GP: We’re all overweight. And I think that-that is a, you know, life lesson for companies. And companies like humans do the right thing, most of the time. There’s always a few that don’t, and I can’t help them. I can’t help most people that don’t listen, but if they are given the information they can make pretty educated decisions. And so, our job as scientists is to get information out in a form that’s understandable. And this whole issue looking at environmental containiments, got my science communication tuned up a little bit, but I think really PFAS has launched me into that whole new realm of- I have to talk to reporters now occasionally; that’s a scary concept, and whatever you say gets printed, trust me. I’ve said some silly things and that shows up for everybody to read, and so I really try to-to be correct when I speak. I try to slow down, doesn’t happen, but I-I am trying to tell people what I believe and what I think is true, and I have evidence to back up what I say, and then other people reproduce my evidence, and that’s-that’s the scientific process. The unusual part is actually communicating it the way we do. We not only put out a paper that’s peer reviewed, but we then go to a newspaper when they ask, and by studying things that people are concerned with, you get more newspaper asked, and or I-I media, let’s call it media nowadays, but it’s-it’s one of those things that you know if I can do this correctly and people learn from it, then that’s the model for all scientists to follow. Not-not everybody is gonna do this type of work, but those that do it- the 10% that do applied science, should do outreach on this and should do communication. There’s some reason why a lot of the applied research is done with companies. They don’t want to announce this to people, they- that the companies that made these fluorine chemicals have known this data for years, and they've never announced any of it, but they don’t want to. I think most of the rest of the world if you’re an independent researcher in academia, you should be able to look at things and be able to report what you see. And I can, so that I'm grateful, I hope it makes an impact in the right way. Very few people seem to be mad at me at moments, that’s good. But I,you know, don’t shoot the messenger, but here’s ways we can try to improve it, and-and never just [unclear] doom and gloom, I’m not invited to parties much anymore. DD: [laughs] 10 �GP: I’m all about fluorinated microwave popcorn. But people listen when you give them alternatives and say, “do you want to do this or do you want to do this without the chemical?” and they’re all alternatives where we could do that, and they’d cost more, sometimes they’d cost less. It’s a question of what material, what application, and-and, you know, people told us we’d never get rid of firefighting foams- they’re so essential, could never get rid of that wonderful functionality. Well guess what, the federal government has mandated we’re gonna get out of all fluorinated firefighting foams by 2023, for every military application they’ve got. And that was about 2/3rds of the market, so all of a sudden we have fluorine-free foams available that have been around for 5 years, but never used wisely in this country. And the entire country is gonna be changed that way in 5 years, and so that’s-that’s remarkable progress. And it was done through an act of regulation actually. The government put in the defense of authorization act, yeah. Congress works sometimes. And it’s really impressive to see that, so what can I do? I as a scientist- I locked into this area. I have a technique that we’re- and we can use that to inform policymakers, we can use that to inform the public, we can use that to inform the-the purchasers— these companies that purchased things that they used that they sell, that their, if the consumer facing it all, they can sell a bit of product. And so, it’s an opportunity- these paper makers saw it as an opportunity and not a threat, and that’s really an advantage. The two chemical companies in this country that make this chemical always see it as a threat. And I- they luckily make lots of other things, and are useful. So I don’t think their entire business model depends on this, but they are gonna be hurt by this as people-as people find it in their blood. So, that’s-that’s my concern. That’s a lot of talking. I hope you can edit that. [laugh] DD: Well, thank you for taking the time to share your story today Graham. GP: Yeah. Yeah, It’s very egocentric, I think-I think we’ve talked about me and my role in it, but the changes are what I see in myself, and communicating with people and the relationship I have with the community. I’ve always worked in community science at Ferris, but this is-this is hitting home, and people like the fact that I’m doing it, so we’ll try to be as impartial as possible. We’ll try to get as many things done as we can, and it’s coming, we’re getting papers, we’re getting publications, we’re getting funding, so that helps. DD: Yeah. Absolutely. 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living with PFAS Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Devasto, Danielle Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2021, the Living with PFAS interviews were recorded to gather the personal stories of individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. PFAS, or per- and polyflourinated substances, are a large group of human-made chemicals used widely since the 1940s to make coatings and products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They can be found in countless household items, including food packaging, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, and water-resistant clothing. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, and build up in animals, plants, and people. PFAS have been linked to increased incidences of various cancers, increased cholesterol, decreased fertility, birth defects, kidney and liver disease, and immune system suppression, and thyroid dysfunction. It is estimated that PFAS are in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans (Andrews & Naidenko, 2020). In Michigan alone, over 280 sites have PFAS contamination exceeding maximum contamination levels for groundwater (MPART, 2024). Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Motion Picture Text Sound Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PFAS0027 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peaslee, Graham Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-09-02 Title A name given to the resource Graham Peaslee, 2021 (Interview video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Dr. Graham Peaslee is a professor at the University of Notre Dame. He began his career in nuclear physics and chemistry and now studies environmental issues. In this interview, he discusses his work identifying and measuring PFAS chemicals used in the clothing industry, in firefighting equipment, and in many other industrial and consumer products. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource DeVasto, Danielle (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/896e7d6fdd1eb7915402aba5fdf1177d.jpg d4c3f64abe7494a5ea3b0630d730b779 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS1054.B62 I5 1909 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0427 Title A name given to the resource In the Border Country Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peck, Clara Elsene (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of In the Border Country, by Josephine Daskam Bacon, published by Doubleday, Page & Company, 1909. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9c18d86d2bd5891275f9c75faaebd1a4.pdf 2acecd5c33f2042ab84eff056e33f61f PDF Text Text Speaking Out Western Michigan’s Civil Rights Histories Grand Valley State University Special Collections Interviewee: Susan Peeler Interviewers: Lauren Peeler Supervising Faculty: Melanie Shell-Weiss Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 11/27/2011 Biography and Description Susan Peeler discusses her experiences growing up and how they have affected the way she prejudges people. Transcript LAUREN: My name is Lauren Peeler and I am here today Sunday November 27, 2011 at 11am with Mrs. Susan Peeler inside her home in Canton, Ml. We are here to discuss her upbringings in Chicago Illinois. So you grew up in Chicago? SUSAN: Yes I grew up in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. LAUREN: What was your family like? SUSAN: Well I had 3 brothers one sister for me and my older brothers it was a little bit harder growing up because I don’t know, my mom was real hard on us and when my younger sister and brother came along it was a piece of cake it was like she loved them and didn’t love us ya know. LAUREN: Why did you feel that? SUSAN: Because my mom always told me I was fat, I was ugly I got to put make up on to hide my skin, I had to do this I had to do that why don’t I smile I mean she was always putting me down. LAUREN: Your dad the same way? SUSAN: No, dad was a lot more loving but my mother would never do the stuff she was always doing when my dad was home or if he was in ear shot she wouldn’t have bothered. She just did it behind his back type thing. LAUREN: Did your siblings see this? SUSAN: Yeah no what I never thought anybody saw anything going on until a cuple of years ago when my second oldest brother told me he always saw what was going on but felt helpless and didn’t do anything about it and he felt bad about that. Page 1 �LAUREN: Did you go to school all throughout? SUSAN: Oh God I went to so many catholic colleges because those are the ones my mother picked out she lets see I went to harper junior college which is kind of like schoolcraft. And then I went to I think that’s when I went away to debuuuke iowa the college there in debuuuke and then Iwent to malakar college in lamet which is another catholic college then I finally graduated from mundalein which was another catholic college and basically those are schools that my mother picked and just to avoid any ya know aggravation and stuff I went along with it, ya know just to keep peace. LAUREN: Are you still pretty Catholic? SUSAN: Yeah I still believe in god and everything but I don’t go to church like I know I probably should. But I don’t think God ya know is going to be mad at you for not going to church. LAUREN: Do you think you being so Catholic growing up made you not go now? SUSAN: No I think its just that I always went when I was growing up even oh I don’t know I was just in the habit of going every Sunday and when I got married I kind of started doing it and it was just like I got lazy and just didn’t feel like getting dressed and going to church. LAUREN: So about violence against women physically and sexually? SUSAN: Oh yeah. LAUREN: How is this? SUSAN: When I was a senior in high school I was 18 years old I was working as a life guard at a swimming pool during the summer and in order to teach swimming lessons my mother you had to take this wsi class which was water safety instruction and it was something my mother was basically telling me I had to do. So im like fine Ill go and do it. And when it came time for the test I kind of panicked and I freaked out and I left. And so when I left it was this was actually at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois and some guy stopped me on the sidewalk and put a knife to my neck so yeah I know. LAUREN: What else happened, anything else? SUSAN: He put me in his car and drove for a while and I kept thinking all I kept thinking was that I was going to end up in lake Michigan dead and ended up in an alley and he made me get in the back seat where he raped me. And then it was finally all over again all over so he drove me back to my car and I got into my car and im just kind of starting to freak out. Then he got back in my car and wanted to do it again so he did it to me twice. And I didn’t know well, obviously I knew I was a virgin but I didn’t know ya know. After I got home I was speeding down the street, my mother was standing there getting ready to yell and scream at me for speeding down the street and I told her what happened and I mean I knew I was a virgin but I didn’t know because I started bleeding and I didn’t know that when you’re a virgin and it happens the first time that’s what it was and I was freaking out about that and my mom went and blew it off. LAUREN: She blew it off? Page 2 �SUSAN: Yeah she was just like I said I don’t know what this is I said what’s going on and she didn’t answer me she didn’t say anything. LAUREN: How did that make you feel? SUSAN: Crap. Oh yeah big time. LAUREN: What happened afterward? SUSAN: Well mom and dad took me to the emergency room and my mom stayed in there with me while my dad was in the waiting room and I really wanted somebody to like hold me because I was so frightened and so scared and all my mother could talk about was how my bad my dad felt because he was pacing back and forth in the waiting room. And she basically blamed the whole thing on me, said it was my fault. LAUREN: Did he ever get caught? SUSAN: Oh yeah he got caught because while I was in the car I don’t know where I had heard it but I kept trying to pay attention to details in the car and everything else and he had a box of Kleenex and a statue of like the Blessed Virgin Mary or something in the front and the seats were covered with plastic and I knew I don’t know I just kept remembering all these little details and stuff. And, the only way he let me go was I told him I would meet him next week, cuz I had to go next week and then that’s why he let me go. And, the next day we went to the police department what I think actually the police came to our house because when I had gone to the emergency room in order for me not to get pregnant they gave me these pills which made me sick to my stomach so I couldn’t leave the house so the sketch artist and police came to our house and I told them everything that I could remember and they I had a sketch artist do a picture of him and I think, you want me to just keep...? Then I think it was, ohl The police then wanted to use me as a decoy ya know and he said that police would be scattered out all over the place. And I was really scared to do that and when the time came the police called and I kind of started freaking out and I gave the phone to my mother and what had happened was that they thought they caught the guy and they wanted me to come in for a police line up. So we had one of my dad’s cousin’s husband’s was a policeman and he met us at the Evanston police station and I told him I said what if I can’t ya know point him out and he said just kind of take your time and blah blah blah well I saw him the minute I walked in. ya know and they wanted to know if I wanted him to say something and I said have him say, “I want to see you again.” And that was it. The guy’s ass was nailed. Then after all that we went to court and it ted out there was about 5 or 6 other women there that he had done this to. One women was in the hospital for about two weeks because she was stabbed quite a few times. And he had this, his girlfriend was there and ya know she gives him a kiss and it was like all five of us are sitting there ready to throw-up just went blehh ya know. But they found him guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison in Joliet. LAUREN: Oh wow. SUSAN: And it was basically because all of the details that I was remembering. LAUREN: So you were the main reason he got caught? Page 3 �SUSAN: I think so. Because I had make of the car, the color of the car, plastic on the car, stuff that was in the window I mean I was memorizing all that and I think that had a lot to do with it. And it ted out that it was his girlfriend’s car too. LAUREN: His girlfriend was... SUSAN: ...She was there supporting him. LAUREN: Did she know what he was doing? She was okay with it? SUSAN: what I don’t know, I just think it was a thing of a woman standing behind her man. But I mean when there is five or six people there come on give me a break ya know? LAUREN: Did it make you feel better that you helped all these other women? SUSAN: It did. It made me feel a lot better knowing he was off the streets and couldn’t find me. Because I was always paranoid that he was going to find out where I was and kill me. LAUREN: Did he ever get out? SUSAN: He finally got out they kept sending, we had moved from this was in Glenview we had moved my parents moved to northbrook of course I got married and moved here and the people who lived in the house started getting these letters that were addressed to me from the circuit court or whatever court it was so they looked up all the kolbas in the phonebook and got a hold of my step grandmother who called me and said is it okay? And I said yeah most definitely. So they forwarded the mail to me and it was letters that he was coming up for parole and do I want him out. And im like, hell no, ya know. And so he that went about 4 or five years and then finally I didn’t get a phone call or anything I actually I didn’t get anything in the mail no phone calls, no nothing and I found out that he got released. And he was, so I called the prison, the courts or whoever it was and I said, “why wasn’t I told?” “Oh I don’t blah blah” they were kind of giving you the run around story. And I said where did he get parolled to and she said to Louisiana but we cant give you his address. I said what the hell do I want his address for? I mean for the longest time in maybe sometimes still I think about that he will find out what my new name is even though ive had it for almost 30 years, that he is going to find me and kill me or something. LAUREN: So you are still scared? SUSAN: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I was kind of ya know im always looking behind my back, I don’t like people walking behind me. Because it freaks me out. LAUREN: Is it because you think it’s him, or are you afraid of everyone? SUSAN: No I just im just afraid somebody’s going to come up behind me again and do what happened. do to me what happened before. And I don’t really I like to trust people but don’t really trust people very well anymore. im suspicious, I wont go out in the dark I really start panicking if I ya know especially with my oldest daughter who was forcing me to walk in the streets of Chicago after dark and it was upsetting me so much that I was crying but ya know what are you doing to do? Page 4 �LAUREN: She’s not very helpful with that? SUSAN: No. ya know basically I think she was I know she feels bad that it happened but she was kind of like on the wavelength that of my mom and dad and was like ya know get over it. LAUREN: How has your husband helped at all? SUSAN: I don’t know if he has really helped, he’s there if I need a shoulder to cry on or something like that but ive never had anybody that I never had anybody put their arm around me and tell me everything is going to be okay. Since it happened, not nobody. LAUREN: How did he deal with it when he found out? SUSAN: Well I actually was going with a guy when I was in high school and I told him what happened and then he dumped me. Yeah. he dumped me, didn’t want to go out with me anymore and I had told my now husband about it and he was very sympathetic which was very ya know, which was good. But you always want that arm around your shoulder saying things will be okay. LAUREN: Do you feel like men mostly you cannot trust? Are you afraid of them at all? SUSAN: I have to tell you I do look at people and I just by looking at them I feel like I can judge whether I can trust them or not. I unfortunately don’t trust black men very well because it was a black guy that raped me and I ya know I know I shouldn’t be feeling that way but, black guys scare the crap out of me. just because of what happened, and I know I shouldn’t be like that anymore but yeah there is at the same rate there are some white guys that scare the crap out of me that I will ya know if I see somebody ill go out of my way with walking across the Street or ya know going in a totally different direction or something like that so. LAUREN: Did you ever see a counselor or psychologist about this? SUSAN: Nope. Never did. LAUREN: Never thought about it? SUSAN: I always thought about it but my mother always told me I didn’t need it. there was once I think when I started getting the letters that he was coming up for parole I was good friends with one of my friends here in the neighborhood and she suggested this First Step. And I went there once and never went back. LAUREN: Why? SUSAN: I don’t know. LAUREN: You just didn’t like it? SUSAN: I don’t know I just I don’t know why I never went back. I thought it was something I could handle myself which is probably stupid ya know because I don’t think anybody can handle something like that on their own but. Page 5 �LAUREN: Did anyone else help you handle it? SUSAN: No. LAUREN: So you just did it all by yourself? SUSAN: I had to do it all by myself because I didn’t get any support from my mother at all. LAUREN: You said you moved to Michigan after? SUSAN: Yeah we moved to Michigan that made me feel safe. Knowing that I was out of state and far away but ya know every once in while ill be walking down the street or driving by in the car and ill see somebody that kind of looks like him and it kind of freaks me out a little bit but I try not to think about it. LAUREN: You still remember what he looks like? SUSAN: Not to the extent that I did before. all I know is that he was a short little guy and it was all I can remember now. LAUREN: Has this made you change anything you do in your life? SUSAN: I don’t like going out in the dark. ive gotten to the point that now I have pepper spray so that if I go anywhere in the dark and stuff like that. Like when I go to Chicago now or when I went to New York over the summer I brought it with me and it made me feel safe. Because I knew I cold spray it at anybody at anytime but yeah I don’t, and I get really nervous when im somewhere alone and not a whole lot of people are around I get really nervous about that but.. LAUREN: Have any other events in your life affected what happened to you positively or negatively, made you rethink about it? SUSAN: Well when I was. This is going to be hard, all I wanted was I guess someone to love me. And I think that’s why I guess that’s why I did what I did when I was growing up I had too many guys I guess. There was about four different guys that I guess slept with as they say. Because all I wanted was someone to love me and I didn’t think anybody did. LAUREN: Do you feel loved now? SUSAN: Yeah. From you especially, from dad for the most part but yeah sorta kinda. LAUREN: So afterwards you kind of looked to men for love by having sex with them? SUSAN: Yeah. LAUREN: How does that make you feel, do you regret it at all? SUSAN: Oh god yeah. Because right now I feel like I was like a tramp as they say. LAUREN: I don’t think so. Page 6 �SUSAN: Its not the kind of person, I mean I would never even think of doing that now but I think it was just I was too eager for someone to really like me or love me or something. I was desperate because I wasn’t getting it at home. LAUREN: I think a lot of girls are in your position and what would you want to tell somebody that is going through that? SUSAN: first of all to not put themselves down. Realize that it wasn’t their fault and definitely get help from somewhere, don’t think ya know its going to go away or think that you can ignore it and things will be hunky dory. you need help. LAUREN: Do you ever think about getting help now? SUSAN: Yeah once in a while I do. cuz this happened in 1973 almost forty years ago. and if I try not to think about it im pretty much okay but yeah there’s times when im thinking maybe ill go back even though it’s been almost forty years. And I don’t know I haven’t really decided. LAUREN: Yeah, you have to do it at your own pace. SUSAN: At forty years hahaha that’s a slow pace. LAUREN: So what has helped you deal with it? Has anything helped you deal with it? SUSAN: Nothing really just trying not to think about it. has helped. But I think it was one of those things that even talking about it right now it’s hard but maybe getting it all out in the open and talking about it or even writing it down is a big help, it helps a lot. LAUREN: So do you keep a joal or anything? SUSAN: No that’s something that im asking my kids for Christmas this year is joals because I started writing in a notebook at school when I find myself getting really tense about something I just a lot of it will be bIah blah blah blah, but it makes me feel a lot better. LAUREN: Do you ever re-read it later? SUSAN: Yeah LAUREN: It makes you feel better? SUSAN: Yeah, a lot better. LAUREN: Do you have any heroes that you look up to? Maybe somebody on tv that maybe you wish could have been around? SUSAN: Well actually believe it or not, my daughter got me hooked on watching Law and Order: SVU and I made the comment that I would love an Olivia on my side haha because she is so her character is so kind and so compassionate and I would have given my I teeth for somebody like her when I was attacked. I even am almost half thinking of writing her a letter hahah ya know. As a character but yeah I kind of what even though she is a tv character I kind of look up to her. Page 7 �LAUREN: She does in her regular life she has groups for women. SUSAN: Oh does she really? LLAUREN: Mmhm she is very involved in it and.., SUSAN: Maybe it might be worth while writing a letter she may never get it but LAUREN: I think she would SUSAN: Its worth a try. LAUREN: How did your perception of what happened to you change as you got older, if it changed at all? SUSAN: Oh boy, I don’t know if it has really changed anything because my mother my whole life always made me feel worthless and having that happen to me and she blamed me for it doesn’t make me feel better it still makes me feel worthless, so that’s why a lot of times I don’t think about it. LAUREN: You think not thinking about is unhealthy or not? SUSAN: It what it probably could be unhealthy because you keep all those feelings pent up inside and I think in order for somebody to get over something like that you need to let it out, speak to somebody, ya know even if you go ya know to like the First Step once or twice ya know just so you can hang out with other people that went through what you went through. LAUREN: Your let-out is writing though? SUSAN: Yeah, I mean it may not make a lot of sense but you get there and kind of ramble on and stuff and I don’t know it just makes you feel a lot better. LAUREN: So you have two children? SUSAN: Mmhm LAUREN: How did this affect the way you treated them as they grew up? SUSAN: as they started getting older I always wanted them to call when they got to where they were going basically just keep an eye out ya know just kind of keep looking all around, don’t go anywhere by yourself because I don’t, I just worried about the same thing happening to them. I don’t, I didn’t want them to ya know be caught somewhere alone they needed a ride, call. just, and I know I was kind of I don’t know not overbearing but probably too much when I kept saying well call me when you there, call me when you get here let me know where you’re at and stuff like that. And that was because I just was so paranoid about something happening to them. LAUREN: Were they receptive of that at all? SUSAN: Well I don’t think they know why I was acting like that. because I had never really talked about this before and I don’t even remember when I told them what had happened but crap I just forgot what Page 8 �I was saying. Oh they probably just thought I was I don’t know being like a nosey mom and stuff like that how parents can be and stuff and actually it was just my, me being paranoid. I think. LAUREN: You wouldn’t say that your eagerness to know where they are was a good thing at all? SUSAN: I do but I don’t think at the time they might not thought it was a its like its none of your business where im going or what im doing and stuff like that which is I understand they are entitled to there own life and to do what they want to do but I just always wanted to know where they were and what they were doing because I just kind of wanted to keep a track and if like when my youngest daughter, you, would go into Detroit, it would it scared the crap out of me. I was I was petrified. And that’s why I kept having you call me or I kept calling you and stuff and that’s why. LAUREN: I think that’s why I stopped telling you where I would go because I didn’t want you to worry. SUSAN: Yeah. LAUREN: They are both out of the house now, do you still worry about them? SUSAN: Oh yeah. My oldest daughter lives in Chicago I worry about her a lot but one thing she’s got going for her she did take like kung fu or something when she was in college I don’t know that jiu jit su stuff and she’s got a a scream that would be in the scariest horror movie. And my youngest one I probably worry about a little bit more but I think she is kind of cautious and aware of her surroundings and I don’t think she would put herself in a dangerous situation. LAUREN: Have you ever been treated violently by another man? SUSAN: Nope. LAUREN: Not at all? SUSAN: Well my dad hit me once because I back mouthed my mother or something like that but.. LAUREN: Have you faced any other discrimination with what happened to you? SUSAN: Its, oh against me? LAUREN: Or maybe other people that you have seen? SUSAN: what lye only talked told a couple people like when I told said that I was in high school and I told my boyfriend at the time what had happened and he dumped me and I once in a while I tell somebody I mean its not like common knowledge or anything but I notice how people kind of back away. LAUREN: Because they are uncomfortable? SUSAN: Yeah I think that’s exactly what it is. LAUREN: So you think the general public doesn’t know how to address this problem? SUSAN: I don’t think they know how cuz it didn’t happen to them I don’t think they know I think what to say. And how to say it. I don’t know I just I think that they they just need to be sympathetic I mean . Page 9 �LAUREN: That’s what you wish people would know? SUSAN: Oh yeah. Yeah. LAUREN: Not treat you like you have a disease or something SUSAN: Oh yeah. LAUREN: Do anyone else that this happened to? SUSAN: (shakes head) LAUREN: Must be hard because you don’t have anyone to sympathize with you. SUSAN: Yeah I have known of nobody that it’s ever happened to. LAUREN: There are more people though, don’t think that you are alone. SUSAN: Oh yeah I know there’s a ton, but I don’t know anybody personally You can go ahead and ask that question. LAUREN: Which one? SUSAN: The one about my sex life, hahaha. LAUREN: How has it affected your sexual life? SUSAN: I, you’re going to think this is really weird because im your mother. I don’t really enjoy it like I should. LAUREN: Yeah. SUSAN: because of course my first time ya know I was raped and it’s hard I mean its really really hard for me but l’ve...l do what I can to make my husband happy, I try hard. And I think he knows that too. Sometimes it’s very very difficult for me but for the ya know I do what lcan. Funny thing to be talking to your daughter about haha LAUREN: Oh its fine. Sometimes do you think of it? SUSAN: not during anymore. I mean I used to a long time ago but not anymore. LAUREN: Do you think the first time you did it after it happened, was it really hard for you? SUSAN: Yeah. LAUREN: Was the guy sympathetic at all? SUSAN: Oh I didn’t tell him. LAUREN: Do you think these people you were with kind of sensed that there was something? Page 10 �SUSAN: What they might have but I didn’t I didn’t come out and tell anybody. Because I thought that for sure if I told somebody they would run in the other direction. LAUREN: Because of that one guy did? SUSAN: Yeah. And it did take me a while to tell my now husband what happened because I loved him a lot and I was afraid he was going to leave me too. LAUREN: Did you tell him after you were married? SUSAN: No I told him before. LAUREN: How long after you were dating? SUSAN: what I think it was actually a couple of months maybe LAUREN: Did you tell him before you two became intimate? SUSAN: No. LAUREN: It was afterward? SUSAN: Yeah. LAUREN: So the police, they used you as a decoy to catch him? SUSAN: Yeah they wanted to use me as a decoy the following week because I told the guy I was going to come back a in a week and that’s why he let me go, because I promised to meet him. and I told the police that and they wanted to use me as a decoy and im like, “no” and they said well we would have policeman all around everywhere and I Was kind of scared about doing that but when they called me to be a decoy they said that they had captured him. LAUREN: So you didn’t have to be a decoy? SUSAN:No I didn’t have to be a decoy after all. So I was like really relieved. LAUREN: Do you think you would change what the police did? SUSAN: No, because actually the police were pretty good about it but they I Think were a lot more I don’t know I had first picked out the picture that wasn’t the guy. Ya know because I was starting to get flustered and he goes, “are you sure this is him?” and I said, “I don’t know I think so” and he said, “well this guy is six feet tall” so I guess that’s not him but no I wouldn’t change anything except I would have gotten some help a lot earlier. Because maybe I wouldn’t have done half of what I did. Well then I think that’s it’s a dumb excuse but I think that could have been why I started drinking a lot to. LAUREN: You started drinking? SUSAN: Yeah, a lot. LAUREN: When, after it happened? Page 11 �SUSAN: Yeah. Well not really so much after it happened it was I think it was about the time that I got the letter saying that he was being released. I started drinking allot and because it made the pain feel better. But it was really kind of stupid because I was trying to feel better about it but what I was actually doing was putting myself deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into a hole that didn’t think I was going to be able to get out of. LAUREN: How did you get out of it? SUSAN: What I know my family really wanted me to quit really bad and I knew I would once I was ready but it was just one day like with smoking, one day I woke up and irn just like, “okay im done.” And I honestly didn’t think I would be able to because I was oh crap drinking at least a twelve pack a day. LAUREN: How did your family deal with that? SUSAN: They they weren’t very happy with me ya know and I knew it was upsetting them and it was I was getting scared because I didn’t know because I have a very addictive personality when I start doing something ljust keep doing it and I have a hard time stopping but I basically I wanted my family to be proud of me not ashamed of me and I think that was one big reason why I quit and on top of all that I lost 60 pounds too hahaha so that helps. but yeah it was a long haul but I think finally at my ripe old age im kind of coming to terms with stuff. LAUREN: Do you think your where you want to be? What else do you want to do? SUSAN: actually this is the happiest I’ve ever been in a really long time im trying to learn not to let things bother me anymore I do get really anxious especially just over thanksgiving weekend was a whole lot of fun. I mean I did have a good time seeing my brother and his family and stuff but my oldest daughter is not very not really tolerant of other people. And I was getting really tense with that. When I’m at home if im starting to feel really sad or im getting tense ill just start doing something that makes me happy. And my job I love it. I work with special needs kids and they’re terrific ya know. And I keep thinking boy I’ve got problems ya know and look at them they’re as happy as can be and I just don’t I think if my mother was alive today I would probably tell her to go fly a kite, or take a long walk off a short pier. because she always had me tied up in knots but im I life is too short to let things bug you and eat away at you it’s not worth it and that’s why I feel this asshole I hoping he’s dead or he drowned in hurricane Katrina because he was done there when hurricane Katrina hit so ive got my fingers crossed that he got drowned and floated away. But I figured life is too short he took a lot from me but I refuse for him to have anymore. I just won’t do it anymore. LAUREN: Do his name? SUSAN: Yep. LAUREN: Do you ever think about looking him up and seeing if he died? SUSAN: No I never thought about that, but that would that might be kind of nice it would make me feel a lot better knowing he was dead. LAUREN: How old was he when it happened? Page 12 �SUSAN: Im not really sure because im not really good at guessing ages but I Want to say he might have been in his 30’s. LAUREN: So he would be pretty old now. SUSAN: Yeah so hopefully he’s older and he’s farting dust now or something. I don’t know. But yeah ya know I don’t wish ill will on anybody but I hope he died in hurricane Katrina, haha. LAUREN: I think that’s okay. So you started drinking kind of to numb the pain so you wouldn’t think about it and it drove you in further.. SUSAN: It was driving me farther apart from my family and the way I was doing that I lost count how many years, quite a few years and it my husband kept telling me its only going to depress you moreand im like no im doing fine blah blah blah and yeah I did realize it wasn’t doing anything to help me at all and im just happy I quit. LAUREN: So you only realized you had a problem after your family said something? SUSAN: I knew I had a problem but I always thought I can quit whenever I feel like it but with the addictive personality I had I was so used to coming home from work and start drinking at like 3 o’clock and it was just a habit I got into. And finally after umpteen years I had to form a different kind of habit get used to doing something else instead of that every time I came home so know everytime Icome home I sit down with my diet coke and my popcorn and my needlepoint ha for about an hour. LAUREN: Did you ever t to any other drugs or? SUSAN: No I did start smoking. at a few days after this happened because he had offered me a cigarette and I said no I don’t smoke and then to be cool, calm, and collected I said oh gee can I borrow a cigarette and I think that’s when I started smoking. and I did that up til I was pregnant with my oldest child I was a couple months pregnant and I realized smoking was not going to do her any good and I just woke up one day and didn’t want it anymore. LAUREN: Do you think your family is grateful for that? SUSAN: Oh yeah I think so. Very much so. LAUREBN: Besides being worried about when your kids when out, how did this affect the way you were a mother and a wife? SUSAN: There’s so much more I wish I would have done, butl don’t think the rape itself had anything to do with it. Shoulda coulda woulda. I mean I always wished I don’t know there’s I just wish I would have been a different kind of morn. giving them more responsibility of doing things around the house and stuff like that and I never really pushed it because I didn’t want them to get angry with me and stuff so I just kind of kept it and did it myself. LAUREN: Why are you afraid of people getting angry with you? Page 13 �SUSAN: Oh just because my mother always yelled at me and stuff and I just I get really tense and upset if people’s voices start getting raised because it kind of goes back to when my mother and I just cant deal with the yelling and stuff like that. LAUREN: It seems like a lot of your problems stem from your mom and how she treated you. SUSAN: Yeah LAUREN: Is she still alive? SUSAN: No she died in may of 2001 from Alzheimer’s. And it sounds weird but she finally became the mother that I always wanted she was more I was talking oh we, I was down in Florida because my mother was sick and somebody had rented a video and my husband called me up from down in Florida and I go its not that big a deal, just ret it. But he doesn’t like things being late. And I said it wasn’t that big of a deal so I hung up and I was kind of crying and my mother actually came over to me and put her arm around me and I think that was the first time she ever did that and I don’t ever remember her telling me that she loved me. So that’s why I make a point every time I see my kids or talk to them on a phone I always tell them I love em. LAUREN: They love you too. SUSAN: Thankyou. LAUREN: You’re welcome. How did you feel when she passed? SUSAN: I was sad. But I mean I loved her because she was my mother but as a person I didn’t like her at all. so in a way it was kind of like a relief. Because even after I got married she kept sending me letters, like, “why can’t you smile more like your sister, why can’t you do this, why can’t you do that.” And when you have somebody nit picking at you like that 24/7 its like leave me the heck alone. LAUREN: Did she compare you with your sister? SUSAN: All the time. LAUREN: Did it make you kind of... hate her a little bit? Your sister SUSAN: My sister? Yeah. Because I know she and my brother were always my mom and dad’s favorite. LAUREN: How that effected your relationship with your brother? SUSAN: I’m not very close to them. I’d like to be closer. When I’m around them I feel like I have to watch what I’m saying. And I’m real careful how I work things. LAUREN: Are you close with your older brothers? SUSAN: My 2 older brothers are probably a little bit closer than my younger. I have this bad habit, I don’t keep in touch with anybody as good as I know I should. because we all live far away from each other, but I’m trying to make up for that. Let’s see.., one summer we went to go visit my brother in California and Page 14 �then 2 years after that I went to go visit him again, and then last year I went to visit my brother in Florida, because he lives alone, he divorced, and I just kind of wondered how he was doing. LAUREN: Did any your siblings ever come for you? SUSAN: No, not at all. LAUREN: Do you guys ever talked about it? SUSAN: No... I called my dad one day, and... I think it was when I first started to get the letters coming off for parole and... my dad said “ I thought you were over that by now”. And I said dad, how can be over something like that. So, my dad were a lot more caring and understanding than my mother, I didn’t even get what I needed from him. LAUREN: What would you tell him, if you could tell him anything right know? Or what do you wish you said? SUSAN: What, I wish I would have told my mother, “Why can’t you be a mother to me?”. Because when we had gone to the police station, and we were walking at the parking lot, I started crying, and my mother grabbed me and said “What the hell are you crying for?”. I mean, she was never sympathetic towards me when this happened, because she pointed that it was all my fault, so I knew I wasn’t get ever anything from her. LAUREN: Was she supportive during the trial? SUSAN: No, she never came, it was always my dad. My mum was kind of like pretended it never happened. LAUREN: But your dad was more helpful? SUSAN: Yeah, because he went to the courts with me, so he was pretty good. LAUREN: Was it hard going to the court, and seeing him again? SUSAN: Yeah, it was. It was really really hard, but I felt better knowing there was 5 or 6 other women there, who went through something similar, so I knew therewas other people there, so it maybe felt me a little bit better. LAUREN: Did you ever speak with them about it? SUSAN: Yeah, we were kind of sitting... I don’t remember what it was we talked about, I just remember we were sitting near each other in the courtroom, and that guy was up in front and his fiancée was behind him, and they stood up as the court session was over, and they kissed each other, and we all thought we’re gonna throw up and it’s disgusting. LAUREN: That was the jury who found him guilty? SUSAN: No, I think it was just the judge, it wasn’t the jury. LAUREN: So it was a quick trial? Page 15 �SUSAN: Yeah, pretty quick. We only had to go twice to court. LAUREN: If this happened to one of your children, how would you treat them differently than your mother treated you? SUSAN: Definetely not the way my mother did it. I would hug them and hold them, tell them I love them, let them know everything is gonna be okay, and I would be there with her every step on the way. I would never want one of my kids go through what I went through with my mom. I would never allow that. I’m just glad I didn’t end up like my mother . Because she said she never liked kids. LAUREN: Really? SUSAN: Yeah. That was my mother. And I found out from my aunt, my dad’s sister that... she said that, it was kind of funny... my grandfather said my step grandmother that don’t ever leave me alone with them... asshole. LAUREN: So did your dad’s family like your mom at all? SUSAN: Well, my dad’s mother was still alive.., and no, apparently they didn’t like each other. I think my gradpa was.., he didn’t really said he disliked her or\ anything like that. He put up her basically, that’s what he did, because she married his son. But I’ve got to visit my aunt this weekend and hoping to find out a lot of juicy stuff that was going on. But my aunt Carol did make a comment that... I was talking to her about this just about a week ago, and she said that she was very upset with her brother, who’s my dad at the way he was handling that, and the way I was treated, and she was really pissed off. LAUREN: It makes you feel better? SUSAN: Yeah. It would be nice if Carol was my mom. That’s the way my mother was. LAUREN: That’s how she has always been? SUSAN: Yeah. But I mean, she was 16 years old, she could go ahead whenever she wanted, but I... I’m hoping my kids don’t drink and smoke... I mean the occasional drinking is not a big deal but.. If I find out my kids are drinking, just promise me you never ever get behind the wheel. Because guys, you can make up you own mind and make your own decisions, and all I can do is to give you my input, from experience. LAUREN: Do you talked to them about it? SUSAN: No, because I never... I don’t know why I never have... Because I have a hard time of starting things that I want to talkedto them about. I don’t know how to bring it up and talk, because I don’t... My biggest fear is hurting their feelings, because my mother always hurt my feelings in my life, and made me sad. I was always sad with her 24/7, and I didn’t want to make that mistake to my kids. But then I didn’t want to make the mistake of not saying something and having something continue. I’m starting to be hopefully a little more vocal LAUREN: You weren’t very happy how your mother raised you. Do that you did a better job? Page 16 �SUSAN: I hope I did. Because my mother... I could never say the things to my kids that my mother said to me. I mean I tried to be more open to them, I waned them to feel that they could come to me for anything, and I loved it if they came to me for everything, but I realized I can’t do that, because they have their own little spot that’s their business, nobody else’s... something they talk to their friends about before they’re talking me about. LAUREN: So when you became mom, you tried not to do things how your mom did? SUSAN: Yeah. So, that’s why with my oldest daughter, I wish I would have been a little more strict with her, because she’s really kind of self centered, and feels that everything has to be circling around her and she’s got to realize life isn’t like that, and it’s not gonna happen. I mean I wish I was a little more strict with her and done stuff differently with her. And if I had grandchildren one day, they’re gonna be the most spoiled little brats because they would come over, visit grandma, and we would bake cookies and all the stuff that I think a grandma should do, instead of my mother, who basically thought that kids should be seen and not heard. My mother was not a grandma type mother. And the funny thing is we were back in Chicago for thanksgiving, we stopped by the cemetery and I didn’t realize till just now that... it’s a big family thing, my mom’s on one side, my dad’s on the other, and I noticed that I always stay over on the same side, that my dad is on, I don’t go over to the side that my mother is on. I see her name, but I don’t go over there, which is really weird, I never really thought about this till just now. LAUREN: Because you can’t let go the hurt that she gave you? SUSAN: Yeah. LAUREN: So anything else, you want to say? SUSAN: No, I think that pretty much covers it. END OF INTERVIEW Page 17 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d43514c01365cbb219358a534cc6f39.mp3 ca7350448e5dd2ecd16592fc539b7a6f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Personal narratives Oral histories African Americans--Personal narratives Gays--Personal narratives Lesbians--Personal narratives Bisexual people--Personal narratives Transgender people--Personal narratives Veterans--Personal narratives Women--Personal narratives People with disabilities--Personal narratives Muslims--United States--Personal narratives Hispanic Americans--Personal narratives Homophobia Discrimination Islamophobia Stereotypes (Social psychology)--Upper Penninsula (Mich.) Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history recordings documenting the history of civil rights and social justice advocacy in Western Michigan. The collection was created by faculty and students as a project of the LIB 201 (formerly US 201): "Diversity in the U.S." course from 2011-2012. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project (GV248-01) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV248-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1930-2011 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV248-01_Peeler_Susan Title A name given to the resource Susan Peeler audio interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peeler, Susan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Peeler, Lauren Description An account of the resource Susan Peeler discusses her experiences growing up and how they have affected the way she prejudges people. Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Women--Personal narratives Discrimination Discrimination against African Americans Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Relation A related resource Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-11-27 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ac4654a7ca939dc03208f90232fd924b.m4v 88383e499b3edcce23f439bc741e6b02 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20ca87c095728223dd063e6ab438157a.pdf 1c6bcb0f79c83e5b47aab50c23b8ddee PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Henry J. Pelak World War II 1 hour 9 minutes 19 seconds (00:00:04) Early Life -Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on July 24, 1924 -He attended elementary school at Sacred Heart in Grand Rapids -He was taught discipline by the nuns -He attended Union High School, also in Grand Rapids -Graduated from there in 1942 -Loved to work with machines -He took machine shop in high school -He aspired to be a machinist -At times he would go to local factories and watch machinists do their work -Prior to his service he had a job washing trucks -Paid $0.40 per hour -Came home smelling like gasoline -He used the job to buy a used bicycle (00:02:30) Start of the War and Getting Drafted -He heard about the attack at Pearl Harbor on the news -There was a noticeable change in society following that -He saddened, because they knew that America had finally entered the war -He was drafted at the same time as his friend from high school -They both wound up in the same training -They eventually wound up in different units once training was complete -When he was drafted he received a letter ordering him to report for a military physical -Had to report to an induction center in Grand Rapids -He was allowed to choose the branch that he would go into -He decided to go into the Navy -He enjoyed the water and was never bothered being on a ship (00:04:40) Basic Training -Sent to Green Bay, Wisconsin for basic training -Travelled by train to Wisconsin with other draftees -The base that he was at was large -He and the other recruits were given assignments and expectations immediately -He didn’t find training to be too difficult -His mother had died when he was ten, so he was used to having responsibilities -Upon arrival to Green Bay they were processed and issued fatigues -They would rise early every day and make sure that everything was in order -Afterwards they would assemble in front of the barracks -They would march and do physical training in basic training -The focus was on discipline and making sure that the recruits were fit for service -Once basic training was over they were given a formal graduation from it �(00:07:40) Amphibious Training -After basic training he was sent to Virginia for the beginning of amphibious training -He was assigned that duty, and wasn’t allowed to choose his duty -From Virginia he was sent to Fort Pierce, Florida for advanced amphibious training -Training lasted a few months -One of the first things that they were trained to do was successfully land on a beach -If a landing craft didn’t hit the beach evenly it could flip over -There were forty to fifty men per barracks in Fort Pierce -They were given more physical training at Fort Pierce beginning at 6 AM every day -He found the food to be good in the Navy -He came from a single parent, Depression household, so he had to cook his own food -He began to learn how to serve aboard a landing craft as part of the crew -He served as a motor machinist aboard a landing craft -This meant that he tended to the landing craft’s engines -The amphibious craft that they used was the LCM (landing craft, mechanized) -Big enough to carry a tank, but could carry supplies and infantry as well -Because of this they had an extended ramp -Similar to, but larger than, the iconic Higgins Boat -Their purpose was to get up onto a beach and successfully unload a vehicle -There were originally three-four crewmen, but that eventually became five crewmen -One signalman (semaphore communications) -Two seamen -One coxswain (similar to a captain, drove the craft and gave orders) -One motor machinist (Henry’s job) -He never thought about the danger that he was in until combat began (00:14:57) Deployment to Europe -He and the other sailors were sent to New York City to assemble there -This indicated that they were going to the European Theatre -For Henry, it was slightly culturally shocking to go from Grand Rapids to New York City -He got to see the Statue of Liberty -They basically had to sit around and wait for their deployment orders -When he was in New York he was allowed to go on leave in New York -Noticed that there was a large amount of servicemen in the city -He enjoyed getting to see the sights of downtown New York -From New York they boarded a troopship and sailed to Scotland -It was a rough voyage -A lot of the men onboard got viciously seasick -He was able to avoid getting seasick (00:18:55) Arrival and Training in England -They arrived in Scotland and from Scotland drove down to Teignmouth, England -That served as their main training base -Permanent five man crews were established there -This is where they began to train for the Normandy Invasion -His unit was kept separate from the other units for their own specialized training -The routine at Teignmouth was similar to the one at Fort Pierce -Rose early for morning training, given lunch, then more training in the afternoon �-The focus during the initial training was to make accurate beach landings -They were given R&R to see the surrounding countryside and nearby cities -English civilians were very welcoming towards the Americans -There was no evidence of German bombing in the countryside -While he was in England he got a chance to see London -Found it similar to New York City -Didn’t see any damage from the Blitzkrieg while he was there (00:21:55) Operation Tiger -When they were in England he took part in Operation Tiger -The D-Day amphibious training exercise that took place on the English Coast -Took place on April 28, 1944 -They left and sailed towards the staging area early in the morning -En route they heard explosions in the distance -Knew that that probably wasn’t a good sign -Upon arriving at the staging area his landing craft was turned away -Not told what had happened, it was top secret at the time -He didn’t learn about what had happened at Operation Tiger until fifty years later -A German submarine had stumbled onto the staging area and attacked it -Torpedoed and sank two LSTs (landing ship, tank) -His high school friend was one of the survivors from one of the LSTs -He learned that 749 servicemen had been killed in the attack (00:25:04) Preparing for the Normandy Invasion -After the Operation Tiger fiasco his landing craft returned to Teignmouth, England -At this point he knew that his unit would be part of the first wave into Normandy -His craft would be carrying twelve combat demolition soldiers -Six from the Navy and six from the Army -Knew that it would be a difficult landing to make -At the time he didn’t know how big the invasion force really was -On the morning of June 5, 1944 they were getting the landing craft ready to go -Original date for D-Day -At the last minute the invasion was cancelled and postponed -A storm had blown in and made the English Channel too dangerous to cross -The invasion date was rescheduled for June 6, 1944 -Knew that the weather wouldn’t be perfect, but the storms would at least be gone (00:29:00) D-Day-Going to the Staging Area -Early on the morning of June 6 they received orders to go to the staging area -They boarded their landing craft and travelled across the English Channel to the Allied ships -When they arrived at the staging area they still couldn’t see the Normandy coast -His entire unit of twelve landing craft went to the staging area together -His craft rendezvoused with a ship that had the demolition team onboard -The demolition troops boarded without incident -Heard stories of infantrymen falling from ships into the sea trying to board the crafts -After their demolition team boarded they lined up with the other landing craft at 6:30 AM -The demolition team was carrying nothing but explosives and markers (smoke grenades) -Their objective was to blow up German beach obstacles -Henry was always astounded at the amount of courage it took do that job �(00:34:39) D-Day-The Invasion -Being in the first wave they started to receive intense German fire from the coast -Allied battleships had been firing consistently on the coast before the invasion began -Unfortunately the bombardment had been largely ineffective -This was because the Germans were so well entrenched in the coast -Their landing craft hit the beach successfully and started taking heavy fire -They began to unload their demolition team -A shell hit one of their craft’s machine guns and disabled it -He saw two sailors from a sunken landing craft swimming towards his craft -German machine gun fire was following them as they swam -They were able to reach Henry’s craft and board it safely -At this point infantry started to storm the beaches now too -A shell exploded in front of their landing craft -The crew panicked because they thought the ramp was disabled -This would have meant they couldn’t leave the beach and were sitting ducks -One of the demolition troops had been hit by the shell and was wounded on the ramp -Henry had to go out and pull the wounded soldier into the craft -They were able to pull up the ramp and get off the beach -Went to a hospital ship to unload the sailors and the wounded demolition soldier -From the hospital ship he was able to watch the invasion unfolding -His craft stayed in the area while the invasion commenced aiding in any way that they could -Out of the twelve ships in his unit his was only one of two that survived the invasion (00:43:42) Post-Invasion Pt. 1 -After the invasion a massive storm rolled in two weeks later and they pulled up to the beach -The storm was so powerful they were pushed up onto the beach and got stuck there -From that point on they had to live in their boat until they could contact command -Prior to the storm his landing craft helped ferry personnel between ships -The battle to secure the coast was still going on at this point -While they were ferrying personnel he realized just how big the invasion force was -Before going to the beach they had to sleep on their landing craft -There was a harbor off the coast that was made from scrapped ships (Mulberry Harbor) -It was used as a resupply and loading station for landing craft -Storm destroyed the structure -This indicates that Henry was most likely at Omaha Beach (00:47:48) Post-Invasion Pt. 2 -When they went up to the beach during the storm the beach had finally been secured -When they returned to the beach he saw that the staging area on the beach was huge -There was a massive amount of supplies and personnel being assembled on the beach -After the storm thy had to stay near their boat because minefields hadn’t been cleared yet -They lived off of Army K Rations -Spent two weeks living on the beach -Couldn’t tell their command in England that they had survived -Eventually an Army major came over to their boat and figured out who they were -He was able to contact naval command in England -Informed them that Henry’s crew had survived the invasion �-After contacting command a boat was sent over to retrieve the crew -Only a total of ten survivors from Henry’s unit -They returned to England briefly to receive new orders (00:51:33) Following the British Army in Europe -After England he was attached to a unit following the British through northern Europe -Specifically through Holland, Belgium and northern Germany -In England he was placed on another troopship bound for Europe -He and the other sailors were tasked with building an American port -Final destination was Bremerhaven, Germany -They arrived in Holland and began following the British Army -Had to sleep in warehouses on the route -Travelled by truck -Henry’s job was to do anything that might involve machine work (00:54:57) Reassignment, Going Home and End of War -After Europe he was sent home to be reassigned to go to the Pacific Theatre -He was allowed to go home from Europe for leave before going to California -He visited his family in Grand Rapids -His father was happy to see him -Knew that his son had been part of the D-Day Invasion -He was able to spend a month in Grand Rapids on leave -While he was home he kept up with the progress of the war -While he was on leave the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and the war ended -He was happy to have avoided further warfare -Saddened by how the war had to end -In Grand Rapids there wasn’t much celebrating, just a general sense of relief among people (00:58:47) Post-War Service -After the war was over he returned for further service in the Navy -He was placed on a patrol craft in the Caribbean Sea -They were decommissioning the ship (removing it from service) -After his stint in the Caribbean Sea the ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia -His service was over, but he decided to reenlist for more two years in the Navy -He was promoted to the rank of 2nd Class Motor Machinist -He was single at the time, so he didn’t feel obliged to go home -He wanted to wait for the American job market to normalize after the war -During his reenlistment he went to Bremerhaven, Germany -He didn’t much enjoy his time at Bremerhaven -He was transferred from Bremerhaven to the SS Europa -A German passenger liner that was being given to France as part of war reparations -He was going to sail with them to France and work onboard as a motor machinist -Before departing for France he was offered a job with a captain in Vienna, Austria -The day the ship was supposed to leave he was accepted for the job -He spent the rest of his time in Vienna serving as the subordinate to the captain there -They would survey factories to insure that the region was complying with disarmament (01:04:26) Personal Relationships in the Navy -During his reenlistment in the Navy he met his wife in Vienna -She was working for the Army at the time �-When he was in Vienna he was assigned to sleep in the Army quarters -He got to know the men that lived and served there and bonded with them -His captain would give him free hard liquor (a rarity in the area) -He wasn’t a drinker, so he would take it back to the soldiers and give it to them (01:06:40) Reflections on Service -He feels that his service made him a more tolerant person -Serving with people of different types he learned to just get along with people -He is happy to have been able to do his part in helping to make D-Day successful -When he sees Americans happy and free he feels that that makes his service worthwhile -Essentially to have helped safeguard the American way of life and freedom � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_PelakH638V Title A name given to the resource Pelak, Henry (Interview outline and video), 2004 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-12-01 Description An account of the resource Henry J. Pelak was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1924. He grew up and finished high school there and was drafted in 1942. He chose to enter the Navy, and trained at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then did amphibious craft training in Virginia and Florida. He was assigned to be the motor machinist on an LCM (landing craft, mechanized). He was deployed to Europe and went over to England to prepare for the Normandy Invasion. In April 1944 he witnessed a U-Boat attack during a training exercise. On June 6, 1944 his craft transported a demolition team to the beach to aid in the Allied invasion. After dropping off the team his craft continued to aid the invasion force by ferrying personnel between ships. After Normandy he was reassigned to a unit that was following the British Army through northern Europe to establish an American Naval base at Bremerhaven, Germany. When the war ended he concluded his service with the Navy decommissioning a ship in the Caribbean Sea. He reenlisted for two more years and was stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany first and then in Vienna, Austria. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pelak, Henry Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Michigan Military Preservation Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/90a29cb65d5ceab0602bf5c0b2da99ec.mp4 c5cd4545b9aac42c397fac66a5a1fb36 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6ae7e9f184c6d29ef52f91a7d961abc.pdf 5d5f44c987bb621d1244847e4ea95242 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Justin Pelham Length: 52:09 (00:20) Background Information • • • • Justin was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 23, 1983 His father worked in manufacturing in Byron Center, Michigan and his mother stayed at home Justin went to Baker Elementary and then Lakewood High School He grew up on a farm, rode horses often, got involved in rodeos, and played football (7:00) Enlistment • Justin had been not sure what to do with his life after high school and worked on a lot of odd jobs • He was in the Army from February 2005-May 2008 • Justin went through basic training in Fort Sill, Oklahoma for 7 weeks • When he first arrived at the fort, it was not at all what he had expected • The men had to get up every day at 4:00 a.m. and work on exercises for 3 hours before they could have breakfast • They then spent time in classrooms until lunch around noon (14:15) Advanced Individual Training • Justin went through AIT in Texas • He was not sure what to choose for his occupation, but eventually chose truck driving because he would receive a larger bonus • Justin spent 6 weeks in AIT and then was allowed to return to Michigan because he had been in the National Guard • About 10 months later he was called up to go to Iraq in May 2006 (18:40) Truck Driving • Justin drove a HET, heavy equipment transporter and hauled tanks, trucks, and trailers • The HET was so large and heavy, it could not go faster than 25 miles per hour • He drove at night from one base to another • He had before seen only a few road side bombs go off, but no one ever got hurt • Justin was driving a HET with his officer in the passenger side when a bomb went off under them • The HET caught on fire and his door would not open • He had to crawl across the truck and jump out of the passenger door �• Medics worked on Justin in a Humvee; he had shrapnel in his leg and hand (29:00) Hospitals • Justin was brought in a medivac to Mosul in Northern Iraq where he stayed for 24 hours while they performed surgery on him • He was visited from other men in his unit and his commanding officer • Justin received a purple heart and was told that he would soon be going back to the US • He was sent to a hospital in Germany for 4 days and then flown to Walter Reed • Justin spent one month in Walter Reed and then 5 months in out-patient, where he stayed in a hotel • Justin then moved back to Michigan and began working in the armory • He was flown to Illinois about once a month for more physical therapy (43:30) After Service • In February 2008 Justin began going through medical exams to determine whether he could be discharged • He retired with 70% disability and his last day was on May 2, 2008 • Justin got married on May 4, 2007 and now has a 14 month old son • His wife is a stay at home mom, but they both want to go to college when their son is a little older � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PelhamJ Title A name given to the resource Pelham, Justin (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pelham, Justin Description An account of the resource Justin Pelham was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 23, 1983. After high school he was not really sure as to what he wanted to do with his life, so he decided to join the Army National Guard in February of 2005. Justin was allowed to return home after training, but called up to serve in Iraq in May 2006. In Iraq, Justin drove Heavy Equipment Transporters, but was injured by a road side bomb. After his injury Justin went through a few different hospitals in Iraq and eventually ended up at Walter Reed. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-09-08 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b1d06eedcea9530b6faf70712b3a349.pdf a6a39b46457d6536954c996a77a6bc54 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Ray Pell World War II 17 minutes 15 seconds (00:00:01) Early Life -Born on March 20, 1927 in Fremont, Michigan -Parents were farmers in Fremont -He had one sister -She died in 2001 -Attended high school until he was seventeen (00:01:14) Enlisting in the Navy Pt. 1 -Completed all of his necessary high school work before he enlisted -That way he was able to receive his high school diploma before graduation -Mother collected his diploma on graduation day -He felt a duty to help stop the Germans and the Japanese (00:02:17) Training Pt. 1 -Received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois -Sent to San Bruno, California for Marine training -Trained with the Browning Automatic Rifle -His job would have been to give covering fire as troops advanced or retreated -Received landing craft training -The California coast was set up like the coast of Japan -Preparing for the planned invasion of Japan -Did amphibious assault training every day -After the amphibious training was complete he returned to San Bruno -Preparing to ship out for the invasion of Japan -The atomic bombs were dropped and the invasion was called off (00:03:30) End of the War Pt. 1 -When the war ended he and a few other men went to San Francisco to celebrate -The city was in chaos -Remembers seeing sailors smashing windows -Saw a woman walking around naked (00:04:29) Enlisting in the Navy Pt. 2 -Decided to enlist in the Navy because he liked it better than the Army -Felt that he had a better chance of surviving in the Navy than in the Army (00:04:44) Friendships in the Military -He made one good friend from Muskegon while he was in the Navy -Became lifelong friends -His best friend from Fremont was serving in the Army (00:06:00) Contact with Home -Maintained contact with home by way of letters -Still has the letters he wrote to his future wife and to his family �(00:07:22) Training Pt. 2 -While he was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station he remembers tow target training -A plane would tow a target and antiaircraft gunners would shoot at the target (00:08:05) Life after the War Pt. 1 -He had dated his future wife for three months before he went into the Navy -After he returned from the Navy he got married to her -After returning from the service he tried to get into the Michigan 52/20 Program -Gave veterans $20 for fifty two weeks -When he went to sign up the process was so long that he decided not to do it -Attended college at Ferris State University -Graduated with a degree in watch repair -Worked at a jewelry shop as a watch repairman for a year and a half -Went on to work at a used furniture store in Fremont for nine years -Moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1957 -Daughter was blind and mentally handicapped and needed specialized care -Went on to have three more children: two daughters and a son -Youngest daughter died when she was thirty nine from a massive heart attack (00:12:36) Cruises in the Navy -He wound up being assigned to a hospital ship -On the first cruise they were sent to Guam to pick up patients -Wound up not having a full load and were sent to the city of Manila in the Philippines -On the way back from the first cruise they ran into a storm in the South China Sea -One of the lieutenants he served under had been at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked -Returned to San Pedro Harbor in Los Angeles, California -Delivered the patients and repainted the ship -Went on a second cruise, that time just to Guam -Picked up a full load of patients there -Saw men with severe injuries, including amputees (00:16:53) End of the War Pt. 2 -Remembers feeling good about the war’s end and not having to invade Japan � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_PellR1637V Title A name given to the resource Pell, Ray (Interview outline), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-05-21 Description An account of the resource Ray Pell was born in Fremont, Michigan on March 20, 1927. He grew up there and completed high school when he was seventeen and enlisted in the Navy prior to graduating. He received training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and amphibious training in San Bruno, California. When the war ended due to the atomic bombs being dropped, he was assigned to a hospital ship. He went on two cruises aboard the hospital ship, the first one to Guam and the Philippines and the second just to Guam. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pell, Ray Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dewitt, Riley (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a2e0154089ee437ef49c5ddb6d0f2a9.mp4 83a3452e886c9780e53cfef93cbf339f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/762ffaa7411bfa830e2fb171f82f54f8.pdf d32206f30698a72a3c303c4ec08a520e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Scott Pellerito (24:59) Background Information (00:11)  Joined the U.S. Air Force in February of 1995. (00:14)  He had some college and work experience prior to entering the military. (00:22)  The prospects of having different experiences, learning a new trade, attracted Scott to the military. (00:40) Training (1:19)  Scott attended basic training in San Antonio, Texas.  He was next sent to Goodfellow Air Force Base for imagery analysis school. Here the men trained to be imagery interpreters. This training took 6 months. (1:32)  Next Scott was sent to California to deploy to Travis Air Force Base and the 13th Intelligence Squadron. (2:20) Overview of Service  At the time when Scott was assigned to the 13th intelligence Squadron (approx. 1995) the Bosnian Conflict was occuring. The men were assigned to do date verification for the peace accords (2:40)  Scott worked in California for 1 year. (3:16)  There were a lot of younger men in the 13th Intelligence Squadron. Scott made some very good friends in this unit who is still in contact with. (4:40)  The men Scott is still in contact with are very successful at what they do whether it is in a civilian job or a military job. (5:26)  He was ten sent to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Here Scott worked with over head pictures that were of higher quality and easier to read than on his previous missions. (6:30)  During this new placement at MacDill, Scott was able to work with men from all branches of the military. He was also able to work with weapons inspectors.(7:04)  Scott and his team had to identify targets to attack using the intelligence and also weigh the coasts such as the risk of civilian targets. (9:00)  Scott liked being able to take part in active missions without ever leaving state side. (10:16)  While working in Florida, Scott met his future wife in the service. (11:28)  He returned to Michigan after his service as a result of a job offer. He currently works in IT. (12:23)  Scott served for 4 years. He moved very often. (14:08) Thoughts on Service (14:23)  He very much appreciates the value of the discipline he received in the military, even if he did not like it at the time. (14:25)  His fondest memories were supporting Desert Fox in 1998 while working intelligence in Florida. (15:08)  Unless the men were called in for special cases, men worked 30 days on the night shift and 30 days on the day shift. (16:30) � When analyzing photographs, Scott often looked for building large enough to house weapons he also looked for strategic threats such as radar or activated S.A.M.s. (17:20) Discharge (19:21)  He was asked to stay in the Military. He declined. (19:30)  Scott thought that any more time in the military may have been counterproductive for him. (20:00)  The military is a good avenue to take if the person is meant for it. The military isn’t for everyone. (20:40)  Scott considered going back into the military. (22:45)  Scott does some work for the VFW but he is not an official member of any veterans' organizations. (24:03) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PelleritoS1363V Title A name given to the resource Pellerito, Scott (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pellerito, Scott Description An account of the resource Scott Pellerito served in the US Air Force between 1995 and 1999. Scott was trained at Goodfellow Air Force Base to become an imagery interpreter. Upon his graduation, Scott was placed in the 13th Intelligent Squadron where he worked on images relating to the Bosnian Conflict. In approx. 1996 Scott began his work in Florida. Here he assisted in Operation Desert Fox in 1998. After his discharge he began IT work in Michigan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tobias, Corwin (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Air Force Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-02-14 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc2e59ebccb05f4324a08ba6d9273593.mp4 a2b49dfdf8e485ba79a475f7f770687b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/160f109ffb3d6a1376a67e14744f91d8.pdf 5f213de80ce39e0c42e890bc2f59e4b9 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Civilian, Airline Dispatcher Interviewee: John Penning Length of Interview: 01:03:01 Background      Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on August 8th, 1921. He was born in his home on Sheridan Ave. His dad had a hardware store, and his mother would help out there. He learned a lot about different hardware and a lot about interaction between people. It would serve him well later on. His parents would have loved it if he had taken over the store, but he wanted to go to college. He went to Calvin College for 2 years after Catholic High School. He started out thinking he would be pre-med, but that wasn’t for him. After he went to college, in 1941, he went with his friend Valparaiso Tech to learn about radio technician. Training (2:55)             When the war started, he had many thoughts about what to do. He knew he could be a ship radio officer for the cargo ships headed to England. American Airlines would approach him looking for a radio operator. He would go to Chicago to pass a couple of tests to get his license and then applied to American. They would accept his application in 1942. They assigned him to Fort Worth for a temporary basis as there were no openings for him in the military at the time. He would instead be used for commercial use. He was in Fort Worth a bit and then he would go to El Paso. Both good experiences for him. He job would be to communicate with the plane for the dispatcher. The technology was not as good as it is today and they would often have trouble hearing the plane crew if there were storms interfering He would do this job for about a year. Despite his work, he was still subject to the draft. He was living in Valparaiso at the time the war was declared and signed up for it there. He would work for American Airlines waiting for the draft. They would give him a training program while waiting. There was no direct relationship between American and the Military. But they got the idea from the British experience with their airlines. Eventually American Airlines said that they did not need him for a radio operator, so he contacted other airlines to see if he could go there. 3 said they did not need him, 3 ignored him. And while he was in Grand Rapids, he was contacted by an airline there. � From there he had a choice to go to Alaska, or go into the military. Alaska (13:50)                    When he got to Alaska, the based him Anchorage. Although he would be paid almost one-third more than his other job, the cost of living in Alaska would be higher as well. Nothing was home grown and everything had to be shipped. But he did not mind, he felt the pay was adequate. They were in the process of gathering more radio operators and other such people who were looking for such certification. They would help run commercial airlines at first and did a lot of bush flying. He would often arrange flights for people. Some situations would be hazardous. While he was in Alaska, the war was going on. There was especially fighting in the Aleutians. This would be strategically beneficial for the United States Military. He would be part of a back-up plan that the military would have when fighting in the Aleutians. They would use the airlines to move troops and supplies if the Japanese got too close. At first they stayed in an apartment building, but they were struggling with money. So they looked at another apartment building where his wife could do some work that would help pay the rent. Eventually he ended up in a shack just above the mud at the edge of the city. It was really bad, so they found a different house to live in eventually. The city itself was nice, but not much civilization there. There was one traffic light in the whole city and about five blocks of paved roads. It was basically primitive. The people there were very friendly and always willing to help each other. He felt that Februarys in Anchorage were sometimes better than the ones in Grand Rapids. The coldest he could recall when living in Anchorage was -20 degrees. Storms there were not significantly bad most of the time. There was no shortage of snow. He relished it, especially as he was a young man. At first his wife looked forward to moving to Alaska, but when they got there she was extremely lonely. Mail came once a day, at most. His wife would often go to the post office 3 or 4 times a day and the lady at the post office was kind enough to give her a job, to keep her mind busy. Her working ultimately helped in his becoming a dispatcher. When she was gone to work, he would study in his free time. She did make friends while she was there, and even made friends with a sort of mother up in Alaska. He was grateful for that. His job would entail being driven by a company vehicle to and from the office to the airport. The office was a rather humble shack. It contained a radio and a desk for people to work as a dispatcher. There were two machines that would give him the hourly weather. Rarely did they see past 10 miles, but when they saw Mount McKinley, the visibility was at 100 miles. It was a unique experience for him. There would be a US weather bureau office was there too. When they needed a report on the weather they would call the military and they would cooperate quite well. They catered to them. Never said they were too busy for him. �      At the time, there were weather maps available. It would be good old fashioned forecasting done by the weathermen. It would be forecasters from all around, not just Alaska in order to predict the weather. When the military personnel took leave, they would often go to Anchorage. He would see them there and it would bother him because he was a civilian and they were military people. He rationalized and felt better about it. There was a man who had worked in the military, who had combated the Japanese hand to hand, who had become the operations manager. He does not know if he was still in the military or not. He would ask the colonel if he did wrong by not joining the military. The guy told him that at the beginning of the war in 1941, yes, he would have been more useful in the military as they needed all the manpower they could get. Now, however, he would not be in the wrong. It was more beneficial for him to be serving as a civilian radio operator. While he was working at the airline, there was no visible benefit that he was doing for the government. He was merely one cog in a big wheel. Pan American World Airways (29:45)        After the war, he would move around a lot. He would eventually get a job at the Pan American World Airways. For now though, he would remain on the Alaskan Airlines. He would write to a professor with the predicament that he was in: should he stay in the airline business, or go to radio school? If he went to school, he saw bills just mounting and a lot more problems showing up. The professor would answer with a 3 page typed letter. The professor told him that he might as well stay where he was and not go to school. So he did. On one of his days off, he would go to Pan American Airlines and put in an application for a position. He would be accepted and then work there instead. He chose them because they were a fully scheduled and accredited airline. He would later find that many of their aircrafts would be used in the Pacific. He was ultimately assigned to Fairbanks, his first assignment. He would have a 40 year career in the airline business, 36 of them would be with Pan Am. Fairbanks and others (32:05)     Fairbanks seemed like a bigger city to him. There may have been a few more blocks of pavement, but still only one traffic signal. It did get colder there. The average temperature was between -30 and -40, but for one winter there were six weeks when it was below -40 and he remembers the coldest day being -64 degrees. Flying as a passenger in a plane, he saw a lot of Alaska, but not all of it. It’s a big place. Back then, Alaska was known as the “Last Frontier” He would stay for 2 sessions. The first was two years. �         He would then find no permanent positions and would spend 6 months in San Francisco, 3 months in Hong Kong, 3 months in Bangkok. He would then take the second tour in Fairbanks for another 3 years. His experience in Hong Kong was just as scary as Anchorage when the war was going on. The communists had taken Canton and were headed toward Hong Kong, but they were stopped. He said living there was a wonderful experience. His wife would join him on all of his permanent assignments, which Hong Kong was his only temporary assignment. She would join him in Bangkok for his 2 years there. He would have 2 daughters born in Fairbanks and had a son born in Bangkok. He had a daughter born in Honolulu. He would then transfer from Honolulu to San Francisco and then to New York. There he would keep the airline operational when there was a problem, he would solve it. He would have a daughter there as well. His wife would actually be the one to encourage him to change jobs. When he was on temporary assignment, she went back to Grand Rapids. She liked Bangkok, although it took a bit to get used to, especially the servants. From New York, he would go to Africa, Liberia to be specific, for two years. His wife was also behind that decision. Liberia (38:55)       He would handle running the whole airport while he was there, not just Pan Am. That was the most unique assignment. It was a relatively stable time in the country. As long as they lived by their rules, you were ok. He was somewhat like the government in a way. When he needed something it was given to him, no questions asked. He would live in Liberia for 2 years. His kids would go to school there. Two teachers would teach up to 6th grade. He would homeschool them too. When they got back to the states, they were not behind academically at all. After Liberia, he was sent to Hilo, Hawaii to open up a station there. He had to find a building, find staff, and really build a station up from nothing. He would be there for about two years. Pakistan (49:30)     His wife decided it was time to find a place in the US, but it did not work out. From Hilo, he spent 10 years in Karachi, Pakistan. While there, the common thought of the American was ok, politically speaking, it was not so calm. His car was stolen, his office was stoned, and there were many problems that he had to deal with. If you said anything derogatory about their religion, or were rude to them in any way, you would be subject to their punishment. This would be his last major assignment. �Back to America (54:40)         He still had one daughter who lived with him, and he wanted her to live in the American culture the last few years of high school. He would then open a station in Tennessee and closed one in Georgia. He would retire, technically in 1982, physically in 1981. At that point he moved back to Michigan, and here he remains. He worries about his kids and how they moved around their whole life, but they all indicated that they were happy to experience the different cultures. While he was back in college, he had no clue about what he was going to be doing. Looking back, he was happy it turned out the way it did. He remembers that when he was in Anchorage, his wife was in the hospital. While she was there, he would go exploring to Rainy Pass. The weather would keep him a couple of days. When she got out, he wasn’t back. The community would come together to help her until he got back. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PenningJ Title A name given to the resource Penning, John (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Penning, John Description An account of the resource John Penning was a civilian who had a career in the airline business. He contributed to military operations from WWII to Vietnam by helping to traffic and guide commercial planes that were used for military use. His job took all around the world, from North American, to Asia, and even to Africa. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-05-25 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/026f25b085b154332521139f2a9d12df.mp4 1cf1bcdaaca761f867fb7f1d249d7e1e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d915ddd1f9e67bebdd344183e4c59d8f.pdf abae82477801722c35ccc2188e2f4065 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee name: Paul Penno Length of Interview: 51 minutes 59 seconds Pre-Enlistment (00:37)  Childhood (00:40) o Penno was born in Watkins County, Montana on July 19, 1918. (00:54) o Originally, his parents were from St. Louis, Missouri and had heard about some homesteading property in Montana and decided to try it out. (01:23) Penno’s mother couldn’t handle the hardships of Montana life and so returned with him to St. Louis where he grew up. (02:05) o While he was growing up, his dad worked as a Federal barge line operator on the Missouri River, (03:21) while his mother was a stay-at-home mom and taught piano lessons. (03:43)  Education (04:11) o Penno, while attending church and public school, attempted to find himself. (04:41) o Remembers the Great Depression and relates how it was embarrassing to say that his mother had to wait in a welfare line. (05:36) o Meanwhile with his schooling, he did not make it through the 8th Grade because he dropped out. (06:10)  His Jobs (06:37) o Worked as a teenager doing wire-fan making for 25 cents a day in St. Louis. (07:01) o While news circulated widely about the war he did not think much of the war. (08:20) He was a conscious objector, someone who refused to bear arms. (08:43) Eventually he worked with an Army chaplain to put pressure on the Army to let him join the Medical Corps and not have to bear arms. (09:11) Enlistment/Training (09:39)  Background (09:40) �o Made it clear to the army that he wanted to join the medical teams and would do so without taking the suggested rifle training because he was a conscientious objector. (09:21) He volunteered to do other things such as wash dishes. (09:50) o On Saturdays he attended church (10:05) and would work with his commander to work out a workable schedule to make up for his missed duty despite the inconvenience it presented to his commander. (10:49) o Penno mentions that he was the only one in the 302nd Inf. Reg. of the 94th Division to do this. (11:23) o Before being drafted, Penno discusses a trip he took from St. Louis to Kansas City with his newlywed in their ‘39 Ford car. (12:13) Remembers hearing the voice of President Roosevelt over the radio as he announced the attack on Pearl Harbor. (12:40) The news of the attack shook him up but knew that it would take much more to take the U.S. down. (13:15) o Was able to spend a year with his wife before being drafted. (14:27) o Briefly outlines the various places he trained throughout the U.S. (15:19)  Where he trained and what company he served with (15:56) o Penno mentions that he was drafted and inducted in Jackson, Missouri. (15:57) From there he was sent to Salina, Kansas; McCain, Mississippi, and finally to New York where he boarded the Queen Elizabeth. (15:12) o Briefly mentions that he had some medical training. (16:30) Basic training for him was between 6 to 9 months. (17:17) o After basic training, he was shipped aboard the Queen Elizabeth with 15,000 others from around the U.S. to Europe. (17:48)  Voyage over the Atlantic (18:03) o Briefly mentions that it took a week and switching course every 7 minutes to avoid submarine detection to finally arrive at their destination. (18:23) o Landing at Glasgow, Scotland (19:22) and then they were transported to Southampton, England and from there across the channel to Normandy at about 90 days after D-Day (20:07) Active Duty (20:17)  Normandy (20:26) �o Penno mentions that German resistance was limited to heavy fighting in various pockets. At about this time, the Germans were manning coastal guns and fighting in pockets. (20:40) o Upon landing, his unit was assigned to an apple orchard where there was heavy fighting. (21:20) As a medical aid man his duties included transporting wounded to the dispensary where medical supplies were fairly basic. (21:58) o Penno mentions that he stayed in France for only a few weeks and encountering heavy German resistance in the way of the Germans firing their 88-mm guns and in one instance killing a messenger boy. (23:43) o Much of the time, Penno would hear men calling out to the aid men for help. Being an aid man he would have to scramble out of his fox hole and get the wounded out of the danger zone as fast as possible (24:26) o At one point he was recommended for the Silver Star which he did not feel he was qualified to receive because he was just doing his duty. (24:52)  In response to his award, one Medical-detachment major said he should be killed because he was sick of Penno making up his Saturdays on Sundays instead. (26:10) o Penno describes his time under the jurisdiction of General Patton and his push towards Germany. (28:30)  Czechoslovakia – occupational duty (29:06) o Before long he was doing occupational duty with many Soviet soldiers. Penno relates seeing German prisoners-of-war. His contact with Soviet soldiers was nothing out of the ordinary. (29:39) o For him, occupational duty was nothing more than waiting to go home. (30:15) He mentions that he never had to enter combat that he was close enough to see artillery shells going off. (30:32) o He mentions that the sound of artillery shells exploding affected him greatly years later. Mentions that he could relate with Vietnam veteran’s experiences. (31:37)  Other facts (31:55) o Mentions that following World War II he suffered from nightmares and reliving his war years for a long time. (32:11) o Briefly describes what the local Czech women were like after the war. (33:23) �o In Dusseldorf, Penno describes how there was not much left of the city except a few houses when they were there. (35:03) o Further mentions that he did not follow much news from the Pacific except for the dropping of the Atomic bomb. (35:25) From this experience, he could not help but feel sad but at the same time relief about the end of the war. (35:51)  Returning home (37:03) o Penno mentions that he returned home on December 7th, 1945. (37:09) He was honorably discharged at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. (37:44) o Describes his journey from Czechoslovakia back to the U.S. aboard a Liberty ship and the ocean voyage home. (39:37) o Briefly shares his thoughts upon entering New York Harbor. (40:10) After the Service (40:20) o Adjusting to Home (40:30) o Mentions that he maintained a continual correspondence with his wife while he was in Europe. (40:31) o Upon returning to St. Louis, and spending less than a week at home (41:06), he decided to go back and finish school. He went to Lincoln, Nebraska where a school of his own denomination was located. (41:45) o Attended Union College where he took general courses. (43:04) He relates how back in those days how people took piety on returning uneducated veterans. Spent 5 years: summer and the full year going to school. (43:25) o While doing this, he describes his extracurricular activities. (44:13) o Graduated from Union College in 1951 and afterwards got a job working with a denominational conference in a musical capacity. (44:48) o Life after school (44:55) o Briefly describes the various places he moved too around the U.S. and then finally to Michigan. He discusses his ministerial involvement in these places briefly. (46:40) o Retired in March 1984 and today is still involved in a limited capacity in the ministry. (48:05) �o Reflection (48:27) o Penno discusses how his Army experience impacted him and how he prayed to God that if he survived that he would go back and prepare for whatever. (49:12) o Briefly discusses his opinion on the current Iraq war, and what he thought of World War II movies. (51:59) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PennoP Title A name given to the resource Penno, Paul (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Penno, Paul Description An account of the resource Paul Penno was a World War II veteran who served in the Army as a medical aid from 1942 to December 1945. In this account, Penno discusses his pre-enlistment and his enlistment and training years in the U.S. He further discusses his part as a medical aid in France and occupational officer in Czechoslovakia. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McCauslin, Kelly (Interviewer) Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-12-17 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/184c64360eb1ce88e529e3fa0edd4572.jpg 07742284347dd3ee9d9f0dd74daafd19 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e573d402d9869576196798afcbe483b5.jpg 578b6159cd751621df71a2dd29fbc41c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Walsh-J_0029 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Penrod Studio Title A name given to the resource Red Barn Theatre postcard Description An account of the resource Postcard of the Red Barn Theatre located in Saugatuck, Michigan featuring the iconic large red barn and staircase entrances. The back of the postcard is blank but features a caption in the upper left hand corner: "Red Barn Theater. Saugatuck, Michigan. The Red Barn Summer Stock Theater features well known artists and popular plays during the summer months. 'Relax as Saugatuck.'" Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dexter Press Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Summer theater Postcards Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Jerri Walsh as part of the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ce342b705d382b27ce372d444bb57941.jpg 488e56b0eb9ec71837037c7ae8f4ed93 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f881614219f7af5da8d8d56131d168b3.jpg fe38e26dfa6c128cae00e545e98b0883 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Walsh-J_0031 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Penrod Studio Title A name given to the resource Aerial view of Oval Beach postcard Description An account of the resource Postcard featuring an aerial view of Oval Beach in Saugatuck, Michigan. The postcard depicts a series of parked cars in the parking lot, and while the beach has a smattering of individuals, it is not as busy as the number of cars would suggest. The back of the postcard bares no handwriting but does have the following typed in the upper lefthand corner: "Saugatuck, Michigan. The OVAL as seen from the air. Swimming, sunning, or just relaxing as its best on the sparkling, sandy beach of beautiful Lake Michigan." Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dexter Press Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Postcards Beaches Outdoor recreation Michigan, Lake Sand dunes Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Jerri Walsh as part of the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives